HMU111: Introduction to Music and Society

Lecture 1 - Course Introduction

Instructor: Peter Johnston

The copyright to this original work is held by Professor Peter Johnston and students registered in MUS505 can use this
material for the purposes of this course but no other use is permitted, and there can be no sale or transfer or use of the
work for any other purpose without explicit permission of Peter Johnston
Music Of World Cultures

Analysis:
Les Filles de Illighadad - “Tende”
What sounds and histories are represented in this example?
Course Outline
This course surveys folk, art, and
popular musics from around the world.
Course content covers musical systems,
instruments, performance practices, social
structures, and spiritual belief systems.
Musical analysis is integrated with
theoretical concepts to develop a cross-
cultural appreciation of music,
including: race, cultural identity, post-
colonialism, and globalization. Musical
cultures to be explored includes those of
Canada’s First Nations, the Caribbean,
Brazil, West Africa, Northern Europe, West
Asia, South Asia, East Asia, and Indonesia.
Course Objectives
• To increase knowledge of different styles and
periods in music around the world
• To learn about Non-European systems of
musical organization
• To develop understanding of how music
functions within and as culture
• To learn how to think, talk, and write critically
about music
• To improve skills in writing and reading
comprehension
• To develop a non-hierarchical appreciation
for all music produced by our fellow humans
Scope of Content
We will explore the musics, social
contexts, and spiritual belief systems of:
• Northern Europe

• West Africa (Ghana, Nigeria, Mali)

• South Africa

• Caribbean (Trinidad, Jamaica, Cuba)

• North America

• Brazil

• Indonesia

• India and Pakistan

• West Asia/The Arab World

• East Asia: China, Japan and Korean

 Course Materials
• Course Syllabus - make this your
rst stop for questions about the
reading schedule, deadlines and
evaluations
• Course readings: on Quercus
• All listening and video examples
from the lectures are available on
YouTube
• Lecture slides and notes are
available as PDFs on Quercus
fi
Expectations
Course Expectations include:
1. 1 two-hour lecture per week
2. 1 one-hour tutorial per week
3. In-class discussions
4. 10-25 pages of reading per week
5. Weekly Listening Journal
6. Fieldwork Concert Re ection Assignment (900
words)
7. Midterm Test (includes listening component)
8. Essay preparation assignment
9. Final Essay (1500-2000 words)
10. Final exam (includes listening component)
fl
Evaluation
Assessment %
Practice Listening Test 0%
Weekly Listening Journal 7.5%
Tutorial Participation 7.5%
Midterm Test 15%
Concert Re ection Assignment 10%
Essay Preparation Quiz 5%
Essay 30%
Final Exam 25%
TOTAL: 100%

