Stephen F. Austin State University School of Music Course: MHL 245: INTRO TO MUSIC LITERATURE Time: TR 8:00 9:15 or 11:00-12:15 Semester: Fall, 2009 Credits: 3 Location: M160 Instructor: Dr. David Howard (howardd@sfasu.edu 468.1148) Office: M126B Hours: By appointment COURSE DESCRIPTION: Study of music literature and stylistic characteristics associated with the principal performance genres. Course includes substantial listening activities, tools for studying music history bibliographic and Internet sources -- and an introduction to world music. REQUIRED TEXT: Kerman, Joseph and Gary Tomlinson. Listen, 6 th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin s, 2007. ISBN: 9780312469665. Turabian, Kate L. A Manual for Writers of Term papers, Theses, and Dissertations, 7 th ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2007. ISBN: 9780226823379. OPTIONAL TEXT: Copland, Aaron. What to Listen for in Music. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co., Inc., 1957. GRADING: SCALE: Writing Assignments: 50 % 100 90 (A) 69 60 (D) Tests: 50 % 89 80 (B) 59 0 (F) 79 70 (C) 100 % ATTENDANCE: My expectation is that you will be present unless you have a legitimate reason to be absent. Job responsibilities, the required activities of sororities and fraternities, or other activities in which you may choose to participate should not be considered as legitimate reasons for absences. Students that fail to attend every class should not expect success in the course. Tests missed during an absence, without prior arrangement, may not be re-taken and will result in 0 points. PROGRAM LEARNING OUTCOMES: 1. The student will demonstrate a working knowledge of music history and literature form the Western art tradition, with supported related studies in non-western traditions, practices, and cultures. 2. The student will successfully complete an academic capstone project that demonstrates written language skills, citations, analysis, musical examples, and organization. - 1 -
STUDENT LEARNING OBJECTIVES: 1. Students will learn to understand and identify characteristics and principles important to each of the six musical periods discussed in the course. 2. Students will learn to identify the most important scholarly questions associated with the various periods of music history. 3. Students will learn to identify and analyze representative works from each period of the Western art music canon. 4. Students will learn to research composers and musical works using primary and secondary sources, and will document the results of this research in clear academic prose. This activity will prepare students for the eventual completion of the capstone project at the 400 level. 5. Students will learn to think critically about music in its social, political, geographic and historical contexts, and to form scholarly questions about its reception and value. EXPECTATIONS: 1. Regular, prompt attendance and preparation. 2. Enthusiastic participation in class discussion. 3. Completion of assigned reading. 4. Completion of four (4) written assignments 5. Completion of four (4) unit tests covering the readings and topics discussed in class. AREAS OF STUDY: (Kerman s Units) Unit 2: Early Music: An Overview Unit 3: The Eighteenth Century Unit 4: The Nineteenth Century Unit 5: The Twentieth Century WRITING ASSIGNMENTS: Bibliography and citation assignment: (Due: Thursday, September 30) Please complete a bibliography entry and a footnote or endnote entry for each of the sources listed on your assignment hand-out. The assignment is also available on our Web C. T. site if you prefer. You will submit an unrealistic paper, typing short sentences to which you may attach superscript citation numbers. Please type one text sentence, and submit one real footnote or endnote for each of the sources listed in your hand-out. Then, please submit a real and complete bibliography page, taking the sources on your assignment hand-out as your sources. The submitted result will be a two-part paper. Part one will be a short paper containing five footnotes or endnotes, and part two will be a bibliography containing five sources. You may submit these as a single attachment. All note and bibliography entries should follow the Chicago Manual of Style format. Each entry will be corrected individually. All footnote or endnote entries must be formatted correctly in a word processor. Manual formatting of note entries will result in a failing grade for the notes portion of the assignment. This assignment will assist you in your eventual completion of a capstone project at the 400 level. - 2 -
Purpose: The purpose of this assignment is to teach you to cite your sources correctly according to the Chicago Manual of Style. This is the preferred style manual of most schools of music in the United States, and you will find its use necessary for other courses at SFA as well. In this course, information on this manual will be located in your Turabian book. This text contains all the information you need to format correct note and bibliography entries. You may also utilize the information provided you by me in class. Library Research Assignment (Due: Thursday, October 21) Choose a composer born between c.800 and c.1770 whose last name begins with the same letter as yours, and write a short 1- to 2-page biography of this composer based on [at least] three types of sources, one of which must be in hard copy: an encyclopedic source (such as Grove, MGG [Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart], etc.); monographs (books) or journal articles specifically on that composer (found through the library computer system, the Music Index, etc.); another source of your choice (CD liner notes, introduction to score editions or to thematic catalogues, research guides, etc.). (Please note that non-refereed, on-line sources, such as Wikipedia are not considered acceptable sources.) Use the research techniques and electronic resources you have learned about in Professor Oswald s library presentation. It is fundamentally important that you cite your sources in footnotes or endnotes. When choosing a composer for your project, avoid the great names in order to keep biographical materials short. The exercise is designed to help you develop research techniques, respecting protocol in scholarly work, and to prepare for your work on all subsequent papers. Compact