The minor in ethnomusicology provides students with opportunities to study music in and as culture. Students engage with a variety of musical practices, including popular, traditional and art musics from around the world, utilizing a range of methods for studying music and demonstrating the relevance of music in multiple areas of life.
The minor consists of 24 credits and can be completed in two years. It includes coursework in ethnomusicology, musicology, and/or anthropology, as well as participation in Lamont’s world music ensembles.
Minor Requirements
Students complete a total of 24 credits for the minor in ethnomusicology, including MUAC 1012 Music, Society, and Culture; MUAC 2057 Intro to World Musics; three elective courses; and five credits of ensembles. Interested students are encouraged to schedule an introductory advising meeting with the chair of Musicology and Ethnomusicology, Professor Sarah Morelli.
For more information see the Undergraduate Bulletin.
Admission Requirements
This program does not require experience on a musical instrument, and there is no audition needed for admission. Interested students should contact Professor Sarah Morelli, chair of Musicology and Ethnomusicology.
Learn more about pursuing a minor in ethnomusicology.
Featured Courses
MUAC 1012
Music, Society & Culture
About this Course
This course introduces students to the music of a variety of world areas. For each unit, students examine a diverse array of genres, analyzing music's relationship to religious life, aesthetics, politics, social organization, and identity. We also discuss the impact of globalization, transnationalism and immigration on the shaping and transformation of musical practice and meaning in each region. Reading materials, listening assignments, and discussion topics are supplemented by in-class performance workshops, designed to give students firsthand experience in non-Western performance traditions. This course counts toward the Analytical Inquiry: Society and Culture requirement.
MUAC 2057
Intro to World Musics
About this Course
This course is designed as an introduction to select world music traditions and to ethnomusicology, a discipline many define as the study of music in culture. We focus on three world areas: North India, Brazil, and Senegal. For each of these units, we examine various genres and musical systems and explore music's connection to ritual, belief, aesthetic ideals, politics, and social organization, asking what makes music meaningful for practitioners and audiences. Lectures and discussions are supplemented by regular guest lecture-demonstrations, films and hands-on workshops. Because students interpret the musical works as they represent the ideas and artifacts of human culture and analyze the connections between these and varied human experiences and perceptions of the world, this course may be used to partially fulfill the general education requirement Analytical Inquiry: Society and Culture. Prerequisite for music majors: MUAC 2051.
MUEN 3041
North Indian Classical Ensemble
About this Course
The arts of India are distinguished by their close interrelationship; rhythm, melody and movement are all encompassed by the term "sangeet." In keeping, DU's North Indian Classical Ensemble is dedicated to the practice of all three of these arts, through singing, rhythmic recitation and dance. Participation in this ensemble involves studying the ornate and highly refined systems of Hindustani music and Kathak dance. No prior experience is necessary; all that is required is a positive attitude and a desire to learn!
