Course

Listening in Context II

Faculty
Language, Literature & Performing Arts
Department
Music
Course code
MUSC 1221
Credits
3.00
Semester length
15 weeks
Max class size
35
Method(s) of instruction
Lecture
Typically offered
Winter

Overview

Course description
Continuation of the development of skills for active listening to music, with emphasis on the elements of music as they appear in selected historical, geographical, and cultural contexts. Music will be discussed in relation to the arts, belief systems, politics, society, economics, and technology. This course will focus on Western art music from the rise of Modernism to present, the music of various world cultures, as well as popular music, including jazz, rock, film music and contemporary developments. Students will occasionally work with scores, but listening skills will be emphasized.
Course content
  1. 20th/21st century developments in Western art music (including neo-tonal, atonal, aleatoric, electronic, etc.):
    • Early Modernism in the works of Debussy, Stravinsky, Schoenberg, Bartók, and Ives
    • Music in Mid Century, including composers such as Cage, Varèse, and Copland
    • Into the 21st Century, including composers such as Glass and Adams
  2. Canadian music:
    • Colonialism, internationalism, and nationalism as represented in the works of composers such as Willan, Champagne, Weinzweig, Somers, and Coulthard
    • Innovation in the works of composers such as Schafer, Truax, and Louie
  3. Music of various representative world cultures such as the following:
    • native North American, including Canadian west coast and/or Inuit
    • South American, including Peruvian and/or Brazilian
    • European folk music, including Celtic, Balkan, and/or Klezmer
    • Middle Eastern, including Persian, Islamic and/or Jewish
    • Far Eastern, including Indian, Chinese, Japanese, and/or Javanese
    • North African and/or Sub-Saharan
  4. Jazz Styles and Forms:
    • styles such as ragtime, vocal blues, Dixieland, big-band swing, bebop, cool jazz, free jazz, and jazz-rock fusion
    • composers/arrangers and/or improvisers/performers such as Scott Joplin, Bessie Smith, Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Oscar Peterson, Charlie Parker, and Miles Davis
    • forms such as 12-bar blues and 32-bar song form
  5. Popular Styles:
    • styles and/or genres such as Tin Pan Alley, musical theater, country and western, rhythm and  blues, rock-and-roll, Gospel, Motown, close harmony, folk-rock, acid-rock, reggae, Latin,  Afro-Cuban, Latin, pop, punk, heavy metal, rap, hip hop, alternative, bhangra and film music
    • composers and/or performers such as Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, Little Richard, Elvis Presley,  The Beatles, Beach Boys, Aretha Franklin, The Supremes, Jimi Hendrix, Frank Zappa, Bob  Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Carlos Santana, Iron Maiden, Sex Pistols, John Williams, and Tan Dun
Learning activities

The lecture time will be spent in the analysis and discussion of and learning 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
Listening/written test on 20th/21st Century Western art music 20%
Listening/written test on World Music 20%
Listening/written test on Jazz 20%
Listening/written test on Popular Music 20%
Short projects (minimum of four) 20%
Total  100%
Learning outcomes

The successful students should be able to recognize aurally: 

  1. Styles, genres and forms in Western art music 
  2. Specific compositions and their composers
  3. The elements of music in selected compositions as they relate to their specific historical, geographical, and cultural contexts
  4. Broad aspects of style in various types of jazz, popular, and world music
Textbook materials

Required texts such as the following:

Bonds, Mark Evan. Listen to This. Upper Saddle Rivder: Prentice Hall, 2010.
With access to Pearson My Music Lab online e-book and full streaming audio, and/or 5-CD set.

OR

Willoughby, David. The World of Music. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2010.
With access to Online Learning Center and 3-CD set.

Requisites

Prerequisites

MUSC 1121  or permission of the instructor                              

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 1221
Athabasca University (AU) AU MUSI 267 (3)
Capilano University (CAPU) CAPU MUS 1XX (3)
Simon Fraser University (SFU) SFU CA 1XX (3)
Thompson Rivers University (TRU) TRU MUSI 2XXX (3)
Trinity Western University (TWU) TWU MUSI 132 (3)
Trinity Western University (TWU) DOUG MUSC 1121 (3) & DOUG MUSC 1221 (3) = TWU MUSI 150 (3)
University of British Columbia - Okanagan (UBCO) UBCO MUSC_O 110 (3)
University of British Columbia - Vancouver (UBCV) UBCV MUSC_V 2nd (3)
University of Northern BC (UNBC) UNBC HUMN 2XX (3)
University of the Fraser Valley (UFV) UFV MUSC 1XX (3)
University of Victoria (UVIC) UVIC MUS 1XX (1.5)
Vancouver Island University (VIU) Individual Audition Required

Course Offerings

Winter 2025

CRN Days Instructor Status
Maximum seats
35
Currently enrolled
27
Remaining seats:
8
On waitlist
0
Building
New Westminster - North Bldg.
Room
N3407
Times:
Start Time
11:30
-
End Time
13:20
Section notes

This course is restricted to students in the Basic Musicianship program.