Ethnomusicology: History & Theory
MUSIC-GA 2136, Section 001
Wednesdays 4:00 PM - 6:00 PM
Instructor: J. Martin Daughtry
Course Description: Ethnomusicology—what is this strange beast with the unwieldy name? How does it relate to the other music disciplines (e.g., musicology, music theory, composition) and to the ethnographic social sciences (e.g., anthropology, sociology)? Do its ethnographic methodologies and peculiar intellectual history render it a provincial cousin to (or hothouse subdiscipline within?) the more established disciplinary terrain of musicology? Or does its global scope render musicology a first-world enclave within a totalizing ethnomusicology? How does ethnomusicology articulate with cultural studies, performance studies, sound studies, voice studies, area studies, history, acoustics, neuroscience, ecocriticism, and other disciplines that harbor scholars who study music? And wait a second, aren’t we supposed to be in a post- disciplinary era where the –ologies no longer matter? That last question notwithstanding, in what ways can ethnomusicology—whatever it is and is becoming—serve as a resource for you?
This graduate proseminar is designed to help you grapple with these and other questions. It presents ethnomusicology, minimally, as (1) a horizon of expectations that structures how work is created and received; (2) an intellectual community with a collective sense of self forged in common histories and practices; (3) a network of venues (journals, book series, colloquia, conferences) for the circulation of written and performed work; (4) an institutional matrix (of fellowships, professorships, programs, centers, departments) that supports the creation of work and its propagation through teaching; (5) an expanding body of productive questions, methodologies, theoretical concepts, and scholarly lifeways; and, increasingly, (6) an emergent critical and ethical project vis-a-vis the musicking populations under investigation.
Graduate Composition Seminar
MUSIC-GA 2162, Section 001
Tuesdays 10:30 AM - 12:30 PM
Instructor: Louis Karchin
Course Description: This course examines the techniques of music composition as they apply to the creation of new works. Students write pieces for performance, leading to a public concert at the end of the academic year. Works-in-progress are evaluated both in the context of group seminars and private instruction. The seminar meetings range from discussions of aesthetics to the practicalities of forging a career as a creative artist. Guests from outside the university are frequently invited to make presentations of their work.
Special Studies: Object, Sculpture, Instrument
MUSIC-GA 2198, Section 003
Mondays 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM
Instructor: Jaime Oliver
Course Description: The aim of this course is to find critical ways to engage with “objects” in music and sound art. One of these ways will consist in creating an object (instrument, sculpture, instrument-extension, media?) during the semester that works as a physical instantiation of your research and/or as an artistic statement. On the scholarly side, we will attempt to address both conceptually and critically when and how do objects become instruments or sculptures? And to understand what kinds of objects are art objects, sound objects, sound sculptures, musical instruments, and so on… On the practical side, you will be encouraged to create an object yourself. Depending on your project and interests, and independently of any specific prior knowledge you may have, I will try to tailor the contents of the course so that we can learn about specific techniques or theories that are relevant to your projects, or that shed light to our research in class. Potential subjects include digital and analog electronics (for audio and otherwise), cassettes and tapes, motors and gears, computer programming, the Raspberry Pi microcomputer, the arduino microcontroller, and digital fabrication techniques like 3d printing (plastic parts), and CNC milling (to cut woods and metals), potentially even woodworking, and others you may be interested in pursuing! This does not mean you should know any of these techniques prior to this class, but only that you are interested in working with them. As a means to combine both approaches and provide feedback on our projects, we will have a few artist and scholar talks and, covid-permitting, site visits to the MET Musical Instrument Collection and the Murtogh D. Guinness Collection of mechanical musical instruments and automata.
Special Studies: Academic Writing and Research Methods
MUSIC-GA 2198, Section 004
Tuesdays 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM
Instructor: Christine Dang
Course Description: This seminar focuses on individual student projects, with particular emphasis on writing skills. We will explore different modes of academic writing, and think about the ways in which writerly choices influence and are influenced by research subjects and methods; writing and research, therefore, will be viewed as dependent on each other. In seeking models for our writing and research, we will read academic scholarship; but we will also branch out to non-academic literature. The bulk of the seminar will be dedicated to practical workshops. We will work on constructing better sentences, paragraphs, arguments, and essays. We will also survey standard academic genres, such as the paper abstract, dissertation proposal, fellowship application, journal article, and full-length monograph or dissertation. Finally, we will discuss writing and scholarship for digital communication—for blog posts, podcasts, online forums, websites, tweets, TikTok videos, and other social media.
Special Studies: Musical Value
MUSIC-GA 2198, Section 005
Thursdays 4:00 PM - 6:00 PM
Instructor: David Samuels
Course Description: This course brings together writings on esthetics with writings on value, in order to explore the idea of musical value. What kind of value accrues to musical labor and musical goods? Why do we think of music as having value at all? We begin by refracting three classic conceptions of value—Marx’s distinction between use value and exchange value, Mauss’s notion of the gift, and Saussure’s concept of valeur as a form of sign exchange. We follow these by engaging with theories that attempt to codify, upset, or move beyond these lineages. Ultimately, the seminar’s goal is to begin to create for ourselves a theory of musical and esthetic value that does not simply pit economics against morals.
Reading and Research
MUSIC-GA 3119, Section 001
Independent study with a faculty supervisor. Must have the approval of the director of graduate studies and the proposed supervisor.
Reading and Research
MUSIC-GA 3119, Section 002
Independent study with a faculty supervisor. Must have the approval of the director of graduate studies and the proposed supervisor.