Music and Religion (Winter 2013)

Meetings: Tuesday Tue/Thu 11:00-12:20PM Location: Tory B100

Instructor: Dr. Regula Qureshi

Office: 3-47D Arts & Convocation Hall; o Office hours: Wednesday 1-2:30PM, or by appointment; tel. Tel. 780 492-0212; regula.qureshii@ualberta.ca

Course Overview

This course explores the relationship between music and religious beliefs and practices, calling upon both ethnographic studies and theoretical perspectives. It aims at developing familiarity with a diverse range of religious, musical and socio-cultural settings through the study of scholarly literature primarily drawn from the field of ethnomusicology and through the examination of selected audiovisual examples. It also addresses a variety of theoretical approaches to the study of music and religion, and encourages students to engage in critical thinking and interpretive openness in respect of a plurality of methodological, epistemological and cultural-philosophical perspectives. In addition to the areas of inquiry and the topics selected by the instructor, students will be encouraged to undertake independent pieces of research and contribute with their interests and experience to shaping the contents, approaches and materials of the course. No formal knowledge of music history, music theory or ethnomusicology is required.

Objectives

Issues addressed will include:

- the often contested and fluid boundaries entrenching the notions of sacred and secular, and the ways in which music is involved in the relationship between them;

- critical examination of the very notions of “music” and “religion”, and their relevance to scholarly analysis as well as to the values and concepts of a number of musical cultures around the world. To what extent are music and religion separate domains? To what extent is religion distinct from law, science, ethics, aesthetics, politics?

- critical attention to the relationship between scholarly concerns and insiders' worldviews and interpretations;

- the relevance of historical, social, ideological and political contexts to musical and religious practices, concepts and meanings. How the relationship between music and religion relates to social ideologies, affecting issues of ethics, status of musicians and musical genres, social regulation and censorship.

- the relationship between religious values and/or sonic practices and the development of aesthetic paradigms and modalities of experience. To what extent is religion involved in the development of artistic expressive cultures?

- religion as relevant to politics, identity and power, and how that is manifested and articulated musically;

- the relationship between music and cosmology, religious symbolism and mythology; the relationship between music and ritual performance, sacred texts and ecstatic/mystical practices and beliefs;

- music as a site of articulation and contestation of notions of religious orthodoxy and syncretism;

- the role of music in the construction of religious meanings and experiences; what makes “religious music” religious?

- religion and popular music, media and market economy; the impact of commodification on religious/devotional music, and the role of religious music and themes in local and international music industries and in cultural and economic globalization.

Prerequisites

Undergraduates should enroll in 464; graduates should enroll in 564.

Course requirements

- Attendance and participation. Including: doing weekly readings and participating actively and pertinently in class discussions.

- Reading review. A written review of a class reading (article) of your choice (excluding the readings for your Reading presentations, see below). Your review should be of the kind usually found in scholarly journals, that is, it should be polished and well written in an academic style, accurate, and critically sharp. It should include 1) a short description/summary, 2) a discussion of the main arguments, and 3) a critical evaluation of your reviewed reading. Length of review: between 700-800 words. Reviews that do not respect this word limit will be downgraded by one full point on the letter grading scale (i.e. from A to A-, from A- to B+, etc). Likewise, unjustified late submissions will be penalized by one full point on the letter grading scale. Please submit your review both in hard copy and electronically (via email). DUE WEEK 5.

- Reading presentations. Each student will be asked to give two class presentations (duration: 10 min.)) on one individually assigned reading, and to lead class discussion. In your short presentations you should summarize your reading, identify its main argument/s, and critically assess it.

- Final research project proposal (midterm assignment). You will have to outline a written research plan focusing on

A) A musical-religious tradition/community/genre that has not been discussed in class, OR

B) A novel aspect of one musical-religious tradition/community/genre that has already been discussed in class, OR

C) A general theoretical topic (such as music & ritual, religion & musical aesthetics, etc) to be explored through the comparative examination and discussion of two or more case studies.

Your proposal will include:

1) A general description of your chosen musical-religious community/tradition/genre or topic;

2) A set of clearly defined research questions;

3) A provisional annotated bibliography (between 5 and 10 titles).

