HMVA04326U Musicology/Theatre: How we rhythm worlds: concepts, representations, practices

Rhythm is about ordering time and space: in music, scores, instruments, urban space, sculptures, dance, kitchens or other realms of everyday life. Drawing on different disciplinary perspectives, this course considers how concepts of rhythm and its representations have changed over time. The course focuses principally on the 19^th–21^st centuries, exploring musical practices in a number of genres and cultures, as well as practices in visual and performance arts, anthropology, science and technology. We will begin with the 19^th century, reflecting on musical composition and performance in relation to all sorts of scientific and anthropological developments, which helped categorize and establish different cultural norms of rhythm and acts of ‘rhythming’.

Next, we will consider how these notions of rhythm have been adapted, challenged and transformed since then. We will engage this through a combination of theoretical and practical-based work, including sound walks, creating and performing experimental scores (i.e., Cardew, Treatise, 1967), and exploring afro-diasporic electronic dance music and its rhythmachines (Eshun, More Brilliant Than The Sun, 1998).