PART ONE: A HISTORICAL OVERVIEW OF THE DISCIPLINE
Week One
January 8: First day of class scutwork. Overview of purpose and expectations of the course. Introduction to the nature and background of the field.
Historical overview and early stages of the field, connections with early ethnology
January 9: "In the beginning, there was bad science . . ." The origins of Ethnology and comparative musicology.
1. Stephen Jay Gould, “Introduction,” and “American Polygeny and Craniometry,” in The Mismeasure of Man (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1996): 51-104.
Week Two
January 14:
2. Bruno Nettl, “The Art of Combining Tones,” “Inspiration and Gymnastics,” “Non-Universal Language,” and “Apples and Oranges,” in The Study of Ethnomusicology: Twenty-nine Issues and Concepts (University of Illinois Press: Urbana , 1983): 15-64.
The rise of comparative musicology, “comparative musical science,” in Europe. Theories of Cultural Evolutionary Stages applied to musical expression. Toward conceptions of ethnomusicology as a distinct discipline.
January 16:
3. Alexander Ellis, “On the Scales of Various Nations.” Journal of the Society of Arts 33 (1885): 485-527, 1102-11.
4. Francis Densmore, “The Study of Indian Music.” Musical Quarterly 1 (1915): 187-97.
Week Three
January 21: MLK Day: No Class
January 23: The formation of a discipline. Is Ethnomusicology a discipline or an interest area?
5. Willard Rhodes, “On the Subject of Ethno-musicology.” Ethno-musicology Newsletter 1, no.1 (1956): 1-9.
(Mantle Hood, “The Challenge of ‘Bi-Musicality.’” Ethnomusicology 4:2 (1960):55-59. (Available through download on JSTOR)
6. George List, “Ethnomusicology: A Discipline Defined.” Ethnomusicology 23:1 (1979): 1-4.
Week Four
January 28: Video: “Save our Songs”
7. Wendy Wickwire, “Theories of Ethnomusicology and the North American Indian: Retrospective and Critique.” Canadian University Music Review 33 (1985): 186-221.
January 30: Session on Library and Ethnomusicology Archive resources.
Week Five
PART TWO: FIELDWORK METHODS AND THEIR IMPLICATIONS.
For this part of the course, each student will complete a basic fieldwork project, creating a family “Songprint”. A short summation of this project will be presented to the class on an assigned date, using a template provided by the instructor. We will also read together and discuss selected portions of the book The Hidden Musicians: Music Making in an English Town.
February 4: Lecture and discussion of the concept of fieldwork and family “Songprints.”
Summary I (readings 1-7 plus Hood) due
8. Judith Vander, “Preface,” in Songprints: The Musical Experience of Five Shoshone Women (Urbana: University of Chicago Press, 1988).
The Hidden Musicians: 3-32.
February 6:
9. Timothy Rice, “Toward a Mediation of Field Methods and Field Experience,” in Ethnomusicology,” in Shadows in the Field: New Perspectives for Fieldwork in Ethnomusicology (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997): 101-120.
10. James Clifford, “On Ethnographic Authority,” in The Predicament of Culture: Twentieth-Century Ethnography, Literature, and Art (Cambridge, Massachusetts and London: Harvard University Press, 1988).
The Hidden Musicians: 33-77.
Week Six
February 11:
11. Mary Louise Pratt, “Fieldwork in Common Places,” in Writing Culture: The Poetics and Politics of Ethnography, James Clifford and George E. Marcus, ed. (Berkeley: The University of California Press, 1986).
12. Anthony Seeger, “Ethnography of Music” in Ethnomusicology: An Introduction (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1992): 88-109.
The Hidden Musicians: 78-130.
February 13: Video, “Songhunter” (on Alan Lomax) with Helen Rees leading discussion.
Week Seven
February 18: President’s Day Holiday
February 20: Research and writing basics: choosing topics, research basics, and organizing your paper. Also note forms, bibliographies, and suggestions for improving your writing.
Summary II Due (readings 9-12)
Final paper—bibliographic essay-- prospectus due
Week Eight
February 25: Songprint presentations
Feburary 27: Songprint presentations
Week Nine:
March 3: Songprint presentations
PART THREE: CURRENT ISSUES IN ETHNOMUSICOLOGY.
March 5: Notions of the "Insider" and "Outsider" Perspectives. Non-Western approaches to Ethnomusicology.
13. Alan Downer, with Alexandra Roberts, Harris Francis, and Klara B. Kelley, “Traditional History and Alternative Concepts of the Past,” in Conserving Culture: A New Discourse on Heritage, Mary Hufford, ed. (Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1994).
(Melonee Burnim, “Culture Bearer and Tradition Bearer: An Ethnomusicologist’s Research on Gospel Music.” Ethnomusicology 29/3, 1985: 432-447. (download through JSTOR)
Short Report on The Hidden Musicians due.
Week Ten
March 10:
14. Tara Browner, “Making and Singing Pow-wow Songs: Text, Form, and the Significance of Culture-Based Analysis,” Ethnomusicology 44, no.2, Spring/Summer 2000: 214-233.
15. Ted Solis, “Introduction: Teaching What Cannot Be Taught,” in Performing Ethnomusicology: Teaching and Representation in World Music Ensembles (Berkeley and Los Angeles; University of California Press, 2004), 1-19.
March 12: Martin Stokes, "Music and the Global Order." Annual Review of Anthropology 33 (2004): 47-72. (available for download through proxy server).
Finals Week
Final projects and summary III (readings 13-15 plus Burnim and Stokes) due in my box in the main office by 5:00 p.m., Thursday March 20, 2008.