Explorations in Musicology
MUSC 520
Fall 2023
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01
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What is Musicology? How and why do scholars write about music? This course will investigate some of the motivation for making music a scholarly object of inquiry. After reviewing some of the methodologies through which scholarship has been constructed (archival research, reception history, historiography, practice-led research), we will assess and discover new ways to write about music and the cosmos. This topic will serve as a prism through which musicological debate can be understood, and contrasted with ethnomusicological and other approaches. We will draw on a range of musicological approaches and frameworks--cultural, historical, scientific, and environmental studies, posthumanism, mythology, and countercultural spirituality.
Course Objectives:
- To gain familiarity with diverse thinking about music inspired by the great beyond
- To understand some of the reasons why musicians turn to cosmology
- To develop cross-cultural understandings of the collaborations of musicians and astronomers
- To explore celestial motion as a form of design, or a mode of rationalizing
- To use musicology tools to find new ways of analyzing phenomena |
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| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
None |
| Course Format: Seminar | Grading Mode: Graded |
| Level: GRAD |
Prerequisites: None |
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Fulfills a Major Requirement for: None |
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Past Enrollment Probability: Not Available |
| SECTION 01 |
Major Readings: Wesleyan RJ Julia Bookstore
David Beard and Kenneth Gloag, MUSICOLOGY: THE KEY CONCEPTS (London; New York: Routledge, 2005)
Nicholas Cook, BEYOND THE SCORE: MUSIC AS PERFORMANCE (Oxford University Press, 2013)
Derek B. Scott, ed. MUSIC, CULTURE, AND SOCIETY: A READER (Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2000)
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Examinations and Assignments:
Research exercises; weekly presentations on assigned topics; two synthesis papers; one creative project; conference-style presentation, and a 4,000-word final research paper.
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Additional Requirements and/or Comments:
Ethnomusicologists, theorists, and composers: all are welcome. Projects can be designed to suit the interests and skills of students across music disciplines.
Assessable learning outcomes:
By the end of this course students should be able to:
- critically discuss select contemporary and historical discourses in the field of musicology
- assess and synthesize source readings and scholarly literature
- show evidence of independent research skills
- communicate clearly and efficiently using oral and written communication skills
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| Instructor(s): Alden,Jane Times: ...W... 07:10PM-10:00PM; Location: MST301; |
| Total Enrollment Limit: 10 | | SR major: X | JR major: X | | |
| Seats Available: 8 | GRAD: 10 | SR non-major: X | JR non-major: X | SO: X | FR: X |
| Drop/Add Enrollment Requests | | | | | |
| Total Submitted Requests: 0 | 1st Ranked: 0 | 2nd Ranked: 0 | 3rd Ranked: 0 | 4th Ranked: 0 | Unranked: 0 |
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