course-details-portlet

MUSV1108 - Joik, Sámi Music, Ensemble Performance

About

New from the academic year 2024/2025

Examination arrangement

Examination arrangement: Aggregate score
Grade: Letter grades

Evaluation Weighting Duration Grade deviation Examination aids
Semester essay 50/100
Reflective essay 50/100

Course content

Sámi music encompasses a broad range of musicians experimenting in different genres across the Nordic world. Since the cultural renaissance of the 1970s, Sámi musicians have employed Sámi languages, addressed issues significant to Sámi society, and drawn on the vocal tradition of joik. Artists, such as Nils-Aslak Valkeapää, Mari Boine, Frode Fjellheim, and Ella Marie Hætta Isaksen, have become famous locally and internationally, and their music has critiqued Nordic colonialism, promoted Sámi visibility, and articulated Sámi worldviews. Supporting this music scene are a range of festivals, record labels, media platforms (e.g. NRK Sápmi), formal and informal education programmes, and funding bodies (e.g. the Sámi Parliament).

This course will offer a practice-based introduction into Sámi music. Focusing largely on North Sámi joik, the course will be based around instrumental/vocal workshops that allow students to learn and engage with some of the foundational musical and aesthetic dimensions of the tradition. These workshops will be accompanied by discussions about some of the ethical, philosophical, and political aspects of joik and Sámi music. In particular, the course will emphasise Sámi perspectives on music and art, and nurture an appreciation of Indigenous methodologies. What is joik? How can a practice-based approach to joik inspire musical knowledge and creativity from Sámi perspectives? What are the ethics and politics of teaching and learning Indigenous traditions? The course will not teach students how to become a joik artist, but will provide a foundation for appreciating this unique vocal tradition and wider dynamic music scene.

Learning outcome

Knowledge:

An examinee who successfully completes MUSV1108 will have

  • Gained basic knowledge of joik and Sámi music.
  • Learned about Sámi perspectives, ethics, and politics.
  • Gained insights into practice-based learning methods.

Skills:

An examinee with a completed qualification in MUSV1108 will have

  • Developed skills in music ensemble performance and improvisation.
  • Learned how to engage sensitively with Sámi perspectives and Indigenous ethics.
  • Gained skills in integrating practice, theory, and reflection both in oral and written form.

Learning methods and activities

The main form of teaching for this course is practice-base workshops with students’ chosen instrument/voice. There will also be seminars introducing wider aspects of joik and Sámi music. In between workshops and seminars, students will be expected to practice in groups. At the end of the course there will be an informal concert at which students share their own creative results from the course.

The workshops, seminars, group work, and concert are compulsory and demand minimum 80% attendance.

Compulsory assignments

  • Attendance and active participation in workshops, seminars, group work, and concert (at least 80%)

Further on evaluation

The course will be assessed via the following two activities:

1) Reflective essay (4-6 pages, font-size 12, 1.5 line spacing) on creative development (50%)

2) Essay on Sámi music (4-6 pages, font-size 12, 1.5 line spacing) (50%)

If the course is not passed, the student must only retake the part of the assessment that was not passed. If the candidate takes a new exam, it is not necessary to take the compulsory assignments again.

More on the course

No

Facts

Version: 1
Credits:  7.5 SP
Study level: Foundation courses, level I

Coursework

Term no.: 1
Teaching semester:  SPRING 2025

Language of instruction: Norwegian

Location: Trondheim

Subject area(s)
  • Music History
  • Musicology
  • Scandinavian Language and Literature
Contact information
Course coordinator: Lecturer(s):

Department with academic responsibility
Department of Music

Examination

Examination arrangement: Aggregate score

Term Status code Evaluation Weighting Examination aids Date Time Examination system Room *
Spring ORD Reflective essay 50/100 INSPERA
Room Building Number of candidates
Spring ORD Semester essay 50/100 INSPERA
Room Building Number of candidates
  • * The location (room) for a written examination is published 3 days before examination date. If more than one room is listed, you will find your room at Studentweb.
Examination

For more information regarding registration for examination and examination procedures, see "Innsida - Exams"

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