MUS 265 - Who Owns Music? The Practice and Politics of Musical Borrowing (1)

Originality: how important is it?? And, what happens when musical composition is not completely original? Call it what you like - borrowing, inspiration, appropriation, parody, quotation, sampling, adaptation, plagiarism - this course will examine the broad concept of musical composition based on pre-existing material. We will consider the many different borrowing techniques that composers have used, the various reasons that composers have had for using borrowed material, and the myriad cultural and historical attitudes toward the practice of borrowing. Our examples will be drawn from several diverse sources - including Western Classical music, contemporary popular music, and jazz. Prerequisite: writing-designated course. Ability to read music not required.
(Humanities)