Disc Review (Due: Thursday, November 11) Choose a recording of a favorite performer of your instrument or larger ensemble or a favorite composer of works for your instrument. Compose a 300-500 single-spaced review. Please consider in your review the following elements: repertoire, style, tone, technique, recording quality, history, performers, CD artwork, and liner notes. You may wish to compare and contrast with other recordings of the same works by the same or different artists. Does the recording capture the history of performing practice? Why would you recommend or not recommend the recording? The greater the degree of specificity, the better will be the review. The assignment is designed to help you develop musical criticism and communication. Musical Cross-Pollination (Due: Thursday, December 2) Complete a writing assignment on the ways in which different musical traditions of various cultures have influenced one another in the past and continue to do so. In this assignment, you may choose to reflect on the ways in which Franco-Flemish polyphony influenced music in the rest of Europe, or you may consider the influence of Italian music in the Renaissance and Baroque periods. You might instead consider the similarities between Qur anic recitations, Hawai ian chant, and Gregorian chant, or you may wish to reflect on your own personal cultural background, and how it relates to the music we are studying. This paper should be 300-500 words in length, typed double-space using 12 point font with one inch margins. - 3 -
ACADEMIC INTEGRITY: Academic integrity is a responsibility of all university faculty and students. Faculty members promote academic integrity in multiple ways including instruction on the components of academic honesty, as well as abiding by university policy on penalties for cheating and plagiarism. Definition of Academic Dishonesty Academic dishonesty includes both cheating and plagiarism. Cheating includes but is not limited to (1) using or attempting to use unauthorized materials to aid in achieving a better grade on a component of a class; (2) the falsification or invention of any information, including citations, on an assigned exercise; and/or (3) helping or attempting to help another in an act of cheating or plagiarism. Plagiarism is presenting the words or ideas of another person as if they were your own. Examples of plagiarism are (1) submitting an assignment as if it were one s own work when, in fact, it is at least partly the work of another; (2) submitting a work that has been purchased or otherwise obtained form an Internet source or another source; and (3) incorporation the works or ideas of an author into one s paper without giving the author due credit. Please read the complete policy at <http://www.sfasu.edu/policies/academic_integrity.asp>. STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES: To obtain disability related accommodations, alternate formats and/or auxiliary aids, students with disabilities must contact the Office of Disability Services (ODS), Human Services Building, and Room 325, 468-3004 / 468-1004 (TDD) as early as possible in the semester. Once verified, ODS will notify the course instructor and outline the accommodation and/or auxiliary aids to be provided. Failure to request services in a timely manner may delay your accommodations. WITHHELD GRADES: Ordinarily, at the discretion of the instructor of record and with the approval of the academic chair/director, a grade of WH will be assigned only if the student cannot complete the course work because of unavoidable circumstances. Students must complete the work within one calendar year from the end of the semester in which they receive a WH, or the grade automatically becomes an F. If students register for the same course in future terms the WH will automatically become an F and will be counted as a repeated course for the purpose of computing the grade point average. ACCEPTABLE STUDENT BEHAVIOR: Classroom behavior should not interfere with the instructor s ability to conduct the class or the ability of other students to learn from the instructional program (see the Student Conduct Code, policy D-34.1). Unacceptable or disruptive behavior will not be tolerated. Students who disrupt the learning environment may be asked to leave class and may be subject to judicial, academic or other penalties. This prohibition applies to all instructional forums, including electronic, classroom, labs, discussion groups, field trips, etc. The instructor shall have full discretion over what behavior is appropriate/inappropriate in the classroom. Students who do not attend class regularly or who perform poorly on class projects/exams may be referred to the Early Alert Program. This program provides students with recommendations for resources or other assistance that is available to help SFA students succeed. COURSE OUTLINE: (Indicated only as a guide: dates are fluid.) Week Date Unit Topic Reading - 4 -
Week 1 8.31/9.2 Unit 1 Introduction and syllabus, music, sound, time Ch. 1, 2 Musical notation, form and style Week 2 9.7/9 Unit 1 Early music: An Overview Ch. 3, 4 Week 3 9.14/16 Unit 2 The Middle Ages, Renaissance Ch. 5, 6 Week 4 9.21/23 Unit 2 The Early Baroque TEST Ch. 7 Week 5 9.28/30 Unit 3 The Late Baroque; Vocal Music Ch. 8 Week 6 10.5/10.7 Unit 3 The Late Baroque; Instrumental Music Ch. 9, 10 Week 7 10.12/14 Unit 3 Music of the Enlightenment; the symphony Ch. 11, 12 Week 8 10.19/21 Unit 3 Other classical genres -- TEST Ch. 13 Week 9 10.26/28 Unit 4 Beethoven Ch. 14, 15 Week 10 11.2/4 Unit 4 The early Romantics Ch. 16 Week 11 11.9/11 Unit 4 The early Romantics Ch. 16 Week 12 11.16/18 Unit 4 Romantic Opera; other classical genres TEST Ch. 17, 18 Week 13 11.23 Unit 5 The Twentieth Century; modernism Ch. 19, 20 Week 14 11.30/12.2 Unit 5 Alternatives to modernism; late Twentieth Century Ch. 21, 22 Week 15 12.7/9 Unit 5 Music in America: Jazz and beyond TEST Ch. 23 DATES: Thanksgiving Break: (no class) Thursday, November 25, 2010 Writing Assignments (4): Thursdays, September 30, October 21, November 11, December 2 Final Exam Date: Thursday, December 16, 2010 (8:00 to 10:00 or 10:30 to 12:30) Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination. A charm to sadness, gaiety and life to everything. It is the essence of order and lends to all that is good, just, and beautiful. Plato - 5 -