Updated PowerPoint slide for Beijing opera

After grading your assignments on Beijing opera, I have added another slide to the PowerPoint presentation for that day's class, in order to provide more detail on the history of China in the 20th century. In particular, a number of you confused the Communist Revolution (1949) with the Cultural Revolution (1966-1969). The portions of Farewell, My Concubine that we watched do not address the Cultural Revolution.

Be sure to update your copy of the slides if you have downloaded them.

Terms for review for Exam One

I have compiled a list of terms you can use to review for the first exam. This is available at a link on the syllabus (find the date of the exam), or with this link.

BC: Listening assignments on WebCT

BC students only:

In a few cases, assigned listening is not available at sites like Rhapsody, Napster, and iTunes. You will need to log on to the course's WebCT site to listen to these tracks as streaming audio.

The Beatles songs assigned for Thursday are now posted to WebCT. Click on the "Listening Assignments" graphic.

Suffolk: syllabus update 9/20/07

Suffolk students only:

I would like to show about 15 minutes more of Farewell, My Concubine in class on Friday and then conduct discussion based on your assignments. Most of our scheduled material on Indian art music will have to wait until Monday. I have updated the syllabus to reflect this change. Dates of assignments and exams are not affected.

Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra

Another example of Japanese pop music:
Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra

More links for Japan

Taiko drummers at Tokyo Marathon
Taiko drumming in Auckland, New Zealand
Taiko for tourists

YouTube links for Japanese art music

Gagaku performance (close-ups begin at 2:40)
Bunraku performance

PowerPoint presentations

The PowerPoint presentations used in class are now available to both BC and Suffolk students.

BC: Click on "WebCT" at right and select MUS 301.

Suffolk: Click on "Blackboard" at right, log in to Campus Cruiser, select Blackboard, then select HUM 223. (Warning: Blackboard will not open if your web browser is set to block popup windows.)

These files generally will be uploaded to the site after class.

Suffolk syllabus update 9/7/07

Suffolk students only:

On the HUM 223 syllabus, I have removed some old assignments that were inadvertently left in the document for some days in October and November. Please update your copy if you have printed it.

YouTube links for 9/4/07

Here are links to two YouTube videos for traditions we will not have a chance to study in depth during this course:

Mongolian overtone singing
Australian aboriginal didjeridu