Musicianship IV
This is the course website for Musicianship IV (MUSI 299), spring 2013, at Charleston Southern University. See links above for online resources, syllabus, and current unit objectives. Follow the course hashtag on Twitter: #musi299
Grade and attendance reports have been updated as of April 20. Check your absences (several of you are flirting with FA), and note any reassessments that need to be done.
Please take the end-of-semester class survey (one short essay question), and fill out the official CSU course evaluation.
Class contract
The class contract for MUSI 299 can be found here.
Assessment rubrics
Assignments and other updates
- Resources for the professional musical life
The Upside of quitting – an episode of the Freakonomics podcast exploring when/why you should/shouldn’t quit something. (Warning: it does include some “adult” topics. You are adults, but be judicious about what you believe to be appropriate. Most of the episode should be universally unobjectionable.)
. . . - For Thursday–Friday, April 18–19
There is no prep work for Thursday or Friday. Spend out-of-class time working on your analysis project or preparing for the dictation final.
. . . - For Tuesday–Wednesday, April 16–17
Tuesday and Wednesday will be individual meetings with me to discuss your papers. Please arrive at the regular class time for me to take attendance. If you are not in a meeting with me at that time, use the time (in WT 109 or a practice room) to work on your analytical project or aural material.
. . . - For Monday, April 15
. . .
- For Friday, April 12
Friday will be a dictation quiz. Bring staff paper, and if you are able, come to class early and play through some of the keyboard voice-leading patterns to prime them in your memory.
. . . - For Thursday, April 11
Practice the single and double rhythms on the handout distributed in class. Come prepared to perform all of them correctly at the printed tempo.
. . . - For Wednesday, April 10
Spend some time playing through the keyboard schemata passed out today. Be intentional about comparing and contrasting progressions (not just single chords) of the same type.
. . . - Final paper information
Submit via DropBox (place a PDF of your paper in your DropBox assessment folder).
. . . - For Tuesday, April 9
Spend some time practicing playing the keyboard voice-leading patterns, paying close attention to the difference in sound for each version of the same progression type. If you have trouble getting them fast enough to retain in working memory (4–6 seconds per progression), enter them into MuseScore/NoteFlight/Finale and listen to them back-to-back at the fastest tempo in which you can clearly hear the difference.
. . . - For Monday, April 8
There is no homework for Monday. We will start working on harmonic and melodic listening again. Please bring headphone adapters, staff paper, and a pencil.
. . . - For Thursday–Friday, April 4–5 (UPDATED for Friday)
Review the glossary of atonal terms, the resource on Analyzing 12-tone music, and the Analyzing atonal music resource, as necessary. Come to class Thursday with written questions about these resources or Wednesday’s class discussion on set classes.
. . . - For Wednesday, April 3
Read the glossary of atonal terms, which is still incomplete, but will provide you with some terms and tools for our subsequent analyses.
. . . - For Tuesday, April 2 (UPDATED)
In general this week, spend your out-of-class time preparing for Friday’s listening assessment. Use the Karpinski CD and BassGenerator for that practice.
. . . - For Monday, April 1
Re-read the fragment of Chapter 9, “The Twelve-Tone System,” from Robert Morgan’s Twentieth-Century Music (in 299Shared), in light of our discussion in class today. Also, bring your score to “Wie bin ich froh!” back to class again.
. . . - For Thursday, March 28 (Chapel assignment)
During Wednesday’s chapel service, consider the following questions:
. . . - For Thursday, March 28
Read the two chapter fragments from Robert Morgan’s Twentieth-Century Music (in 299Shared): an excerpt from Chapter 9, “The Twelve-Tone System,” and from Chapter 12, “Integral Serialism.”
. . . - For Wednesday, March 27
There is no homework for tomorrow. We will begin our (brief) exploration of 12-tone (dodecaphonic) compositional technique in class tomorrow. You don’t want to miss it. Wednesday’s activity will be the basis of Thursday’s homework and in-class activity.
. . . - For Tuesday, March 26
THIS IS AN ENTRY TICKET ASSIGNMENT.
. . . - For Monday, March 25
We will be working on listening/recognition in class on Monday, following off of the results of Friday’s dictation assessment. The areas weakest on the assessment were melodies in minor and/or with chromatics (other than fi) and recognizing the melody in a harmonic texture. We’ll focus on minor mode and chromatic melodies on Monday. In preparation, please transcribe the following melodies from the Karpinksi CD (clef, tonic, and bottom number are provided in the textbook at the end of the appropriate chapter):
. . . - For Friday, March 22
Friday will begin with a melodic and harmonic dictation assessment. Your only assignment is to practice for that assessment, using either melodies on the Karpinski CD or BassGenerator.
. . . - For Thursday, March 21
Watch the video of my discussion of “Diminished Fifth.” Come to class with any questions or further insights you have about the video or the piece itself. It’s a big file, even though it’s only 10 minutes and standard definition, so download it early if you can just to be safe.
. . . - For Wednesday, March 20
Repeat of yesterday’s assignment:
. . . - For Tuesday, March 19
Transcribe the following melodies from the Karpinski CD:
. . . - For Monday, March 18
Read the Unit II rubric (linked at the top of the page), as well as the update to the final grades part of the syllabus, and come with any questions you have about them.
