Navigating the Global Turn in Western Music History Pedagogy

Abstract

This paper argues for a deeper understanding of the challenges posed to undergraduate western music history by an increasingly globalised higher education system. Reflecting on the experience of delivering programmes at a music conservatory in Chennai, India, I suggest how curriculum can be adapted to explore the social history of cross-cultural musical practices. A brief case study surveys the role of western music in colonial and post-colonial south India to illustrate how we might foster critical approaches to music history at a global level.