Course: Perfa 111, Music and Romanticism



Course: Perfa 118, Twentieth Century composers

1. Date of Application: 10-14-12

2. Name, Dept. of Proposer: Martin Rokeach, Performing Arts

3. Name of Dept/Program housing course: Music/Performing Arts

4. Name of Chair/PD: Frank Murray

5. How often is the course taught: every fourth semester

6. Course prerequisites: None

7. Unit value of course: 1

8. Normal class size: 15

9. Number of sections expected Spring 2013: 0

10. Number of sections expected Fall 2013: 0

11. Number of sections expected Spring 2014: 1

12. Relevant Learning Goal: Artistic Understanding

13. Chair will oversee submission of student work: No

14. Chair will oversee instructor participation in norming/asst: Yes

1a: Explore Works of Art

Students begin the semester with a review of the style of Romantic-era music. This is vital because so many of the trends of the 20th century were reactions against Romanticism. Students become familiar with the most significant music of Debussy, Stravinsky, Schoenberg, Webern, Berg, Bartok, Ravel, Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Gershwin, Copland, Barber, Boulez, Cage, Reich, Riley, Penderecki, Griset and other composers.

1b: Analyze/Interpret Form and Meaning

Students do not merely listen and enjoy (or daydream through) the music. They internalize the theme and/or aesthetic orientation of each work. For example, they learn why Schoenberg’s Five Pieces for Orchestra sounds so harsh to the ear, even though the composer was perfectly capable of writing pleasant-sounding music. They come to understand that its dissonance and chaotic form reflect a fascination with dreams, the unconscious, and repressed psychological drives. Students contrast this with more traditional form and meaning, as in the Piano Concerto in G Major by Maurice Ravel, where they internalize each movement’s themes and follow their development as the work unfolds. This results in a deeper engagement with the piece’s expressive power.

1c: Apply Discipline-Based Vocabulary

This course is required of all music majors and open to non-musicians as well, and it is essential that all students learn enough discipline-based vocabulary to discuss the music articulately. Terms such as themes, motifs, keys, modulations, tonal/atonal, meter, instrumentation, development sections, texture music, graphic notation, transitions, codas, are a portion of the terminology they learn.

1d: Explore the Artistic Piece’s Significance Within Appropriate Contexts

All the music in this course is placed in historical context. Romanticism is contrasted with Modernism, a world view that contained a myriad of artistic movements. Students learn how Impressionism, Expressionism, Primitivism, Nationalism, Serialism, and Neo-Classicism were all reactions against Romanticism, and how Texture and Aleatoric Music were reactions against the trauma of World War II. Students also listen to late 20th-century Neo-Romantic music, itself a reaction against complex dissonance. Class members’ understanding of each trend is amplified by viewing paintings and reading short stories or excerpts from literature that reveal the same modernist values as the music. For example, Expressionist music of Schoenberg and Berg is combined with paintings of Munch, Schiele, a short story of Kafka and a review of Freud’s Theory of the Unconscious. Primitivist music of Stravinsky and Bartok is seen as a response to technological innovations of the Industrial Revolution and reinforced by paintings of Picasso and excerpts from Jack London’s Call of the Wild.” The easy-listening style of Aaron Copland is seen as a response to the vicissitudes of the Great Depression and combined with paintings of Thomas Hart Benton, Isaac Soyer and Grant Wood as well as excerpts by John Steinbeck.

2a: Participation in Creative Process

This does not happen in this course.

2b: Production of Artifact Appropriate to the Discipline

This does not happen in this course.

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