Music, Trance, & Consciousness

(Cross-listed as MUS 159.) Cross-cultural approaches to relationships between music and altered states of consciousness, ranging from high-arousal trance states in healing rituals to low-arousal, individual experiences of deep listening. Ethnographic case studies of music-driven spirit possession, mysticism, shamanism, rave culture, and mobile individual listening practices from Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas. Interdisciplinary approach with material from ethnomusicology, anthropology, psychology, religious studies, and neuroscience.