About M401

About M401

Music M401: History and Literature of Music I: Antiquity to 1750 is the first half of a two-semester team-taught course on the history and literature of music in Europe and the United States. It will be taught this summer by the following team:

Visiting Lecturer

    Rika Asai
           Office: Simon Center 325C
           Office Hours: M-R 10:30-11:30, and by appointment

Phone: 855-8252

E-mail: rasai@indiana.edu

Associate Instructors
Office: Simon Center 252B

Bethany Kissell (bkissell@indiana.edu)

Phillip Kurasz (pkurasz@indiana.edu)

Matthew Nisbet (mnisbet@indiana.edu)

Sherri Winks (swinks@indiana.edu)

This semester, we will trace the history of music in Europe from ancient Greece to the time of Bach and Handel. During the course, you will become familiar with a repertoire of music which has been chosen to illustrate the various genres and styles that emerged over 2000 years of continual change. We will also study the historical contexts and social functions of these pieces and the probable circumstances in which they were performed.

By the end of the semester, you should be able to recognize and describe the most important genres and musical styles practiced in Europe in this period, including the individual styles of several composers, and to place composers, pieces, styles, and genres in an historical time frame. Besides gaining this broad knowledge of the field, you will also prepare a review essay on the scholarly work related to a specific topic in the history of European music before 1750, giving you an opportunity to explore in depth a subject of special interest to you.

The class meets on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday for lectures and on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for small-group discussion sections. Each AI will lecture once to the entire class and will lead one of the discussion sections.

Please Note: M401 in the summer presents a very compact and intensive schedule. The central focus of the course is your own private studying: reading, listening, and reflecting on the material. A common equation of time is two to three hours of private work for each hour in class. You'll be in class eight hours a week so you will probably spend between sixteen and twenty-four hours a week in reading, researching, and listening, in addition to your time in the classroom.

Texts

Donald Jay Grout and Claude V. Palisca, A History of Western Music, 6th ed. [HWM]
Piero Weiss and Richard Taruskin, eds., Music in the Western World: A History in Documents [WT]
Claude V. Palisca, ed., Norton Anthology of Western Music, 4th ed., v. 1 [NAWM]
J. Peter Burkholder, Study and Listening Guide for A History of Western Music and Norton Anthology of Western Music [SLG]
Kate L. Turabian, A Manual for Writers, 6th ed.
Recommended: Recordings for Norton Anthology of Western Music, 4th ed., v. 1 (CDs)

There is a website for HWM and NAWM, including chapter outlines, review quizzes, and listening quizzes. The URL is www.wwnorton.com/grout.

Course Objectives

Read this section carefully. It explains in detail what you are expected to accomplish during the semester and how you will be tested. We make this explicit so that you know what to expect and what is expected of you.

The goal of the class is to enrich your experience of and knowledge about music in the European and American tradition by exploring the music of the past and the circumstances and values of the cultures that produced it. By understanding music in its historical context and learning about its inherent value within a certain culture and time, you will become more sensitive to its meanings and to how to interpret it and perform it. Even if your main focus is on music after 1750, learning about early music will help you understand why later music has the shape it has, for every aspect of music has historical roots, often extending back centuries.

With this as an overall goal, we will focus on developing a specific set of skills. By the end of this semester, you should be able to hear or see the music of an unfamiliar piece from Europe before 1750 and

compare it to other pieces you know from this period,
recognize its genre,
describe its principal stylistic features,
suggest a possible composer and approximate date of composition,
place it in an historical context,
describe its probable social function,
describe the probable circumstances of its performance, including where, when, why, how, and by whom such a piece might have been performed, and
say something about what those who created, performed, heard, and paid for music of this type valued in it.

To do this, you need to have acquired and organized a certain amount of information.

