Syllabus
Course description: This course surveys living musical genres in China, including traditional, religious, popular, and art musics. We analyze the musics in terms of technical musical features, look at the social and political context in which they exist, and examine ideologies associated with them. Course reader: This may be obtained from Course Reader Material, located at 1137 Westwood Blvd. (just north of Wilshire Blvd.). Tel. 310/443-3303. Digital audio reserves: These may be accessed by going to the Music Library website (http://www.library.ucla.edu/libraries/music/), finding "Listen Online," and under that heading, "Online listening reserves." Then locate our class number. The password will be given out in class. Listen to the example(s) relevant to each class before the class meets, so you know what the music sounds like. I shall point out the relevant examples as we go along. Attendance: More than three absences from class after your official enrollment will result in an automatic failing grade, unless you provide a doctor's note attesting to illness. Chinese-language sources: If anyone in the class reads Chinese fluently enough and is interested, please ask me to recommend additional Chinese-language sources for you to read. Grading: For all elements of the course except the two "drop-the-needle" exams, I grade using letter grades. The percentage equivalents are: A+ (=100%), A (95%), A- (90%), B+ (88%), B (85%), B- (80%), C+ (78%), C (75%), C- (70%), D+ (68%), D (65%), D- (60%), F (under 60%). The first "drop-the-needle" exam is graded out of 10 points, the second out of 20. TIMETABLE N.B. The instructor reserves the right to make minor changes to this syllabus. "CR" refers to "Course Reader." Readings should be read BEFORE the class for which they are listed, in order to allow informed discussion. Bring the course reader to class with you, as we shall often refer to it in class. You should keep a reading diary as we proceed through the course. For each reading, you should make an entry that notes any major points, together with queries and comments you may have on it. There are two main purposes for the reading diary: (a) to help you focus on major data and issues as you read, by encouraging you to write them down; (b) to facilitate class discussion. Week 1, Monday 7 January: introduction/musical instruments Week 1, Wednesday 9 January: instrumental ensembles (1)/cipher notation Week 2, Monday 14 January: instrumental ensembles (2) Week 2, Wednesday 16 January: gongchepu and transmission Week 3, Monday 21 January: Martin Luther King Jr. Day—no class Week 3, Wednesday 23 January: Cantonese music and the modern Chinese orchestra Week 4, Monday 28 January: the qin and its tablature, and the zheng Week 4, Wednesday 30 January: the pipa; Communist arts theory and the development of a modern dizi repertoire; Confucian aesthetics and the Confucian sacrifice Week 5, Monday 4 February: China's participation in UNESCO's "Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity" Week 5, Wednesday 6 February: erhu and percussion ensembles SATURDAY 9 FEBRUARY: Golden Dragon Parade, Chinatown, Los Angeles N.b. the classes on 11 and 13 February deal with three traditional genres of vocal music. The assignment (#3) comes at the end and invites you to compare and contrast them. Thus it is vital that you take notes on each reading as you do it BEFORE the class for which it is set, so that you can clarify the similarities and differences during class discussion. Week 6, Monday 11 February: "drop the needle exam" #1, folksong and narrative song (shuochang) Week 6, Wednesday 13 February: opera Week 7, Monday 18 February: Presidents' Day—no class Week 7, Wednesday 20 February: vocal music in propaganda and political controversy Week 8, Monday 25 February: Yunnan Province Week 8, Wednesday 27 February: popular music Week 9, Monday 3 March: Western-influenced art music in China Week 9, Wednesday 5 March: "drop-the-needle" exam #2/ideology in unexpected places Week 10, Monday 10 March: current issues Week 10, Wednesday 12 March: puppets in China REQUIREMENTS FOR UNDERGRADUATES MAJORING IN ETHNOMUSICOLOGY, MUSIC, MUSICOLOGY, AND FOR OTHER STUDENTS WHO READ MUSIC FLUENTLY AND ELECT THIS OPTION 1. Assignments (30%): There are three of these. Each is worth 10% of the grade. These must be done by their due dates. If because of ill health or family emergency you are unable to complete one on time, you must let me know by email or phone within 24 hours of the due date, and provide documentation of your situation; otherwise, you will lose one grade per working day. For example, if an assignment is worth an A but comes in one day late without prompt good explanation, it will be graded as an A-. If it is two days late it will be graded as a B+, and so on. All assignments must be handed in IN HARD COPY IN CLASS—I do not take them as email attachments. 2. "Drop-the-needle" exams (30%). The first of these, to be taken on Monday 11 February, will be worth 10% and will consist of the identification of 10 listening excerpts from our digital audio reserves. The second of these, to be taken on Wednesday 5 March, will be worth 20% of the final grade. There will be 15 excerpts to identify, ten of which will be from our digital audio reserves, and five of which will be closely related to examples from the audio reserves, and which you will have to identify as closely as possible. I shall give you plenty of practice with ungraded in-class tests to get you comfortable with this well before the exams. If you miss either exam through ill health or family/personal emergency, you must inform me by email or phone within 24 hours so that a make-up can be scheduled. Documentation of the excuse will be required. Missing the exams for any other reason is not acceptable, and make-ups will not be given. 3. 