MUSC280 - Music, Culture and Diversity

Year

Credit points

Campus offering

Unit rationale, description and aim

The multiple contemporary professional contexts in which musicians operate require the capacity to work ethically with diverse musical styles.

Music, Culture and Diversity examines the diversity of forms and styles of traditional and popular music found among various cultures of the world and the crucial roles music plays in each culture. This unit explores the contexts in which music occurs and considers the ways these contexts shape the structure, performance practices and aesthetics of music in diverse cultures. The use of music in ritual, both sacred and secular, its role in identity formation for individuals and cultures, and the ethical considerations that arise out of these dimensions of music practice are also considered.

The aim of this unit is to develop musicians who are culturally competent in the way they engage with diverse types of music.

Learning outcomes

To successfully complete this unit you will be able to demonstrate you have achieved the learning outcomes (LO) detailed in the below table.

Each outcome is informed by a number of graduate capabilities (GC) to ensure your work in this, and every unit, is part of a larger goal of graduating from ACU with the attributes of insight, empathy, imagination and impact.

Explore the graduate capabilities.

On successful completion of this unit, students should be able to:

LO1 - Identify the ways in which music conveys meaning, and the role music plays in the context of ritual action (GA1, GA2, GA4, GA5, GA6, GA8)

LO2 - Discuss the music of diverse cultures together with knowledge of the forms of expression, role and cultural importance of music within these cultures (GA1, GA2, GA3, GA4, GA5, GA8)

LO3 - Critically analyse musical materials and source material using appropriate musicological and ethnomusicological methods (GA1, GA4, GA5, GA6, GA8)

LO4 - Construct evidence-based arguments and narratives around the music of diverse cultures (GA1, GA2, GA3, GA4, GA5, GA6, GA8, GA9)

Graduate attributes

GA1 - Demonstrate respect for the dignity of each individual and for human diversity

GA2 - Recognise their responsibility to the common good, the environment and society

GA3 - Apply ethical perspectives in informed decision making

GA4 - Think critically and reflectively

GA5 - Demonstrate values, knowledge, skills and attitudes appropriate to the discipline and/or profession

GA6 - Solve problems in a variety of settings taking local and international perspectives into account

GA8 - Locate, organise, analyse, synthesise and evaluate information

GA9 - Demonstrate effective communication in oral and written English language and visual media

Content

Topics will include:

• The meaning and value of music in the context of ritual action, including in sacred contexts.
• Traditional and contemporary music and music making in diverse cultures, such as First Peoples' cultures, folk cultures, classical and courtly music traditions of Asia, music cultures of the Global South, contemporary western music subcultures, and music cultures of diaspora communities.
• Introduction to the research practices and critiques of ethnomusicology through a study of selected styles and genres, using recordings and performance materials that highlight key aspects of styles and aesthetics from a range of cultures.
• The ethical issues that arise out of music scholarship and practice such as culturally safe music education practices, appropriation, copyright and style cloning.
• The function of music in forming cultural and personal identity.
• Music as aesthetic experience, including the judgment of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ in music, and the capacity of music to move human emotions.
• The physiological impacts of music on health and wellbeing.

Learning and teaching strategy and rationale

Students will engage with modules designed to build foundational knowledge and skills in the analysis of music using predominately aural examples. Early modules will introduce students to the concept of music culture and understanding of it in terms of its core components. Students will participate informative activities in aural recognition and the description and analysis of music examples. A feedback loop approach to learning will enable students to progress to more intricate and sustained investigation, analysis and criticism culminating in the completion of original research focused on music selected from diverse music cultures.

Assessment strategy and rationale

The assessments in this unit are directly aligned with the Learning Outcomes to scaffold the development of skills in the structural and functional analysis of music from diverse music cultures. A range of tasks associated with assessment items one and two work to develop the knowledge and skills needed to complete the research report. This third assessment requires the application of knowledge about different cultural practices relating to music and the capacity to critically analyse musical materials to create evidence-based narratives or arguments around diverse music.

Overview of assessments

Representative texts and references

Bloechl, Olivia Ashley, Melanie Diane Lowe, and Jeffrey Kallberg. Rethinking Difference in Music Scholarship. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 2015.

Eidsheim, Nina Sun. The race of sound: listening, timbre, and vocality in African American music, North Carolina: Duke University Press, 2019.

Hijleh, Mark. Towards a Global Music Theory: Practical Concepts and Methods for the Analysis of Music across Human Cultures. Farnham, Surrey, England: Ashgate, 2012.

Holmes, Thom. Electronic and Experimental Music: Technology, Music, and Culture. Fifth ed. New York, NY; Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge, 2016.

Miller, Terry E. World Music Concise Edition a Global Journey - Ebook and Mp3 Set Value Pack. World Music. Edited by Andrew Shahriari. Hoboken: Taylor and Francis, 2014.

Nettl, Bruno. Excursions in World Music. 7th International student ed. New York: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2017.

Partridge, Christopher, and Moberg, Marcus. The Bloomsbury Handbook of Religion and Popular Music. 1st ed. London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2017.

Schippers, Huib, and Catherine Grant. Sustainable Futures for Music Cultures: An Ecological Perspective. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016.

Shuker, Roy. Understanding Popular Music Culture. Fifth ed. Routledge, 2016.

White, Bob W. Music and Globalization Critical Encounters. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2012.