MUS 523

Fall 2025 All Classes

All Classes

Seminar in Musicology

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Credit: 4 hours.

Problems in historical and systematic musicology or ethnomusicology; discussions of special problems and reports on individual research.

May be repeated to a maximum of 8 hours. Prerequisite: Graduate standing in Musicology; Music and Sound Studies graduate minor; or consent of instructor. Graduate students in music will be considered if they passed MUS 528 A (consult Class Schedule for specific section information).

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MUS 523 class schedule data for fall 2025
	CRN	Type	Section	Time	Day	Location	Instructor	Section Details
	32824	Seminar	A	1:00PM -3:50PM	T	Music Building	Ramirez, C	Part of Term: 1 Date Range: 08/25/25-12/10/25 Section Title: Sonic Materialities Section Info: Topic: "SONIC MATERIALITIES: POWER, MEDIA, AND THE POLITICS OF MUSICAL OBJECTS." This seminar explores the material dimensions of sound—from instruments and recording media to infrastructures and digital platforms—through the lens of media theory, materiality, organology, and power. Sound is always embedded in—and created through—materials, and technologies that shape its production, circulation, and reception. This seminar examines how these materialities are governed, contested, and repurposed across historical and contemporary contexts. A written research project that engages with the seminar’s theoretical framework will be required. This seminar does not require fluency in western musical notation or the ability to play an instrument. Students interested in sound, music, and media from any discipline/major/department are welcome to register. Restriction(s): Restricted to Graduate - Urbana-Champaign. Restricted to students in the Music department.
	32821	Seminar	B	1:00PM -3:50PM	M	Music Building	Magee, J	Part of Term: 1 Date Range: 08/25/25-12/10/25 Section Title: 1959 Section Info: Topic: "1959." How do we recapture the sound and look of life in a single year, and what can we learn from that? Using an approach known as synchronic history—the study of more-or-less simultaneous occurrences around a single moment—the course will be a wide-ranging seminar-style exploration of musical repertoire across diverse idioms (extending to the entire sonic landscape) with emphasis on developments in the United States in and around the year 1959. A broad introduction will be followed by a series of weekly case studies in which representative compositions, recordings, sounds, events, and people help to bring key issues into focus. Weekly engagement will be expected: students will bring examples to class, and we’ll discuss them as we build a richer context for understanding the period. The course culminates in the completion and presentation of an original research project that intersects meaningfully with the year 1959. Restriction(s): Restricted to Graduate - Urbana-Champaign. Restricted to Music or Musicology major(s).