MUSI 1111-A&B Sense of Music

Abstract

GOALS and OBJECTIVES: This course is an examination of Western concert music. The aim is to develop some of the tools necessary for intelligent and critical listening. This will help enable you to perceive the musical ideas, events and internal relationships in a musical work. The only way to achieve this goal is through the practice of active and conscious listening. In our class no assumption of musical literacy is made. However, enough of the mechanics of music notation will be taught over the course of the semester so that you will be able to roughly follow a notated melody. We will build a vocabulary of musical terms as we proceed. All terminology and its appropriate application is presented, defined and discussed in class. Along with this syllabus you will receive a list of basic terms. You are expected to use your growing musical vocabulary in our class discussions. In addition to careful and attentive listening the next most important activity is asking questions. NEVER HESITATE to request clarification about something that you don’t understand because if you don’t understand it several of your classmates are probably also confused. So ask the question. We do not use a textbook in this course. We study representative works of Western art music drawn largely from the Classical period. Emphasis will be placed on understanding the elements of musical organization, on gaining some experience with the variety of compositional procedures and formal designs, and on a determination of æsthetic criteria. These pieces are our primary texts. Mindful, critical listening is essential in order to understand them. Rather than being a series of lectures, the course is conducted more as a lab or workshop. Thus attendance and participation are essential. Both of these will be taken into account when determining grades. In addition to the class work there are assignments that you must do on your own. These will be discussed below.