MUS 523 A - Seminar in Musicology

Campus: Urbana-Champaign

Description:

Problems in historical and systematic musicology or ethnomusicology; discussions of special problems and reports on individual research. Course Information: May be repeated to a maximum of 8 hours. Prerequisite: Graduate standing in musicology or consent of instructor. Graduate students in music will be considered if they passed MUS 528A (consult Class Schedule for specific section information).

Special Instructions:

TOPIC: "Music and Cosmology." This course explores the position, function, and significance of music in culture-specific perceptions of the mystical, cosmological, and divine ordering of the universe in diverse locales and time periods. As such, it examines the place of sound, musical and otherwise, within large-scale epistemological systems variously embracing spirituality, religion, philosophy, ecology, mythology, (ethno-)astronomy, and morality. It addresses how music facilitates, maintains, enacts, or otherwise contributes to the belief constructs of various communities, often through sacred and secular rites, festivals, or celebrations; its symbolic play within such contexts; and its role in triggering the altered states of consciousness (such as dreaming, meditation, or trance) associated with healing, divination, and spiritual ecstasy. While readings will focus largely on genres and traditions outside the sphere of Euro-American classical music and its legacies, students are en

Option 1

Course Level: Graduate

Credit: 4

Term(s): Spring