Difference between revisions of "Ethnomusicology of the Arab World (Fall 2014)"
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Readings, listenings, viewings will be finalized on the Moodle (see below) by the Sunday prior to class. For each reading, you should prepare a reading report: one or two paragraphs of summary and critique, for your own reference. (These need not be handed in, but are useful for discussions and writing SC papers. Optionally, you may submit them to the Moodle’s Reading Report Database to share with others). | Readings, listenings, viewings will be finalized on the Moodle (see below) by the Sunday prior to class. For each reading, you should prepare a reading report: one or two paragraphs of summary and critique, for your own reference. (These need not be handed in, but are useful for discussions and writing SC papers. Optionally, you may submit them to the Moodle’s Reading Report Database to share with others). | ||
Revision as of 20:39, 2 September 2014
short link to this page: http://bit.ly/arabmusic14
short link to weekly content pages: http://bit.ly/arabmusic14
Contents
Course
Music 468 / 568: Area Studies in Ethnomusicology: The Arab World
Meetings: Fall 2014, Tuesday and Thursday, 12:30 - 1:50 pm, HC 2 34
Instructor
Professor Michael Frishkopf
Office: 334D Old Arts Building
Office hours: Wednesday 1:00-3:30, by appointment
Tel: 780-492-0225, email: michaelf@ualberta.ca
Goals
This course will survey music cultures and trends in the Arab world (broadly defined), from the 7th century to the present. We will develop a critical perspective, by contextualizing music designated as "Arab" within Arab nationalism from the 19th century onwards. Likewise, the concept of "Arab world" will be problematized, and extended to the diasporic community. Historical and music theoretical approaches will be adopted, but the course will focus on the sociology and anthropology of music. We will examine localized musical dialects--urban and rural—characterizing societies and cultures from Morocco to the Gulf, as well as broader mediated forms, and music media themselves, from phonodiscs to satellite TV. Aesthetics of music, the metaphysical, gender and sexuality, politics, coloniality, and globalization are all topics to be taken up. A significant component of the course is sensory immersive, including listening, and a number of music-related films, both documentary and feature. The objective is for you to learn about these multifacted music cultures, and, through them (and by means of their critical analysis) to begin to understand the Arab world (so frequently misunderstood) in a new way.
This course requires a Community Service Learning component, including 20 hours of service supporting a Cairo-based folk music organization, El Mastaba. This component will entail conducting research in support of El Mastaba's social, educational, research, and archival mission: to document and ensure the continuity of traditional Egyptian musical forms.
We'll use eClass for course management, in conjunction with this wiki. You'll find weekly assignments posted on eClasss site, as well as protected resources. All assignments must be uploaded via eClass.
NB: This course can be taken at either of two levels: 468 (regular) or 568 (advanced). If you are an undergraduate, you should be enrolled in 468. Graduate students should be enrolled in 568. Expectations for 568 are slightly higher throughout the course.
Course Schedule
eClass site includes course schedule (readings, listenings, assignments), plus protected resources.
Weekly pages includes lecture notes and listening/viewing examples, week by week.
Course Format
Preparation for class
Readings, listenings, viewings will be finalized on the Moodle (see below) by the Sunday prior to class. For each reading, you should prepare a reading report: one or two paragraphs of summary and critique, for your own reference. (These need not be handed in, but are useful for discussions and writing SC papers. Optionally, you may submit them to the Moodle’s Reading Report Database to share with others).
In class
Each class will combine several kinds of activities (to keep things interesting):
- lectures with AV examples
- student presentations
- class discussions
- sensory immersion, via extended listening or viewing (e.g. films, concerts)
- musical practica (ear training, composition, improvisation, experiments), sometimes followed by discussion.
Course Resources
El Mastaba Community Service Learning Project. This is a CSL course. Here is where we'll organize our contributions to El Mastaba, a folk music organization based in Cairo, Egypt.
