MUS 559 World Music
A study of the indigenous musics of Native America, Africa, India, East Asia, Indonesia, and Latin America. After acquiring a knowledge of basic musical elements such as rhythm, tempo, dynamics, and melody, students go on to investigate a variety of music-cultures, examining not only the music itself but also its meaning and role in the definition of society, ritual, and history. A field research project allows students to draw on their musical backgrounds to identify and document a music-culture within their own scope of experience. Open to students in the University Honors Program (for whom the course is cross listed as HSMU 459), to upper-class undergraduate students with a G.P.A. of 3.5 or better, and to graduate students. For music and non-music majors. Students need not know how to read music.