Music 202 - Thinking About Music

This course explores different approaches to the study of music as a cultural phenomenon. We consider basic questions, such as: Why is music so often at the center of our most profound personal and social experiences? Why is music a fundamental means of connecting with our own lives, our communities and the wider world in which we live? Through in-depth reading and in-class discussion, we study the institutions of music (concerts, recording studios) and the varied practices of music making (classical, popular; amateur, professional) in order to construct a picture of the musical worlds around us and to understand what they tell us about the societies in which we live.