5/22 Session 34

Textbook: Read Chapter 23 (pp. 406-415)

Complete Assignment (see below)

Listening: p. 406-407, p. 407-408, p. 410, p. 412-414

5/16 Session 33

Textbook: Read Chapter 23 (pp. 391-403)

Complete Assignment (see below)

Listening: p. 398, p. 399 (DVD only) p. 402, p. 403 (DVD only)

Workbook: Complete Lesson 24/25

1.Define anthem and briefly explain how anthems relate to fuguing tunes.
2.Define ragtime. Name one composer famous for ragtime music.
3.What is beat syncopation? Contrast beat syncopation with regular syncopation. Which instruments in an early jazz ensemble would be most likely to play beat syncopation?
4.Define blues in terms of its form, origin, and mood.
5.Briefly describe the musical contributions of Louis Armstrong.
6.Define gospel music.
7.Briefly describe the makeup of a typical big band.

5/9 Session 32

Textbook: Read Chapter 22 (pp. 381-390);

Complete Assignment (see below)

Listening: p. 382-384, p. 385-387, p. 387-390 (on DVD only) (guidance for listening—read first)

Workbook: Complete Lesson 23

Quiz: Textbook Website Quiz, Chapter 22

1.Does minimalism conform to modernist compositional techniques? If so, how, and if not, why not?
2.How does Reich’s Music for 18 Musicians demonstrate characteristics of minimalism?
3.Briefly describe how Kaija Saariaho sets the words of Sylvia Plath. Choose two songs from the song cycle From the Grammar of Dreams to illustrate your answer.
4.Discuss briefly the state of current compositional practice, including three contributing tendencies.
5.Briefly compare and contrast Adams’s El Niño and Handel’s Messiah.

5/2 Session 31

Textbook: Read Chapter 22 (pp. 371-380)

Complete Assignment (see below)

Listening: p. 374, p. 377-378, p. 379

Workbook: Complete Lesson 22

1.Name two musical trends that composers followed after World War II. Briefly explain them.
2.Define musique concrète. Contrast musique concrète with electronically generated sounds in music.
3.Compare and contrast the way Anton Webern uses the time elements of music with the way Terry Riley uses them.
4.Define aleatoric music. Describe a possible example of this style of composition.
5.Briefly explain Ligeti’s innovative approach to pitch.
6.Is it important that the text be clearly understood in Lux aeterna? Why or why not? What is the source of the text?
7.Briefly describe the musical philosophy of John Cage. Name two nonmusical influences on this philosophy.
8.Briefly explain how 4'33" is actually music.

4/25 Session 30—Alternatives to Modernism; Ravel, Bartók, Copland, Prokofiev

Textbook: Read Chapter 21 (353-370);

Complete Assignment (see below)

Listening: p. 356-358, p. 360-362, p. 363-365, p. 368-370

Workbook: Complete p. 33 Review (Quiz?)

Quiz: Textbook Website Quiz, Chapter 21

Session 30 Assignment

1. List and briefly describe the various ways composers embraced or reacted against modernism in the early twentieth century.
2. Who was Verdi’s successor in Italian opera? Was this successor able to incorporate modernist techniques? Name one technique he used.
3. Describe Maurice Ravel’s connection with American jazz.
4. What was Bartók’s opinion of the Nazis? What did this mean for him in terms of performing and publishing his music?
5. Briefly describe Aaron Copland’s philosophy of the purpose of music in general and American music in particular.
6. Discuss the influence of Romantic-era music on film music. Name two composers for film, and name one film score composed by each.
7. Briefly analyze the oppression that modernist composers suffered in totalitarian regimes during the first half of the twentieth century. List three composers who were affected.

Textbook: Read Chapter 20 (339-352);

Complete Assignment over pp. 339-352 (see below)

Listening: p. 340-342, p. 343-348, p. 351-352, p. 352

Workbook: Complete p. 32 (Ear training)

Quiz: Textbook Website Quiz, Chapter 20

Session 29 Assignment

1.     Where and when did expressionism take root in music? Who was the leading composer in this style?

2.     Briefly describe two influences on the music of Igor Stravinsky.

3.     Name three of Schoenberg’s compositions and briefly describe one of the following for each: the style, an innovative musical technique used, or the story behind the composition.

4.     Name and define the innovative vocal technique featured in Pierrot lunaire.

5.     Name the innovative vocal technique used in Wozzeck. Briefly describe how it adds to the drama and mood of the opera.

6.     Briefly explain what Charles Ives thought was the most important thing about music.

4/11 Session 28—Early Modernism; Debussy and Stravinsky

Textbook: Read Chapter 20 (331-339)

Assignment (below) over pp. 331-339

Listening: p. 332-333 and 335, p. 336-338

Workbook: Complete Lesson 21

Session 28 Assignment

1.     Where and when did avant-garde music get its start? Name three early leading composers of this era and style.

2.     Briefly compare and contrast the orchestral compositional styles of Claude Debussy and Gustav Mahler, particularly in light of the cities in which they practiced their art.

3.     With which musical element was Debussy most innovative in terms of his orchestral music? In which other genre was Debussy innovative?

4.     Briefly describe Debussy’s reaction to the music of Wagner.

5.     Define ostinato. Name one twentieth-century work that makes use of this technique, and name the work’s composer.

4/4 Session 27—Modernism

Textbook: Read Chapter 19 (pp. 319-330);

Complete Assignment 19 (see below)

Most Important Information: 327-330

Workbook: Complete Lesson 20

Quiz: Textbook Website Quiz, Chapter 19

1.     Discuss the concepts in the visual arts, literature, and music that were questioned by modernists in the early twentieth century.

2.     Define expressionism as an early twentieth-century artistic movement.

3.     Composers focused on certain musical elements before World War I and on other musical elements after that war. Name the elements stressed in each era.

4.     Name three composers who contributed to the disintegration of melody in the early part of the twentieth century. How did they contribute to this change?

5.     Name and briefly describe three new kinds of scales used by composers after 1900.

6.     Define serialism. What musical element can be serialized in a composition?

7.     Explain what Schoenberg meant when he spoke of “the emancipation of dissonance.”

3/21 Textbook: Read Chapter 18 (pp. 293-302)