Music

The course examines the relationship between the historical, aesthetic, and social dimensions of the Latin American popular music in the 20th century and its impact on Chile today. Topics include: african roots; european heritage; authorial trends.

This course examines various aspects of the relation between music and the mind and emotions, including how humans came to be musical; how people listen to, understand, and perform music; why we listen to and make music.

This course introduces the field of ethnomusicology. In order to do this, it explores major concepts that have shaped the core of ethnomusicological studies. The course examines issues such as music and identity (ethnic, gender, racial), music and politics, music and ritual, musical roots, change and preservation, globalization, field research, transcription and musical instrument classification. In the course, students think, talk, and write about how and why people make music, as well as how and how ethnomusicologists go about their work. Students undertake a group fieldwork projects that contribute to a class-wide fieldwork project.

This class introduces the history and literatures of Western music from medieval times to the late 20th century. Students study, discuss, and write about the people and the factors (artistic, intellectual, social, technical) that were and are Western music’s agents of change. On completion of this class, students are able to: Identify key musical works, genres, and styles drawn from Western music history; Discuss key contexts and socio-cultural factors that are relevant to developments in Western music, including pop music and classical music; Become familiar with key terms and concepts used in writing about music; Learn about basic reference and writing tools, including online tools, of relevance to the study of music; Write clearly and with critical insight on a variety of topics relating to Western music.