First, you must be familiar with representative pieces from the period. You will be expected to identify pieces on the listening list by hearing or by sight, name their genre, composer, and date, and discuss significant features of the music.
Second, you must know terms and concepts important to this music. By the end of the semester, you will be expected to recognize, define, and employ significant terms and concepts introduced in the readings or lectures.
Third, you must be aware of the genres and musical styles (including styles of individual composers) practiced during this period and be sensitive to their history. By the end of the semester, you should be able to describe the genres and musical styles represented by pieces on the listening list, to explain how these genres and styles changed over time or from one group of composers to another, and to identify the genre, salient stylistic traits, and likely composer and date of an unfamiliar piece of music.
Fourth, you must understand what various types of music were used for and how music was shaped by broad political, cultural, and economic trends and by the values of the society that produced it. This requires more knowledge beyond music itself than we can include in a single semester, but we can at least begin with the pieces on the listening list and the types of music they represent. Thus, by the end of the semester you should be able to describe the broad historical context, likely social function, and probable performance circumstances for pieces on the listening list and for pieces of similar types, and say something about what those who made, heard, and paid for such pieces valued in them.

All of these skills will be practiced in discussion sections and tested on the examinations, which will include listening and score identification of known and unknown musical works, identification of important terms, names, and concepts, and essays. Each exam will be comprehensive. There may also be occasional quizzes in section.

Finally, you will have an opportunity to explore the scholarly literature related to a specific topic in the history of European music before 1750. Your research will result in a review essay. Your essay must have a main point and summarize the state of research in the area you have chosen. It must also represent your own independent work and thinking. Completion of the review essay will show that you can use the skills acquired in this class and in your previous training as a musician and scholar to synthesize music research.

Grading

Your discussion section instructor will read and grade your examinations, will assign your grade for section, preparation, and participation, and, in consultation with the professor, will guide and grade your review essay. Your course grade will be calculated from your grades on each aspect of the class, weighted as follows:

Preparation/Participation: This includes not merely being present at lectures and discussion sections, but participating in discussions, completing the assigned readings and listenings, completing assignments in a timely manner, working independently on the essay, and other related issues.	15%
Review Essay: The grade will reflect not only the final product, but also the timely submission of all paper assignments, your responsiveness to suggestions made by the instructors, and other related issues.	25%
Three Exams: Exams will have three components: (1) listening and scores identification, (2) short answer questions, and (3) a take-home essay to be done over a two-day period. The exams will be comprehensive in that all listening excerpts from the NAWM and the selected reading excerpts from WT may reappear on later exams. Essay questions will also assume a knowledge of previous materials.	60%

Grades will be recorded as percentages out of 100 and converted to a letter grade at the end of the course. However, you must receive a passing grade in each area to pass the course. That is, if you receive a grade of F in any area (on an average of the three examinations, or on the research project, or on preparation/participation), you will receive an F for the course.

What Grades Mean

A. An A indicates that the student has near complete mastery of the material. Few changes, corrections, or suggestions can be made to the work submitted regarding historical facts or writing style. An A also indicates that the student has taken an active role in learning the materials through participation, class discussion, and getting outside help in a timely manner.

B. A B indicates that the student's work is good (i.e., that the student has put a significant amount of time into understanding the materials and writes in a clear and effective manner), but the work is weak in some areas. These weaknesses may be problems of organization, style, factual material, or other deficiencies.

C. The grade C is given to a work that is acceptable, but not exceptional. A C indicates that the work shows a competent understanding of the assignments and materials (and therefore a moderate amount of effort), but the work will usually not go beyond the obvious. A C is also given to work with clear factual errors, writing which is difficult to follow or inconsistent, or mere attendance of the class with little attempt to join in discussions or seek additional explanations in a timely manner.

D. A D indicates the work has some merit (that a student attempted to understand the material), but also has clear problems of factual understanding, clarity of writing, or organizational problems. A D indicates that there are some good aspects to the student's work, but that there are many areas of improvement and correction. Often D work indicates the repetition of material without further insight or consideration.

F. An F indicates work that is consistently weak, reflecting little thought or effort. An F also indicates serious problems with participation, factual information, or clarity of writing.

Course Expectations

You are responsible for the assigned readings in GP and WT, musical selections in NAWM (including the reading on each work), the related study questions in SLG, and pieces on the Supplementary Recordings on reserve (SR 1-35). Turabian's Manual should be used as a guide in preparing your paper.

