About M402 • Course staff • Texts, recordings, reserves • Course requirements and policies • Papers • Exams • Schedule and assignments
In M402 we will explore the history of art music in Europe and the United States from the mid-eighteenth-century to the present. During the course you will become familiar with pieces from a variety of musical traditions over the past 250 years. We will study the pieces themselves as well as the historical circumstances in which they were created.
In the course, you will follow a historical survey in lectures, participate in the close discussion of specific pieces in discussion sections, write three short analytical papers, and take three hour examinations.
The class meets on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 11.15 in Sweeney Hall (M015) for lectures and on Tuesday and Thursday for small-group discussion sections.
Required
Recommended
Online Listening and Scores
Listening and reading assignments
The course schedule lists reading and listening assignments for each meeting that you should complete before class.
Keep up with all the assignments and do not wait to cram for exams. You are advised to listen to each of the assigned listening pieces multiple times: several times when the assignment is due, and again when preparing for exams. Knowing the assigned listening will help you for the exams, where you will be asked to identify excerpts from them; to remember and apply names, terms, and dates related to them; and to write essays in which the pieces will serve as examples of broader issues.
Attendance at lectures and section meetings
Attendance is expected for both lecture and discussion sections. You are responsible for the content of every class, including special announcements that will be made from time to time. The instructors cannot take responsibility for informing you of material you may have missed. You are also expected to arrive on time. Students who frequently miss class usually do poorly or fail.
Discussion sections will require your active participation, not just passive attendance. Keeping up with the assignments will help create the kind of alertness and confidence you will need to do well in the discussion sections, where you will be one of twelve or so students in the room.
The real reason you need to be at lecture and section meetings: This course is not about historical facts, which you could get from a book. Rather we are hoping to teach you to listen to and think about music in new ways. The only way to do this is to hear us talk about these things in lecture and section and to try them out in discussions with your classmates. If you don't practice, you will not know what we expect on exams and papers, and will risk learning nothing and getting a poor grade.
Examinations
Each of the three hour exams will cover material since the last exam. Possible exam questions include
The best way to do well on exams is to become thoroughly familiar with the course repertory and the topics we have discussed in lecture and in section in connection with each of the pieces.
Short papers
You will be asked to write three short (c. 750-word) analytical papers about assigned compositions. We will provide guidelines and discuss the process in section meetings.
[Assignments: Paper 1 Paper 2 Paper 3].
Grading formula
General policies
You must do all the work to pass the course. If you do all the work responsibly, you will pass.
The only acceptable excuses for missing exams or deadlines are illness or emergencies documented by an official written acknowledgement, such as a medical excuse. Only extraordinary, documentable circumstances can justify giving a makeup or extension. Papers that arrive late without an extension arranged in advance will be docked a full letter grade for each week (or partial week) late. If you miss three section meetings, your section grade will be affected; if you miss up to six section meetings you will earn a very low section grade; if you miss more than that, you risk failing the course.
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. Cheating on examinations or plagiarism or falsification on the writing assignments is likely to result in an F for the course.
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 tell the instructors about the specific medical condition, it is important that they know in advance so reasonable accommodation can be made.
If an examination or assignment is scheduled on a religious holiday you observe, please inform the Head AI during the first two weeks of class so that reasonable accommodation can be made. See the IU Bloomington policy on religious holidays.