MUS 342/ANT 324L/ANS361 THE MUSICS OF INDIA: HINDUSTANI SANGITA FALL 2013

UNIQUE NO.: 22155/31395/31820 COURSE TIME AND PLACE: T TH 12:30 – 2:00 in MRH M3.113 INSTRUCTOR: STEPHEN SLAWEK OFFICE: MBE 3.202 OFFICE HOURS: TBA OFFICE PHONE: 471-0671 e-mail: [email protected]

This course will comprise a broad introduction to the musical traditions of India, with particular emphasis placed on the art music of North India, the system referred to as Hindustani sangita. We will study Hindustani sangita both as a system with its own principles of internal organization and as a tradition in interaction with other musical traditions in India, and with musics elsewhere in the world. In doing so, we will resort to models and theories drawn from the field of ethnomusicology to develop an understanding of Hindustani music as a constellation of culturally meaningful sounds.

Course Objectives: The major goals in this course are that students

1. learn how sound is organized into musically meaningful structures in Indian culture,

2. learn of the relationships that exist between Hindustani sangita and other types of musical expression in India,

3. understand the history of Hindustani sangita, and how its development has been interconnected with political and religious events in South Asia.

4. acquire a basic understanding of the place of music and musicians in Indian culture,

5. acquire a basic aptitude for listening intelligently to performances of Indian art music. (By intelligent listening, it is implied that the listener knows what has happened and what will probably happen in any one performance. This will necessarily entail becoming familiar with a vocabulary of musical description [including indigenous theoretical terms, knowledge of musical instruments, genres, developmental processes within genres, stylistic schools et cetera].)

6. acquire a basic knowledge of available resource materials for furthering their knowledge of Indian music after leaving the course.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

This course is being offered in accordance with University guidelines for courses intended to satisfy the undergraduate "writing flag" and “global cultures” flag requirements. Thus, the course will include a variety of assigned writing projects that, together, meet or exceed the guidelines for such courses. MUS 342/ANT 324L SYLLABUS 2

Global Cultures:

This course carries the Global Cultures flag. Global Cultures courses are designed to increase your familiarity with cultural groups outside the United States. You should therefore expect a substantial portion of your grade to come from assignments covering the practices, beliefs, and histories of at least one non-U.S. cultural group, past or present.

Writing:

This course carries the Writing flag. Writing flag courses are designed to give students experience with writing in an academic discipline. In this class, you can expect to write regularly during the semester, complete substantial writing projects, and receive feedback from your instructor to help you improve your writing. You will also have the opportunity to revise one or more assignments, and to read and discuss your peers' work. You should therefore expect a substantial portion of your grade to come from your written work.

The first writing assignment is a one-page proposal of a semester-long research topic. This proposal is due September 19.

The second writing assignment will be a short review essay of an appropriate article drawn from a scholarly journal. The essay should be a compact two pages in length. The review should provide a synopsis of the content of the article and should attempt, in the way of analysis, to characterize the author’s point of view, assumptions, strength of argument, et cetera. DUE DATE: October 10

The third writing assignment is a term paper of approximately ten pages. This paper should be written as a typical research paper, citing sources and including a List of References Cited. This assignment will consist of three stages. You should select a topic, draft a one-page proposal and obtain my approval of it no later than September 19. You should immediately begin the research necessary to produce a draft version of your paper, which will be due October 24. I will evaluate the draft and make suggestions for improvements. You will continue to expand upon the initial draft, will incorporate whatever changes I suggest, and then complete the final draft in time to meet the FINAL DUE DATE of NOVEMBER 21.

In addition to these more formal assignments, you will have at least three additional assignments of relatively short length. These will be presented in class to stimulate class discussion of writing style in relation to the course content.

Regular class attendance and participation is expected of all students. Participation implies a willingness to engage in discussion, to question the questionable, to remain alert and engaged during information-loaded lectures and to listen closely to musical MUS 342/ANT 324L SYLLABUS 3 examples when they are being studied. Assigned readings and listening are not so much for class preparation as for complementation and supplementation of class lectures. Outside reading and listening should be considered of value in preparing for examinations (mid-term and final).

Reading Course Supplement, available from Speedway Copiers.

An especially important reference work is the extensive entry for India in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. This resource is available online through UT Libraries. There has been literally an explosion in the scholarship on Indian music over the last twenty-five years. It is impossible to cover everything that exists in an area as diverse as South Asia, so you are encouraged to do as much reading and exploration as possible outside the class. For those of you with little musical background, I suggest that you use Ravi Shankar's Learning Indian Music as an introductory primer for the course. This work provides a guided listening course consisting mainly of three hours of recorded performances illustrating the basics of North Indian music with an accompanying booklet of transcriptions. I will eventually get this on reserve in the Fine Arts Library, but will also try to get the listening examples on Blackboard. The most comprehensive examination of the musical cultures of India is found in the "South Asia: The Indian Subcontinent" volume of the Garland Encyclopedia of World Music (GEWM). Several excerpts from this volume are included in the Course Supplement.

Listening

An anthology of musical examples played in class will be available on Blackboard so that you may study and review these at your own pace. Specific listening recommendations will be given as the semester progresses. Examinations will include listening sections to test your progress in the development of knowledgeable and close listening abilities.

EXAMINATIONS: MIDTERM OCTOBER 15 FINAL DECEMBER 5

Grading system: review essay 10%; term paper 20%; mid-term exam 25%; final exam 25%; quizzes 10%; class attendance/participation 10%.

