Course

Listening in Context I

Faculty
Language, Literature & Performing Arts
Department
Music
Course Code
MUSC 1121
Credits
3.00
Semester Length
15 weeks
Max Class Size
35
Method(s) Of Instruction
Lecture
Typically Offered
Fall

Overview

Course Description
This course takes a wide stylistic and chronological approach to active listening, with an emphasis on Western art music from the Middle Ages to the Romantic period. Music will be discussed in relation to arts and culture, as well as to relevant aspects of history, geography, belief systems, politics, society, economics, and technology. Students will occasionally work with scores, but listening skills will be emphasized.
Course Content
  1. The elements of music
    • Basic sound characteristics
    • The dimensions of music: temporal (rhythm), horizontal (melody), vertical (harmony)
    • Musical texture: monophony, polyphony, homophony, heterophony
    • Pitch source and organization
    • Dynamics and timbre
    • Musical instruments: instrumentation; classifications including aerophones, chordophones, membranophones, idiophones, electrophones
    • Musical style: composition vs. improvisation; form, and genre
    • Vocal parts: the relation of music and text; vocal styles
    • Cultural contexts for music: the relation of music to the other arts, as well as history, geography, belief systems, politics, society, economics, and technology.
  2. Pre-Tonal Music: 
    • Music in antiquity 
    • Western Christian Chant and early polyphony 
    • Medieval secular music 
    • Renaissance music (including mass, motet, madrigal)
  3. Tonal Music: 
    • Baroque music (including fugue, ground bass, opera, cantata, oratorio, concerto, and suite) with 
    • emphasis on the works of Bach and Handel
    • Classical music (including symphony, sonata, string quartet, piano concerto, and opera) with emphasis
    • on the works of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven 
    • Romantic music (including German lied, piano character piece, chamber music, program symphony, symphonic poem, German music drama, Italian opera) with representative composers such as Schubert, Schumann, Chopin, Berlioz, Liszt, Brahms, Wagner, and Verdi
Learning Activities

The lecture time will be spent in the analysis and discussion of and listening to the musical materials that form the content of this course. In addition, pertinent information with respect to the cultural, social, and political background will be introduced at appropriate times. As much time as possible will be devoted to listening during the lecture but all lectures will prescribe listening assignments of the music studied in class and other similar compositions.

Means of Assessment

Evaluation will be carried out in accordance with the Douglas College Evaluation Policy.

Test on Elements of Music

10%

Listening & Written Test on Medieval and Renaissance Music

15%

Listening & Written Test on Baroque Music

20%

Listening & Written Test on Classical Music

20%

Final Exam - Romantic Music

25%

Short projects (minimum of two)

10%

Total

100%
Learning Outcomes

 

The successful student should be able to recognize aurally:
1) The basic elements of music.
2) The relationship of musical components to their cultural context.
3) Styles, genres and forms in Western art music. 
4) Specific compositions and their composers. 
5) The elements of music in selected compositions as they relate to their specific historical, geographical, 
and cultural contexts .

The successful student will be able to recognize aurally:

  1. The basic elements of music.
  2. The relationship of musical components to their cultural context.
  3. Styles, genres and forms in Western art music. 
  4. Specific compositions and their composers. 
  5. The elements of music in selected compositions as they relate to their specific historical, geographical, and cultural contexts .

 

Textbook Materials

A recent edition of a text such as:

Bonds, Mark Evan. Listen to This. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall.
With access to Pearson My Music Lab online, e-book and full streaming audio.

OR

Kamien, Roger. Music: An Appreciation. McGrawHill

Requisites

Prerequisites

No prerequisite courses.

Corequisites

No corequisite courses.

Equivalencies

No equivalent courses.

Course Guidelines

Course Guidelines for previous years are viewable by selecting the version desired. If you took this course and do not see a listing for the starting semester / year of the course, consider the previous version as the applicable version.

(Current)

Course Transfers

These are for current course guidelines only. For a full list of archived courses please see https://www.bctransferguide.ca

Institution Transfer Details for MUSC 1121
Athabasca University (AU) AU MUSI 267 (3)
Capilano University (CAPU) CAPU MUS 108 (3)
Columbia College (COLU) No credit
Simon Fraser University (SFU) SFU CA 1XX (3)
Thompson Rivers University (TRU) TRU MUSI 1XXX (3)
Thompson Rivers University (TRU) TRU MUSC 1XXX (3)
Trinity Western University (TWU) DOUG MUSC 1121 (3) & DOUG MUSC 1221 (3) = TWU MUSI 150 (3)
Trinity Western University (TWU) TWU MUSI 150 (3)
University of British Columbia - Okanagan (UBCO) UBCO MUSC_O 2nd (3)
University of British Columbia - Vancouver (UBCV) No credit
University of Northern BC (UNBC) UNBC HUMN 1XX (3)
University of Victoria (UVIC) UVIC MUS 116 (1.5)
University of Victoria (UVIC) DOUG MUSC 1120 (3) & DOUG MUSC 1121 (3) = UVIC MUS 116 (1.5) & UVIC MUS 1XX (1.5)
Vancouver Community College (VCC) VCC MUSC 1305 (3)
Vancouver Island University (VIU) Individual Audition Required

Course Offerings

Winter 2025