Length of proposal: 1,000 – 1,200 words for sections 1&2 + 2/3 sentences per annotated reference. Proposals that do not respect the word limit will be downgraded by one full point on the letter grading scale (i.e. from A to A-, from A- to B+, etc). Likewise, unjustified late submissions will be penalized by one full point on the letter grading scale. Please submit your proposal both in hard copy and electronically (via email). DUE WEEK 8.

- Final research project presentation. You will be presenting in class on your work-in-progress for your final research paper (duration: 15-20 min.). Use of audiovisual materials and/or Powerpoint is highly recommended for your presentation. DUE WEEKS 12, 13 and 14.

- Final research project paper: A written piece that will

1) be entirely based on scholarly literature and other written and/or audiovisual sources (that is, not based on your own fieldwork);

2) develop your research project proposal into a full-fledged research paper;

3) reference at least 10 (for undergraduates) or 15 (for graduates) scholarly sources;

Your paper should

A) clearly introduce and present the tradition or topic under consideration;

B) develop a critical discussion and assessment of scholarly sources;

C) discuss the musical-religious traditions under consideration in the light of available theories and models of interpretation.

Length of paper: 3,000-4,000 words for undergraduate students; 4,000-5,000 for graduate students. Papers that do not respect these word limits will be downgraded by one full point on the letter grading scale (i.e. from A to A-, from A- to B+, etc). Likewise, unjustified late submissions will be penalized by one full point on the letter grading scale. Please submit your proposal both in hard copy and electronically (via email). DUE On Date of Final Examination in Timetable.

Assessment

Each assignment will be marked according to the numeric scale of evaluation given below. Individual assignment marks will be combined to obtain a final numeric grade, which will be rounded so as to obtain a corresponding final letter grade as shown below.

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

D 1.0

D- 0.7

F 0.0

The relative weight of each assignment on the overall grade is as follows:

Attendance and participation: 15%

Reading review: 10%

Reading presentations: 15% (7.5% each)

Final research project proposal (midterm): 10%

Final research project presentation: 15%

Final research paper: 35%

Resources

The only book on Music and Religion (Sacred Sounds by Guy Beck) is available in the University Bookstore and highly recommended. Most class readings will be on reserve at the Music Library or available online through the library databases. Relevant bibliographic or audiovisual materials that may not be available on reserve will be handed out in class or included in this course mediawiki page. I will use email or the course mediawiki page to post updated reading assignments and changes of schedule.

Useful journals: Ethnomusicology; Yearbook for Traditional Music (formerly Journal of the International Folk Music Council); The World of Music; African Music; Asian Music; Ethnomusicology Forum (formerly British Journal of Ethnomusicology); Selected Reports in Ethnomusicology (UCLA); History of Religions; Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion; Journal of Religion; Journal of Religion in Africa; Numen; Review of Religious Research; Sociology of Religion; Studia Islamica. Dictionaries/Encyclopedias: The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (Grove music online); The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music; The Oxford Dictionary of World Religions; The Hutchinson Dictionary of World Religions.

Academic integrity

You should be familiar with the Code of Student Behavior as published in Section 26 of the 2009-2010 Calendar and available online at http://www.uofaweb.ualberta.ca/governance/studentappeals.cfm. “Policy about course outlines can be found in section 23.4(2) of the University Calendar”. (GFC 29 SEP 2003) “The University of Alberta is committed to the highest standards of academic integrity and honesty. Students are expected to be familiar with these standards regarding academic honesty and to uphold the policies of the University in this respect. Students are particularly urged to familiarize themselves the provisions of the Code of Student Behaviour (online at http://www.uofaweb.ualberta.ca/governance/studentappeals.cfm.) and avoid any behaviour which could potentially result in suspicions of cheating, plagiarism, misrepresentation of facts and/or participation in an offence. Academic dishonesty is a serious offence and can result in suspension or expulsion from the University.” (GFC 29 SEP 2003)

Class schedule and readings

In the list of readings for each class meeting, Reference readings indicate required readings for everyone in the class. They provide an essential background for class discussion and must be completed prior to coming to class. Assigned readings indicate individually assigned readings for class presentations.

