World Music Traditions: Histories Outside the Western Canon
Beginner to Intermediate
View all programsProgram Structure
Each stage builds directly on the previous, creating a coherent arc through the material.
Program by Region
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Unit 1 — Introduction: frameworks for studying unfamiliar music. Problems with ethnocentric analysis.
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Unit 2 — Indian classical music. Ancient theory, the raga-tala system, Hindustani and Carnatic divergence.
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Unit 3 — Arabic and Persian music traditions. Maqam theory, historical transmission to Europe, contemporary practice.
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Unit 4 — Sub-Saharan African musical traditions. Polyrhythm, communal music-making, the griot tradition.
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Unit 5 — East Asian music: China, Japan, Korea. Court music, theatrical traditions, instrument histories.
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Unit 6 — Music of the Americas before and after colonization. Pre-Columbian traditions, syncretism, and new hybrid forms.
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Unit 7 — Global exchange and 20th-century cross-cultural influence. World music as industry and as phenomenon.
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Unit 8 — Comparative synthesis. Student presentations and collective discussion. Final written assessment.
Most music history courses cover a narrow slice of human practice
European classical music represents one tradition among hundreds. This course does not treat other traditions as exotic alternatives to a Western norm. Each musical culture covered here has its own theoretical frameworks, historical periodization, and internal debates about tradition and change.
The Indian classical system
Hindustani and Carnatic music both descend from ancient Sanskrit musical theory but diverged significantly after the 12th century. The raga system is as structurally complex as counterpoint — just organized around entirely different principles of time, pitch hierarchy, and performer-audience relationship.
Music and trade routes
The spread of the lute from the Arab oud through medieval Europe, the movement of percussion instruments across the Indian Ocean, the influence of Arabic maqam on Iberian music that later traveled to the Americas — these are stories about migration, trade, and cultural exchange as much as about aesthetics.
Contemporary relevance
Understanding these traditions helps explain why genres like Afrobeats, cumbia, and K-pop are structurally distinct from Western pop even when they share production tools. The historical roots are audible if you know what to listen for.
All listening examples are accompanied by analytical guides written specifically for students without prior exposure to the tradition being studied.