Tara Bir Singh Tuladhar: Sitar (North Indian Classical)

SUBJECT COMMITTEE | THE FACULTY

or (for foreign students)
MUSC 112 Nepali I

or (for foreign students)
MUSC 122 Nepali II

or (for foreign students)
MUSC 132 Nepali III

or (for foreign students)
MUSC 152 Nepali V

or (for foreign students)
MUSC 162 Nepali VI

MUSC 074 World Music II: European Folk Music,
Middle East, Central Asia

MUSC 084 World Music III: Africa, America, South East and Far East Asia

Course Outline

MUSC 011 Music Theory and Notation
This course introduces various systems of music notation including Western staff notation and oriental systems. Both, Western and South Asian music theories will be explained and compared with practical application.

MUSC 012, 022, 032, 042, 052, 062, 072, 082 Practical Music
Includes intensive training in two practical subjects from the range available (Newar music, Shastriya Sangit and Western Music).

MUSC 013 Introduction to Ethnomusicology
This course is intended to provide students with an orientation for the entire course and present the history, theory and methods of the academic discipline, ethnomusicology.

MUSC 021 Study Skills
The course focuses on practical skills such as the application of musical notation, the use of standard international conventions for transcribing textual material, as well as for creating bibliographies and audiographies, etc.

Unit 1: English Terminology
This implies an explanation of the technical terms used in music, as these terms are generally employed in musicological studies. Sanskrit, Urdu, Italian, and German terms will be included.

Unit 2: Systems of Notation
The Western staff notation and the Indian letter notation are taught , along with examples of other notations created for special aspects of music (drumming, dance, etc.). Creativity in the use of notation in accordance with the respective goal is encouraged.

Unit 3: Library Skills – Bibliography, Sources, etc.
Writing a bibliography, quoting correctly, transcribing from Devanagari and other scripts according to the international conventions.

Unit 4: Essay Technique
Concise and clear presentation of ideas and arguments in a logical but interesting manner, using information for analysis and reaching conclusions.

MUSC 023 Sound Recording and Amplification
Instruction in basics of sound recording, amplification (multi-channel), use of portable digitalrecorders, multi-track studio recording, mixing, sound effects, digital harddisk-recording.

MUSC 031 Music and Society
This course is intended to provide students with a rigorous foundation of the basic precepts of music as part of a social and cultural fabric.

MUSC 043 Advanced Music Theory
Finer aspects of Western music theory are presented in this course, in order to enable students to understand the process of composing music.

MUSC 133 South Asian Civilization I
The objective of this course is to analyse the basic features of South Asian Civilization which includes Hindu and Buddhist cultures and their impact in shaping modern South Asian society.

MUSC 111, 121, 131, 141, 151, 161 English
The schedule of courses requires students to take courses in English through the first three years of the B.A. programme, to provide students with the requisite standard of language skills to handle the coursework. The courses will also include topics like essay technique to train students in the presentation of ideas and arguments in a concise and logical manner.

MUSC 112, 122, 123, 142, 152, 162 Nepali
These courses aims at developing the basic skills in written and spoken Nepali.

MUSC 044, 074, 004 World Music I-III
The aim of this series of courses is to enlarge the students' knowledge of world music, to create an understanding of different historical developments and to promote an appreciation of the various musical traditions, the forms, and their means of expression. The comparison of other musical traditions will provide Nepalese students with a wider perspective within which to understand their own traditions and to develop a musical aesthetic.

MUSC 143 South Asian Civilization II
The aim of the course is to expose the intricacy of South Asian civilization with emphasis on the Hindu-Muslim and Anglo-Indian synthesis. Special emphasis is laid on the socio-economic life and the communication network.

MUSC 134 Sociology and Anthropology of Nepal
Introduction to peoples and cultures of Nepal.

MUSC 051 Music of South Asia I: Great Traditions
This course offers an introduction to the two great traditions of Classical North Indian and South Indian music, as they permeate the musical life of the subcontinent.

MUSC 054 Music of Nepal I: Kathmandu Valley
MUSC 064 Music of Nepal II: Music of the hills and other areas
Special emphasis is given to the musical heritage of Nepal, with its history, literature, instruments, forms and techniques. The importance of perfomers,. social and ritual implications, musical change, and schemes for preservation is also given attention. Students and staff will work together to survey the extent of our current knowledge of Nepalese musical traditions, with a view to identifying potential areas for field studies.

