The course will move chronologically. For each class, we will listen to outstanding works, usually by a single composer. Then we will discuss what is distinctive in each work's form and style; its social function, past and present; how it relates to its text or context; what choices the composer made and why; and how we find it effective or moving. Your own ideas and contributions are vital to the success of the course.
The primary texts for the course are pieces of music. Accordingly, the most important activity in the course is listening, as thoughtfully you can, to the assigned recordings and to live performances around the city. Readings will be from Thomas Kelly's Music Then And Now.
Music cannot be discussed without a huge amount of technical terminology. Much of it will be explained in class and needs to be learned. The aim, however, is not merely to learn a vast pile of words, but to use them to discuss and debate musical ideas vigorously.
Sonic Glossary: Created for Music Hum, this website offers encyclopedia-style entries on, and audio illustrations of, several dozen key terms. Very nicely done. May not work well on all platforms.
Grove Music Online: The online version of Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians, the comprehensive and authoritative dictionary of music.
The Oxford History of Western Music: A monumental history by the great, cantankerous scholar (and Columbia graduate) Richard Taruskin, all freely available in bite-sized pieces online. A more sophisticated alternative to Kelly's text. Loads slowly.
Columbia University Libraries offer a vast collection of recorded music on CD (in 701 Dodge) and for listening online.
Instructor's Office Hours: T.Th. 10:30--11:30 in 414 Mathematics Hall, or by appointment. Phone: 212-854-4308. E-mail: thaddeus@math.columbia.edu
(2) Listening assignments. Before each class, a brief listening assignment, averaging 25 minutes of music, will be posted online. Listen carefully and attentively to every piece. This requires your undivided attention: no multitasking!
(3) Questionnaires. Before each listening assignment, print the brief questionnaire about the music that will be posted online. Fill it out and hand it in at the start of class. Only a printed copy on white paper will be accepted. Questionnaires will not be graded or returned but may be used to spark class discussion and to determine your attendance and participation grade.
(4) Paper #1: On a work of Bach. About 4 pages or 1000 words. To be posted on the course blog by Sunday, February 22. Late papers will be accepted, but with one grade point deducted (e.g. A- to B+) for each day or part of a day of lateness.
(5) Paper #2: On a live performance. About 4 pages or 1000 words. Attend a concert in New York in March or April, chosen from a list to be provided, and write a commentary on the works performed. To be posted on the course blog up to one week after the concert. Lateness policy as above. Because good concerts often sell out, you will be asked to choose the concert and buy a ticket some time in February. It is your responsibility to locate the venue and get there on time!
(6) Opera trip. All Music Hum sections will attend a performance of Bizet's Carmen at the Metropolitan Opera at 7:30 on one of the following evenings: Mon., Feb. 23, Thurs., Feb. 26, or Wed., Mar. 4. Your preference will be asked in the first questionnaire. A brief report (1 page or less) to be posted on the course blog thereafter, counting toward the participation grade.
(7) Midterm exam. In class on Tuesday, March 10 (note new date). Short essays responding to brief recordings, some familiar, some not.
(8) Final exam. Projected for Tuesday, May 12 from 4:10--7 pm. Like the midterm, but longer and strongly emphasizing the latter half of the course.
(9) A few on-campus performances and demonstrations, outside of class time, to be announced later. Optional but enjoyable and strongly recommended.
Grading: Attendance and participation 20%, midterm 15%, two 4-page papers 20% each, final 25%.
(2) Attendance policy. As this is largely a discussion course, your attendance and participation are crucial. Attendance will be taken via the questionnaires. More than two unexcused absences may lower your course grade.
(3) Exam policy. If you foresee a conflict with either exam (such as a religious observance, a documented disability, or another exam), you must inform me at least two weeks before. Last-minute postponements of the exams will be granted only for a medical or family emergency, or a situation of comparable gravity, and must be supported by a note from your doctor or advising dean.
(4) Intellectual honesty. The submitted papers must represent your own personal written work. Direct or indirect quotations from work written by another (whether in print or online) must be presented as such and cited following the usual protocols. Likewise, specific ideas taken from another thinker must be attributed. Violators may be penalized both through course grading and through University discipline.