• Students with accommodations will have

the extra time indicated on their paperwork added
to all timed assessments
fl
Tests
Midterm Test (120 minutes)
• Part 1 - Listening: 30 multiple choice
questions about 10 musical examples
drawn from a playlist of 20
• Part II - Readings and Lectures: 50
multiple choice questions
• Delivery: online through Quercus
Final Test (180 minutes)
• Part 1 - Listening: 30 multiple choice
questions about 10 musical examples
drawn from a playlist of 20
• Part II - Readings and Lectures:
100 multiple choice questions
• Delivery: online through Quercus
Listening Tests: Midterm and Final
• For both the Midterm and the Final: You will
be played 10 songs that have been played in class,
drawn from a playlist of 20 that you will have access
to in advance to study
• There will be 3 multiple choice questions to go with
each song, asking you to identify things such as:
1. What was this song played to illustrate?
2. What is signi cant about this song/artist?
3. What technology/historical event/social issue is
connected to this song?
4. What concept or theme discussed in class that
connects to this song?
• Refer to the Exams module on Quercus for links to
the YouTube playlists for the Midterm and Final
listening tests
• Please do the non-graded Practice
Listening Test in advance of the midterm
fi
Tutorial Assignments
• Tutorials are mandatory: students are
expected to both attend and contribute to the
discussion
• It is expected that students do the assigned
readings and listing before each lecture and
tutorial, and arrived prepared to engage in the
discussion
• Tutorial attendance and participation will be 7.5%
of the nal grade
• Students are to keep a short weekly journal
where they re ect on how the listening example
connects to the course content (150-300 words)
• Journal entries are due each week at the start
time of the tutorial, and will account for
7.5% of the nal grade
fi
fi
fl
 Fieldwork/Concert Re ection Assignment
• Format: Written assignment, submitted through
Quercus
• Details: Go to a live performance, ideally of a style
and a venue that is not what you would normally go
out to see/hear
• Write a 900-word re ection that includes:
i. Description of the scene
ii. Analysis of the music
iii.Re ection on the experience
• Open from the start of term to the deadline, can be
completed any time
• Successful completion of this assignment will require
taking notes during the show, as the more detail you
can provide, the better.
• After the show, your re ection should include as many
connections to the course content as are relevant
fl
fl
fl
fl
Essay Preparation Assignment
Length: 50 Questions, no time limit but must be completed in
one sitting
Evaluation: 5%
Submission: Online through Quercus
Due Date: Same day as the essay, but is open all term.
Assignment Details: This is a series of multiple choice
questions designed to help students recognize and correct
common writing and formatting problems before they submit
their essays.
Study Document:
• Essay Assignment Outline
• Student Writing Guide
• Music Writing Style Guide
• Phrases and Words to Avoid in Academic Essays
Topics covered:
• Chicago Style Author-Date citation format
• Common punctuation errors
• Common essay formatting errors
• Common language errors
 Final Essay
• Concept: Auto-ethnomusicology
• Content: a written portion (1500-2000
words) and at least one YouTube link to a
representative song that will be analyzed
• Develop a sonic, historical, and social analysis of a
musical example from one’s own musical and
cultural ancestry
• Analyze the music that is part of one’s ancestry
using the terms and concepts studied in this
course.
• This assignment can incorporate interviews
with family members in addition to your
own research, if such a thing will strengthen your
analysis.
• Must have a bibliography, discography, and a
lmography if referring to visual elements
fi
How To Reach The Throne
1. Come to class: your chances of passing this course are much higher
if you do.You can pass if you skip class, but it won’t be as easy as you
think it will be.
2. Your nal grade is your responsibility: stay on top of the
readings, the tests dates, and the deadlines, all of which are listed on
the syllabus. Track your own progress on Quercus.
3. You start each course in university with a 0, and earn
your way up to an A, not the opposite: evidence of hard
work and improvement is rewarded
4. Asking questions and participating in class discussions will
keep the lectures entertaining for all and will help you understand the
content
5. Come to of ce hours our ask the instructor questions
before or after class: keep yourself informed by going straight to
the top if you need advice or clari cation
6. Give your instructor feedback in person, during the
course: Rate My Professor reviews are helpful to future students, but
you can help improve a course for yourself while you are taking it by
bringing your concerns to the instructor
7. Be respectful of your classmates, and they will do the same for
you
fi
fi
fi
 Contact
The best way to communicate with your instructor
is in person, either before or after class or during weekly
of ce hours.

Email should only be used when the following criteria

have been met:

1. You have carefully read through the course syllabus, and

your question is not answered there
2. You have carefully read through the FAQs in the
document How To Succeed in Your Music Class, and
your question is not answered there
Email: basicallypete.johnston@utoronto.ca, 3. You have thought very carefully about the urgency of
or through Quercus your question, and are certain it can not wait until the
• I will respond within 24 hours, Monday to next class to be addressed in person
Friday (holidays excepted)
If these criteria have been addressed, and you have
Website: www.petejohnstonmusic.com determined email to be the best forum for your question,
• Should you be interested in my music and please identify yourself by full name (as written on the
upcoming performances course roster) AND by your course and section number
(e.g., “John Smith, Music 505-01”).
fi
HMU111: Introduction to Music and Society
Part II: Key Concepts

Instructor: Peter Johnston

Learning Outcomes
Historical/Geographical Context
• What is music? What is culture? How is
music categorized? How is music created
and structured?
Musical terms:
• Hyper-genres, folk, art, and pop music
Other Key Terms
• Culture, society, diaspora, musical function,
schemes of interpretation
 Key Concepts
Basic conceptual frameworks for this course:
• Musical practices are inextricably enmeshed in the broader
ows of human culture
• Music is shaped by the political, spiritual, and social
concerns of the people making and listening to it
• Music is shaped by the dominant culture at various points in
history; this course has a running theme of the impact of
European colonialism on traditional music around the
world
• Music - like people - is shaped by the geography and climate
of a place
• Music changes with technology, and musicians are in a
constant process of both preserving and
experimenting with music
• Music is perhaps the most pervasive and most important
cultural resource that we as individuals use to construct our
identities.
fl
What is Culture?
A people’s way of life, learned and transmitted
through centuries of adapting to the natural and
human world.
People within a culture often share:
• Stories: history and experiences, and the stories
we tell about that history
• Values: standards of goodness and beauty
• Languages: a system of symbols used to
communicate
• Beliefs: statements held to be true or desirable
• Food: connected to the natural world
• Norms: Rules which guide behaviour (social and/
or legal)
• Art: music, dance, writing, painting, sculpture
What is Society?
• The aggregate of people (often from
different cultures) living in a more or less
ordered community.
• The ways in which this community is
structured and regulated:
• Government (democracy,
dictatorship, monarchy, theocracy)
• Laws

