You are all again very welcome to MUHL5320/4300. Remember that you need all three bound texts (O hAllmhurain, Glassie, and Carson), and the Readings Packet which will be available via CopyTech next week.
On WebCT, take some time to read through the Syllabus (under "Course Menu") and to look at the "Materials" section, where will be delivered audio, video, images, and print.
The "Resources" section contains handouts and help-files on a wide variety of topics; feel free to browse through those as well.
Please make sure you have responded to the automated "invitation" from blogger/blogspot to join the course blog at http://muhl5320-eir.blogspot.com. From here on, Discussion Questions, assignments, and many responses will be posted to the public blog.
For Tuesday 1.16, please read the following, and think about the related Discussion Questions (feel free to respond in "Comments" on the blog as well). NOTE: it is not *mandatory* that you read all this material: prioritize the Glassie and Carson excerpts, and see how far you can get with the balance of the reading. Remember that the goal here is to *enrich your experience and understanding*; hence, the more of the material you can read, the more you can accomplish that.
Read Preface and Chapter 1 “Crossing Drumbargy Brae” in Glassie
- What does Glassie reveal about himself? His goals? His academic background and prior experience? How does he say these things might shape his approach in this book?
- How would you describe Glassie’s language and organizationalstructure? Is it like or unlike other scholarly books you’ve encountered? If different, why might Glassie have chosen these different approaches? What different results might he expect to occur?
- P: Why do you think he includes the descriptive anecdote about meeting the man mowing the hedge? Why here, in the Preface?
- CDB: What various academic or analytic approaches does Glassie employ or allude to? What strengths or limitations does he describe or imply for each?
- CDB: What is the significance of the extensive use of maps?
- CDB: What does Glassie believe is the role of story?
- BTBE: Why does Carson devote much of a chapter to descriptions ofdifferent ways to boil an egg? How can this possibly have anything to do with music and folklore?
- BTBE: how does he relate cooking eggs to playing music? Why might musicians care about such issues?
- HTG: This is a lengthy set of descriptions of different situations in which he’s listened to music; why do you think he spends so much time describing the details of the environments? How does that lead into a description of some of his earliest experiences?
- In this section, O hAllmhurain describes “three interlocking traditions”; what are they, how are they distinguished from one another, and how does each impact on contemporary understandings of Irish traditional music?
- O hAllmhurain mentions many specific places, and even more specific individuals, in this short introduction. What is the significance of this emphasis upon specific places and individuals? What might these reveal about the tradition’s own priorities?
See you Tuesday!
