Description: Seminar, one hour. Musicians and composers take inspiration for their music and compositions from their surroundings, and with increased globalization and cultural contact, explorations into new musical languages have led to creation of genres now labelled fusion or world music. These typically refer to fusions of traditional (non-Western) and popular (Western) music; however, musical borrowing has been occurring since long before term fusion was coined. Exploration of how ubiquitous practice of musical borrowing is and has always been through several case studies of both historical and contemporary music fusion. Key points will address how colonialism, nationalism, and globalization--among other phenomena--have permeated local expressions of identity through music. Listening exercises equip students with expanded musical vocabulary to describe what they can hear in music, as well as discuss reasons for and origins of what they can hear. Facilitated by Huirong Laura Jane Yee, with Helen M. Rees as faculty mentor.

Units: 0.0