MUSC 053, 063, 083 Aural Training
This is a practical course designed to open the ears of the students. They learn how to listen attentively, recognize structures, pitches and time units, and write everything down in a notation which represents the acoustic event as closely as possible. Interactive computer software is used to improve aural skills, particularly in the area of interval recognition. The schedule requires Aural Training courses to be taken through both semesters of the second and third year, starting with elementary exercises, gradually progressing to complex material and analysis.

MUSC 061 Music of South Asia II: Local Traditions
This course offers a comprehensive view of South Asian music. The various musical traditions are discussed in detail and illustrated with the help of live and recorded examples.

MUSC 301 World Music II: European Folk, Central Asia and Middle East
MUSC 304 World Music III: Africa, Americas, South East and Far East Asia
see above, under World Music I-III

MUSC 071 Classical Western Music I: Greece, Rome, Medieaval, Renaissance, Baroque
MUSC 081 Classical Western Music II. Classical, Romantic and Modern
Through this course, students will be exposed to historical development of Western classical music. This supplements courses on World Music through the study of a great tradition that has influenced musical thought and practice all over the world.

MUSC 171 Anthropology & Sociology of Nepal I
This course will discuss some major sociological and anthropological issues about Nepal, as discussed by various scholars, as well as the theoretical and methodological perspectives they use.

MUSC 181 Anthropology & Sociology of Nepal II
This course will discuss to Nepal's ethnic, linguistic and religious heterogeneity. It will examine a few ethnographic studies of ethnic/caste groups in different regions of Nepal.

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First Year Programme

Course Outline

MUSC  511, 523 Seminar in Ethnomusicology I & II
Originally, 'musicology' means 'studies in Western art music tradition'.  Ethnomusicology, the study of musical traditions other than the Western one, was founded around 1900 by the British mathematician and philologist Alexander John Ellis and the German scholars, Carl Stumpf, Erich Maria v. Hornbostel and Curt Sachs.  In Berlin Sachs and Hornbostel founded the first sound archive and developed the basic techniques of transcription and analysis.  Sachs published several important works on organology, the origin of music, comparative studies of dance traditions, etc.  The basic methods of research developed by these scholars have been refined and added to by ethnomusicologists all over the world.

More recently, also anthropological aims and means have been directed at music, as a system of sound communication with very special properties which require equally special analytic procedures.  Such procedures have been developed and applied to music by musicologists.  Musicology, therefore is the proper starting point for introducing an anthropological perspective to the analysis of musical sound.

Using a Western musicological base sensitzed to South Asian music by Indian musicology, it is possible to analyze an Indian or Nepalese musical idiom in terms of categories appropriate to the musical structure.  Such an analysis will enable one to identify in the music its formal procedures, and to distinguish it from other musical idioms on the basis of distinctive musical features.

What this musicological analysis will not do, however, is to explain the process of producing music in performance, where variability is often one of the identifying features of the music and crucial to its very function.  Therefore it is necessary to expand the musicological approach so that it can account analytically for all the contextual features relevant to the performance process – this reqires tools which only anthropology can supply.

The result is an ethnomusicological model built to deal with the musical sound structure, the structure of the performance occasion, and with the style of singing, playing and dancing.  Analysis of these three dimensions (i.e. the situational, the structural and the expressive) should lead to a deeper understanding of the respective culture.

However, it is not sufficient only to know about the music.  The analyst has to become familiar with the ways of producing musical sound by learning how to make music, to sing, play and dance.

This course focuses on the history of the subject 'ethnomusicology', along with its chief exponents, theories, and methods. The major theoretical goals of ethnomusicology are the analysis and comparison of musical structures and events, the systematic description of musical instruments (organology and organography), the role of the musician, the performance context (including historical and ritual implications and those of the locality and society), and the study of musical change.  Special emphasis is given to the documentation and preservation of tradition.

MUSC  512, 525  Aural Training and Analysis I & II
The aims of this practical course in musical transcription and aural analysis are first, to sharpen the students' perception of musical parameters, especially pitch and rhythm, and secondly, to explore and practise techniques of notation appropriate to the transcription of musics. Both live and pre-recorded music are used for these purposes and variable speed recorders as an aid to easier transcription from taped sources.  The results are analysed and discussed.

MUSC  513 , 526 Special Seminar in World Music I & II
This course will be conducted by area specialists of various musical cultures, and is thus anticipated to focus on different regions each year.

NEPS  515 Research Methodology
This course imparts training in field methods in general and their application for projects in ethnomusicology.  This includes designing a study plan and becoming acquainted with interview techniques.

