Music

This course offers an introduction to the Haegeum (the 2-string Korean fiddle). While learning to play this instrument, students deepen their understanding of Korean traditional music.

The course critically evaluates rock music's musical content and contemporary cultural and social roles; ideally, the course serves to develop your general intellectual capacities of the music industry from the 1950s to 1960s (the so-called "rock and roll" era, arguably the most turbulent yet important period in popular music history). It's NOT a music course, per se, but we are listening to a lot of music as we consider the effects of recorded sound on popular culture. Thus, this is the quintessential "media and culture" course. We study the origin and growth of the recording industry and music business, consider the impact new technology had (and continues to have) on the development of popular music and examine the mutual influence between rock music and other media (film, television, radio, etc.). Following a loose chronology, we begin with an introduction to listening and some musical fundamentals, gradually developing a vocabulary with which to discuss and experience selected works from the history of rock. We trace the evolution of specific musical styles and investigate issues related to culture, performance, technology, and reception. Reading assignments introduce the distinct musical styles, performers, and works that comprise each genre and a certain time period. They also cover the relationship of rock music to American and global popular culture, historical representation, and authenticity.

The course explores music, performance, and ideas—familiar and not so familiar—from around the world. We explore musical forms and cultures, using examples of different types of music and case studies from different parts of the world. The course is based on recognition of human and musical diversity, of the diversity of ideas about music and its functions in society. Therefore, one of the primary goals of the class is to learn concepts and methods for listening to and watching musical performance, and understanding musical culture generally.

This course introduces different world music of each continent with their cultural backgrounds. Each civilization in its personal background has developed its personal culture and made diverse color from it. Between all those culture circumstances, music is the one which shows clearly this nature. To understand a specific music, we have to know all about the civilization of this music but understanding the music first, gives the occasion to know more easily the different civilization. Audio visual materials will be used to have a large view of the world and to understand the universality and the difference of several civilizations. A tour from Africa, West Indies, Oceania, America, Southern Europe, Northern Europe, Eastern Europe, Arab, Central Asia, Southern Asia, Southeast Asia, Japan·China of the Far East Asia and to Korea completes the term.