Week 1 - Jan 8 &10: Introduction

Tuesday Introduction to the course and situating ourselves: goals, questions, special interests Thursday Religion/music as experience and as subject of study: Assignment: share an experience or connecting music/sound and religion/ spirituality Read Ninian Smart: What is Religion

Week 2 - January 15/17: Music and Religion as global concept: Scope and Approaches

Reference readings: Smart 1999; Geertz 1999; browse Bell 1997: chapter 6.

Assigned readings (for class presentations):

1. Bohlman 1997.
2. al-Faruqi 1983.
3. Peek 1994.

Week 3 - January 22/24: Music and religious ideology 1: religious sonic practices in “emic” concepts and discourses

Reference readings:

• Nasr 1997;
• Wei 1992.
• Kane 1974

Assigned readings (for class presentations):

1. Smith 1957.
2. Wulff 1983

Video Recording: The Holy Ghost People

Week 4 - January 29/31: Sacred texts: recitation, cantillation and chant

Reference readings: Lee 1999 Sells 1999: Introduction and the chapter "Hearing the Qur’an". Browse Beck 2006 chapters 3, 6) ?Assigned readings (for class presentations): 6) Shelemay & Jeffrey 1993: vol.1: pp. 1-16; vol. 2: pp. 1-9 + Music Grove Online: browse the entry “Ethiopia”: Chapter 2: Orthodox Church Music. OR 7) Music Grove Online: the entry “Jewish Music”: Chapters 3.1 and 3.2 (especially “Biblical cantillation and browse any other chapters that interest 8) Lee 1999 Audio Recordings: Beck CD tracks 15, 16, 18, 20, and browse Shelemay CD, browse

Week 5 - February 5/7: Devotion and mysticism (Urs, Sufi Inayat Khan)

Reference readings: Asani 1986; Barnes 1992 browse Friedlander & Uzel 1992: especially the chapters “Sema” and “Music”; Schultz 2002 OR 2008 Slawek 1988. ?DUE: READING REVIEW + Shiloah 1993: chapter 12.

Week 6 - February 12/14: Religion, commodification and the music market

Reference readings:

Scherzinger 1999.

Booth 2000

Assigned readings (for class presentations):

1. Chen 2005.
2. Mellers 1981.
3. Shannon 2006.

Video Recording: Film Songs

Week 8 - February 26/28: Music and ritual

Reference readings:

Bell 1997: browse chapters 1, 2 and 3

Assigned readings (for class presentations):

1) Bell 1997: chapter 4; Tuesday

2) Flanagan 1985; Thursday

3) Friedson 1996 Thursday

'Video Recording: Prophet Healers of North Malawi

DUE: FINAL RESEARCH PROJECT PROPOSAL (MIDTERM)

Week 9 - March 5/7: Music, trance and healing

Reference readings:

Becker 2004: chapter 1 (and any other parts that interest you) browse Rouget 1985.

Assigned readings (for class presentations):

1) Booker 1988. Tuesday

2) Jankowsky 2006. Thursday

3) Koen 2005. Thursday

Video Recording: Three Worlds of Bali, Tuesday

Week 10 - March 12/14: Religion, popular music and media (Maha Shivratri)

Reference readings:

Sylvan 2005: introduction and chapter 3;

Sylvan 2002: pp. 1-13 and browse chapter 1.1 (pp. 19-44).

Hagedorn 2006

Assigned readings (for class presentations):

1) Greene 1999. Thursday

2) Sarkissian 2005. Thursday

3) Sakata 1994. Tuesday

Video Recording: Sufi Music and Ecstasy (trance?), Nusrat at Meany, Tuesday

Week 11 - March 19/21: Music, religion and identity (Nowruz)

Class Speakers to be finalized.'

Reference readings:

Hegland 1998

Frishkopf 2001

Assigned readings (for class presentations):

1) Rappoport 2004.

2) Reed 2005.

3) Harnish 2005.

Video Recording: Taqwacore

Week 12 - March 26/28: Review and Overview (Holi)

Visiting Lecturer: Carl Urion Readings: AudioVisuals:

Week 13 - April 2/4: FINAL RESEARCH PROJECT CLASS PRESENTATIONS

==Week 14 - April 9/11:FINAL RESEARCH PROJECT CLASS PRESENTATIONS compensation for Field Event( date outside of class hours)==

Sources

Bibliography Music and Religion 2013