8-10-page research paper (40%), to be handed in IN HARD COPY IN CLASS on Wednesday 5 March. If because of ill health or family emergency you are unable to complete this on time, you must let me know by email or phone within 24 hours of the due date, and provide documentation of your situation; otherwise, you will lose one grade per working day. You must inform me via email by Wednesday 16 January which of the following three options you are selecting, and you are strongly encouraged to come to my office hours during the quarter in order to run drafts of the paper past me. (a) If you are concurrently enrolled in 91D or 191D (Prof. Chi Li's "Music of China" ensemble class), you may keep a diary of your lessons and the group's activities in which you participate, and write this up into an extended paper. If you pick this option, you need to meet with me to discuss the content and structure of such a paper. (b) You may attend and document the Golden Dragon Parade for Chinese New Year that is being held in Los Angeles' downtown Chinatown on Saturday 9 February, and write up an ethnographic account of the activities you witness. We shall be discussing this upcoming parade in the Wednesday class before it, when I shall be handing out tips on what to look out for and how to write up a paper on this topic. If you select this option, you should be prepared to take a camera with you to the parade, and to include photographs in your paper. (c) You may select two CDs of music of China and/or ethnic groups found on and across its borders on which to write two 4-5-page critiques. CDs you can choose from are the following, all available at the Ethnomusicology Archive. If you have previously taken ESM 20C and used one of these for that class, obviously you should pick different CDs for this class. N.b. Participation in class discussion is also very important, and may make the difference for students who are borderline between grades. Participation is, of course, only possible if you actually attend class. Chinese-speaking students should ask me about Chinese-language readings they can do instead of or in addition to some of the class readings. REQUIREMENTS FOR OTHER NON-MAJOR UNDERGRADUATES 1. You will be expected to complete only assignment #3 (the comparison and contrast of the three major traditional vocal genres). This will comprise 10% of your final grade. 2. 20% of your grade will be based on an individual small project tailored to your particular interests. (For example, if you are particularly interested in the politics of Taiwan's relations with the PRC, you might wish to write a 5-page report on a major recent book, Nancy Guy's Peking Opera and Politics in Taiwan [Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2005].) Please discuss with me what you would like to do for this project. 3. I will not expect you to show the same level of technical musical analysis in the drop-the-needle exams and other written work as the majors. REQUIREMENTS FOR GRADUATE STUDENTS MAJORING IN ETHNOMUSICOLOGY, MUSIC, MUSICOLOGY, AND FOR OTHER STUDENTS WHO READ MUSIC FLUENTLY AND ELECT THIS OPTION 1. Assignments (30%): complete assignments #1-3, as for undergraduates. 2. The two drop-the-needle exams (30%): as for undergraduates. 3. 20-30-page research paper on a topic of your choice, to be agreed in advance with me, no later than Wednesday 16 January (40%). Professional standards of organization, citation, and style apply (use the journal Ethnomusicology as your model). The paper is due in on Wednesday 5 March. N.b. Participation in class discussion is also very important, and may make the difference for students who are borderline between grades. Chinese-speaking students should ask me about Chinese-language readings they can do instead of or in addition to some of the class readings. REQUIREMENTS FOR OTHER NON-MAJOR GRADUATE STUDENTS 1. You will be expected to complete only assignment #3 (the comparison and contrast of the three major traditional vocal genres). This will comprise 10% of your final grade. 2. 20% of your grade will be based on an individual small project tailored to your particular interests. (For example, if you are particularly interested in the politics of Taiwan's relations with the PRC, you might wish to write a 5-page report on a major recent book, Nancy Guy's Peking Opera and Politics in Taiwan [Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2005].) Please discuss with me what you would like to do for this project. 3. I will not expect you to show the same level of technical musical analysis in the drop-the-needle exams and other written work as the majors. OTHER POINTS TO NOTE 2. If you need to miss a class or exam because of religious holidays, or you are registered with OSD as requiring assistance, please inform me in the first week, and I shall be happy to help. 3. Please note that in the written assignments you need to proof-read carefully in order to ensure that your grammar, spelling, punctuation, and use of vocabulary are accurate—while we all create typos from time to time, serious lapses will result in a lowering of the grade (e.g. A to A-), and/or you may be asked to rewrite. It is also important to provide citations when you quote sources or refer to the text. This holds even when only one source is being used. Furthermore, citations of paper sources must ALWAYS give page numbers. It is not sufficient to list sources consulted at the end of a paper—citations should identify the source of data where appropriate in the paper itself. I suggest that you use standard author-date-page citation style as found in the journal Ethnomusicology. If you would like a reliable model of this style, consult the "References Cited" list and in-text citation style of my own article in the fall 2002 issue of Ethnomusicology. If you prefer MLA style, that is fine instead, but you must be consistent. Please consult me in advance if you are unsure of how to do citations correctly, or if you have questions about writing style. Any advice I give in advance of an assignment or report's due date will not count against you. 4. Plagiarism and other forms of cheating will not be tolerated. Please consult the website of the Office of the Dean of Students for information (http://www.deanofstudents.ucla.edu/integrity.html). Ways to cite sources are illustrated elsewhere on the website for this class, under the heading "Citing Sources."
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