ETHNMUS 163Theory, Practice, and Improvisation in Iranian Music
Ethnomusicology · 4 units · Undergraduate upper division (100-199)
Designed to expose students from wide background of experience, outlooks, and training to many facets of art and craft of improvisation in Iranian music. Examination of how organization of radif (collection of melodic figures preserved through oral tradition that provides basis of improvisation), and master and disciple teaching and tutoring, shape improvisational and performance practices in Iranian traditional music. Comparison of radif to num,ber of related musical cultures: Arabic maqam, Turkish makam, and number of ragas from North Indian tradition. Includes in part workshop format in which students are encouraged to bring their own musical instruments, or for vocalist to join in, in exploring radif. Students read about theoretical issues of radif, and learn how to memorize, compose, and improvise important parts of radif.
P/NP or letter grading.
When it runs
- Fall 2026
- Spring 2027
Scheduled, not typical — from UCLA’s Schedule of Classes, which publishes Fall 2025 through Spring 2027 and nothing before it.
Requisites
Official UCLA wording
Requisites: courses 5 or M25, and 8.
BruinTree reads · Prerequisite
confidence 1.00 · from textRequires
Everything that has to come before this course, not just the courses named in the requisite above.
ETHNMUS 163
- ETHNMUS 5Music Around World
- ETHNMUS 8Current Practices in Iranian Music-Making
- ETHNMUS M25Global Pop
3 direct requisites. The whole upstream is here — 3 courses over 1 level. Every course here opens its own tree.
Unlocks
What this course is a requisite for, and what those courses lead to in turn.
No course in the catalog lists this as a requisite.