BE FOREWARNED: This course is loaded with foreign terminology. You will encounter anywhere from 200 to 500 foreign terms that you will have to memorize. We will also be dealing with unfamiliar musical theories. Those of you with little musical background will consider yourself at a disadvantage in this. This is true to a certain extent, but probably not as much as you think. The musical theories that we will be examining will be as new to students with a musical background as they are to those without one. The problem arises when it becomes necessary to use Western musical terms in order to approach the Indian musical phenomena. Nevertheless, I believe that all of you are capable of understanding everything that we study in the course. It will just take a great deal of effort and lots of studying and listening. You should spend a MUS 342/ANT 324L SYLLABUS 4 minimum of one hour a week listening to assigned and supplemental recordings and a minimum of three hours a week reading assigned and supplementary literature. In addition, you should take detailed notes in class, review those, and bring questions to class. I usually begin each class by asking if there are any questions about material that has been covered in the past. Please take advantage of that opportunity to clarify anything that you find hard to understand. But again, I must stress that it is especially important to come to grips with the terminology. There is no way around it. You must learn the words, be able to spell them (diacriticals don't have to be exact), know what they refer to, and be able to use them in describing music in your written work.

The University of Texas at Austin provides upon request appropriate academic accommodations for qualified students with disabilities. For more information, contact the Office of the Dean of Students at 471-6259, 471-4641 TTY.

TENTATIVE OUTLINE OF TOPICS (Most reading assignments are accurate as listed; a few may require modification. Listening assignments will be made as the semester progresses)

AUGUST

29 Introduction: syllabus; major issues in the ethnomusicology of South Asia; the cultural history of India

SEPTEMBER

3 An overview of India's diverse musical cultures READ: Arnold, "Profile of South Asia and Its Music”

5 Musicians in North Indian music: the transmission of a tradition READ: Slawek, "The Classical Master-Disciple Tradition"

10 The Sastraic tradition: What the experts had to say Raga: the basis of melody Aesthetic considerations: the classical canon and the practical reality raga bhava, rasa, raga times and the raga-mala tradition of painting READ: section on “raga” (in the India article) available online in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians;

12 Fixed forms and improvisation in Hindustani music Alap, the improvisational form par excellence: its form and structure

MUS 342/ANT 324L SYLLABUS 5

17 The theory of tala READ: James Kippen, “Hindustani Tala.”

19 Vocal genres I: Dhrupad, the Great Authenticator READ: Wade, "Hindustani Vocal Music"; Sanyal and Widdess chapters on dhrupad (pdf posted on Blackboard) TOPIC APPROVAL BY THIS DATE

24 Vocal genres II: Khyal, Stretching the Limits of Imagination READ: Bonnie C. Wade. Excerpts from Khyal: Creativity within North India’s Classical Music Tradition, pp. 1-35.

26 Continuation of our study of khyal: types of improvisation in the performance of khyal

OCTOBER

1 Vocal Genres III: Thumri, Musica Erotica READ: Manuel "The Evolution of Modern Thumri." Ethnomusicology 30/3 (1986): 470-490.

3 Instruments and instrumental genres in Hindustani music The instrumental alap, jor-alap, jhala as a genre READ: Miner "Musical Instruments: Northern Area"; Rahaim article on the harmonium (pdf on Blackboard).

5 SITAR RECITAL IN BATES RECITAL HALL AT 7:30 PM. I will be accompanied by Sandeep Das on tabla. Attendance is recommended.

8 - 10 The historical development of traditions of gat Masitkhani gat; Razakhani gat; sitarkhani gat; the modern vilambit, madhya and drut gat; dhrupad ang; khyal ang; thumri ang; gayaki ang; dhun READ: Slawek, "Hindustani Instrumental Music" REVIEW ESSAY DUE OCTOBER 10

15 MID-TERM EXAMINATION

17 The Social Organization of Musical Style in North Indian Music: Gharana READ: Daniel M. Neuman. Gharanas: The Rise of Musical “Houses” in Delhi and Neighboring Cities. From Eight Urban Musical Cultures MUS 342/ANT 324L SYLLABUS 6

22 -24 The major vocal gharana-s: Gwalior, Agra, Patiala, Atrauli, Kirana READ: ROUGH DRAFT OF RESEARCH PAPER DUE 10/24

29 - 31 Instrumental gharana-s: Maihar gharana, Imdad Khan gharana Read Slawek, "Ravi Shankar as Mediator. . ." in Ethnomusicology and Modern Music History

5 - 7 The organization of the raga system: traditions of raga classification; comparison of Hindustani raga-ragang and the Karnataka melakarta system; begin a study of some major raga-s

12 Music and religion: some examples of ritual music in India's culture The Brahmanic orthodoxy: Vedic chant READ: Basham, pp. 30-42 and 232-256; Wayne Howard, "Vedic Chant," pp. 238-245 in GEWM

14 NO CLASS (I WILL BE AT THE SEM CONFERENCE IN INDIANAPOLIS)

19 Music of ecstatic devotion: kirtan and qawwali READ: Basham, pp. 297-345; Slawek "Popular kirtan: Some Great Aspects of a Little Tradition" Ethnomusicology 32/2: 249-264, Regula Qureshi, “Sufi Music and the Historicity of Oral Tradition”

21 Film Music as Popular Music READ: Selections by Gregory Booth. RESEARCH PAPER DUE TODAY!!

26 Indian Music in the Modern World: change and adaptation READ: Silver, "Music Broadcasting, Recording and Archives," pp. 526-530 in GEWM; Peter Manuel, excerpts from Cassette Culture, pp. 37-59; 105-130.

28 THANKSGIVING

3 Indian Music in the Modern World: the globalization of Indian music READ: Neuman, "The Ecology of Indian Music in North America”; Farrell, Indian Music and the West (excerpts); Farrell "Music and Internationalization," pp. 560-570 in GEWM

5 FINAL EXAMINATION