Thinking through Music and the Arts

Edna Andrews, Nancy & Jeffrey Marcus Distinguished Professor; Professor of Linguistics and Cultural Anthropology; Faculty Member of the Duke Institute for Brain Sciences and Center for Cognitive Neuroscience

The search for meanings in musical works occupies a central theme in music studies. The composer’s intentions, social and political circumstances, and the score itself are all part of the broader search for meaning and level of impact of a given work for individuals and cultures at large. Drawing from the latest research in neuroscience, musicology, linguistics and semiotics, this course seeks to understand how musical meanings are constructed, as well as how interpretations of artistic works are negotiated and made by naive listeners and scholars.

Elizabeth Byrum Linnartz, Instructor of Music

 Vocal music tells stories with the languages of music, the spoken word, and human gesture and expression. This Focus course takes a flyover view of the history of vocal music from chant to Broadway and samples the repertoire at live vocal music events and recordings of historic performances.  Students learn to listen, write about, and discuss the meaning of music, as well as connect with one’s own singing in group voice instruction and rounds.  Explore a topic of your choice in a final presentation. 

Jody McAuliffe, Professor of the Practice of Theater Studies and Slavic Language and Literature

Are you interested in learning how to reduce pain and anxiety, cultivate vitality, and improve performance in any area of your life?  In this course, I will teach Awareness Through Movement—a system of body-awareness and lessons developed by Moshe Feldenkrais--designed to expand students’ possibilities for new movement patterns that are more comfortable, efficient, and useful.  Students can anticipate improvement in posture, vision, imagination, and personal awareness.  The Feldenkrais Method is a form of body work combining, science, art, expression, and function.  Feldenkrais was an Israeli engineer, physicist, inventor, martial artist, and student of human behavior. The Method uses movement in a variety of ways to enable actors, athletes, musicians, dancers, and all movers to explore motivation and action, and other movement concepts: spontaneity, compulsion, resistance, and cross motivation.  It focuses on the fundamentals of human functioning and developing potential, enabling students to travel beyond their habits in ways they may not have been able to envisage otherwise.  The Method also asks all students to become more aware of how they learn.  In addition to lessons, we will read and discuss Feldenkrais’ seminal text, The Elusive Obvious, and selected excerpts from other texts. Students will keep a learning journal, documenting their progress. 

Michael Daniel Dimpfl, Lecturing Fellow of Thompson Writing Program
In the early 1970s, disco emerged in New York City, transforming how people experienced music, dancing, and social connection. Dance floors and DJs created spaces where strangers gathered in collective celebration, shaping a new cultural movement around music and nightlife.

This course uses the history of disco and dance music culture to explore broader questions about society, technology, and social interaction. Students will examine how dance clubs once functioned as sites of community and encounter—and how technological changes, such as streaming platforms and algorithms, have reshaped how we listen to and experience music today.

Through readings, discussions, listening exercises, and writing assignments, students will develop skills in social science writing and cultural analysis. The course introduces theoretical frameworks for understanding music as a social phenomenon and applies them to the evolution of dance music culture.

Assignments include weekly reflections, listening analyses, and a final project analyzing popular music through the theoretical approaches studied in class. Students will also attend a live concert or performance to connect course ideas with real-world experience.