Fall 2023 Graduate Courses
MUSI 7524 Topics in Ethnomusicology
Topic: Performance Ethnography and Altered States
Michelle Kisliuk
3.0 credits
R / 2:00-4:30 / OCH 201
Class Number: 20194
This discussion-based doctoral seminar explores the vast realm of intersections between sound, movement and altered states of consciousness, ranging from sound that induces meditative states to musical processes in possession-trance and divination. We will consider the element of substances that are culturally associated with sound and altered states; from the ubiquitous presence of alcohol in some festival settings, to psychedelia in other settings. Mental health and other healing treatments, community musicking and consciousness, and rhythm (especially polymeter) and movement will be part of our exploration. As part of training that engages poetics and critical positionality for writing ethnographically, we will consider the special challenges of writing about altered states. Readings will include Gilbert Rouget's classic Music and Trance, Levitin's popular text This is Your Brain on Music, as well as full musical ethnographies such as Hagedorn's Divine Utterances, Friedson's Dancing Prophets and The Remains of Ritual, and Becker's Deep Listeners: Music, Emotion, and Trancing, and Katz's Boiling Energy: Community Healing Among the Kalahari San, as well as mulitidisciplinary essays and articles.
MUSI 7547 Materials of Contemporary Music
Topic: Ecoacoustic Thought and Practice
Matthew Burtner
3.0 credits
W / 2:00-4:30 pm / OCH B011
Class Number: 13728
Ecoacoustic Thought and Practice is a graduate level course in ecoacoustics embracing varied outcomes such as musical composition and performance, scientific research, and scholarship. Following the model of UVA’s Coastal Conservatory (http://www.coastalconservatory.org), students pursue different tracks of advanced research on environmental sound, either independently or in collaboration with one another. Regardless of disciplinary focus, all students will learn ecoacoustic technology and methodology, and will apply these tools and techniques to create original projects.
MUSI 7559
Topic: Time Travel Composition
JoVia Armstrong
3.0 credits
T / 2:00-4:30 / OCH 107
Class Number: 20433
In this course, students will research the origins of instruments, rhythms, melodies, samples, and other forms of musical expression from randomly chosen regions of the African diaspora. When students focus their research on a specific rhythm or melody, for example, the Rumba Yambú rhythm of Cuba, they will include a description of that region's culture (which includes information about their political and social environment, the dance style that goes with that rhythm, and any religious affiliations.) Students are to compose an original piece of music using the rhythm or melody. By the end of the course, students will have recorded several short original works that utilize the elements of music found in their research.