ETHNOMUSICOLOGY

Given the different backgrounds of the students, the course will begin with a survey on terms, concepts and tools of the ethnomusicological and anthropological research intended for those who are not familiar with such a research and who didn't attended to the course "Fundamentals in Ethnomusicology".

Then, the 2018/2019 course is dedicated to the emerging concept of trans-cultural musicology, a discipline that goes beyond the typical approach of Historical Musicology and Ethnomusicology. After many years, seems now necessary the radical rethinking, even on a theoretical and epistemological level, of the young and restless discipline called "Ethnomusicology" in the 1950s. The reasons for a similar change are at least two: first of all the global context, deeply changed from the 1950s to today, in which terms and concepts such as "folk", "popular", "art", "traditional", "ethnic" have changed their value and, indeed, are rapidly and constantly changing. The second reason is given by the obsolescence of those barriers that divide musicology into "historical musicology" (... which deals above all with sources and written documents ...) in "ethnomusicology" (... which is mainly based on oral sources ...) and "Popular Music Studies" (... which are mainly based on new media ...): nowadays there are too many cases of interaction between these three fields that suggests to stop with these divisions. Some examples: there are many forms of musical writing developed in non-European musical traditions that must now be investigated both with methods and instruments typical of historical musicology and with methods and tools typical of ethnomusicological and anthropological studies. Similarly, in the "historical" field, we can no longer take into account only the written data, and continue to ignore aspects such as those related to performance and kinesics, typical of a given stylistic school, using, for this, methods of survey tested for some time in the ethnomusicological field. Recordings on various types of media (discs at 78, 33 and 45 rpm, CDs, mp3s), beyond the media have become real texts over time on which to conduct analysis of various types that are independent of the genres (yes think only of the recordings of three divas of different genres such as Maria Callas, Billie Holiday or 'Umm Kulthum) and that, above all, escape the vexed oral / written opposition. And there is no lack of new and important fields of cross-cultural and "cross-cutting" research based on commercial data, sales, their returns, the type of market, advertising campaigns, promotions, videos (from music clubs to videos of operas , symphonies and ballets up to the MTV shake) as well as on the sociological analysis of the star system that now unites all the musical genres, none excluded.

According to the framework for the European Higher Education, the so called Dublin descriptors, the expected results are:
1. Knowledge and Understanding
a) To know the basic terms and concepts of the discipline and to understand the texts that use such terms and concepts.
b) To understand the peculiarities of Transcultural Musicology.

2. Ability to apply knowledge and understanding
a) Being capable of a simple analysis of some given musical examples, being aware of the singles musical languages and cultures.
b) Ability to connect a musical tune with its cultural framework.

3. Judgement's ability
a) Being capable to formulate and to argument simples hypothesis.

4. Communications Skills
a) Being able to communicate the peculiarities of the Transcultural Musicology approach to music, using an appropriate terminology.

5. Learning Ability
● Being able to take notes and to share them in a collaborative form.
● Being able to consult to consult the texts critically and the Bibliography immanent.

No particular prerequisites are required, except curiosity, attention, listening. It's welcome the musical reading in order to appreciate the offered musical scores.

Introduction to Transcultural Musicology. Examples and case studies from differente genres and authors.

1) Perspectives on a 21st Century Comparative Musicology: Ethnomusicology or Transcultural Musicology?, Edited by Francesco Giannattasio and Giovanni Giuriati, Udine, Nota Edizioni, 2017.
2) In the Course of Performance: Studies in the World of Musical Improvisation, edited by Bruno Nettl and Melinda Russell, Chicago Studies in Ethnomusicology, Chicago, The University of Chicago Press, 1998.

STUDENTS NOT ATTENDING THE COURSE will add one of the two following books: Ingrid MONSON, Saying Something: Jazz Improvisation and Interaction, Chicago Studies in Ethnomusicology, Chicago, The University of Chicago Press, 1996 OR Nicholas COOK, Beyond the Score: Music as Performance, New York, Oxford University Press, 2014

Oral exam. Welcome personal deepening on specific genres or authors arranged with the professor.

Lessons with musical listenings, visual examples and musical scores.

Italian

oral

This subject deals with topics related to the macro-area "Poverty and inequalities" and contributes to the achievement of one or more goals of U. N. Agenda for Sustainable Development