LD5385 - Song Transcription and Analysis
(3 graduate credits)
This is an introductory course in methodologies for the transcription and analysis of the salient musical features of song, i.e., vocal music. Emphasis will be placed upon developing the student’s capacity to listen to any song tradition in the world, recognize the salient musical features of any song in that tradition, and re-present (describe) those features graphically, textually, and orally. The goal of this analytical method is to progressively describe, compare and critique other songs in the particular music culture under investigation in terms of those songs previously examined. During the first two thirds of the course students will (1) examine readings from select ethnomusicological literature on musical transcription and analysis and (2) transcribe, analyze, and describe songs from 8-10 of the world's diverse song traditions. Together, the examination of the scholarly literature on music analysis and the actual analysis of the songs of these 8-10 traditions are designed to prepare the student to analyze songs from a tradition of their choice during the last third of the course. This is a “hands on” course. Throughout the course the student will be expected to submit musical (and poetic) transcriptions (in hard copy) for nearly every other class Session.
Prerequisites:
(1) Two semesters of a college level (western) music theory course (or its equivalent), (2) LD 5384 Expressive Form Analysis (or its equivalent), and (3) an ethnographic field methods course (or its equivalent).