Contents

MUSC 101 Music Appreciation

Open to all interested students, this course provides an introduction to musical elements, forms and stylistic periods from the Middle Ages through the popular music of today. While concentrating primarily on Western Art Music and its representative composers, the course also touches on the increasing importance of different forms of popular music in the last century and its roots in various ethnic musical expression. Attention will also be given to historical events, sociological influences and encounters with non-European cultures within each historical period and their effect on musical development. This course is designed for the non-music major.

Credits

3

Hours Weekly

3

Course Objectives

  1. 1. Define the major elements of Western music (pitch, dynamics, timbre, composition, texture, rhythm, melody, harmony, and form).
  2. 2. Interpret music notation at an elementary level.
  3. 3. Identify and apply critical theories and concepts related to enduring and contemporary issues of aesthetics and creativity, through the following types of musical form: (binary, ternary, variation, sonata, and rondo).
  4. 4. Pose and address questions related to the confluence of creative and humanistic expression with social and cultural contexts by comparing and contrasting each of the major style periods of Western music history.
  5. 5. Incorporate innovation, risk-taking, and creativity into analysis and problem-solving methods by listening to selected musical excerpts and distinguishing between style periods and relating historical events, sociological influences, and encounters with non-European cultures and their effect on musical development.
  6. 6. Discuss the development of polyphony.
  7. 7. Write a basic analysis of a major musical composition.
  8. 8. Assess, reflect on, and critically analyze the role of musical expression in illuminating the human condition by writing an informed critique of a live music performance.
  9. 9. List several major composers in each of the style periods of Western music.
  10. 10. Identify the style period of a given jazz excerpt.

Course Objectives

  1. 1. Define the major elements of Western music (pitch, dynamics, timbre, composition, texture, rhythm, melody, harmony, and form).
  2. 2. Interpret music notation at an elementary level.
  3. 3. Identify and apply critical theories and concepts related to enduring and contemporary issues of aesthetics and creativity, through the following types of musical form: (binary, ternary, variation, sonata, and rondo).
  4. 4. Pose and address questions related to the confluence of creative and humanistic expression with social and cultural contexts by comparing and contrasting each of the major style periods of Western music history.
  5. 5. Incorporate innovation, risk-taking, and creativity into analysis and problem-solving methods by listening to selected musical excerpts and distinguishing between style periods and relating historical events, sociological influences, and encounters with non-European cultures and their effect on musical development.
  6. 6. Discuss the development of polyphony.
  7. 7. Write a basic analysis of a major musical composition.
  8. 8. Assess, reflect on, and critically analyze the role of musical expression in illuminating the human condition by writing an informed critique of a live music performance.
  9. 9. List several major composers in each of the style periods of Western music.
  10. 10. Identify the style period of a given jazz excerpt.