MUSC 220: Selected Musical Cultures of the World

Fall 2013
Mondays and Wednesdays 1-1:50 pm, Jimnez 0220
https://myelms.umd.edu/courses/1027764

Dr. Kendra Salois

3110C Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center (PAC)
office hours Monday 10-11 am, Wednesdays 2:30-3:30 pm, or by appt.
ksalois@umd.edu
301.405.8956

Teaching Assistants:
Kirk Sullivan (kesulliv@umd.edu) and Julia Topper (jtopper6@umd.edu)
Sections 101-106, Fridays 12-3 pm, PAC 2160 and 2164

Course Objectives

This course explores selected contemporary musical cultures from around the world by focusing
on musical materials and sounds, ideas about music, values around music, and cultural contexts
surrounding musical practice. As we encounter musical expressions from diverse regions and
groups, we will also focus on connections between musical cultures in our interconnected
contemporary world. In addition, we will introduce some of the themes and methods central to the
field of ethnomusicology.

No prior musical training or knowledge is required for this course. MUSC 220 fulfills the General
Education categories Understanding Plural Societies and Distributive Studies.

By the end of the course, students should be able to:

-Appreciate the enormous cultural and musical diversity within and between selected
regions and countries studied in this course, including South America, East Asia, West Africa,
Western Europe, Indonesia, the Middle East and North Africa, India, and the United States.

-Understand the ways in which musical practices and values (including those embedded in
the teaching and transmission of music) relate to core values in a particular culture or subculture.

-Reflect upon ways in which music is used in diverse cultural contexts to reaffirm,
strengthen, critique, or resist dominant values, social hierarchies, or political arrangements.

-Critically examine examples of broader political, social, and economic developments

affecting musical practice, transmission, and diversity.

-Show how musical practices have changed due to culture contact (colonization,
diasporas, transnationalism, globalization, etc.), internal developments (revolution, independence,
government arts policies, etc.), or the influence of mass telecommunications and Internet media.

-Become conversant with the terminology, concepts, and methods of the interdisciplinary
field of ethnomusicology.

1
 -Using the intellectual tools of ethnomusicology, compare musical phenomena both within
and across the societies studied in this class.

-Use the various skills and methods acquired in this course to observe, analyze, and
evaluate a musical performance and to historicize a musical culture.

Required Materials

The course textbook and accompanying CDs are available in the Stamp Union bookstore and the
Performing Arts Library.

Titon, Jeff Todd, ed. 2009. Worlds of Music: An Introduction to the Music of the Worlds Peoples.
5th ed. Belmont, CA: Schirmer Cengage Learning.

Various Artists. 2009. Worlds of Music: An Introduction to the Music of the Worlds Peoples: 4-CD
Set. 5th ed. Belmont, CA: Schirmer Cengage Learning.

Additional required reading and listening assignments, listed by author in the schedule and fully
cited below, will be available from ELMS and/or in the library. You are responsible for maintaining
your access to ELMS and ensuring that you receive course announcements, emails, and other
updates.

University and Course Policies

attendance

If you are absent from lecture or section for medically necessary reasons, it is your responsibility to
a) contact me as far in advance of class as possible and b) to bring a self-signed note
acknowledging the accuracy of the explanation of your absence. Three or more medically
necessary absences, consecutive or otherwise, require medical documentation from your doctor.

religious observances

UMD policy on religious observance and absences (section III-5.10[A]) states:

It is the policy of UMP that students not be penalized in any way for participation in
religious observances. Students shall be allowed, whenever practicable, to make up
academic assignments that are missed due to such absences. It is the student's
responsibility to contact the instructor for each course in which work is missed, and make
arrangements for make-up work or examinations.

If you will miss class or an assignment due date for a religious observance, please inform me of
your intended absence by email within two weeks of the first day of classes.

academic integrity

The following is taken from the University of Maryland Code of Academic Integrity (section
III-1.00[A]):

2
 1. ACADEMIC DISHONESTY: any of the following acts, when committed by a student,
shall constitute academic dishonesty:

(a) CHEATING: intentionally using or attempting to use unauthorized materials,

information, or study aids in any academic exercise.
(b) FABRICATION: intentional and unauthorized falsification or invention of any
information or citation in an academic exercise.
(c) FACILITATING ACADEMIC DISHONESTY: intentionally or knowingly helping or
attempting to help another to violate any provision of this Code.
(d) PLAGIARISM: intentionally or knowingly representing the words or ideas of another as
ones own in any academic exercise.

