Music

In this course, students engage with fundamental principles of sound creation and manipulation though exploration of sound design practices in a range of contexts including game sound, virtual reality and other interactive media, film, TV, radio, theater, and live sound applications. By examining the work of influential sound design practitioners, students explore sound design methodologies and techniques. This includes field recording, synthesis, multichannel spatialization, Foley, and the manipulation of sound recordings using DAWs and analog recording devices to achieve a desired aesthetic.

As a global conflict impacting society and culture, the Cold War poses a unique challenge for Musical historiography. While historians concentrate on the „superpowers“, the USA and the Soviet Union, the developing field of Cold War studies is emphasising the importance of smaller countries caught between west and east governments. With this expansion and new focus of our perspective, we are revising and pluralising our historiographical methods to make the dynamic national/historical borders of the Cold War more visible. The course uses the approach of political musical history to conceptualise the era. At the same time we also study broader Cold War history and new perspectives on national/international musical historiography.

This course explores the profound connection between music and migration in shaping Berlin's diverse cultural scene. Focusing on key historical events, it unveils the complex factors influencing Berlin's music evolution. The city's history of attracting global artists, notably during periods of political upheaval, commenced with forced migrations in the 1930s and 1940s. The post-World War II era and the Berlin Wall's construction in 1961 further shaped the city's cultural dynamics, while the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 marked a pivotal moment, drawing a new wave of musicians and contributing to the city's globalized music scene. Electronic music thrived in the 1990s, utilizing abandoned industrial spaces for iconic techno parties. Contemporary migrations significantly enrich Berlin's musical influences, leading to hybrid music forms. World music, fusion, and cross-genre collaborations are prevalent, showcasing Berlin's reputation as a creative haven attracting musicians seeking an open environment, with clubs and venues fostering community and collaboration. The seminar series includes participation in the Fête de la Musique, offering students a real-world glimpse into Berlin's dynamic music scene. This festival becomes a platform for student projects, allowing them to analyze performances, interview musicians, and explore the festival's role in promoting cultural diversity in Berlin's music landscape.

This course is an interdisciplinary study of how societies and different generations respond to the invention of the piano. Students learn the social history of the piano throughout the past three centuries, canvassing a wide array of performers, composers, supporters, manufacturers, heroes, politicians, teachers and students. Various expressions of ideologies from differing periods eventually revolutionized and effectuated the versatility of the piano, shaping a legacy which led to the globalization of the piano, including China. Students learn through lectures, readings, discussions, listening, playing, and attend piano recitals and masterclasses.

This course explores the various genres of keyboard music throughout history and the composers who have gained widespread popularity, and also examines the works of those who have received less attention. Topics include variation sets, preludes, fugues, suites, studies, and single-movement works. Students think critically about the significance and evolution of each genre over time. This course is for students who can read Western Classical music notation fluently (particularly in bass and treble clefs). Students may contact the instructor and state their prior experience with music to ascertain if this course will be feasible for them.

In this course we want to explore together how German music changes and which historical contexts are reflected in popular music. We will look at selected artists and songs from German music history and discuss their cultural and musicological meanings. The course deals with German music history and its most formative works. The focus is on the period from 1920 to the present. The aim is to bring together historical developments with their manifestations music and to discuss which changes, especially in popular music, can be identified and analyzed musicologically. We will look at compositions, song lyrics and historical backgrounds in order to gain an understanding of the developments that led us to the forms of contemporary German music.

This course provides readings on Musicological fieldwork theory and practice, considering different approaches to writing musical ethnographies. During the second half of the term, students are expected to participate in several fieldwork trips in Tokyo, later writing up the results as a group project. Students are expected to have taken several music and/or anthropology courses at ICU.   

This course examines the history of music-making in Japan from the 20th century onward. By considering genres such as Western classical music, jazz, and pop genres, as well as new innovations based on Japanese traditions, it considers how modernity and Westernization have influenced Japan’s musical culture. 

The course includes topics such as: School songs; Japanese composers in Western music idioms; Japanese pop music, etc. It also considers the intersections of music with questions of gender, politics and other societal issues. 
 

This course examines the role and purpose of music for individuals and communities, and the ways people engage with music to regulate their mood and emotions in ways that reinforce their overall wellbeing.

What is the Chinese poetry? Why is it called “shige (literally, song-word)”? How does it imagine a lyrical way to express the individual feelings or the collective narrations about the body, life, nature and the universe of the Chinese people? Through a cross-cultural perspective, this course is intended to help foreign students understand, appreciate and experience the beauty of classical Chinese poetry, especially its unique tradition of musicality. This is a taught course over 16 weeks through the spring term. Class time will consist of lectures, poetry readings, seminars, discussions, with a workshop and a poetry recital where appropriate. Students are asked to join all the activities.

The course will lead you to explore Shijing (The Book of Songs) & The Lyrics of Chuci (The Lyrics of Chu) in pre-Qin peroid, Yuefu (Music Bureau Poems) in the Han Dynasty, “Nineteen Old Poems”, Shi Poetry in the Tang Dynasty, Ci Poetry in the Song Dynasty, and Qu Poetry in the Yuan Dynasty.

The course creatively combines poetic criticism with poetry performance by integrating the theoretical methods of Chinese poetics, musicology and vocal performance. The course aims to help students enjoyably and engagingly overcome language and cultural barriers, to experience the charm and the profundity of the Chinese language and culture by reciting and chanting the classical Chinese poems.