Lecture: 4 hours per week
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.
- 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.
- Pre-Tonal Music:
- Music in antiquity
- Western Christian Chant and early polyphony
- Medieval secular music
- Renaissance music (including mass, motet, madrigal)
- 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
The successful student will be able to recognize aurally:
- The basic elements of music.
- The relationship of musical components to their cultural context.
- Styles, genres and forms in Western art music.
- Specific compositions and their composers.
- The elements of music in selected compositions as they relate to their specific historical, geographical, and cultural contexts .
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% |
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