How to Make Music Matter: Exchanging Curricula and Techniques Across Political and Cultural Borders
Presenter: Dr. Sonia Seeman (University of Texas, at Austin)
For this talk, Dr. Seeman focuses on the insights gained from ethnomusicological approaches to music study, and how such insights productively transform pedagogy in a variety of contexts. While ethnomusicology was initially founded as a research discipline, the increasing demand for world music and popular music courses has broad significance for the application of ethnomusicological methods to the study of music in general. By utilizing interactive exercises as well as analytical and critical thinking models, ethnomusicologists are well-positioned to provide courses aimed at increasingly diverse communities both in the U.S. and abroad. By taking case studies from courses developed in the U.S. and insights from curriculum development in Pakistan, the presenter discusses how ethnomusicological methods stimulate students to reflect more deeply on the musical traditions that they take for granted, as well as those that initially seem geographically or temporally distant.