Music and Islam (Fall 2015)
MUSIC AND ISLAM
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Contents
Instructor
Professor Michael Frishkopf
Meetings: Fall 2015, Tuesdays and Thursdays, 12:30 - 1:50 pm, Old Arts 403
Office: 334D Old Arts Building
Office hours: Wednesday 1:30-3:30 pm, by appointment
Tel: 780-492-0225, email: michaelf@ualberta.ca
Overview
This course addresses the sonic practices of Islamic rituals, Muslim discourses about music, and the relation of both to the rich diversity of religious and musical practices in Muslims societies around the globe. Course content includes lecture, seminar, and multimedia formats. No formal knowledge of music history, theory, ethnomusicology, or Islam is required. Undergraduates should enroll in Music 469; graduate students should enroll in Music 569.
Course objectives
- To become familiar – experientially and intellectually – with genres of Islamic sonic performance, their musical-textual structures, meanings, social-historical contexts, and spiritual-cultural implications.
- To develop a felt understanding of Islam as a social-spiritual system of belief and practice, through experience and study of its sonic dimension, in social, cultural, and historical context.
- To thereby learn about Muslim cultures and societies throughout history, and especially in the present day.
- To understand some of the ways in which religious ideologies and sonic practices interact (directly or indirectly), especially in the form of discourse about music.
Course requirements
- Regular class attendance.
- Completing weekly reading and listening assignments on time, such that you are able to participate in class discussions effectively.
- Submitting weekly reading reports synthesizing and critiquing weekly readings (approximately one paragraph per work). Please submit all reports by email with the subject line “Reading Report”. These writing assignments need not be highly polished or lengthy – indeed they must not exceed one page. They should make explicit reference to assigned readings, and demonstrate some synthetic and critical acumen. These reports will help you to prepare your final paper.
- Submitting or presenting additional assigned exercises in class (these may involve singing, or transcribing).
- Submitting a short research proposal (1-2 pages) on a relevant topic of your choice, by Week 6.
- Oral presentation (30 minutes) on your topic during weeks 12, 13, and 14, accompanied by rough draft of final paper.
- For Music 569: Final research paper, at least 25 pages (double spaced, 12 pt, 1” margins) elaborating your presentation topic, based on class readings plus at least 15 additional scholarly sources relevant to your topic. Due December 17th.
- For Music 469: Final research paper, at least 15 pages (double spaced, 12 pt, 1” margins) elaborating your presentation topic, based on class readings plus at least 9 additional scholarly sources relevant to your topic. Due December 17th .
- No midterm or final.
Evaluation
Assignments and weights
NB:
- There will be no exams.
- Unexcused late assignments will be downgraded one quarter point per day.
- When page counts are given they refer to 1" margins, single-spaced, Times New Roman font, or equivalent. "References cited" or "bibliography" does not count towards the page total.
- Be sure to cite all references using the (author year:pages) format, and list all references cited at the end of your paper.
Grading scale
Evaluations of each assignment are on a scale from 0-4.3 points. These scores are combined according to the percentages indicated below in order to produce a final numeric grade. This grade is rounded to the nearest numeric value in the table below, in order to determine the final letter grade.
- A+: 4.3
- A: 4.0
- A-: 3.7
- B+: 3.3
- B: 3.0
- B-: 2.7
- C+: 2.3
- C: 2.0
- C-: 1.7
- D+: 1.3
