Etnomusicology III


Type: Compulsory (OB)

Area: Research methods and sources

ECTS: 6

Classroom hours: 45
Other contact hours: 5
Time for directed work (non face-to-face): 60
Hours for self-study and independent learning: 10

Department: Cultural and Musical Studies

Competences developed in the course

Transversal competences

CT2: Collect significant information, analyse it, synthesise it and manage it appropriately.

CT5: Understand and use at least one foreign language within the scope of professional development.

CT12: Adapt, under competitive conditions, to cultural, social and artistic changes and to advances occurring in the professional field, and select appropriate pathways for continuing education.

 

General competences

CG8: Apply the most appropriate working methods to overcome challenges arising in the areas of individual study and collective musical practice.

CG16: Understand the social, cultural and economic context in which musical practice takes place, with particular attention to its immediate environment while also considering its global dimension.

 

Specific competences

MU7: Acquire the critical ability to evaluate the products of musical activity from different periods through a perspective that integrates artistic, historical and social aspects.

Learning outcomes (general objectives)

  1. To critically assess, from an analytical perspective, the debates within the discipline of ethnomusicology, including discussion of current research models and methods, relating them to the broader fields of social sciences and sound studies.
  2. To explain and apply research methods and models of sound organization used by ethnomusicology to describe different traditional musics through specific musical examples.
  3. To adapt and create appropriate models for newly described musics. To relate models of sound organization to concepts of music and to the musical behaviours of each studied culture.
  4. To identify musical behaviours in the so-called Western continents (Africa, America and Europe), establishing cultural areas (whether coinciding or diverging from musical expressions) and situating each case within the social and cultural life of the community studied.
  5. To understand musical activity as a communicative practice whose meaning emerges from its specific social and cultural context, and to deepen knowledge of key concepts in ethnomusicological research.
  6. To identify musical behaviours in the so-called Eastern continents (Asia, Oceania and the Pacific Islands), establishing cultural areas (whether coinciding or diverging from musical expressions) and situating each example within the social and cultural life of the community studied.
  7. To understand musical activity as a communicative practice whose meaning emerges from its specific social and cultural context, and to deepen knowledge of key concepts in ethnomusicological research.

Contents

An up-to-date international overview of the field of ethnomusicology. Analytical and critical reading of texts. Monitoring and assessment of current international ethnomusicological research and activities. Constructive materials of traditional musics from different cultures. Research methods and different models for the description of traditional musics (metrical, rhythmic, intervallic, melodic and polyphonic) and soundscapes, situated within their cultural contexts. Analysis and application of different models for describing traditional musics in relation to specific research projects. Musical activities of different cultures from the Western continents (Africa, America and Europe). Formal, conceptual and social behaviour elements in the cultures studied. Further exploration of the concepts and methodologies of ethnomusicology. Application of ethnomusicological research concepts. Identification and distinction of the main musical behaviours (sound-based and social) within the range of cultures studied. Analysis of specific cases in order to establish the significance of musical and sonic activity within a human community. Experimentation with elements of the musical activities presented.

Teaching methodology

The teaching-learning methodology in classes includes lectures (presentations of topics), discussion and seminar sessions, group work sessions, fieldwork sessions and student presentations of selected topics.

Assessment systems

The assessment system is based on continuous assessment, founded on diagnostic assessment and implemented through summative assessment leading to the final grade. Continuous assessment is carried out through different assessment records derived from specific activities, such as participation and class work, presentations in class, completion of assignments and/or readings outside class, submission of written work, or written and oral examinations.