• Economy (capitalism, communism,

barter)
Culture/Society
• Nation state: a form of political organization under
which a group of people inhabits a speci c land mass
(borders) and adheres to a system of speci c rules
• Example: since the 19th century we have come to
understand the world as a collection of distinct
nation states that collaborate, compete, and (too
often) ght with each other
• Nation: members share a society, culture, sense of
identity, but not political autonomy over a homeland.
• Example: Roma, Canada’s rst peoples, Quebecois
• Diaspora: international network of communities
linked by identi cation with a common ancestral
homeland and culture but who no longer live in
their place of origin
• Virtual communities: community forged in
cyberspace rather than in more traditional ways
fi
fi
fi
fi
fi
What is Music?
Example 1: Example 2:

Example 3: Example 4:
What is Music?
• Music is “organized sound” (Edgar Varèse)
• Music requires an organizer (composer/
creator) and an interpreter (audience): both
are of equal importance
• Music results from the interaction between the
materials (sounds/instruments/forms) and the
meanings we attach to these materials
• Music is subject to bias and experience:
unfamiliar sounds can begin in our minds as
noise, and can become “music” as we recognize
patterns
• Music is an interconnected process of
composition and reception: how and by who
are the sounds generated, and how are they
interpreted by listeners?
• Music is embedded in function: we understand
music based on how we use it
What is Music?
• Music often connected to spirituality/
religion/ritual/other-world
• Music most often connected to dance,
sometimes indistinguishable: the separation
of music and dance is a Northern
European construct
• Music used to enforce and maintain
certain social boundaries
• Music is a commodity that is bought and
sold, though ownership is problematic
• Music is connected to tradition (religious,
secular, cultural), in a constant process of
both change and preservation
Musicking
Christopher Small: Musicking (verb)
• The “act of taking part in a musical
performance,” which includes “not only
performing and composing, but listening and
dancing to music.”
• Small suggests that music is not an “art
object”, but a thing we do, a collection of
social practices that revolve around
interpreting, engaging with, and/or generating
sound.
• Proposes a shift away from thinking of music
as an “art object,” towards thinking of music
as a performance event that takes place in
real time, often between people.
• Music acquires meaning through how it is
used, and by whom
 Music Creation Process
Improvisation:
• creating music in the moment of performance
• music is generated within the context/rules of a
particular musical culture
• music is different each time it is performed, musicians
and audiences value this difference
• compositions are often generated through improvisation
Composition:
• xing the details of performance so a piece is more or
less the same each time
• may be rendered in notation or simply memorized
• involves interpretation: performers relate to and
manipulate the materials of the composition
Recording/Performance:
• Whether composed or improvised, music is consumed in
live performance, through recordings, or through reading
notation
fi
Music Creation Process

Improvised Performance Composition

Recording
Schemes of Interpretation
Musical Function
• Music has a wide variety of functions
within culture, and many of our assumptions
around “musical meaning” have to do with
the “use value” of certain musics
• Upon hearing music, we t it into both an
internalized typography (genre, art/pop/folk),
and make assumptions about its function
• The “rules of behaviour” around certain
musics have as much to do with the
presumed function of musics as they do with
genre distinctions
• Music is something that humans
use, not an inert force we tune in to from
time to time that exists separately from our
conscious experience
fi
Musical Typologies
Schemes
Functions of Rules
and Interpretation
of Behaviours
Questions
i. What is the function/
use value of this
music?
ii. What are the rules of
behaviour that go
with this music?
iii. How do we know the
answers to the above
questions?
Schemes
Musical of Interpretation
Typologies
• When we experience music, our response to it
is based on internalized categories and learned
behaviours, which Simon Frith calls “schemes
of interpretation”
• We build these schemes through our
upbringing, our education, and our
experiences as we engage with the cultural
world
• Music in the world can be roughly divided into
three “hyper-genres”:
• Folk
• Art
• Pop
• Lots of crossover between these three frames,
but there are real divisions as well around
function, audience, and connection to
capitalism
Conclusion
• Music around the world re ects the priorities/values
of the people who make it
• We understand music based on its perceived function:
Do we know what to do with it? How do we use it in our
lives?
• Music is often connected to ritual (spiritual or secular), and
is a way humans communicate with each other
• Music is a time-based art: like theatre and dance it is
experienced over a speci c stretch of time
• Music is in a constant state of preservation and change
• Nearly every world culture has a music, but there is no
such thing as a “universal musical language” as different
cultures have different notions of what music is
• The “meaning of music” is dependent upon the cultural
position and internalized knowledge/experiences of the
individuals who hear it
fi
fl
Homework

Reading:
Lousie Gray - “Inventing World Music” and
Nicholas Cook - “A Matter of Representation”