Ethnomusicology in the Mediterranean Area
Code: 100647 ECTS Credits: 6| Degree | Type | Year |
|---|---|---|
| Musicology | OT | 3 |
| Musicology | OT | 4 |
Contact
- Name:
- Jaume Ayats Abeya
- Email:
- jaume.ayats@uab.cat
Teaching groups languages
You can view this information at the end of this document.
Prerequisites
It is recommended to have passed the following courses: Músiques i Cultures, Etnomusicologia, Llenguatge musical I and Llenguatge musical II.
Objectives and Contextualisation
Description of the main Mediterranean musical expression in relation to the social and human situation.
Main Mediterranean musical features, structures and aesthetics.
To develop the skills of the students to be able to situate music culturally and socially (historically and paying attention to transformation processes).
Competences
- Musicology
- Apply technological and informatic media (internet, data bases, specific editing software and sound processing, etc.) to the discipline of musicology.
- Recognise and appreciate musical manifestations in non-western, traditional, popular and urban cultures.
- Relate concepts and information from different humanistic, scientific and social disciplines, especially the interactions which are established between music and philosophy, history, art, literature and anthropology.
- Relate musical creations with their different contexts, differentiating between the social functions of music, its roles and that of the musician in society and in relation to other artistic manifestations.
- Students must be capable of applying their knowledge to their work or vocation in a professional way and they should have building arguments and problem resolution skills within their area of study.
- Students must be capable of collecting and interpreting relevant data (usually within their area of study) in order to make statements that reflect social, scientific or ethical relevant issues.
- Students must be capable of communicating information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.
- Students must have and understand knowledge of an area of study built on the basis of general secondary education, and while it relies on some advanced textbooks it also includes some aspects coming from the forefront of its field of study.
Learning Outcomes
- Apply the conceptualisation of philosophy, history, literature and anthropology to musical research.
- Applying the knowledge of cultural variability and its genesis to avoid ethnocentric projections.
- Define the place of musical cultures of the greater Mediterranean area in the general panorama.
- Distinguish netween the main styles and basic techniques of the main areas of Mediterranean music.
- For work and consultations use computer tools specific to ethnomusicology and, in particular, to the Mediterranean area.
- Interpreting the cultural diversity through ethnography.
- Prepare oral presentations on an analytical question and adapt them to the level and expectations of the audience or group.
- Use basic vocabularyand tools to describe and transmit knowledge acquired through effective oral presentations of musicological content adapted to the audience.
- Using the basic concepts of Social and Cultural Anthropology for the understanding of relationships between various societies and cultures.
Content
Mediterranean music:an imagined subject (article Gómez-Muns).
Music and festival (article Martí).
"Les veus de la Mediterrània". Documentary and discussion.
Regions: Latin, Slavic and Balkans, and Turkey.
From Masreq to Maghreb.
Performance situation:
- work Songs
- narrative Songs
"Les cançons oblidades en els cançoners de Catalunya" (article Ayats).
- dialog and festival Songs
"Sant Antoni d’Artà. Cantar allò que no es pot dir." Documentary and discussion.
- dance
- musical instruments
Oral presentation of the assignments.
Activities and Methodology
| Title | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Type: Directed | |||
| Master class | 30 | 1.2 | 1, 3, 4, 6, 9 |
| Reading seminar | 15 | 0.6 | 8 |
| Type: Supervised | |||
| Supervision | 7 | 0.28 | 7 |
| Type: Autonomous | |||
| Information research | 15 | 0.6 | 2, 6, 5 |
| Reading and content studies | 30 | 1.2 | 1, 2, 5 |
The subject combines the theoretical contents with the practical sessions of listening and analysis. These activities will be both individual and collective, from the reading and subsequent discussion of readings.
Mster classes: conceptualization and synthesis of the study topics. The aim is to show the different musical and social realities of the Mediterranean area based on models and showing the most suitable means of research for each problem.
Practical session: structured from the critical analysis of music within the corresponding social context. Listening to and analyzing sound fragments, working individually or in a small group.
In the event of a student committing any irregularity that may lead to a significant variation in the grade awarded to an assessment activity, the student will be given a zero for this activity, regardless of any disciplinary process that may take place. In the event of several irregularities in assessment activities of the same subject, the student will be given a zero as the final grade for this subject.
Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.