The topics and assignments for each class day are listed in the course schedule. Use the Study and Listening Guide to coordinate your reading with your listening and score study. You are expected to study the assigned reading and listening and to complete the study questions related to the assigned reading and listening prior to the lecture or section devoted to each topic. Late assignments will not receive credit. All assignments are due at the beginning of class time of the assigned day. Failure to meet a deadline for the term paper will automatically result in a grade of F on the term paper project (and thus in the course).

Note: Students must plan to take all examinations at the scheduled times; make-up exams will not be given (except in the case of serious illness requiring a physician's care).

Lectures are intended to supplement and reinforce the material in the texts. The examinations will cover material from both the texts and the lectures.

The discussion sections are discussion sections, not supplementary lectures, and they will require your active participation. Come to them prepared to discuss the readings and pieces listed for that day and for the preceding lectures, to share your answers to the study questions related to those readings and pieces, and to review work assigned previously. You will be expected to comment on the history, style, and compositional technique of the assigned works and on the material presented in the lectures and readings. There may also be written assignments for sections.

You should plan to spend at between sixteen to twenty-four hours each week reading the texts, listening to the music, answering study questions, and reviewing. Keep up with all the assignments, and do not wait to cram for the exams. You are advised to listen to each of the assigned pieces several times, both when we first consider them and again when preparing for the exams. The better you know these pieces, the easier it will be to identify and discuss them on the exam, to identify and discuss similar works we have not studied (the "unknown" listening excerpts on the exam), and to write essays in which the pieces serve as examples for broader issues.

We recommend that you buy the recordings for NAWM. This will make it much easier for you to familiarize yourself with the music and to coordinate your listening with your reading. If it is too expensive for you to buy these recordings alone, you might buy a copy to share with one or two friends.

Academic Integrity

It is the student's responsibility to know and understand Indiana University's policies, procedures, and penalties regarding academic integrity, as discussed in the Code of Student Rights, Responsibilities, and Conduct. Negligence or ignorance of the policy will rarely be accepted as an excuse for violation of the policy. Cheating on examinations or plagiarism or falsification on the research project is likely to result in an F for the course.

Attendance

In lectures and sections students have opportunities to interact with music, with each other, and with the instructors that are not duplicated elsewhere. Therefore, we expect you to come to class regularly and on time. Attendance is mandatory for both lecture and discussion sections. It is our experience that students who frequently miss class do poorly or fail.

Any day you are late or absent, please get class notes from one or more classmates. You are responsible for knowing the content of every class, including announcements and assignments. Instructors cannot take responsibility for filling you in on what you missed.

Medical and Other Issues Affecting Course Work

If you have a diagnosed medical condition that affects your ability to perform standard college-level work such as papers and examinations, please inform the instructors of this situation as soon as possible. While privacy laws do not require you to inform the instructors of the specific nature of the medical condition, it is important that reasonable modifications of the work be made as soon as possible to meet these situations.

Similarly, if an examination or assignment is scheduled on a religious holiday you observe, or conflicts with a School of Music ensemble engagement or a major professional obligation (such as an international competition), please inform Prof. Asai during the first week of class so that reasonable accommodations can be made.

Summary of Important Dates

Preliminary Topic Idea	Due on Wednesday, June 22, at start of lecture
Topic Proposal and Bibliography	Due on Monday, June 27, at start of lecture
First Exam	Monday, July 1 (Sweeney Hall)
Annotated Bibliography	Due on Wednesday, July 6, at start of lecture
Annotated Bibliography + 2-5 pages	Due on Wednesday, July 15, at start of lecture
Second Exam	Thursday, July 21 (Sweeney Hall)
Annotated Bibliography + draft	Due on Tuesday, July 26, at start of lecture
Final Essay, 10-12 pages	Due on Friday, August 5, at start of lecture
Final Exam	Friday, August 12 (Sweeney Hall)

This webpage was designed by J. Peter Burkholder and is maintained by Rika Asai
Copyright � 1997, 2002 by J. Peter Burkholder