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Volume CXXXII, Number 15 |
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To the beat of Bosse
ADAM BABER
COLUMNIST
It is a part of everyone's life. You listen to it in the car, sing it in the shower, play it at parties. It is music, and it is a central part of the human experience. Many of us take it for granted, but Professor Joanna Bosse has turned down the volume to pause and ask, "Why music?"
This year Professor Bosse joined the Bowdoin music department as its ethnomusicology specialist. Her studies combine music with anthropology, sociology, history, and philosophy to examine how music is used in constructing a culture and creating both collective and individual identity.
It is a massive question, one that lends itself to study after study. "Yeah, I could use some more bookshelves," Bosse remarked, sitting in her almost too-cozy Gibson Hall office.
Bosse discovered her passion for ethnomusicology when she was already had two years' work toward a doctorate in musicology. After speaking with Bruno Nettl-the "grandfather" of ethnomusicology-she switched programs, leaving the Cincinnati Conservatory for the University of Illinois.
She has since developed a deep interest in the music of Central and South America. This semester she will defend her dissertation, which explores the appeal of Latin American dance styles to American popular culture.
Her first semester here has been successful. Arriving with several years' experience in undergraduate teaching at Millikin University in Decatur, Illinois, and Illinois State, Bosse cites one of her biggest challenges matching her teaching goals to her students' learning goals. "I believe that generally, students enrolling in my courses already have a set of questions or ideas they would like to address. Incorporating those questions and aligning them with my own teaching goals for the course makes for a better learning experience for all of us."
Bosse's courses surveying Latin American music have been filled to their capacity of 75 students, which poses a particular challenge to Bosse's teaching style. "I want my lectures to be a series of questions," Bosse said, "intended to spark discussion. This material is all pure argument and should be debated."
Such large class size, however, does not mesh with the sort of intimate group discussions Bosse hopes to provoke. One way she tries to compensate for this is an emphasis on "self-sponsored learning." Her projects and assignments all aim to promote imagination and exploration. "I want my students to come at me with their own creativity," she said. "I would much rather see my students worrying about how to write original, creative papers rather than worrying about how to get an A+," she said, adding that naturally the creativity would contribute to a high mark.
Her students tend to agree with this approach. "Professor Bosse has a way of asking the right questions," said Arlyn Davich '03. "She allows her students to figure things out for themselves."
Professor Bosse's appointment as a member of the Music faculty comes at a time when the department is examining its structure and goals. "Having an ethnomusicologist allows the Bowdoin music department to offer courses on a much wider range of music than we've been able to in the past," said department chair Mary Hunter, "but ethnomusicology is also the study of how music and culture intersect, so we can think in new ways about the music we've always included in our course offerings."
Bosse noted that the department is actively searching for ways to encourage students from a broad range of interests and disciplines to incorporate some music study into their Bowdoin experience.
Until then, you can find Professor Bosse in her office, analyzing all sorts of world music, from African drumming to Caribbean dance. According to Bosse, "Some have suggested that this kind of analytical approach to music might take the fun and enjoyment out of music. But on the contrary, it only deepens the mystery. I presume it is much like physics, the more one knows about the universe, the more intriguing it becomes. Music is a miraculous phenomenon really, and the more I learn about it, the more convinced I am that this is the case."
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