teaching with writing

1. OFFICE HOURS:

2. COURSE DESCRIPTION AND GOALS:

Music 5201 will be mainly a discussion seminar that will relate music to many different aspects of culture and society.

Class time will be spent discussing these relationships in many different time periods to see if perhaps there is a pattern throughout music history. Reading assignments will be given weekly to accompany the lectures and discussions. There will also be several listening examples to cover the week's particular topic.

3. TEXTS AND RESERVE ITEMS:

a. Required Text: Weiss, Piero, and Taruskin, Richard. Music in the Western World: a History in Documents. New York: Schirmer, 1984. (Copies are also on reserve in the Music Resource Room H170 and the Main Library)

b. Reserve Items (To be held in Music Resource Room H170): Supplementary Reading Packet. Cassettes of Listening Selections.

4. COURSE REQUIREMENTS AND GRADING:

a. Daily assignments:

(1) Assigned Readings from primary text and other sources as needed.
(2) Listening Selections

b. Evaluation:

(1) Weekly Writing Assignment, each 50 points (400 points total)
(2) Prepared Class Participation, and Discussion (100 points total)

c. Grading:

500 total points possible
455-500 points=A
450-454 points=A-
445-449 points=B+
405-444 points=B
400-404 points=B-
395-399 points=C+
355-394 points=C
350-354 points=C-
345-349 points=D+
300-344 points=D
0-299 points=F

d. Absences:

Attendance is not mandatory but strongly encouraged. If you know prior to a class meeting that you will be absent, please let me know beforehand, so we are not waiting for someone to start a lecture. You are responsible for obtaining all materials covered during missed classes.

5. WRITING ASSIGNMENTS:

There will be a writing assignment each week giving you an opportunity to expand on the week's topic. Each assignment should be between 3 to 5 pages in length with double-spaced type. Topics will be given later in the syllabus. There obviously are ten possible writing assignments of which you must turn in eight.

6. PROPOSED CLASS SCHEDULE:

Tues. 12/1 Music and Religion (WT 6, 7, 9, 27)

Tues. 12/8 Music and Supernatural Power (WT 1, 3, 10) (SP: Brunner, Dossey, Rinpoche)

Tues. 12/15 Music and Language (WT 5, 43, 45, 46, 58)

Tues. 1/5 Music and Patronage (WT 70, 81, 85)

Tues. 1/12 The Composer: Visionary or Skilled Artisan? (WT 94, 106, 128, 135, 136, 137)

Tues. 1/19 Music and Gender (WT 95) (SP: Leppert)

Tues. 1/26 The Cult of the Performer (WT 61, 98, 104)

Tues. 2/2 Music and Political Identity (WT 113, 131, 132, 142)

Tues. 2/9 Music and Technology (WT 14, 24, 67, 51)

Tues. 2/16 Music and Mass Media (SP: Keil/Feld)

Writing Assignments

Week 1
Music and Religion

Consider the position of the ancient synagogues and the Medieval church regarding the use of music. In what ways does the structure of early chant reflect the Medieval understanding of the relationship between God and man, and the social relations among worshippers? Some of the week's listening examples reflect a different conception. Discuss some of the differences between musical features and corresponding social perspectives of the assigned musical selections. Feel free to draw upon class lecture or your readings to support your position.

Does your own experience connect to any of the situations you read about in the assigned readings for this unit? Explain.

Week 2
Music and Supernatural Power

Describe an example from your own experience where music was used to enhance human power. Describe as precisely as possible the kind of music, the setting, and the people involved. Note what specific characteristics of the music seemed most responsible for the effects you describe. Be as precise as possible. Perhaps the most effective was the insistent dance beat, the repetitive drum patterns, the lilting waltz-rhythm, the soothing melody, the mellow saxophone solo, the throaty growls of the lead singer, the biting brass responses, and so on.

Does your experience connect to any of the situations you read about in the assigned readings for this unit? Explain.

Week 3
Music and Language

What role does language play in shaping the structure of music in this week's examples?

