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Jon Turner

Lecturer

Contact

Bio

Ph.D. Candidate in Ethnomusicology, UC Berkeley.

My research focuses on relationships between musicians, makers, and instrument-repair-technicians in California, USA and São Paulo, Brazil. I investigate how the creative processes of both musicians and those who make and maintain their instruments are influenced by economics, climate change, pedagogical structures, automation, and cultural politics of technology.

Raised in Phoenix, Arizona, I completed a certificate program in guitar building at Roberto-Venn School of Luthiery (2012). Since then, I have worked as a guitar maker and repair person in San Francisco (2012-2014) and Oakland (2020-2022) and São Paulo (2022-2023). I hold a BA (2017) and MA (2019) in Music from Berkeley. My research has been generously funded by the Fulbright Foundation, Mellon Foundation, Berkeley’s Center for Latin American Studies, Berkeley Center for New Media, and the Berkeley Department of Music.

Courses

Title Department Catalog Term

Description

This class will provide an overview of music from diverse cultures in Latin America & the Caribbean. This global perspective on music fabrication will be examined as a phenomenon of world cultural evolution in order to perceive, understand, and identify cultural similarities and differences, as well as to identify aspects that characterize particular traditional musical practices. Music from Jamaica, Cuba, Trinidad, Brazil, Africa and Europe will be examined and specifically how its connections to religious, political, and social systems of each country has had greater ramifications upon the musical traditions within and beyond each country's culture. This course serves as an introduction to the many styles and traditions which grew out of pre- and postcolonial Latin America and European-African-Caribbean developments. Prerequisite: First Year English

Class Number

2264

Credits

3