Music of Native North America

This is a survey course introducing the music
cultures of North America; focusing on an
interdisciplinary approach to view the history,
social institutions, culture, literature, arts,
and relationships of North American Indigenous
peoples and their sonic practices. This course
will treat the practice of listening as an
integral research practice in the study and
understanding of Indigenous music and sonic
practice. The aim of this course is to provide
students with the listening tools necessary to
hear and understand Indigenous sonic practices as
a continuum of ethnomusicological and contemporary
sonic practices. The outcomes of this course will
be a Research-Creation project, which includes a
creative component (of any medium) and an
accompanying written contextualization, engaging
with Indigenous sonic theories and their contexts
in non-appropriative ways. Students will be
required to bring questions to each class
discussion and turn in 5 written listening
responses. While this course is not about the
basics of Indigenous culture, it will provide
students with terminologies and background
knowledge in order to approach the material in a
respectful and academic manner.