Dario Martinelli

Three more courses in this third period (January and February), all for Helsinki University: The Beatles as musicological and culturological phenomenon, for the Department of Musicology; History of Italian Cinema for the Department of Film Studies; History of Afro-American Musics for the Department of World Cultures.

The students can check their bibliography and handouts in the section “Course material” of this website. Password were provided during the first lectures.

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New book!

December 29, 2010 at 22:27 · Filed under Publications

“Authenticity, Performance and other double-edged words” encompasses the last 10 years of the author’s research within the realm of Popular Music studies. A kind of “Greatest Hits album” that includes his most insightful contributions to the field. The essays were written in different times and for different contexts, but the red line is that they all deal with topics that are particularly “critical” within musicological research. Authenticity, Performance, Intertextuality, Otherness, Post-Modernism, Ideology and others… They all are “double-edged words”, that provoked lively discussions within the musicologists’ community, that are constantly revised or updated, that are often abused and in desperate need to be rescued.

You can purchase the book by contacting the International Semiotics Institute (maija.rossi@isisemiotics.fi)

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To the students of the Popular Music course

November 28, 2010 at 22:45 · Filed under Courses

Finally, the promised articles are available for download. Sorry for keeping you waiting.

Go to “Teaching Material” (usual password) and scroll down to “Articles from Authenticity, Performance and other double-edged words”. The format, as always, is Pdf.

See you on tuesday.

Dario

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Off to Rovaniemi…

November 13, 2010 at 01:20 · Filed under Courses

…for my annual course “Introduction to Semiotics” in Lapland University.

Quite an adventurous schedule:

Mon 15.11. lecture room ls 21 (social work section, 1st floor)

Tue 16.11. lecture room ls 20 (social work section, 1st floor)

Wed 17.11. seminar room s23 (social work section, 1st floor)

Thu 18.11. F2081 (at the faculty of art, 2nd floor)

Fri 19.11. F4014 (at the faculty of art, 4th floor)

Only the fittest students will survive and find me every time…

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Academic Year 2010-11 – II period

November 10, 2010 at 21:05 · Filed under Courses

Four courses in this second period (November and December): three for Helsinki University and one for Lapland University: Popular Music: history, ideology, media, II part (which basically takes up from the I part, around the 1960′s) for the Department of Musicology; the continuation of Storia della canzone popolare italiana (in Italian), for the Department of Italian Philology; Ideology, Politics and Propaganda in American Cinema for the Department of World Cultures; and finally the annual Introduction to Semiotics for Lapland University in Rovaniemi.

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Off to Kaunas (Lithuania)

November 1, 2010 at 22:02 · Filed under Conferences

I’ll deliver a keynote lecture in a conference on Musical Performance, at Kaunas Technological University, on Thursday 4/11/2010.

Title and abstract:

Performance and Popular Music: analytical consequences of a solid connection

A rather widespread tendency in musicology, when speaking about performance, is that of equalling straightaway the concept to the (very) general notion of “music-making”. In the attempt of circumscribing the field a bit, the existence of a plan, or at least a draft (as in improvisation) behind the music-making, has been suggested. This aspect, althought not able to “demist” the vagueness of the concept, does at least its best to reduce its size.
The goal of this article is to work on and around an operative concept of musical performance, i.e., in relation to its components and articulation, to the way it functions within popular music, and to its role and action as a social fact. The following questions shall be discussed:
What are the necessary and sufficient conditions that make a musical performance possible?
What is the role of the performance within the context of popular music, and what its impact at the social level?
Is it possible to typify musical performance by means of semiotic categories?

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New Academic Year, period I

September 5, 2010 at 20:40 · Filed under Courses

We start with two courses, in September and October (both for Helsinki University): Popular Music: history, ideology, media, for the Department of Musicology; and Storia della canzone popolare italiana (in Italian), for the Department of Italian Philology.

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New book!

August 5, 2010 at 10:00 · Filed under Publications

A critical companion of zoosemiotics is the first attempt to systematise the study of animal communication and signification through its most important and/or problematic terms and concepts, and its most representative scholars. It is a companion, in that it attempts to cover the entire range of key terms in the field, and it’s critical, in that it aims not only to describe, but also to discuss, problematise and, in some cases, resolve, these terms.

You can purchase it in any on-line bookshop, for instance:

http://www.springer.com/life+sciences/behavioural/book/978-90-481-9248-9