Introduction to Ethnomusicology: Music of Iran and Central Asia (Winter 2008)

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Music 365. Introduction to Ethnomusicology: Music of Iran and Central Asia.

Classes: Monday, Wednesday & Friday 11:00-11:50, FAB 1-23

Instructor: Prof. Federico Spinetti

Office: 3-65 Fine Arts Building; office hours: Tuesday 10:00-12:00am, or by appointment; tel. 492-7534; spinetti@ualberta.ca

Teaching assistant: Melaena Grierson; melaena@ualberta.ca

Course description

This course provides an introduction to the field of ethnomusicology. It addresses prominent methodological and theoretical concerns of the discipline at large by focusing, in particular, on music scholarship and resources related to the study of selected areas of Inner and Central Asia, such as Iran, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan and Chinese Turkestan. Issues addressed include music repertoires and structures; musical practices and concepts in the homeland and in the context of transnational migrations and diaspora; the relation of musical practices, concepts and meanings to historical, social, ideological and political contexts; the relationship between music and both oral and literary traditions; tradition, modernization, westernization and globalization; popular music, new technologies and the media. The course makes extensive use of audio-visual materials in addition to lectures and readings. No formal knowledge of music theory, analysis, history, notation or ethnomusicology is a prerequisite for taking this course.

This course is for undergraduate students only.

Aims and objectives

- To provide an introduction to the field of ethnomusicology and familiarize with the variety of its methodological and theoretical approaches.

- To develop familiarity with the research resources available to students and scholars in ethnomusicology, including scholarly literature, audio-visual documents and multimedia resources.

- To explore the possibilities offered by a number of methods and tools/media to both the process and the outcomes of research: fieldwork, analysis of texts and audio-visual documents, ethnographic writing, ethnographic film-making, field and studio recordings, etc.

- To become acquainted with a number of musical genres of Inner and Central Asia, including art, folk and popular musics.

- To study musical idioms and aesthetic perceptions in relation to their socio-historical contexts, and to develop a critical understanding of the role of music in identity construction and political-ideological processes in Inner and Central Asia as well as among diaspora communities.

- To explore the interrelation of music and poetry in Inner and Central Asia, and to appreciate its spiritual, ethical and social implications.

- To become acquainted with the diversity of cultural practices, collective histories and identity perceptions in the context of the areas in question.