MUS13AS - Music of Asia and Oceania
Overview:
Instructor Information
instructor:
course:
lecture:
classroom:
office hours:
office location:
email: 		Andrew Allen
Music 13AS (4 units)
Tues/Thurs 12:30PM - 1:50PM
WLH 2005
Tues 2:05PM - 3:05PM
WLH Coffee Shop (or by appointment)
Teaching Assistants
LARRY LIN
section:

office hours:
office location:
email: 		Mon 10:00AM-10:50AM CPMC 264
Mon 11:00AM-11:50AM CPMC 264
Mon 8:30AM-10:00AM
CPMC 243
CAROLYN CHEN
section:

office hours:
office location:
email: 		Wed 12:00PM-12:50PM CPMC 367
Wed 1:00PM-1:50PM CPMC 367
Wed 11:00PM-12:00PM
CPMC 245
IAN CARROLL
section:

office hours:
office location:
email: 		Fri 9:00AM-9:50AM WLH 2154
Fri 10:00AM-10:50AM WLH 2154
TBD
TBD
Description

In this quarter, we will cover various musics of the past and present from Japan, Indonesia, China and India. We will discuss in-depth how these musics are put together and how they relate to larger cultural, political and economic contexts. Students will be tested primarily on their critical listening skills and will be expected to write a short research paper on an Asian musician or musical group of their choice.

Course Schedule:
Assignments:

Student grades will be determined by an assessment of their critical listening skills on two examinations as well as participation in discussions and concert reviews, and their scholarly contributions on an Asian musical artist of their choice. The points-breakdown and grading rubric are as follows:

Concert Review #1: 10
Concert Review #2: 10
Midterm Exam: 20
Final Exam: 20
Discussion Sections: 20
Research Paper: 20
TOTAL: 100
A+ 97-100
A 93-96
A- 90-92
B+ 87-89
B 83-86
B- 80-82
C+ 77-79
C 73-76
C- 70-72
D+ 67-69
D 63-66
D- 60-62
F 0-59

Concert Reviews: 10 points each (20 points total)

Students are required to attend two (2) concerts and write a 2-page review. The two concerts should come from either the UCSD Department of Music calendar (music.ucsd.edu/concerts/) or the UCSD Music Grad calendar (musicgrad.ucsd.edu/events/). Concerts not on either of these lists must be approved by the TA before the review is submitted. The 1st review is due at the midterm (10/25), the 2nd review is due at the final (12/9).

Reviews should consist primarily of observation and critical analysis and only secondarily of opinion.

By Critical Analysis, I mean describe the following:
  1. the performer's role in the concert
  2. the structure of the concert (what order songs are played in, intermission events, etc., how is the event "staged", lighting, electronics, etc.)
  3. the themes of the music (text content, subtext, implied references, symbologies, metaphors, etc.)
  4. the emotional content of the music, the mood / experience of the concert
  5. any extramusical purpose for the concert (cultural awareness, political, charity, academic, "guest artist" concert, musical "premiere", etc)
Some points about concert etiquette:
  1. Plan on attending the entire concert and writing about each piece on the program. (partial reviews will get partial credit.)
  2. (Please note that many concerts will have short intermissions in the middle of the concert.)
  3. Do not write / talk / move around during a performance. Wait until the applause.
  4. Do not text / browse facebook / or anything else with electronic devices AT ANY TIME. Keep all electronic devices turned off and silent.
  5. At all times, be respectful of the performing artists.
Discussion Sections: 20 points

Students will be expected to attend all meetings for their appropriate section. TAs will lead the students in class discussions of listening materials, lecture information and any assigned readings. Any pop quizzes, additional take-home assignments and the nature of in-section projects will be at the discretion of the TA.

