MUSI 252 - Book Club

Semester Offered: Spring.
1 unit(s)

In-depth exploration of a multi-disciplinary musical topic through student-selected readings and student-led group discussions. The course begins with a pre-selected book, with subsequent readings researched and selected by students. Each week students take turns leading the class through directed discussions of the readings, with summary presentations and prepared discussion points. After the initial pre-selected readings, the reading itinerary expands based on student interest. Each student (in consultation with the professor) selects readings for the entire class to read (books chapters or journal articles either referenced in our primary readings or researched independently), so that by the second half of the semester, the curriculum is entirely student-driven. The course culminates with presentations on subtopics of each student’s choosing. This course is open to students with backgrounds in music or other fields related to the topic, with the hopes of generating richly cross-pollinated discussions from multiple points of view. Tahirih Motazedian.

Topic for 2023/24b: Music as Pathology, Music as Therapy. Music has always played a central role in human civilization, and because of its incredible power to influence human thought, emotion, and action, music has been both feared and revered since the earliest days. Every age panics over the new music of their time, and the astonishing history (spanning thousands of years) of the pathologization of music includes 18th-century medical diagnoses of “musical hysteria,” systemic music-based sexism and homophobia in the 19th century, music’s role in 20th-century “scientific” racism, and 21st-century fears over correlations between music and violence. All around the world, music has been weaponized in service of brainwashing, political manipulation, warfare, and even torture. On the other side of the spectrum, for thousands of years, people have harnessed the immense power of music as a therapeutic tool for a wide range of physical, developmental, and psychological conditions–not to mention music’s prominent role in spirituality and religion in almost every world culture. In this class, we explore the long and complex histories of music as pathology and music as therapy, tracing the evolution of both threads from their historical origins through the present day. Táhirih Motazedian.

Prerequisite(s): One course in music, science, history, or permission of the instructor.

Two 75-minute periods.

Course Format: INT