MUS 522

Fall 2025 All Classes

All Classes

Special Topics Seminar

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Credit: 4 hours.

Intensive study of special topics in musicology, whether historical, ethnomusicological, or interdisciplinary in approach; seminar format.

May be repeated to a maximum of 8 hours. Prerequisite: MUS 528 A (consult Class Schedule for specific section information); Music and Sound Studies graduate minor; or consent of instructor. For graduate students in Music; this course is intended for performance and composition majors, especially DMA students seeking advanced musicology credit.

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MUS 522 class schedule data for fall 2025
CRN	Type	Section	Time	Day	Location	Instructor	Section Details
70495	Lecture-Discussion	A	2:00PM -4:50PM	R	Music Building	Bashford, C	Part of Term: 1 Date Range: 08/25/25-12/10/25 Section Title: Concerts and History Section Info: Topic: "CONCERTS AND HISTORY: MUSIC, PERFORMANCE, AND COMMUNITY FROM COURTLY EUROPE TO COVID-19." The concert has long been one of the principal forums for the performance and consumption of Western music, its continuities disrupted and subsequently adapted with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2019. Our seminar considers the concert as a musical, social, and cultural phenomenon through case-studies of concerts in Europe and North America from the 18th century to the COVID era, with special reference to primary sources, recent scholarship, interpretative techniques, and work in the Digital Humanities. Some sessions will be devoted to events at the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts; there will also be opportunities for students to engage with the collaborative US-UK research project, The Internet of Musical Events (https://intermuse.datatodata.org/). Topics for discussion will include repertoire and programming; canon formation and disruption; community building; economics and arts management; performers and their drawing power; rituals and etiquette; modes of listening; and intersections with technology. Attendance at a KCPA concert is required (tickets provided by KCPA). Assigned work will include short papers or reports, in-class discussion, short individual and/or collaborative presentations, and a final research project (culminating in a paper or mock pre-concert talk). NOTE: MUS 528A is a prerequisite for graduate students in Music performance and composition. Restriction(s): Restricted to students with Graduate class standing. Restricted to students in the Music department.
78480	Seminar	B	9:00AM -10:20AM	TR	Music Building	Ramirez, C	Part of Term: 1 Date Range: 08/25/25-12/10/25 Section Title: Urban Soundscapes Section Info: Topic: "URBAN SOUNDSCAPES: THE SOUND OF THE CITY FROM THE MIDDLE AGES TO THE PRESENT." This course explores the sonic life of cities from medieval Europe to contemporary global metropolises, analyzing how sound structures urban space, social relations, and power. Cities are not only visual landscapes—they are constructed through sound: church bells regulate time, markets hum with commerce, colonial plazas impose hierarchies of governance, and modern noise ordinances shape urban life. This course examines the built environment as an acoustic space, considering how soundscapes evolve through technological, social, and political transformations. Drawing on sound studies, urban history, musicology, and media theory, students will engage with key concepts while analyzing historical and contemporary soundscapes. This course does not require fluency in western musical notation or the ability to play an instrument. Students interested in sound, music, and cultural history from any discipline/major/department are welcome to register. Restriction(s): Restricted to students with Graduate class standing. Restricted to students in the Music department.
78498	Seminar	C	1:00PM -3:50PM	F	Music Building	Camal, J	Part of Term: 1 Date Range: 08/25/25-12/10/25 Section Title: Music and Politics Section Info: Topic: "MUSIC AND POLITICS." What is political about music? This course questions music’s political efficacy, from music’s ability to build community to its conscription in nationalist projects, from sounding resistance to its participation in systems of governance, from performing identity to navigating the politics of recognition, from warning about contemporary perils to imagining utopian futures. Our readings will draw from ethnomusicology, anthropology, popular music and cultural studies. Case studies ranging across musical genres and locations will introduce theoretical and methodological approaches to the study of music and politics, highlighting how both musicians, audiences, governments, activists, and music scholars have responded to changing political contexts, from the decolonizing postwar period, to the unipolar world order that followed the fall of the Soviet Union, to the rise of neoliberalism, and the current advent a multipolar—and increasingly illiberal—world. Although we will mostly discuss repertoire that falls outside of the Western art canon, the ideas presented in this course are applicable across all styles of music. Students will be encouraged to think critically about the political salience of their own practice, whether artistic or academic. Restriction(s): Restricted to students with Graduate class standing. Restricted to students in the Music department.