Music in Japan from Ghibli to Gagaku
MUSC 132F
Fall 2023 not offered
|
Like Japanese culture in general, Japan's music has been stereotyped both as simultaneously very old/traditional and very modern/Western, a dichotomy that fails to take into account the many rich layers of history that have combined to create the landscape we see today. This course will walk through several different genres and periods in the history of Japanese music, exploring its relations with its other East Asian neighbors as well as with Western cultures. Students will be able both to become more deeply familiar with types of music that they may have heard before, and to get to know new repertories that may be more unfamiliar.
In order to proceed from the more to the less known, the course will move in backward chronological order, beginning with recent music that most of us have heard somewhere or other, like the soundtracks to Studio Ghibli films and Mario games. From there we will move deeper back into the twentieth century, examining the postwar rock and enka that gave rise to more familiar recent ones, and from there to the symphonic music and gunka that accompanied Japan's turn to colonial empire in the late nineteenth and earlier twentieth century. Finally, we will end by learning what we can about the folk songs and instrumental traditions like kabuki and gagaku that predate sound recording and Western influences, at which point students will reflect on the journey we have taken and delve into a more personal project about content of their own choosing, examining how it fits into and challenges the stories we have been hearing.
By regularly engaging both with music and with readings (in English) about the music, students will be able to practice writing about music from a variety of angles and approaches. No knowledge of music theory or of the Japanese language is required, though students that do have these skills or are developing them will be welcomed and encouraged to apply them. |
|
| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
HA MUSC |
| Course Format: Lecture / Discussion | Grading Mode: Student Option |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: None |
|
Fulfills a Major Requirement for: (MUSC) |
Major Readings:
On Moodle, various scholars on various genres of Japanese music, including but not limited to Noriko Manabe, Kunio Hara, Christine Yano, and Hosokawa Shuhei.
|
Examinations and Assignments:
Three analytical papers of increasing length, and several smaller listening assignments with brief write-ups. One presentation at the end of the semester.
|
Additional Requirements and/or Comments:
|
| Drop/Add Enrollment Requests | | | | | |
| Total Submitted Requests: 0 | 1st Ranked: 0 | 2nd Ranked: 0 | 3rd Ranked: 0 | 4th Ranked: 0 | Unranked: 0 |
|
|