ETHN 305 - Interpreting Tom Tom: An Epic of Music and The Negro

FC CNDP, DDHU CD

4 credits
This seminar will examine the groundbreaking opera of Oberlin Conservatory alumna, author, composer, and musicologist Shirley Graham Du Bois (1934). In 1932, she was commissioned to compose and direct “Tom Tom,” the first opera by a Black woman that chronicles the Negro experience across a centuries-long history from the transatlantic slave trade to the Harlem Renaissance.This course invites students to comprehensively explore the contexts in which “Tom Tom” resides through ethnomusicological and dramaturgical research methods.We will interpret the score and libretto with significant attention to Graham’s construction of Africana vernacular music, literary and performance traditions within an emergent American classical music scene, and her implementation of ritual and Pan-Africanist ideologies.Activities will include comparative readings between music, theatre, and cultural studies, stylistic and textual analysis, research papers, class presentations, and discussion.Particular emphasis will be given to developing individual research projects.
Prerequisites & Notes: Consent of the instructor required.
ETHN 305: At least one course in MHST or ETHN at the 200 level, with MHST 290/91 especially advantageous.
AAST/THEA 305: Preference will be given to students who've taken AAST/THEA 264, 268, 278, or THEA 309.
This course is cross-listed with AAST 305, THEA 305