Define the doctrine of affections as it pertains to Baroque music and general attitudes regarding music's expressive power. Consider in your answer whether the doctrine is in any way indebted or tied to language (especially dramatic language); and whether the emotion behind a word is more powerful than the word defining it. Consider also the musical ramifications of such an idea.

In the Baroque era, composers begin to write idiomatic music for instruments; trumpet or string parts, for instance, were no longer interchangeable with vocal parts. We have seen some examples in this week's listening selections where vocal parts imitate instrumental music. Can you think of any such exchanges of function in music you regularly listen to?

Week 4
Music and Patronage

Choose and answer three.

1. Define a patron. How does a patron in the classical European sense differ from today's ticket or record buyer?

2. What were the advantages of composing under aristocratic patronage? What were some of the disadvantages?

3. Do we today have any system of support for musicians comparable to the old aristocratic patronage? How do composers of today survive?

4. In what ways (textually, dramatically, and musically) does the Marriage of Figaro highlight issues associated with patronage? Are any features of Mozart's life mirrored in the drama?

5. Are certain types of musical styles and structures better suited to development under musical patronage? (Consider length, instrumental and vocal resources used, etc.) Why?

6. Are there non musical forms of patronage today?

Week 5
The Composer as Visionary

Stravinsky and Satie make fun of the Romantic notion of the tortured artist writing music for posterity. How do they think a composer should behave?

What is the difference between an artist and a craftsperson? Are composers artists or craftspeople? How is the notion of a composer tied to the historical and cultural circumstances?

How did Beethoven initiate the notion of the composer speaking for posterity? Identify a few European composers who adopted Beethoven's perspective.

Week 6
Music and Gender

1. What roles did women conventionally assume in European art music? Which were conventionally assigned to men? According to Richard Leppert, gender roles associated with specific instruments, particularly keyboard instruments, reflect and shape roles in other domains of social activity. Do you find Leppert's view convincing? Why or why not?

2. Do you believe that the status of women musicians has changed in the 20th century? Are there any attitudes that Leppert notes still present today?

Week 7
The Cult of the Performer

Refer to this week's listening examples and discuss features of 19th century Romantic music that make it particularly suitable to serve as a vehicle for the adulation of performers. What is the role of performance tradition in building our current adulation of performers? As you answer this, consider whether performers could have generated the same kind of cult status in 14th or 16th century Europe.

What highly celebrated musical performer most attracts your attention? For what characteristics is this performer celebrated?

Week 8
Music and Politics

Discuss the different ways that music and politics align. Consider for instance, what kind of political identity Jimmy Hendrix is presenting in his version of the Star Spangled Banner. Are the rebellious dimensions of Hendrix's performance akin to the creative impulses of composers like Bartok and Mussorgsky? Are all three of these musicians challenging some national perspectives while celebrating others? Is it possible for a single work or composer to serve more than one political position?

Week 9
Music and Technology

Anthropologists typically claim that technology is merely an extension of human capabilities. Seen in this regard, all musical instruments are examples of technology. After all, they are tools that extend our capabilities. Yet technological developments also shape what we can produce by subjecting us to the limits of what such tools can accomplish. Discuss the emergence of electronic technology in music in light of both perspectives: technology as expanding our options and technology as limiting our options. Cite examples to support your points.

How do technological changes help determine the musical elements we value and the structure we choose to employ in musical creation?

Week 10
Music and Mass Media

Feld talks about the mixing or curatorial, promotional, and appropriative roles (p.272) of the recording industry. Sometimes he celebrates such activities, other times he denigrates them. List some of the potential problems he sees in encountering music traditions without any sense of their original contexts. What solutions does he offer to counteract the problems he defines? Which options seem most valuable to you and why?

Does music, a mass presentation format by its very nature, result in what Feld describes as virtual contact?

Source

Lipori, Dan. Music 5201: Advanced Music History: Music and Society. Music Department, University of Minnesota - Duluth. 8 July 2003. <http://www.d.umn.edu/~dlipori/ courses/mu5201/musicandsociety.html>.