Using Latin American and Iberian Film Music: Classroom Methodologies

Jacqueline Avila

Abstract

This essay provides methodologies and examples for incorporating Latin American and Iberian film music into a wide range of musicology classes that include the History of Western Music, American Popular Music, and Film Music. The introduction of new media in the classroom, in particular film, offers an opportunity to simultaneously expand musical, historical, and cultural content. Because students generally have a significant level of exposure to cinema, students are provided with an accessible way of understanding culture and musical practice. The incorporation of film music examples from Latin American and Iberian film industries offers students another method in understanding these musics and also exposing them other cinematic traditions. This allows for a larger dialogue on how film and its music fit into fluctuating social and cultural contexts.

Author Biography

Jacqueline Avila

Jacqueline Avila is an Assistant Professor in Musicology at the University of Tennessee. Her research focuses on film music and sound practice from the silent period to present and the intersections of identity, tradition, and modernity in the Hollywood and Mexican film industries. She is currently writing her book manuscript titled Cinesonidos: Cinematic Music and Identity in Early Mexican Film (1896-1952), which is an examination of the function and cultural representation of music in the Mexican film industry.

Published

2017-03-07

Issue

Vol 7 No 2 (2017)

Section

Roundtable

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