Music of the World

(2.5-5 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

This course is a gateway to the study of music around the world. Rather than thinking of different musics as a number of regionally defined systems, we will look at a number of ways in which this social and cultural phenomenon may be understood. This course, therefore, takes a thematic approach to the question of studying music, whether it is oceans away or just around the corner, and whether people might agree on calling it "music" or not. At a time when distances no longer seem to matter much and categories appear to account for little, this course addresses questions along the lines of how to think about music, before looking at where it comes from and what systems it might follow. The course is open to majors and non-majors. MUS 10010 Irish Music and General Musicianship at UCD; This module provides an introduction to Irish traditional music in which the characteristics of the music will be examined. Attention will be devoted to the song tradition in Irish and English, as well as the instrumental tradition. The modal harmonic system underpinning the tradition will be discussed along with aspects of melodic construction and form. In General Musicianship students' knowledge of music theory will be consolidated and score-reading and listening skills developed. Sight-singing/reading skills will also be developed. Aspects of musical form will be examined and students will be taught to think and write about music in an analytical manner. In Keyboard Harmony tutorials students practical keyboard skills will be developed and they will learn to harmonise a simple chorale-style melody in SATB format, using a sequence of simple chords in a given key, and to realise a given bass line.