Read the entire section of the Code at http://www.president.umd.edu/policies/iii100a.html.

In accordance with the UMD Student Honor Code, students write by hand across the first page of
each assignment not otherwise excepted the following Honor Pledge:

I pledge on my honor that I have not given or received any unauthorized assistance on
this assignment/examination.

Read more about the Honor Pledge at the Office of Student Conduct webpage (http://osc.umd.edu/
OSC/AcademicHonorPledge.aspx).

accommodations for students with disabilities

Students with disabilities may contact the Disability Support Service (DSS) for help arranging
accommodations (http://www.counseling.umd.edu/DSS/). Eligible students should bring their
Accommodation Letter to Prof. Salois no later than September 16th.

student services

Academic and personal counseling is available at the UMD Counseling Center (http://
www.counseling.umd.edu/Services/). Services include study skills and stress management
workshops.

The UMD Health Center offers psychological counseling, evaluations, and other support at Mental
Health Services (http://www.health.umd.edu/mentalhealth).

The Writing Center offers workshops, in-person tutoring, and online tutoring for all majors. Go to
http://www.english.umd.edu/academics/writingcenter to make an appointment for help with a
writing assignment from any class.

email

Emails to Prof. Salois will be answered within 48 hours. TAs have their own email policies.

You may also ask questions by commenting on announcements and other items within ELMS;
these will be addressed within 48 hours, or in lecture/section, whichever comes first.

3
laptops and smartphones

The first three rows of the lecture hall are reserved for students not using laptops. You are free to
take notes on your laptop during lecture. Please avoid disrupting your fellow students
concentration with noises or images from your laptop. Please set your phones to silent and keep
their use to a minimum to avoid distracting fellow students.

Laptops and phones are never allowed in class during exams.

twitter

If you have a twitter account, you are encouraged to tweet comments and questions during and
after lecture using the hashtag #MUSC220. You can also follow and tweet @UMDMUSC220, the
class twitter account. Keep in mind that the MUSC 220 twitter account wont follow you back, so
that Prof. Salois and TAs Sullivan and Topper wont be able to read all of your tweets. Questions
and constructive comments will be periodically addressed during lecture.

copyright notice

Federal copyright laws protect all original works of authorship fixed in a tangible medium. When
using material that has been written, recorded, or designed by someone else, it is important to
make sure that you are not violating copyright law by improperly using someone else's intellectual
property.

Class lectures, slides, handouts, and other materials authored by Prof. Salois are copyrighted. Such
materials may not be reproduced for anything other than personal use without written permission
from the instructor. You must ask for permission to make audio or video recordings of class
meetings.

Assignments and Assessments

Your Teaching Assistant, not Prof. Salois, is primarily responsible for determining your grade in this
course.

This class includes reading, listening, and homework assignments, two exams, and a final paper.
Guidelines for the assignments and final paper will be available on ELMS and discussed in class.

I) participation (10%)
Your participation grade includes prompt arrival, active listening during lecture, and active
participation during in-lecture activities. In addition, it includes consistent contributions during
discussion section. If you are absent, you are not participating. If you will be absent for religious
observance, or if you are unexpectedly absent due to a medical or other emergency, please email
your TA as far ahead of class as possible.

II) concert report (10%)

A report on a musical performance of no more than 4 double-spaced pages, plus a diagram
of the performance venue, is due on or before Friday, October 4.

III) abstract (5%), outline (5%), and annotated bibliography (10%) of final paper

4
 As part of the preparation for your final paper, you will complete a draft abstract, an
annotated bibliography of no less than 5 items, and a draft outline of your final paper on the dates
noted below. A revised version of your abstract and annotated bibliography will be included with
your final paper.

IV) final paper (20%)

A final paper of no more than 12 double-spaced pages is due in section Friday, December
6. The final paper should make a focused and effective argument in relation to a musical culture
around a genre of music in the United States using both bibliographic research and examples from
a musical performance or performances you witnessed. You will also include an abstract and an
annotated bibliography, not included in the page count, with your final paper.

