Analyzing Vocal Music
Don Wright Faculty of Music, Western University
Don Wright Faculty of Music, Western University
Welcome! This is the course blog for "Analyzing Vocal Music" at the Don Wright Faculty of Music at the University of Western Ontario.
How do voices mix music and words, sound and sense? What distinctive analytical challenges are posed by vocal music, and how have scholars approached them? In this undergraduate seminar, we will analyze vocal music in various ways. We’ll often focus on specific musical elements, involving pitch (melody, harmony), prosody (rhythm, meter, timing), and quality (timbre, dynamics). We’ll examine diverse compositions and recordings—from eighteenth-century opera to twentieth-century modernism, from Indian classical music to contemporary pop—and will prioritize repertoire chosen by seminar participants. While this will support general theoretical insights about musical voices, our principal goal will be to enhance our interpretation of specific pieces and performances.
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