MUSC4500 - Drumming: Noise, Language, Politics, Movement

In this course, we take drumming seriously as a window onto understanding world history and central human functions like rhythm, temporality, bodily movement, connections, and displacements. But we also try to listen and have fun. Each class includes a discussion of a reading followed by a lecture, listening, and videos. Occasional demonstrations of drumming traditions and/or tutorials (by myself and visitors) will occur in the latter portion of the class, and students are encouraged to pursue ethnographic projects and attend performances. Though the foundations for our course are Western drumming (rock and jazz) and South Asian drumming (Indian and Sri Lankan), we will explore traditions from other regions such as West Africa, the Caribbean, East Asia, and the United States. We consider the entanglement of drumming in religious practices, political protests, noise regulation, theorists of rhythm (such as the philosopher and sociologist Henri LeFebvre), and unique drumming
subcultures like America’s Drum Corps International. This is an advanced seminar, primarily for juniors and seniors who are prepared to engage deeply and critically with a specialized research topic in ethnomusicology. The topic of the seminar is determined by the instructor, and can focus on a particular theoretical concern (for example: postcolonial studies, sound studies, ethnicity, war), and/or on a genre or body of repertoire.