Music 170S - Summer II, 2006

We know that the West has changed the world, but how has the world changed the West?

At the beginning of the twentieth century Western culture appeared fascinated by exotic cultures from around the world. At this turning point in our culture musicians and artists inherited the use of "the other" as exoticism, the realm of the forbidden. Paris was fascinated for decades with its discoveries of Africa and Java at world's fairs and with its discovery of American Negro music. But these discoveries also changed our culture. In America two cultures--from Europe and from Africa--were meeting and creating new forms, among them the jazz that fascinated Europe early in the twentieth century and the rock music that would change popular music throughout the world.

Looking at music throughout the twentieth century - from Puccini and Debussy, from Stravinsky to Cage and Reich, from Elvis to the Beatles to Graceland, from Ellington to Herbie Hancock to Coltrane - we will explore how "the other" has changed our music, our culture. At the end of the century we will consider the degree to which we live in a multicultural world.

Assignments: weekly reflective writing, one oral report, weekly identification quizes on assigned listening, class discussion.

There are no prerequisites for this course.

M170s Assignments
M170s Syllabus
M170s Outline
History/Arts TImeline
Readings about Exoticism in Music
Official course website (Blackboard)

Links

2000 and 2001: M170, Beyond the End

TimeLine: Arts and World Events

TimeLine: Twentieth-Century Music
Outline of Twentieth-Century Culture and Music

 

Links and Abbreviations (links are abbreviated by using the initials)

 

 

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Picture is Paul Klee, Legend of the Nile, 1937Ê from http://metalab.unc.edu/wm/paint/auth/klee/		Updated: 2/12/02