MUS 082: Survey of World Music

[Sample Syllabus]

Required Text:
Shelemay, Kay. Soundscapes. New York: W. W. Norton and Co., 2001. (With accompanying 3-CD set.)

Listening Examples
A full understanding of music cannot be achieved without opportunities to listen and describe it. Exams will feature several listening-related questions, so it is in your best interest to keep up with all the listening assignments. In addition to the CDs included with Soundscapes, supplementary listening examples will be posted on the Blackboard page for this class; this is accessible at http://bb2.drake.edu via the "Course Documents" link. The examples range from 2 to 7 MB in size, so you may want to have a fairly speedy internet connection at hand. All are in MP3 format, and should work on either Macs or PCs.

For the record and for copyright purposes, these examples are all intended for your personal use only. You may download them onto your hard drive or iPod, or burn them to a CD, but they are NOT to be redistributed through any electronic or mechanical medium. These excerpts are intended for the educational purposes of this class, with the expectation that you will delete them from your hard drive after the end of the term.

Examinations
The four exams represent 75% of your final grade (15% x 1 + 20% x 3 = 75%). The exams are not cumulative—that is, Exam 1 will cover materials discussed over the first two weeks of class, Exam 2 over the next four weeks, and so on. Please note that the final exam will be Thursday, December 16 at 9:30 AM. The exams will be based upon material drawn from lectures, the textbook, and listening materials, and will involve both written and listening components. Please adjust your schedules now as no accommodations will be made for early or make-up exams except under extraordinary circumstances. An unexcused absence from an exam will be graded as 0%.

Other grades and assignments
A series of short quizzes based on the assigned readings will be given over the course of the term. These will be unannounced, and will take place at the beginning of class. These will count for 10% of your final grade; you will not be allowed to make up a quiz if you are tardy or absent.

Over the course of the term, you will be assigned a short paper requiring you to offer your impressions and critiques of the various pieces assigned in a given week or in a specific unit. These papers, which will count for 10% of the final grade, should consider both the function and style of the pieces assigned, as well your own aesthetic critique of the works.

Attendance
Students are expected to attend and arrive on time for every class, to complete all assigned reading and listening assignments before coming to class, and to bring all necessary books and scores. Attendance and class participation will count for 5% of your final grade. More than three unexcused absences will result in a zero for your attendance grade. If you are unable to attend a class because of professional or university-related obligations, sickness, or extraordinary personal circumstances, please notify me at least one day in advance and provide appropriate documentation (e.g., a letter from your coach for competitions, major advisor for professional engagements, health center for illness, etc); otherwise, it will be counted as an unexcused absence.

Academic dishonesty
Academic dishonesty will not be tolerated. Academic dishonesty, according to the Drake University 2002-04 General Catalog (pp. 23-26), involves “any activity that seeks to gain credit for work one has not done or to deliberately damage or destroy the work of others.” This includes, but is not limited to, plagiarism (“misrepresenting another’s ideas, phrases, discourse, or works as one’s own”) and cheating (“the act, or attempted act, of giving or obtaining aid and/or information by illicit means in meeting any academic requirements, including examinations”). Penalties for violating academic honesty standards range from failing grades on the assignment or exam to expulsion from the university. If you are unsure whether or not certain practices violate the principles of academic integrity, please ask me for clarification. For more, please refer to the Academic Integrity Policy in the Drake University General Catalog and to the entry Academic Dishonesty: Cheating and Plagiarism contained in the Drake Student Handbook.

*This syllabus is to be used as an example, it is not meant for use by students currently enrolled in Music 082