Language and Music

Undergraduate / Graduate

Language is used in music a whole lot - from sophisticated, poetic lyrics to the nah nah nahs, it sure has a significant place. Have you wondered how exactly are different pieces of language used in different kinds of music? Are there rules and limitations? In this class we are going to take a tour through a wide array of linguistic and musical traditions in order to try and answer that question. Some of the topics that we will explore together include: tones and melody, prosody and rhythm, linguistic register and musical genre, the distributions of vocables, and tastes of more advance topics such as melisma, polyrhythm, historical pronunciations and different 'classical' musics around the world. We will also learn to present on unfamiliar musical and linguistic topics and develop a general appreciation of the unique languages and musical traditions from diverse socioeconomic, geographic and historical backgrounds. There are no prerequisites but Introduction to Linguistics as well as knowledge of musical notations would be welcome.