Music: Intro World Music Cultures

Survey of selected traditional, popular, and classical music cultures from around the globe (Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, Middle East, Latin America, etc.) through readings, recordings, demonstrations.

Asynchronous online

This asynchronous course explores music of around the world, specifically sub-Saharan Africa, India, Indonesia, Japan, Latin America, the Middle East and Native America. Students use the study of this music to develop a greater understanding of each culture. Further insight into the music comes through supplemental readings, recordings, and video from commercial sources as well as the teacher's private collection.

You will do one unit per week, starting with Music Fundamentals. There are seven units, but you are only required to do five of them and you can do them in whatever order you'd like. So while you’ll all start with Music Fundamentals, one person might then do India, while another might start with Africa. One person might decide to skip the music of Indonesia or Japan, while another might skip Middle Eastern or Native American music. No matter what path you chose, you will inevitably have to tackle music that is unfamiliar to you. Please keep an open mind, be respectful, and realize that someone in another part of the world cherishes this music as much as you cherish your favorite music. That doesn’t mean you have to like all the music – just be open to what you can learn from it, and the insight you can gain of the people from another culture by studying it.

Fundamentals Test: 10% Unit Tests: 50% (10% each) Listening Journal: 5% Writing Assignments: 35% [These are from Summer 2023 and subject to change for Summer 2024]