This course explores music as a fundamental human practice, and introduces the study of music as central to broader humanistic inquiry. By engaging with styles and performance practices from various regions and historical eras, students will develop an understanding of the diverse ways in which music intersects with human experience, culture, and history. To this end, the course employs an issue-based approach. The first several class sessions deal with fundamental questions about music, such as: What is music? How do musical sounds communicate meaning? What are the relationships between musical sounds, contexts, listening habits, and human behavior? How and why do scholars study music? The remainder of the semester is devoted to particular case studies that explore music's relationship to other realms including politics, religion, identity, and globalization. The class is structured around interactive lectures, demonstrations, discussion, and in-class group activities. No prior musical background or training is required.
4 units · Letter or Credit/No Credit
This course explores music as a fundamental human practice, and introduces the study of music as central to broader humanistic inquiry. By engaging with styles and performance practices from various regions and historical eras, students will develop an understanding of the diverse ways in which music intersects with human experience, culture, and history. To this end, the course employs an issue-based approach. The first several class sessions deal with fundamental questions about music, such as: What is music? How do musical sounds communicate meaning? What are the relationships between musical sounds, contexts, listening habits, and human behavior? How and why do scholars study music? The remainder of the semester is devoted to particular case studies that explore music's relationship to other realms including politics, religion, identity, and globalization. The class is structured around interactive lectures, demonstrations, discussion, and in-class group activities. No prior musical background or training is required.
Offered in Autumn 2026 at Stanford University.