PERF 2028 World Music

This is an archived copy of the 2021-2022 catalog. To access the most recent version of the catalog, please visit https://hbook.westernsydney.edu.au.

Credit Points 10

Legacy Code 102762

Coordinator Nicholas Ng Opens in new window

Description This unit examines music from diverse cultures, such as African, Latin American, Middle Eastern, Asian, and the Australia-Oceania region, focusing on the performance, production, and transmission of contemporary fusion music. It explores the cultural-political ways in which the West represents world music as a commodity and considers how the music is inflected with notions of identity, modernity, globalisation, displacement and migration. It charts the ways in which, as a social practice, world music engages politics to promote change, giving voice to marginalised groups. Students will have the opportunity to perform selected rhythms from different cultures. Additionally, they will learn elements of music theory that pertain to the cultures studied in the unit.

School Humanities & Comm Arts

Discipline Music

Student Contribution Band HECS Band 2 10cp

Check your HECS Band contribution amount via the Fees page.

Level Undergraduate Level 2 subject

Equivalent Subjects PERF 3002 - Contemporary Arts 3 Politics and Communities PERF 2014 - Modes and Codes of Music Production PERF 2025 - The Politics of Australian Music

Assumed Knowledge

A basic understanding of music notation.

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this subject, students should be able to:
  1. Critically evaluate the diversity of genre and impact of the historical, socio-cultural, and global contexts of world music.
  2. Communicate the ways in which world music operates as a political discourse, focusing on its impact on marginal groups.
  3. Analyse the musical, lyrical, and performative dimensions of world music.
  4. Execute performances of rhythmic patterns and melodies of world music.
  5. Perform a range of world music compositions.
  6. Demonstrate fluency in the basic notation and theory associated with world music.
  7. Develop the capability to work with students across the Music program on collaborative, technical and performance skills.

Subject Content

Music from diverse cultures, such as African, Latin American, Middle Eastern, Asian and Australian-Oceanic.
The performance, production, and transmission of contemporary fusion music.
Representations of world music as a commodity.
Practical performances of rhythms from different cultures.
Introduction to music theory as it relates the cultures studied.
World music as a vehicle for the expression of identity, modernity, globalisation, displacement and migration.
The political and social dimensions of world music and relationship to marginalised societies.

Assessment

The following table summarises the standard assessment tasks for this subject. Please note this is a guide only. Assessment tasks are regularly updated, where there is a difference your Learning Guide takes precedence.

Item Length Percent Threshold Individual/Group Task
Annotated Bibliography 1,000 words 15 N Individual
Essay 2,000 words 20 N Individual
Final Exam 2 hours 30 N Individual
Practical Exam 6 minutes 35 N Individual
Participation S/U Y Individual

Prescribed Texts

  • NETTL, B. (2003). Excursions in world music. Upper Saddle River, N.J., Prentice-Hall.

Teaching Periods

Autumn

Penrith (Kingswood)

Day

Subject Contact Nicholas Ng Opens in new window

View timetable Opens in new window

Structures that include subject