Music 3348 (3 credits)
Spring Semester
GEL: Visual and Performing Arts (VPA), Global Studies (GS)
GEN: Migration, Mobility and Immobility Theme (MT)
Prerequisites: English 1110 (110) or equiv. Not open to students with credit for 348.
Please consult Class Search to confirm course meeting times, locations and delivery mode.
Course Description
This course examines a variety of situations in which music “moves” — that is, the ways musicians or music travel away from their points of origin into politically and culturally distant places. This process is commonly known as “cultural globalization.” We will consider how music is transmitted from one place to another and how its styles and meanings can change in a new geographical context. We will think about the processes by which hybrid styles are created, and we will consider the human aspirations involved in assimilating to a new culture or preserving one’s heritage. We will also examine the impact of technology on musical globalization, considering the similarities and differences between situations in which music moves with its makers and situations in which it is “sent” via recordings or broadcast media. Our topics of study will include the music of the Roma (Gypsies), the African diaspora in the Americas, American popular musics in Eastern Europe and East Asia, the use of music as a propaganda tool and vehicle of protest during the Cold War, and the interaction of European classical music with musics of other lands.