Damascus Kafumbe
this class was great, but it did feel strange that my first year seminar course was the one where i had the biggest workload. kafumbe is very flexible with due dates, but weekly essays and writing assignments oftentimes were overwhelming. i did however, learn a significant amount in this class and it challenged my thinking in a variety of ways.
I absolutely enjoyed learning about ethnomusicology, and my favorite parts were guest visits from folk musicians like Han Hazy, Aduonum and the numerous opportunities to observe ethnomusic in person. Although the readings and papers gradually became extremely overwhelming for me, I believe that they were necessary to understanding music analysis and ethnomusicological frameworks because each reading introduces new concepts and techniques that pertained to our course. Every week we explored a select framework through readings from Analyzing World Music Pieces, and we would complete an assignment with Quotes, Questions and Quandary (QQQ). Then, we discussed the framework in class and he would send out an essay prompt for the week. You can see how this can get overwhelming after missing a couple classes. However, Kafumbe is an extraordinary person, and it was a great joy to feel heard because he understood how much I love ethnomusicology, although I was struggling with work in all my classes. He was very accommodating to my needs, and I'm sad that my performance in the class was affected by other factors. If I could, I would more than definitely retake this class, and I would have him as a professor for any course. Thank you Professor Kafumbe.
I absolutely enjoyed learning about ethnomusicology, and my favorite parts were guest visits from folk musicians like Han Hazy, Aduonum and the numerous opportunities to observe ethnomusic in person. Although the readings and papers gradually became extremely overwhelming for me, I believe that they were necessary to understanding mu …Read more
Prof Kafumbe is so fun to have as an instructor. The class was fun, a lot of physical activity: we were never sitting still. There is a lot of peer review, as that is just the nature of African music culture, but it was still nerve wracking to have others give criticisms on your performance. Felt like such a great community was created in this class. It's a fun break from more work-heavy classes, as most of the workload is just learning and practicing the songs in class. I'm going to miss this class đź’”
Prof Kafumbe is so fun to have as an instructor. The class was fun, a lot of physical activity: we were never sitting still. There is a lot of peer review, as that is just the nature of African music culture, but it was still nerve wracking to have others give criticisms on your performance. Felt like such a great community was creat …Read more