Assessment
Continous Assessment Activities
| Title | Weighting | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Final test | 33% | 1.5 | 0.06 | 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9 |
| Mid-term test | 33% | 1.5 | 0.06 | 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9 |
| Monographic assignment | 33% | 50 | 2 | 1, 3, 8, 5 |
The evaluation will be done through:
- Two written tests that will aim to show the assimilation of the theoretical concepts acquired through the master classes. They will have a weight of 66% of the total grade, distributed in two exams, in the middle and at the end of course, which will each have an assessment of 33%. It will be mandatory for the overall calculation of the grade to have passed each test separately with more than 5 out of 10.
- A monographic assignment on a musical situation focused on one of the territories of the Mediterranean. 33% of the final grade. A minimum of 5 out of 10 must be obtained to pass the course.
For this course, the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies is permitted exclusively for support tasks, such as bibliographic or information searches, text correction, or translations. Students must clearly identify which sections were generated with this technology, specify the tools used, and include a critical reflection on how they influenced the process and final results of this activity. Lack of transparency in the use of AI in an assessable activity will be considered a breach of academic honesty, which may result in a partial or total penalty in the activity grade, or greater sanctions.
Those who have not taken any of the two theoretical tests will be considered "not assessed".
The single assessment encompasses the three evaluation items. The monographic assignment has be done in 2,5 hours.
Bibliography
ALSINA Iglesias, Jordi, 2012: “Los instrumentos de la música de Creta”. Cuadernos de Etnomusicología nº2. Barcelona: Sibe, Sociedad de etnomusicología. Accessible en línia.
__________, 2010: “Las canciones olvidadas en los cancioneros de Catalunya: cómo se construyen las canciones de la nación imaginada”. Jentilbaratz-Cuadernos de folklore, núm. 12. Donostia: Eusko Ikaskuntza. Accessible en línia.
__________, 2010: "Cantar allò que no es pot dir. Les cançons de Sant Antoni d'Artà, Mallorca". http://www.sibetrans.com/trans/a19/cantar-allo-que-no-es-pot-dir-les-canons-de-sant-antoni-a-arta-mallorca Accessible en línia.
AYATS Jaume; COSTAL Anna; GAYETE Iris; RABASEDA Joaquim, 2011: “Polyphonies, Bodies and Rhetoric of senses : latin chants in Corsica and the Pyrenees”. Transposition. Musique et sciences sociales (1). Accessible en línia a:
http://transposition-revue.org/les-numeros/polyphonie-et-societe/article/polyphonies-bodies-and-rhetoric-of
GÓMEZ MUNS, Rubén, 2012: "Música Mediterránea. Una realidad imaginada". Cuadernos de Etnomusicología nº2. Barcelona: Sibe, Sociedad deetnomusicología. Accessible en línia.
LORTAT-JACOB, Bernard, 1994: Musiques en fête. París: Société d’Ethnologie Française.
MACCHIARELLA, Ignazio, 2003: Voces de Italia. Madrid: Akal.
___________, 2011: Tre voci per pensare il mondo. Pratiche polifoniche confraternali in alta Corsica. Udine: Nota.
MAGRINI, Tullia, 1995: “Ballad and gender: reconsidering narrative singing in Northern Italy”, http://research.umbc.edu/eol/magrini.
MARTÍ i Pérez, Josep, 1996: El folklorismo. Uso y abuso de la tradición. Barcelona: Ronsel.
__________. (2000). “Música y etnicidad”, capítol VIII de Más allá del arte. La música como generadora de realidades sociales, Sant Cugat del Vallès, Deriva Ed.
NETTL, Bruno; Stone, Ruth M ; Porter, James ; Rice, Timothy (eds.), 1999: The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music, en 10 volums.
ROSVING, Miriam, 1999: Cantos y danzas del Atlas (Marruecos). Madrid: Akal.
SCARNECCHIA, Paolo, 1998: Música popular y música culta. Barcelona: Icaria.
Software
No specific software required.
Groups and Languages
Please note that this information is provisional until 30 November 2025. You can check it through this link. To consult the language you will need to enter the CODE of the subject.
| Name | Group | Language | Semester | Turn |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| (PAUL) Classroom practices | 1 | Catalan | first semester | morning-mixed |
| (TE) Theory | 1 | Catalan | first semester | morning-mixed |