Humanities Arts Cultural Stu 0265 - Encapsulating Sounds: Introduction to Critical Organology

Every culture bears unique sensibilities to sounds. People cultivate distinctive ways of hearing, understanding, and relating to them. Different instruments are devised to encapsulate distinctive cultural values, not only acoustically but also visually in their material forms. This course explores diverse music cultures of the world through the lens of critical organology (the critical study of musical instruments). Our investigation encompasses subjects such as social functions and significations of the instruments, e.g., ritual objects, status symbols, and exotic commodities; myths and symbolism attributed to the instruments; technology and craftsmanship involved in the fabrication; and ecological and ethical concerns for the use of certain materials, e.g., exotic wood, animal body parts, toxic chemicals, among others. By cross-culturally and cross-historically examining different ways in which humans have interacted with sound making objects, mechanisms, and ideas, we will critically examine, question, and reconsider what entails musical instruments Keywords:Musical instrument, material culture, environment, ethnomusicology, sounds

Environments and Change Students should expect to spend 6-8 hours weekly on work and preparation outside of class time