Phew! Another MUS103: INTRODUCTION TO MUSIC CULTURES OF THE WORLD is in the books, and this semester in particular was a doozy! I got a puppy, sprained my ankle, learned how to use TopHat to take class attendance, and grew a professor beard.
The 200ish students, however, were much more productive! They read a book and took 14 reading comprehension quizzes about it. They attended lectures and discussion sections. They learned how to use Mills Music Library resources from Public Services Librarian Tom Caw and then wrote an annotated bibliography (archival research!). They curated playlists. They took photographs and told stories with them. They learned how to conduct and record interviews from UW's Distinguished Oral Historian Troy Reeves and then interviewed multiple people. Then they wrote (and edited) transcripts and outlines of those interviews using AI. They negotiated permissions and contracts. They accessed Mills Music Library and Wisconsin Music Archive collections and reviewed radio programs. They met distinguished ethnomusicologists, folklorists, and anthropologists Dr. Langston Collin Wilkins, Dr. Jim Leary, Dr. Portia Maultsby, and Dr. Falina Enriquez and learned about the kinds of work they do and the productions they produce. Then they completed their own audio productions (yay, public programming!). They listened to music from all around the world including Africa, the Middle East, Indonesia, Europe, North America, and South America AND in class heard traditional and modern Ojibwe-Anishinaabe songs from UW-Madison's Folk Musician-In-Residence Lyz Jaakola as well as some beautiful Middle Eastern melodies and rhythms from Dena El-Saffar and Tim Moore.
I think this all qualifies as a doozy!I owe big thanks to the TAs–Anya, Ezra, and Jordan–for their incredible work all semester. I must also thank Dr. Nadia Chana again for recommending me and the Mead Witter School of Music for employing me! I also want to thank all of our guest speakers--it was a real honor to introduce you and share your work and experience with this class! Y'all are an exceptional and inspiring cast of scholars and humans!! And lastly, a big thank you goes out to several friends who donated their time, expertise, and patience by being interviewed for many of the students' final projects about why music matters and to whom--Julea Thomerson, Mason Meyer, Langston Collin Wilkins, Barry J Neely, Cris Plata, and many more. Y'all are the best and I can't wait to listen to all the final projects!
Thank you, thank you, thank you!
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