African Music and Dance Performance This course will introduce students to various techniques of performing East African (primarily Ugandan) musical and dance traditions through regular rehearsals, culminating in an end-of-semester concert. As an ensemble, we will learn and master how to play and sing/dance to bow-harps, thumb-pianos, xylophones, tube-fiddles, bowl-lyres, gourd shakers, struck gourds, reed-box rattles, ankle bells, leg rattles, and various types of drums. Some background in performing music is recommended, but prior knowledge of performing African music and dance is not required.

What in the World is Music? In this course we will explore global musical cultures in order to better understand both those musical cultures and our own in relation to one another. The course has two goals: to introduce students to unfamiliar ways of listening to and thinking about different elements of music (including – but not limited to – rhythm, melody, timbre, texture, harmony, and form); and to develop skills for appreciating cultural significances of these elements.  We will achieve these goals through readings, lectures, discussions, film screenings, listening sessions, workshops, concerts, and hands-on activities.

Performance Lab Credit can be conferred for performance in faculty-supervised ensembles: (see listing of "Ensembles" in the requirements section). One unit of credit to accrue over two semesters (spring then fall only). The appropriate supervising faculty will give grades, based on attendance and quality of performance. A student should inform the ensemble director of intent to sign up for this course before starting, and should actually register for MUSC 0205 only the SECOND of the two terms by adding it as a fifth course.

Analyzing World Music In this course students will develop critical skills for analyzing exemplary musical works from Africa, Asia, Europe, the Americas, the Middle East, and Oceania.  Specifically, students will explore how music conveys stories about its origins, creators, performance contexts, audiences, and cultural meanings. Through diverse pedagogical approaches—including readings, lectures, discussions, listening sessions, film screenings, workshops, concerts, and presentations—we will examine music's social, economic, and political significance across global societies. The course will emphasize an understanding of musical works as both a means of sonic and cultural expression. Although this course is a requirement for music majors, it is also open to non-majors (except first-year students) with a strong musical background.

Arts for Peace, M-LISADA Uganda M-LISADA empowers at-risk Ugandan youth through musical arts. In this global course, students will travel to Uganda to work directly with M-LISADA members to develop an arts-based model for conflict transformation. Through hands-on engagement with the organization’s programs, students will examine how musical arts create spaces for creative expression, empower youth as change agents, rebuild social connections, and address root causes of conflict. The model will integrate key principles of peacebuilding, empowerment, social reintegration, and structural change. Course activities will include community engagement, theoretical readings, group discussions, and interactive workshops. Students will gain practical skills in designing arts-based peacebuilding programs, facilitating community arts initiatives in conflict zones, developing impact evaluation frameworks, and creating sustainable models for arts-based conflict transformation.

Analyzing World Musical Pieces Every musical piece tells stories about its place of origin, the artists who create and perform it, the contexts of its performance, the audiences that experience it, and the meanings associated with it. Yet, these stories are often unobvious to listeners without the right tools to analyze and interpret the piece. In this seminar we will develop critical skills for analyzing exemplary musical pieces from Africa, Asia, Europe, the Americas, and the Middle East. Through readings, writing assignments, lectures, discussions, mini-performances, research activities, and oral presentations, we will learn how to appreciate and represent diverse musical works and their accompanying stories more fully and appropriately, as extensions of their sonic and extra-sonic worlds. No musical background is required.

Musicking Power and Resistance Why has music been considered a threat to power, and thus been censured or banned in various geographic and historical moments? Why and how has it served as a form of resistance and protest that has given the oppressed a voice in others? We will use these questions as guiding frameworks for exploring how music has related with power and resistance in a global context. Engaging with music’s sonic and extra-sonic elements, we will develop skills for analyzing how these elements have shaped spiritual, political, social, and economic forms of power and resistance in a series of case studies drawn from different time periods and geographic locations. Course activities will include reading, writing, music and video analyses, performance-related activities and concert attendance, as well as lectures and discussions. No prior musical training required.

Music in World Cultures In this course students will develop skills for analyzing a wide range of music styles and appreciating their social, economic, and political importance. We will explore selected case studies through readings, lectures, discussions, film screenings, listening sessions, workshops, concerts, and hands-on activities.

Approaches to Music Inquiry  In this course we will explore various approaches to music inquiry in order to develop an in-depth understanding of diverse procedures for uncovering, applying, and producing musical knowledge. We will use a seminar format that supports a multimodal study and application of such knowledge. Course activities will include discussions, lectures, analysis, investigation, presentations, readings, writing, and creative work. The seminar will culminate in projects that advance methodologies of our senior and/or related capstone work. All music majors are required to take this course in the fall of their senior year.  3hrs. lect./disc.

Damascus Kafumbe

Reviews and ratings for Damascus Kafumbe at Middlebury College.Damascus Kafumbe teaches African Music & Dance Perform, What in the World is Music?, Performance Lab Performance Lab-Afropop and more.  Explore top rated instructors and find the best for you.Is Damascus Kafumbe good ? Find out on MiddCourses.

This course was pretty chill and laid-back. You have some weekly readings where you write a short response and discuss at the beginning of every week. You spend the majority of class dancing and learning an African instrument. Class performance at the end of the semester counts towards grade. 

Professor Kafumbe was an amazing professor. I believe that his teaching style was pretty intuitive, but maybe not for others. This is a very self paced class, meaning that if you didn't submit your paird readings, weekly reviews, and QQQ assignments on time, you're going to have a hard time catching up. No exams or tests, only a final individual project at the end of the semester. Very fun class if you choose to make it be and are involved!

I think I really enjoyed the class, and it was not hard at all. Mostly, we came to class for a short discussion then we practice our selected musical instrumental as well as learn African dances for performance at the end of the course. However, there are writing parts where we have to turn in once a week and the professor is a bit strict about grading which I don't totally agree with. 