
Jazz Faculty Concert
7:00 PM
Explore jazz harmonic and improvisational practice from both the theoretical and the applied standpoint, building toward a performance at the end of the semester.
This course engages global music theories from the perspective of ethnomusicology and analytic approaches drawn from sound studies, including popular, folk, and classical traditions around the world.
This seminar explores the nature of popular music and its relationship to culture, politics, and identity, surveying popular music studies and various trends in cultural studies.
David taught at Amherst for over thirty years, holding appointments in the departments of music and Asian languages and civilizations before retiring in 2006. Thanks to the range of his talents, curiosity, generosity, and expertise, his teaching indeed embraced music of the whole earth. Many of his courses were legendary, with scores of students gathered in Buckley Recital Hall to learn about David's three Bs—Bach, the Beatles, and Bollywood—and a large part of the football team learning to sing South Indian ragas. At the ends of semesters, the corridor outside David's office swelled with fantastic musical instruments handmade by students in his course called "The Sound Machine”—a testament to David's conviction that students learn about the material and spiritual foundations of music by making and doing.