Revision as of 08:57, 9 September 2014

To do

Arab musical warm up! Melody and rhythm with nay and riqq accompaniment. (We'll try to do this daily - feel free to bring instruments!)
- concept of maqam and darb
- Hornbostel-Sachs system for classifying musical instruments

oral tradition vs written tradition, mnemonics of scripts
ethnomusicology and comparative musicology
concept of frequency ratios and musical intervals (e.g. an octave is 2:1)
'Microtones', 'quartertones' (see www.maqamworld.com), equal temperament, frequency ratios
emic (insider perspective) vs etic ("objective" perspective) distinction (e.g.: "what is music?")
ethnocentrism
Orientalism
critique:
- 'Arab' (people, music): who's an Arab? What counts as their music?
- 'Music' (What counts as music? etic vs. emic definitions)

Continue critical introduction: "What is ethnomusicology of the Arab world?" (what is the Arab world? who is an Arab? what is Arab music?...)
- The history of the word "Arab" from earliest times to present
- Concepts and nationalisms, e.g. "Arab music" (vs. "Middle Eastern music", "Egyptian music", "Islamic music", etc.)
- Critique
- Definitions?
Your turn: empirical investigations regarding "Arab music" (audio and video recordings)

Role of Arab nationalism (since 19th c) in formulating "Arab music" as "al-musiqa al-arabiyya"
Historical overview...
- Islamicate timelines and periods
- The history of Islamicate music (as presented by Touma)
- Critique of "Arab music" history
- Outline of the history of music in the Arab world (as presented by me)
What is an SC paper? - ex: Touma (critical reading & analysis, together...)
Film: the celebrated pan-Arab singer Umm Kulthum plays the role of the famous Abbasid-era qayna, Dananeer, in the film Dananeer (1940).

Three ways of reading this film

as an (explicit) representation of 9th c Abbasid culture
as an (implicit) representation of Egyptian perceptions of "Arab history" in 1940
as an (implicit) representation of Egyptian film music in 1940

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 = To do  =
-* Musical warm up!  Melody and rhythm with nay and riqq accompaniment.
+* Arab musical warm up!  Melody and rhythm with nay and riqq accompaniment. (We'll try to do this daily - feel free to bring instruments!)
 ** concept of [http://www.fwalive.ualberta.ca/~michaelf/MENAME/Theory/Maqamat.jpg maqam] and [http://www.fwalive.ualberta.ca/~michaelf/MENAME/Theory/Durub%20chart%20rev%202009.pdf darb]
 ** [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hornbostel-Sachs Hornbostel-Sachs] system for classifying musical instruments
 = Some concepts...critiques =