UCLA Department of Ethnomusicology

Objectives:

The purpose of this course is to provide incoming graduate students with the basic skills for research on and about music that will be essential to their careers as ethnomusicologists. Ethnomusicology is primarily--although not exclusively--a word-based discipline about acoustic phenomena and their related social practices. Basic expertise in the nature of sound, its representation, and the multimedia sources available for doing and presenting research on it are essential components of professional training, research, and publication. All ethnomusicologists require a basic understanding of acoustics, the ability to represent sounds in various graphic forms appropriate to them, and the ability locate and organize information sources related to the field of ethnomusicology.  Regardless of the directions of the specific research project of the students, information technology skills, acoustics, and representational tools for non-linguistic acoustic phenomena are essential skills.

The course will meet once a week for three hours. Classes will be devoted to a combination of lecture, demonstration, and practice.  Each section of the course will have its own readings and assignment.  Students have an opportunity to use all of the skills in other courses they will be taking in following quarters, and may follow up on the basics presented in this course by pursuing them in other seminars or on their own.

This syllabus is subject to change, and the faculty reserve the right to do so if they deem it necessary.

Grading:
Participation in discussion                        10%
Assignments 1-6                                     10% each
Final Presentation                                    30%
(Includes actual presentation and essay)

Attendance
You have one “free” (although it must be accepted by faculty) absence without penalty, to cover such situations as illness, family emergencies, etc.  Your second absence will result in a 10% drop in your final grade, and your third another 10% drop. Remember that in Graduate School, any grade less than a B- is considered a failing grade.

Books and Hardware:

The following books and materials will be required:
Thomas Mann. The Oxford Guide to Library Research. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005.

Carole Slade and Robert Perrin. Form and Style (thirteenth edition). Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2008.

A minimum 1 gig flash drive.

The following book is recommended:
The Chicago Manual of Style (15th edition). Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press, 2003.

Selections from the following will be required, and available either on reserve in the Music Library or on the web:

Jennifer Post. Ethnomusicology, a Research and Information Guide. New York: Routledge, 2003.

Managing Intellectual Property: What Faculty Need to Know to Publish and Teach in the Digital Age," http://www2.library.ucla.edu/symposium/

Murray Campbell and Clive Greated. The Musician’s Guide To Acoustics. Oxford:  Oxford University Press, 2002.

Other readings may be added as needed.

 Assignments:

1. Abstract 500--250--100 words
2. Musical Instrument article abstract
3. Finale assignment: Beginning and advanced.
4. Assignment 4: Create a data CD
5. Archive assignment 
6. Bibliographic forms assignment
7. The Final assignment is a bibliographic essay of 8-10 pages, summarizing
prior work done so far on a topic of the student's choice (which should
relate to the topic of their abstract),  presented with Power Point to class.

 Week I:  Introduction to the course

Science and Technology - Linking frames of reference:  A brief overview
of the philosophy of musical science.  Discussion of the future re information technology (YouTube examples).

Short Introduction to Power Point for beginners

Assignment 1: Write an abstract of the type you would submit to a conference in three lengths: 500 words, 300 words, and 100 words. This abstract should relate to what will be the topic of your final presentation, although it does not have to be an abstract of your final presentation.

Books of old conference abstracts are available in the archive to serve as examples.

Week II: Basics of musical signals
Assignment 1 draft due for discussion & sharing

Basics of musical signals (presented audio/visually):
              A.  Frequency-pitch (cents and tuning)
            B.  Amplitude-loudness (decibel)
            C.  Spectrum-timbre (spectral centroid and envelope)
            D.  Time-duration

Reading:  Campbell and Greated, Chapter 1, 1-26; Chapter 3, 70 -81, 88-100; Chapter 5 183-187.

Week III: Acoustics
Final version of assignment 1 due

Analog and digital relationships.
            A.  Sampling and sampling rate.
            B.  Practical considerations in technology of digital sound.

Musical Sound compression.
            A.  Overview of hearing and the genesis of perceptually compressed
sound.
            B.  Relationship of compressed sound to traditional CDs.
            C.  The future.

Reading:  Campbell and Greated, Chapter 2, 39-62
Reading:  DVD Demystified and online examples, TBA.

Assignment 2:  Find one article with acoustical analysis of instruments, tuning, and/ or spectrum.  Provide a one to two page abstract of this article.  Discuss strengths and limitations of the approach relative to both scientific reliability and ecological validity.

Week IV:  Graphic representations of sound - software options

Assignment 2 Due

Presentation of several options for representing musical sounds.  Students will describe the system they use, and students unfamiliar with them will have an opportunity to work with them.  Introduction to using Finale and/or Sibelius software programs.

Assignment 3: Beginning students will be given a basic Finale assignment, and those self-identified as having more advanced skills in Finale or Sibelius will be given the advanced assigmnet, and may begin their work during the lecture (in the side room).

Hour three will be a special lecture by renowned ethnomusicologist Jonathan Stock. Attendance for all is mandatory.

Week V: Audio and Visual File formats, and advanced Power Point

File Formats for audio and visual use. Perceptual coding conversions for use on CD, data vs video DVD and Power Point.  Adding media to Powerpoint.           

Assignment 4:  Relative to your topic area for bibliographic research, collect media examples in audio and video.  Prepare a *data* CD and data DVD with audio and video examples that are tied to your library research of textual materials.  CD examples should be in both .wav and in mp3 compressed format.  Real audio may also be included for future formatting for the web.

Week VI: Information Management – Begin basic principles of libraries & searches

Assignment 3 is due this week.

Reading: Thomas Mann, The Oxford Guide to Library Research, pp xiii- 109
Introduction to archival and library research. Introduction to Digital resources.
Archive visit   (1st hour)

Assignment 5: Quickly run through the folders of the Willard Rhodes collection in the archive, making notes covering the American Indian materials only. Organize and summarize these notes into a useful outline. Remember, archive materials may not leave archives, so these notes must serve as your “memory” of what is there (4-5 pages).

Week VII:  Information Management - Resources in Ethnomusicology in print and online.
Reading: Thomas Mann, The Oxford Guide to Library Research, pp.110-250
 Jennifer Post, Ethnomusicology, a Research and Information Guide, selected sections.
Advanced digital resources presentation by librarian.

Assignment 4 is due this week

Assignment 5 is due this week

Multimedia components for final projects:  Review of media in powerpoint.  CD and DVD to accompany final project as well:  DVD with subtitle documentation.

Week VIII: Introduction to quotation styles (direct and indirect), note forms, bibliographic styles, tables, and figures.
Readings: Carole Slade, Form and Style, chapters 3, 5, and 7.

Assignment 6: Given a “works cited” list in British (RMA format), revise into author/date format and either APA or Chicago Manual of Style format. This file will be sent to you as a Word Document via e-mail during class.

Week IX: Intellectual Property

Winnowing information, evaluating sources, cross-checking availability, and managing copyright as a user and producer of knowledge. Reading: Jennifer Post, Ethnomusicology: A Research Information Guide on audio, video, and multimedia resources;  "Managing Intellectual Property: What Faculty Need to Know to Publish and Teach in the Digital Age," http://www2.library.ucla.edu/symposium/

Tying up any loose ends.

Assignment 6 due

Week X:  Student presentations of their bibliographic essays with PP and accompanying documentary DVD and media files, including DVD with subtitle documentation elements.

Assignment 7 due  (as presentation) with electronic copy of media examples sent to Professor Kendall, and hard copy of essay sent to Professor Browner by 5pm, Wednesday of finals week.