This seminar addresses the linked concepts of musical genre and repertoire variation. How do musical genres form, and how are they maintained? What analytical tools can we use to study the creation, reception, and circulation of variants? What do variants tell us about generic norms and the negotiation of generic boundaries?

This seminar will cover three broad areas of scholarship: genre theory; the study of variants in musicology and ethnomusicology, with an emphasis on computational approaches; and sociological approaches to networks and the diffusion of innovations. Evaluation will be based on a final paper and in-class presentation, occasional short assignments, and contributions to class discussions. For the final paper, students are encouraged to apply the theoretical and practical approaches explored in this seminar to their own areas of study.