About

Knowing the World through Music

Universiteit van Amsterdam – Faculteit der Geesteswetenschappen

MA Music Studies – Cultural Musicology Elective

MA Exchange Programme Graduate School of Humanities

Studiegidsnummer: 145425066Y

Studielast: 6 ECTS (168 hours of which 18 contact hours, i.e. 150 hours of independent study spread over 7 weeks = 21,5 hour/week)

Lecturer: dr. Barbara Titus

Contact hours: Semester I, Block 2, Fridays from 12.00-15.00 hours,

Location: Binnengasthuis 2 (BG2) (Turfdraagsterpad 15) Room 0.02. Discussions throughout the week via Canvas.

Grading: assignment week 1 (20%), 2 blogs (40%), final blogpost (40%)

Course description

Objectives

Students acquire insight into:

• epistemic and epistemological dimensions of music and sound, dimensions that are intricately tied to exertions and negotiations of power;
• musical practices in Africa, Asia, South America, Europe and North America as knowledge systems (intellectual as much as embodied traditions, modes of cognitive orientation and regulation);
• modes of knowledge formation pertaining to various senses such as hearing, sight, touch, smell and taste that have crystalized into various scientific epistemic tools and technologies such as observing (listening, watching, touching), dissecting, ordering, transcribing, measuring, assessing, archiving, reading, writing, etc. according to specific, ideologically informed systemizations and hierarchies;
• histories of music historiography and music ethnography as academic disciplines. These histories inevitably raise questions about technologies of transmission, dissemination and inscription of knowledge per se (imagery, sound, speech, writing, performance, etc.) and the material on which they inscribe: human memories, human bodies, paper, hard drives, songs, sound carriers, internet pages, or optical lenses. It also raises questions about the positionality of the language that we use to study music, including concepts such as ‘music’, ‘culture’ or ‘knowledge’.

Contents

How do people think through sound? And are people the only organisms that “think” aurally and orally? Do thoughts have sonorities? What do we mean if we say that ideas “resonate” with us? In this course, we explore various ways in which humans and other living creatures behave sonically and aurally through hearing, listening, speaking, musicking, performing and other forms of acoustic and aural orientation in the world.

The course focuses on a range of musical practices in various parts of the world, and the knowledge systems that are enabled by these practices, but students are free to expand their interests to sonic expressions, events and phenomena that do not fall within the rather Eurocentric notion of “music”.

As a group we explore various forms of acoustic sense-making such as

• musical practice, rehearsal and performance,

• sound-driven movement and entrainment (dance),

• the sonic rehearsal and training of kinaesthetic and cultural sensibilities,

• auditory relationality,

• meaning formation and signification through sound,

• aesthetic and cultural predispositions in the assessment of sound,

• the (academic) conceptualization of sonic expressions.

Work format

We explore these questions by focusing on a specific musical case study that each participant selects and brings into the discussion, be it a musical practice, genre, style, sonic marker, hook or earworm, musical technique, musical instrument or musical ideology – as long as  you have some working _knowledge_ and familiarity with it and as long as it suits the main theme of this course: aural knowledge. Our explorations of music’s epistemic implications occur through a listening assignment, six meetings of about three hours, and an interactive website as a log of our investigations with a high degree of interactivity, including peer review, and the writing  of a 2,500-word final blogpost. The participation in this process also serves the aim of being part experientially in the processes of knowledge formation about music, and all participants are encouraged to reflect on this in their written and oral work.

We alternate weekly between classes of literature study and classes of blogpost discussion. For this aim, all participants have to upload their blogposts on the Tuesday prior to the blogpost discussion class on Friday, and all participants need to read each other’s work between Tuesday morning and Friday 12noon CET. Please, make sure you block time for this in your diaries. The classes depend entirely on the insights we share, so without the prior study of the literature (including each other’s blogposts) there will be no class discussion, and hence, no class.

Students are required to attend all lectures in person on location. Make sure you arrange your appointments (including those with doctors, for jobs and at home) accordingly.

Guidelines for keeping the classroom a safe and democratic space

1. While we use English as a medium of communication and instruction, remember that it is an operational lingua franca. Please be mindful that English is not the mother tongue of all participants, and we strive to dismiss the universality that Anglo-culture embodies. I encourage students to be mindful of the different linguistic, cultural, racialized, and gendered modes of listening.
2. Likewise, we are a group of thinkers, researchers, artists, and students coming from different countries, cultural backgrounds, contexts, and disciplines (that are also contingent on context) that may have a lot in common but also many differences.
3. I encourage respectful disagreements and acknowledge that some conflicts are inevitable.
4. However, I remind everyone that inside the classroom, I will not tolerate any forms of racism, sexism, transphobia, misogyny, ableism, colonial expressions, queerphobia, Bi/ Pan/ Homo/ Ace -phobia, classism, and all forms of discrimination or oppressive behaviours including antiziganism, antisemitism, islamophobia, casteism, as well as all supremacist and discriminatory views and behaviours.
5. Here are some tips on how we could have a productive but respectful way of discussing and conducting group activities.
   1. a. Remember, be generous with your listening.
   2. b. Think along with the speaker in understanding what they want to communicate.
   3. c. Give feedback that you would also like to receive. You can begin your feedback by thanking the speaker for the new ideas, new sonic experiences, or new insights that you have received through listening to and about their work.
   4. d. You might want to summarize what you heard. This might allow you to understand someone’s idea from your perspective. It will also help the speaker to know if someone understands what they are trying to say.
   5. e. What do you appreciate about their thoughts/ideas? What resonates with you? What do you think is significant?

Examination

Listening Assignment Week 1 – 20%

Blogposts – 40%

Final Blogpost – 40%

In order to pass this course, students need to acquire a grade higher than 5.5 for all tests.

GenAI

Within this course, students are not permitted to use Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) for any assessment without prior discussion with and permission of the lecturers.

Developing your academic skills is an important part of your study at the UvA. This includes independently completing (writing) assignments. Copying material without citing the source is plagiarism and is not permitted under any circumstances. The use of AI without the permission of the lecturer will be reported to the examination board and may lead to disciplinary measures. Please consider potential risks and ethical dilemmas before using AI, and don’t forget to read the Guidelines for GenAI in education.

Fraud and plagiarism rules

The University of Amsterdam Fraud and Plagiarism regulations apply to the assessment of this course. These regulations can be consulted at the Plagiarism and Fraud page on the student website. Also take a look at the Academic integrity guide: fraud and plagiarism (pdf).