Select a musical genre that we have NOT COVERED in this course. You could choose Appalachian Folk music, Russian electronic house music, traditional Japanese flute music, Chilean folk music, anything as long as it does not come from the text book, and it must be a legitimate genre with an assortment of people or groups creating music in that genre.
Once you have selected a musical tradition, you will create a “mini chapter” similar to the ones in your textbook, providing the following details about your selection:
1. Sociopolitical background information for the region. What is the culture like? What is the prevalent religion (s)? What languages are spoken? Has there been political turmoil such as wars, famines, natural disasters, etc?
2. Talk about the development of the musical genre. How did it originate? How did it develop in to what it is now? How did the geographic/political/social environment shape the music into what it is now?
3. Describe the Music – Using the terms and concepts from this course, provide a detailed description of the instruments, rhythms, modes or scales, forms, and any other details that are relevant to your chosen musical genre.
4. Lastly, talk about how you relate to this music. Is it foreign to you? Familiar to you? Connected to you by culture, experience, faith, etc? List some of the concepts or terms you have learned in this course that have altered the way in which you experience new music.
Your “chapter” should be no less than 500 words. Provide Youtube or Spotify links as examples of the music you have chosen to research. Choose something in which you are genuinely interested as this will make the process more interesting and relevant to you.