ANTHRO
138M: MUSIC AS EXPRESSIVE CULTURE
11:00-11:50
Robert Garfias
Fall 2006
Course
Prospectus
Few of
us ever think much about trying to come up with a definition of music, just
as few could probably think of any reason why we might require one. Still, it
is useful to think about this ubitquitous form of human expression which many
class as entertainment, fun or cultural refinement and yet which most of us
are seldom without for very long. It would seem, from looking around the world
and looking at history, that music may be much more important than we have given
it credit for. What are music’s parameters, how does it function in society
and/or in the service of man? What is it that we communicate by means of music
besides its own sound? Can we be certain that other humans receive the same
message as that which has been sent?
There are
even more forms of music expression than there are human cultural or linguistic
groups on earth, since most cultures have more than one form of music and many
have several. By looking at music across many cultures and including our own
we may learn not only how it is used and has been used by man for as long as
we know about, but we may also understand something about how we ourselves use
it today.
The Rules
of the Game
1. There is
a textbook for this class. Music as Expressive Culture. It is not yet formally
published but will be posted as required on the web site under course readings.
2.Attendance
is both extremely important and required. More than two absences will be reflected
in a reduction of your final grade. I mean it. I take ramdom attendance and
check forgeries on the roll sheet too.
3.There
will be a midterm exam and a final, both of which will consist primarily of
short essay questions. You must plan to take the mid-term at the date which
will be announced and final exam at the appointed date set by the University
for the exam in this class. No exams will be given at another time. No excuses!
Death - your own - might be taken into consideration as a possible worthy excuse
for being unable to attend the scheduled exam. All other excuses go quickly
downhill in importance from there.
My office
is room 2271 SSP and the telephone is 824-6644. Generally my office hours are
M-W-F at 10:00 AM but I shall be happy to try to arrange other times to suit
the students convenience as required.
Course
Outline
(This may not
unfold in this order)
What is
Music
Are There
Universal Values
Music: Cultural Transmission, Change and Diversity
Music and Culture
The Structure
of Music
The Properties
of Music
Music
in Time
How Memory and Listening Work Together
Expecting What Comes Next
Listening vs. Hearing
Hearing, Scanning, and Memory
How We
Hear Music
Hearing
and the Brain
Identifying Sounds
Sound Waves and Memory Waves
Mental Mapping While Listening
How Music
Organizes Time
Rhythm
as Pattern
Abstracting Patterns in Music
Spaces Surrounding Sounds.
Organization of Patterns
Cultural Preferences and Tempo
Basic Principles of Rhythmic Organization
The
Divisive Principle
The Additive Principle
Additive plus Divisive
Multilayered Rhythm
Native American Rhythm
Uncountable Rhythms
Time and
Rhythm as Cultural Constructs
How Music
Plays With Time
Prolonging
and Compressing
Delineating with few Strokes
Compositions for Percussion Alone
How Ensembles Organize Themselves Rhythmically
Small
Ensembles
Large ensembles
The Resources
of Music:
Tone Systems
and Scales.
A. The
Physical Properties of Sound
Choices
and Borrowings
Human Theories of Tone
The Ancient Greeks
The Ancient Chinese
Western Temperament
B. Tones
and Textures
Monody
Diversified Monody
Heterophony
Polyphony
Relating Text to Music
Voice Quality
Organizing Music into Form
Short forms
Longer Forms
Connecting Two or More Compositions
Slow and Fast Movements
Accelerating Movements
Heterophonic Organization
Formalized Introductions
Performances
Organized into Theater
Instruments
Histories
of Instruments
Instrument Types and Classification
Terms and concepts
Types of Instruments.
Chordophones.
Membranophones.
Aerophones.
Idiophones.
Function,
Playing technique and Timbre
How is
Music Learned?
How does
it Start?
