Proposed Course Content: Faculty of Extension

April 5, 2011 Toscha Turner, MA University of Alberta FACULTY OF EXTENSION: Proposed Course Content As I come from a background in ethnomusicology, all the music courses that I would propose would use "music in/as culture" as their guiding framework. This is one of the reasons why I think my pedagogical approach fits in well with a "scholarship of engagement" - ethnomusicology is a field invested in and built on specific community practices and is, at its best, for and about overlapping audiences. If you are interested, here is a link about "applied ethnomusicology" (loosely thought of as ethnomusicology outside of the academy), which is a perspective that I advocate. http://www.appliedethnomusicology.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1&Itemid=2 It has occurred to me that "applied music" of this sort (meaning music in the community) doesn't currently exist at the UofA, but is an important feature of programs at other institutions that I have been involved with, so I think this would be a salient point in creating a partnership between the Faculty of Extension and the Department of Music. As such, "Applied Ethnomusicology" is a course that is taught in other schools, but not here, and could perhaps be a good early step with the department.

Some other course ideas that could work well for both non-credit or term-length credit courses: -music appreciation (in the community) -music around the world (in the community) -western art music (in the community) -different genre studies (in the community) All these would focus on specific performances that I would choose ahead of time, and work out from them to explore original performance/composition contexts and how those relate to performance contexts within Edmonton. Historical, theoretical, and cultural understanding of music would all be taught through these specific performances so students would come away with a good understanding of these typical areas as well as a grounded understanding of how music scenes operate locally. "First Nights: Five Musical Premieres," by Thomas Forrest Kelly is an example of how this can be done effectively from a historical perspective (http://books.google.ca/books?id=PySuF_weSCIC&sitesec=reviews), although I would highlight the importance of grounding it in a contemporary local context.

Alternatively, exploring musical foundations through an in-depth exploration of a single album or artist could create an accessible and tangible route into musical appreciation. The formal, historical, and cultural components of Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” or Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the USA” can provide a tangible context for understanding music and a critical lens for seeing the world Bridging disciplinary boundaries could potentially broaden both the academic and community appeal of a course, so looking at how music functions as a secondary art in things like film/television, dance, video games, theatre, etc. would likely work well in Extension. I expect this could be quite a fluid and flexible course that could bring in lots of multidisciplinary involvement and would work as well for credit as it would for noncredit. I would see this a place to bring in the semiotic value of music and explore how things mean.

Finally, the possibility of building a course around the execution of a musical event - I would see small groups planning and seeing through some sort of concert step by step. This would be much less theoretical, but would necessarily involve a musical research component in addition to the practical research that would be required.

These are just some of my initial thoughts - let me know if you would like me to expand on or clarify anything. I think courses like this have the potential to be quite attractive to a wide variety of students and community members alike!