printer friendly pageMUSIC 31N: Behind the Big Drums: Exploring Taiko (ASNAMST 31N)
Preference to Freshman. Since 1992 generations of Stanford students have heard, seen, and felt the power of taiko, big Japanese drums, at Admit Weekend, NSO, or Baccalaureate. Taiko is a relative newcomer to the American music scene. The contemporary ensemble drumming form, or kumidaiko, developed in Japan in the 1950s. The first North American taiko groups emerged from the Japanese American community shortly after and coincided with increased Asian American activism. In the intervening years, taiko has spread into communities in the UK, Europe, Australia, and South America. What drives the power of these drums? In this course, we explore the musical, cultural, historical, and political perspectives of taiko through readings and discussion, conversations with taiko artists, and learn the fundamentals of playing. With the taiko as our focal point, we find intersections of Japanese music, Japanese American history, and Asian American activism, and explore relations between performance, cultural expression, community, and identity.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 3
| UG Reqs: WAY-A-II, WAY-EDP
Instructors:
Sano, S. (PI)
;
Uyechi, L. (PI)
MUSIC 33N: Beethoven
This seminar is designed as an in-depth introduction to the music of Ludwig van Beethoven. In addition to exploring the composer's principal works in a variety of genres (symphonies, piano sonatas, string quartets, opera, etc.), we will consider broader questions of biography and reception history. How have images of the composer and the fortunes of his music changed over time? How did his compositions come to define the paradigm of Western classical music? What impact has he had on popular culture? The class is open to all levels of musical expertise; the ability to read music is not a requirement. Come prepared to discover -- or rediscover -- some great music!
Terms: Spr
| Units: 3
| UG Reqs: WAY-A-II
Instructors:
Hinton, S. (PI)
MUSIC 34N: Performing America: The Broadway Musical
Musical theater and the representation of American identities in the twentieth century to the present. Issues of class, race, gender, and sexuality; intersections with jazz, rock, and pop; roles of lyricist, composer, director, choreographer, producer, performers. Individual shows (Showboat, Oklahoma, West Side Story, Company, Les Mis¿rables, Into the Woods, Wicked, Hamilton, Dear Evan Hansen, Heathers); musical theater "song types" across eras; show tunes in popular culture at large; musicals on film, television, and social media. Opportunities for performance and attending local productions.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 3
| UG Reqs: WAY-CE, GER:DB-Hum, WAY-A-II
Instructors:
Grey, T. (PI)
MUSIC 35N: Black Music Revealed: Black composers, performers, and themes from the 18th century to the present (AFRICAAM 134, CSRE 35N)
Online seminar on the achievements of Black composers and performers in ragtime, jazz, and classical music, from Chevalier de Saint-Georges, whose music influenced Mozart, and George Bridgetower, for whom Beethoven composed his "Kreutzer" Sonata, to Anthony Davis's opera "The Central Park Five". Students will examine issues of cultural borrowing in operas by Mozart and Verdi, and shows like Showboat and Porgy and Bess. Guest speakers will include composers and performers. Students will work together in groups to produce materials on course topics in coordination with the African American Museum & Library at Oakland. (Cardinal Course certified by the Haas Center)
Last offered: Winter 2023
| UG Reqs: WAY-A-II
MUSIC 39B: Music and Healing (HUMBIO 179B)
To what extent can sound or music heal? This interdisciplinary course asks questions about music and healing around the world, drawing on the fields of medical ethnomusicology, medical anthropology, sound studies, and music therapy. Our case studies will be multi-sited, as we interrogate sound-based healings and healing sounds from diverse cross-cultural, global, and historic perspectives. No musical background is needed to interrogate these issues. We begin with the knowledge that the social, cultural, and political contexts where definitions of music and healing are created inform sound and its various and often conflicting interpretations and meanings. This course is currently full for Autumn Quarter 22-23 enrollment.
Last offered: Autumn 2022
| UG Reqs: WAY-A-II, WAY-EDP
MUSIC 40: Music History to 1600
Pre- or corequisite: 21.
Terms: Win
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-A-II
Instructors:
Rodin, J. (PI)
;
Koplitz, D. (TA)
MUSIC 41: Music History 1600-1830
Pre- or corequisite: 22.
Terms: Aut
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-A-II
Instructors:
Kinney, M. (PI)
MUSIC 42: Music History Since 1830
Pre- or corequisite: 23.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 4
| UG Reqs: GER:DB-Hum, WAY-A-II
Instructors:
Graham, P. (PI)
MUSIC 80A: Jewish Music of the Diaspora (JEWISHST 80A)
Through the perspective of Jewish music, the students will be exposed to diverse musical cultures from around the globe while simultaneously being exposed to the rich and multi-faceted cultures of Jewish music. Because the Jews were dispersed around the globe, discrete musical styles and genres evolved for the same texts. The various styles differ from each other in their tonal and rhythmic organizations; instrumentation, tora recitations.¿¿The course examines these aspects as well as the influence of Jewish music on classical music and vice versa. No prior knowledge of Jewish history, Judaism and music theory is required. ¿
Terms: Win
| Units: 3
| UG Reqs: WAY-A-II
Instructors:
Berger, T. (PI)
;
Deutsch, I. (TA)
MUSIC 113P: Media and Communication from the Middle Ages to the Printing Press (ENGLISH 13P, ENGLISH 113P, HISTORY 13P, HISTORY 113P, MUSIC 13P)
Did you know that the emperor Charlemagne was illiterate, yet his scribes revolutionized writing in the West? This course follows decisive moments in the history of media and communication, asking how new recording technologies reshaped a society in which most people did not read or write--what has been described as the shift "from memory to written record." To understand this transformation, we examine forms of oral literature and music, from the Viking sagas, the call to crusade, and medieval curses (Benedictine maledictions), to early popular authors such as Dante and the 15th-century feminist scribe, Christine de Pizan. We trace the impact of musical notation, manuscript and book production, and Gutenberg's print revolution. To paraphrase Marshall McLuhan's famous dictum, how did the medium shape the message? Along the way, we will consider how the medieval arts of memory and divine reading (lectio divina) can inform communication in the digital world. This is a hands-on course: students will handle medieval manuscripts and early printed books in Special Collections, and will participate in an "ink-making workshop," following medieval recipes for ink and for cutting quills, then using them to write on parchment. The course is open to all interested students.
| UG Reqs: WAY-A-II, WAY-SI
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