The Ethnography of Music (Honours)

This subject has the following teaching availabilities in 2013:

150 hours

An H2A (75) or above in the subject Musics of the World OR Sound, Music and the Environment, or equivalent, or permission of the coordinator.

For the purposes of considering request for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education (Cwth 2005), and Students Experiencing Academic Disadvantage Policy, academic requirements for this subject are articulated in the Subject Description, Subject Objectives, Generic Skills and Assessment Requirements of this entry.
The University is dedicated to provide support to those with special requirements. Further details on the disability support scheme can be found at the Disability Liaison Unit website: http://www.services.unimelb.edu.au/disability/

This is a foundation subject for students taking honours in ethnomusicology. Discussion and seminars will centre on key issues –both historical and current - in ethnomusicology, including ethnographic representation, fieldwork methods, ethical issues in field research, and connecting musical analysis with cultural analysis. These issues will be addressed in the context of students’ concurrent engagement with designing and producing an honours dissertation.

On completion of this subject, students should be able to:

• negotiate and assess the print and electronic literature in the discipline with confidence
• articulate the main issues in ethnomusicology
• demonstrate practical understanding of the ethics of scholarship in ethnomusicology
• demonstrate understanding of different cultural values.

A case study (3000 words excluding bibliography/discography/filmography) due at the end of semester and a class presentation (50%); a 500 word ethnographic description of a performance of music in Melbourne due in week 9 (10%); a critical assessment of 1500 words of two ethnographies of music from the student’s area of personal and research interest due in week 6 (40%).

Readings will be available online through the LMS before the commencement of the semester.

This subject is not available as a breadth subject.

On completion of this subject, students should be able to demonstrate:

• an understanding of different cultural values
• a capacity for independent thought and critical analysis
• the capacity to write in a scholarly manner appropriate to the discipline
• an openness to new ideas.