Midterm and Final Examination: 20 points each (40 points total)

There will be two listening tests during the quarter: A midterm on Oct. 25 and a final on Dec. 9th. The listening exams will consist solely of identification of a few short musical excerpts. Each excerpt will be approximately 30 seconds of music, chosen randomly from one hour of listening materials per exam. The student may be required to provide the title of the work as well as the instrumentation, genre/tradition, country of origin as well as any relevant information regarding the cultural context of the work. The examples will be played sequentially with short breaks in-between and the entire sequence will be repeated twice more, so that each example is played a total of three times. The tests are non-cumulative.

Final Exam Termslist:
Research Paper (5-7 pages): 20 points [AT LEAST FIVE (5) SOURCES]

Choose a traditional or contemporary musical performer, composer, or group that is connected culturally, aesthetically, politically, economically or spiritually with a primarily-Asian demographic or geography. Describe the music in terms of instrumentation, form, structure, execution and style, as well as performance practice (costume, stage design, etc) and any media in which the music is distributed (books, radio, internet, cinema). Analyze how this person or group's music relates to socio-cultural-politico issues within the demographic as well as how it is interpreted by outside audiences (other Asia countries, other world economies, etc.). Cite relevant sources that provide examples of these relations. Papers are due the last day of classes, December 1st

Possible paper topics:
  1. Street musicians in Hong Kong
  2. Anggun
  3. Rhoma Iroma
  4. Inul Daratista
  5. Evan Ziporyn
  6. I Wayan Sudirana
  7. Kartik Seshadri
  8. Ravi Shankar
  9. Zakir Hussain
  10. Ali Akbar Khan
  11. T. Brinda
  12. Tan Dun
  13. Ali Weiwei
  14. Ryoji Ikeda
  15. Otomo Yoshihide
  16. Whitehouse
  17. Hanatarash
  18. Anybody from this list: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_J-pop_artists
  19. The guy who wrote the music to Mega Man 2 for NES
  20. Phillip Glass
  21. The Beatles
  22. Bela Fleck
  23. etc.
Plagarism

Academic honesty is extremely important. Failure to acknowledge your sources for quotations, paraphrases, or ideas consistently and completely is plagiarism. You are expected to produce original work in this course. If you copy the words of another author (from a book, article, website, etc.) without quoting and citing the source, you are committing plagiarism--the appropriation or imitation of the language or ideas of another person and presenting them as your original work. If you buy or borrow a paper written by another person, you are cheating and plagiarizing. Neither will be tolerated under any circumstances. If you are uncertain about proper documentation of sources, you should consult with the TAs and me. Plagiarism/cheating will result in an F for this course and will be reported to the Academic Integrity Office.

Course Materials:
(Pinpeat Orchestra) "Sathuka"
Yangqin example
Dizi example
Sheng example
Xiao example
Suona example
Yueqin example
Zhonghu example
Erhu example
Sanxian example
(Traditional Chinese) "Ambush from 10 Sides"; Liu Fang, pipa
(Guoyue) "Reflections of the Moon on the Water of Erquan" by Hua Yan Jun; Song Fei, erhu and Central Chinese Orchestra
(Jingju)
(C-Pop) "Wo Bu Gou Ai Ni" by Andy Lau & Kelly Chan
(Chinese Contemporary Classical) "Ghost Opera" by Tan Dun; Wu Man, pipa and the Kronos Quartet
(Tibetan Buddhist Ritual)
(Tuvan Throat Singing) Traditional music by Alash
(Gagaku) "Etenraku" by Tokyo Gakuso ensemble
(Sankyoku example)
(Hayashi-Noh example)
Otomo Yoshihide's New Jazz Ensemble "Reducing Agent"
Hanatarash - "Housedust"
Megaman III Intro (Remix by Year200X)
Hastune Miku "World is Mine"
D'espairsRay "Forbidden"

For students that would like their own copies of some of this music, they may purchase the following volumes of the "Music In" book+CD series from various online suppliers (use Google shopping to compare many store fronts; each book goes for about $25 or less):