Cultivating Music Communities
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Course Number
Credits
Course Description
This is a student-led course.
This course focuses on the direct music interactions between musicians. Forming a band or maintaining a network of collaborators is hard work, and guidance for undergraduates is generally focused on performance techniques and the structure of the music itself. This course will help students navigate the process of forming mutually communicative relationships with other musicians, create the necessary social climate for healthy collaboration, and guide these music communities towards productive practice and learning.
Pulling from the fields of ethnomusicology, folklore, communications, psychology, and musicology, students in this course will consider a variety of perspectives on group creativity and collaboration. Readings and discussions will focus on questions such as why musicians form groups, what a healthy balance of individual contributions looks like, and how to facilitate a productive exchange of feedback. This dialogue will be complemented by workshops designed to build the improvisation, composition, and communication skills that grant musicians the flexibility to contribute to different kinds of groups.
Some experience playing music is recommended, but student participation can easily be adapted to a broad range of skill levels. Those with prior instrumental or vocal experience will be provided with opportunities to challenge themselves, but students with little experience in music performance will still be able to contribute to performance and composition workshops. This course focuses on the creation of communities that encourage collaboration and learning from all members. There is a proper place for feedback and criticism in these communities, but gatekeeping behaviors that discourage participation and erode confidence are counterproductive and will be heavily discouraged.
Required Texts
This course does not require the purchase of a textbook. Assigned readings are taken from a wide variety of texts, so digital copies of the relevant chapters will be provided alongside response questions. Many of these texts are fully available in eBook form through Western’s libraries, so any students interested in additional content will be able to sate their curiosity free of charge.
Credit/Evaluation
Students will be evaluated based on their writing assignments, group composition project, and in-class participation. Consistent attendance and sincere participation is the standard by which this is measured. This course relies heavily on experiential learning through music performance, so inconsistent class attendance or frequent abstention from workshop activities will have a significant impact on your ability to receive credit. Participation in discussions is also crucial. Through discussion contributions and short writing assignments, it will be clear whether you have completed the assigned readings. Composition group project participation will be measured with short “rehearsal journal” assignments to verify that your group is working together outside of class, and in addition to sharing the finished composition with the class groups will be expected to present a work-in-progress during the composition process to receive peer feedback.
Fairhaven College does not assign grades. We will discuss the evaluation process in more detail throughout the quarter. Your work in this course will be evaluated based on class participation, on the completion of the above stated learning objectives, the ability to apply course concepts to specific situations, the ability of the written work to reflect an understanding of course materials and their broader application, and adherence to assignment goals and guidelines as evidenced by the content and execution of the essays and research projects. Specific content suggested for self-evaluations will be discussed over the course of the term.