East Asian lectures explore history of music & the arts
Anna Nguyen
Issue date: 10/20/08 Section: Lifestyles
The annual Mulberry-Leaf Lecture in Early Asian Musics will present Mary Dusenbury, a research curator at the Spencer Museum of Art from the University of Kansas, and her discussion on "Trollops, Tropes and Transformations: Costume in Medieval and Early Modern Dance/Drama in Japan." In addition, the Silkworm Talks will feature Yu Siu Wah, from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and his lecture on "The Function of Non-Chinese Dance in the Chinese Court: From the Jurchens to the Manchus."
The Mulberry-Leaf Lecture is "given by a distinguished scholar working in the historical musicology of East Asia or in a related field," said Elizabeth Markham, UA professor of ethnomusicology. "The Silkworm Talks are occasional lectures and [are] also on topics in the historical musicology of East Asia or related fields."
The Mulberry-Leaf series began in 2005, and the Silkworm Talks began two years later.
"These unique lecture-series were set up as a part of the contribution to the intellectual and cultural life of the campus and beyond [what] is possible through the presence and work of the Center for the Study of Early Asian and Middle Eastern Musics," Markham said.
Although the center's work involves collaborative research with international scholars and also field-and-archival work in East Asia, the established lecture-series also host international scholars to present their specialized research and exchange ideas with scholars at the UA.
"Both the Mulberry-Leaf Lecture and the occasional Silkworm Talks are always integrated into the course and colloquia given by the center at the time, [which offers] students [the opportunity] to directly contact with the visitors and their research," Markham said.
The name of the lectures, mulberry-leaf and silkworm, are important historically in East Asian musical instruments because they are strung with strings of silk "and so characteristic and beautiful in terms of the sound they produce that the source of these strings, the silkworm and the leaves it feeds on, were chosen for naming the lecture-series," Markham said.
The Mulberry-Leaf Lecture is "given by a distinguished scholar working in the historical musicology of East Asia or in a related field," said Elizabeth Markham, UA professor of ethnomusicology. "The Silkworm Talks are occasional lectures and [are] also on topics in the historical musicology of East Asia or related fields."
The Mulberry-Leaf series began in 2005, and the Silkworm Talks began two years later.
"These unique lecture-series were set up as a part of the contribution to the intellectual and cultural life of the campus and beyond [what] is possible through the presence and work of the Center for the Study of Early Asian and Middle Eastern Musics," Markham said.
Although the center's work involves collaborative research with international scholars and also field-and-archival work in East Asia, the established lecture-series also host international scholars to present their specialized research and exchange ideas with scholars at the UA.
"Both the Mulberry-Leaf Lecture and the occasional Silkworm Talks are always integrated into the course and colloquia given by the center at the time, [which offers] students [the opportunity] to directly contact with the visitors and their research," Markham said.
The name of the lectures, mulberry-leaf and silkworm, are important historically in East Asian musical instruments because they are strung with strings of silk "and so characteristic and beautiful in terms of the sound they produce that the source of these strings, the silkworm and the leaves it feeds on, were chosen for naming the lecture-series," Markham said.
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