V) midterm (20%) and final (20%)

This class includes both a midterm and a final. No makeup exams will be held without
prior permission from Prof. Salois.

General Schedule
In the table below, the reading assignments listed below the lecture topic should be read
prior to that lecture. Listening assignments are just as important as reading in this course. I
recommend listening to the examples mentioned in the reading before the lecture, and reviewing
any additional music introduced in class after the lecture.

week Monday Wednesday sections

week 1: 9/2 and 9/4 Labor Day - no class Introduction to course

read/listen Titon preface and pgs.

4-32

week 2: 9/9 and 9/11 Native American musics film: Spirits for Sale

read/listen Titon pgs. 33-35 Titon pgs. 56-81

week 3: 9/16 and 9/18 Native American West African musics draft abstracts for final
musics, cont. paper due

read/listen Perea chap. 2 Titon pgs. 83-123

week 4: 9/23 and 9/25 West African musics, West African musics
cont.; Southern Africa and African-American
musical aesthetics

read/listen Titon pgs. 123-144 Wilson

week 5: 9/30 and 10/2 African-American work South American musics concert report due
songs and the blues

read/listen Titon pgs. 165-203 Titon pgs. 417-446

5
 week Monday Wednesday sections

week 6: 10/7 and 10/9 South American musics, South American musics,
cont. cont.

read/listen Titon pgs. 447-465 Titon pgs. 465-end

week 7: 10/14 and Scottish piping Irish dance

10/16 traditions

read/listen Garland pgs. 363-368 Foley, Carolan

week 8: 10/21 and midterm music in Central Java

10/23

read/listen Titon pgs. 299-338

week 9: 10/28 and music in Central Java, globalization in draft annotated

10/30 cont.; music in Bali Indonesia bibliography due

read/listen Titon pgs. 338-347 Titon pgs. 347-352,

Rasmussen chap. 5

week 10: 11/4 and 11/6 Chinese instrumental Chinese vocal genres
genres with guest Prof.
Larry Witzleben

read/listen Titon pgs. 374-383 and Titon pgs. 366-373 and

393-402 384-392

week 11: 11/11 and music in Japan no class no section

11/13

read/listen Titon online chapter,

pgs. 1-26

week 12: 11/18 and Carnatic music in South Carnatic music, cont. draft outline of final
11/20 India paper due

read/listen Titon pgs. 267-287 Titon pgs. 288-294,

Viswanathan and Allen
TBA

week 13: 11/25 and Indian Music in the Music in the Middle
11/27 West East and North Africa

read/listen Titon pgs. 295-298 Titon pgs 473-91,

516-526

week 14: 12/2 and 12/4 Music and the Arab guest performance: final paper due
Spring Ryan Harvey (meet in
Debelkoum Hall)

6
 week Monday Wednesday sections

read/listen Titon pgs. 502-513

week 15: 12/9 and global mixing wrap-up lecture: whose

12/11 music?

read/listen Taylor 2001

week 16: finals final exam TUESDAY,

Dec 16th

Additional Reading

Carolan, Nicolas. n.d. Ireland: II. Traditional Music. in Oxford Music Online.
http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/13901

Foley, Catherine. 2011. Perceptions of Irish Step Dance: National, Global, and Local. Dance
Research Journal 33(1): 34-45.

Perea, John-Carlos. 2013. Sounding Communities: Intertribal Pow-Wow Music. In Intertribal

Native American Music in the United States: Experiencing Music, Expressing Culture. New
York: Oxford University Press.

Rasmussen, Anne. 2010. Performing Piety Through Islamic Musical Arts. In Women, the Recited
Qur'an, and Islamic Music in Indonesia. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Taylor, Timothy. 2001. "A Riddle Wrapped in a Mystery: Transnational Music Sampling and
Enigma's 'Return to Innocence.' In Strange Sounds: Music, Technology & Culture. New
York: Routledge.

Viswanathan, T., and Matthew Harp Allen. 2004. Music in South India: Experiencing Music,
Expressing Culture. New York: Oxford University Press.

Wilson, Olly. 1992. "The Heterogeneous Sound Ideal in African-American Music." In Wright,
Josephine, and Samuel Floyd, eds. New Perspectives on Music: Essays in Honor of Eileen
Southern. Warren, Michigan: Harmonie Park Press.