World Music (MUSL 160)

Lullabies, children's games, wedding marches, rice-pounding songs, religious chants, national anthems, resistance hymns, folk songs, Afro pop, rap, polkas--styles and forms of musical expression are as diverse as the peoples that produce them. People all over the world make sounds they consider musical. Often musical sounds are unifying badges to one another and to "other" neighbors.

MUSL 160 offers an introductory survey to some of the many ways and contexts in which people make music in different parts of the world. A select number of music cultures will be drawn upon to demonstrate the assertion that basic indigenous concepts underlie musical traditions throughout the world. Students will listen to, read about, and discuss how some of the world's peoples produce music, what they consider musical (and what they do not), and how making music is a part of both individual and communal social lives. Musical cultures from which materials will be drawn include North America/Black America, Asia/Indonesia, Africa/Uganda, India/South India, and North America/Native America.

"Great ability to spark the students' interest. Greg Barz's knowledge of the subject is unparalleled, and this is shown through his lectures and discussions."
--former student, on a course evaluation form

Credit?
Arts and Science--CPLE humanities
Engineering--humanities
Peabody--humanities

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