MUSC  516 - 522, 528 - 534  Elective Language I & II
The students will select one of the local languages of Nepal which will be useful for their future work.

MUSC  524  Preparation for Fieldwork: Audio and Video Recording
Students will be given intensive training in the use of audio and video recording in the field., as well as a special course in studio recording and editing.

N.B.: Equipment will not be lent until the appropriate training course on ist use has been completed.  Equipment is lent for the period of field work only .  Equipment must be returned on the agreed date.  When it is issued, the student will be asked to sign a form agreeing to this and accepting full responsibility if s/he fails to return it on the due date.

MUSC  535, 541  Tutorial
The tutorial is aimed at helping students to select, plan and conduct their individual field projects.

MUSC  536, 542  Student Seminars
Topics will be announced at the beginning of the term for the students to select and prepare their presentations. The individual presentations are followed by discussion of the topics.

MUSC  537  Research Project I:  Data Collection
Students will be given approximately four weeks during the first term to conduct research for their projects.  The project will be on a subject chosen in consultation between tutor and student and approved by the Department of Music.

MUSC  538, 544  Practical music (optional)
This is for students who are pursuing performance training at an advanced level.

MUSC  543  Research Project II:  Research Report
The preparation of the final research report will include consultation with supervisors, preparation of data for analysis and presentation, as well as a demonstration of writing skills.  The report should be prepared within the following broad outlines:
i) a study based on the candidate's own fieldwork, approximately 5000 words in length.
ii) As above, but approximately 1500 words in length, with substantial musical examples and transcription.
iii) A critical or philosophical study on an approved topic, approximately 5000 words in length.

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SUBJECT COMMITTEE


Dr. Shubha Chaudhuri
Director (Research)
Archives and Research Centre for Ethnomusicology
American Institute of Indian Studies, New Delhi

Dr. Ritwik Sanyal
Senior. Lecturer, Department of Vocal Music, Banaras Hindu University

Dr. Gert-Matthias Wegner
Professor and Head of Department of Music, Kathmandu University

Dr. Richard Widdess
Professor in Ethnomusicology, with reference to South Asia, and Head of
Department of Music Studies, S.O.A.S., University of London

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Mahendra Bhusal
Lecturer in English

Prabhu Raj Dhakal
Vocal Teacher (North Indian classical)

Raj Kumar Malakar
Guitar Teacher (Western classical)

Bishnu Bahadur Manandhar
Tabla and Dhimay Teacher

Buddhalal Manandhar
Tabla Teacher (North Indian concert drum)

Tara Bir Singh Tuladhar
Sitar Teacher (North Indian Classical)

Mr. Ishan Ghimire
Lecturer in Anthropology and Sociology of Nepal

Shamsher Bahadur Nhuchhen Pradhan
Lecturer in Nepali and Newari

Hari Govinda Ranjitkar
Navabaja Teacher (Newar drums)

Sanjeev Neupane
Instructor: Sound Recording and Studio Technology

Dr. Gert-Matthias Wegner
Associate Professor and Head, Department of Music, Kathmandu University.
Professor in Ethnomusicology, Free University Berlin. Special interests: India, Nepal, Central Asia, drumming traditions (tabla, Newar drums), European classical music (piano), Musical Change, Transmission of Music

Visiting Faculty from the Department of Music Studies, School of Oriental and African Studies (S.O.A.S.) University of London:

Dr. David W. Hughes
Senior Lecturer in Ethnomusicology, S.O.A.S., University of London
Interests: Japan, South East Asia (Java, Thailand), linguistics and music

Dr. Richard Widdess
Senior Lecturer in Ethnomusicology, with reference to South Asia,
S.O.A.S., University of London
Interests: India, Nepal, textual sources for music history in South Asia, North Indian classical vocal music, relationships between Indian and Nepalese music traditions.

Visiting lecturers from other institutions:

Dr. Shubha Chaudhuri
Director (Research)
Archives and Research Centre for Ethnomusicology
American Institute of Indian Studies, New Delhi
Interests: Ethnomusicology archives, computerisation, music traditions of Western Rajasthan

Dr. Ritwik Sanyal
Senior Lecturer, Department of Vocal Music, Banaras Hindu University
Interests: Dhrupad, philosophy of music, musicology (Indian textual traditions). North Indian Classical vocal music

Lochan Rijal
Assistant Prof. Ethnomusicology