Learning Steps
Rote as Memory Aid
A Tune Remembered
Mnemonic patterns
The Vedas
What's Right About Rote
Learning and Performing
The Perception
of Pattern in Music
Space
and Pattern
Perceiving Structure
A Visual Analogy
Meaningful Segments into Sequences
How Culture Defines the Listener's Role
Balancing Spontaneity and Familiarity
Humanly Controlled Change
Perception of Change and its Limits
Ways of Controlling Contrast and Change: Theme & Variations
Formal Pattern & Structure
Theories
of Music
Why Theory
Music Practice and Theory
History of Theory
Theory and Practice
Separation of theory and practice.
Theory as a Part of Practice
New Looks at Theory
Music
in its Cultural Context
The Cultural
Context of Music
How Music
is Used
The Status of Music in Our Culture
Music in Human Society
Communication as a Basic Human Activity
Music as a Delimiter of Cultural Boundaries
The Status of Musicians
Music and Gender.
Music in Human Life
Performers and Listeners
Musical Values as Culturally Defined
Balancing the Familiar with the New
Shared Culture and Agreement
Cultural Differences and Cultural Change
Cultural relativism - Cultural development
Comparisons Across Cultures
Cultural Stratification and Cultural Diversity
Using Music to talk about and Describe Music
Culture
as a Determinant of Music Structure
How Culture
Defines the Elements of a Music
Finding Meaningful Segments
Repetition as a Cultural Value
Repetition and Variation in Shona Culture
Variation in North India
Political
Structure, Economics and Music
Music
as a Political Symbol
Music as a Political Force
Political and cultural Control
The Power of Music as a Guarantee of Freedom.
The Economics of Music in Culture.
The Media as a Control in Economic Selection
Cultural
Contact and the Dissemination of Music
Learning
and Borrowing
First Contacts with New Cultures
Learning from the familiar
Diasporas
Music
and Speech: Parallels and Contrasts
On Language
and Music Acquisition
The Process
Children as Learners
The Lullaby as Metaphor
Early Speech Acquisition
Content of Early Language Acquisition
Speech and Contour Pattern
Speech and the Emotional Message
Speech Pattern
Communicating
About Music Non Verbally
Musicians
Communicating about Music
Verbalized vs. Noverbalized Communication
Cultural Preferences-Individual Preferences
Thresholds of Perception
Aesthetic Blind Spots
Audiences and Performers
Community Participation- Cultural Differences
Listener as Participant
Synching & Conditioning
Communicating
About Music With Words
Words
About Music
Difficulties in Accurately Communicating
Professional Musicians Talk about Music
Cultural Consensus About Symbols
Limitations of Drawing Parallels Between Music and Language
What About Meaning in Music
Music Notation
The Perception of Live Performances
Music and Alpha Waves
Perfect Pitch
Memory, Conditioning and Perception
A Sense
of Style
Style
as a Cultural Factor
Style: Improvisation and Interpretation
Cultural Effects on Style
Individual Style and Imitation
Natural Evolution of Style
Style as a complex
Style as continuum and similarities in style
Style, Taste and Popularity
Integrated Style
Style and the Individual
How to measure differences in style
Music
and the Individual
Identifying
With Music in One's Own Culture
Music and the Individual - Creation
Forming Individual Taste
Creation and Improvisation
The Parameters
of Change
Culture:
Choice, selection, and Rejection
Remembering and Forgetting as Part of the Process of Change
Dynamic Pace of Change
Individual Creativity in the Historical Process
Technology and Tradition
Pace of Communication
Where Does This Lead?
The Pace
of Change in Music
Cultural
Isolation and the Pace of Change
Change, Choice and Isolation
Rate of Change
Choice and Habit
Politics, Influence and Change
Propinquity and the Media
Politics and Control of Choices
Language and Music as Human Traits
Change and Biological and Cultural Diversity
Speech and Melodic Contour
Cultural Uniformity and The Media
Variants and Aberrations
How Ethnomusicologists
Look at Music
email
to rgarfias@uci.edu
last
updated 9.14.06