. . . - For Friday, March 8
Complete your paper/analysis project, which is due by class time tomorrow. I prefer DropBox submissions, given the issues with file attachments last time around.
. . . - For Thursday, March 7
Mainly, work on your paper/analysis project, due by classtime on Friday.
. . . - For Tuesday, March 5
Tomorrow we continue (and hopefully conclude) our study of the fourth movement of Webern’s Fünf Sätze für Streichquartett, Op. 5 (recording in 299Shared, scores distributed in class earlier in the week).
. . . - For Monday, March 4
In addition to working on your German Lieder project revision, revisit the fourth movement of Webern’s Fünf Sätze für Streichquartett, Op. 5 (recording in 299Shared, scores distributed in class earlier in the week—there are a couple extras in the tray on my office door).
. . . - For Thursday, February 28 (UPDATED)
We will be pushing our study of twentieth-century music back until next week. There is work left to do on the German Lied project. (I want to move on as much as you all do, but we have to get it right—or at least a lot closer.)
. . . - For Wednesday, February 27
Practice Reich’s Piano Phase either on keyboard, or on some other instrument (that you can bring to class).
. . . - German Lied paper
In this project, you will analyze two settings of the same poem and write a paper (1000–1500 words) comparing and contrasting the two composers’ interpretations of the poem and illustrating the techniques they employ to project their interpreted meaning of the text.
. . . - For Friday, February 22
After reading Turabian, Chapter 6 “Planning a First Draft,” compose a draft of your German Lied paper, or at least the body of your paper (no introduction or conclusion) along with your thesis statement. You will be reading and evaluating each other’s drafts, and commenting on them in terms of both content and style.
. . . - For Thursday, February 21
I have placed the article “On Form in New Music” (1966), by György (pronounced more-or-less like George) Ligeti in the 299Shared folder. Read Sections I and II (through the middle of p. 11). Many of the ideas laid out in this article are fundamental to the problem of understanding and interpreting 20th-c. music, especially of the post-tonal variety. Together with “Helvetica,” it will form a helpful introduction to the study of modernist and post-war Western art music. It is also a denser reading than usual. Pay close attention to the text, look up any terms or names you don’t know, and come to class with answers to the following questions, ready to discuss them:
. . . - For Wednesday, February 20
Come to class prepared to discuss the following questions about the Helvetica documentary we watched on Tuesday:
. . . - For Tuesday, February 19
In class, we will watch the documentary “Helvetica” as an introduction to modernist aesthetics in Western culture. There is no prep work. However, now is a good time to begin working on your paper draft (due Friday) and/or the longer-than-usual reading for Thursday.
. . . - For Monday, February 18
Prepare thoroughbass reductions of both Schumann’s and Brahms’s settings of “Mondnacht.” Under the reduction, provide both an interpreted functional-bass analysis, and a Roman-numeral analysis.
. . . - For Friday, February 15
Read Turabian, A Manual for Writers, 7th ed., Chapter 5 (pp. 48–61). (Note that it is a required resource for this course—see Syllabus—and if you did not purchase it, you should visit the bookstore or the library.) This chapter is on argument structure. Pay close attention to what the authors say go into a claim (or a thesis).
. . . - For Thursday, February 14
We will continue our analysis of the poem “Mondnacht” by Josef Karl Benedikt von Eichendorff, looking at settings by Brahms and Schumann. These are the settings you will be analyzing for your Lieder paper. For Thursday, print off the score to each setting (both are in the 299Shared folder), analyze them for keys and modulations, and label the solfège syllable for each pitch in the appropriate key. You may work with a partner. You are also encouraged to listen to recordings of each song. A recording of the Schumann setting is in 299Shared. You can find the Brahms setting in the Naxos Music Library (access by going to the CSU Library database search, under the subject heading music, and go to Naxos from there) or other online sources. CSU may have a recording in the library CD collection as well.
. . . - For Wednesday, February 13
Read and analyze the poem “Mondnacht” by Josef Karl Benedikt von Eichendorff. In particular, think about and be prepared to discuss the following:
. . . - For Friday–Monday, February 8–11
We will work on singing on Friday and Monday in advance of Tuesday’s singing assessment. Please bring your Anthologies to class both days, and bring your annotated copy of “Der Erlkönig” on Friday.
. . . - For Thursday, February 7
Study the text and music of “Der Erlkönig” with the following questions in mind.
. . . - For Wednesday, February 6 (UPDATE)
We will begin class with some live harmonic dictation practice. This will mainly be a check to see where you are in the process.
. . . - For Tuesday, February 5
For Tuesday, watch Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau’s performance of “Der Erlkönig” (which we will review in class).
. . . - For Monday, February 4
Bring your current progress on harmonic listening to class, as well as any equipment needed to do some dictation practice work. I will review your progress, monitor how you are going about the task, and offer assistance with the task.
. . . - For Friday, February 1
Listen to “Der Müller und der Bach” and “Des Baches Wiegenlied” from Die schöne Mullerin again, and spend some time thinking about the text. Bring your scores and texts/translations to both of those songs to class.
. . . - For Thursday, January 31 (UPDATED)
Read Karpinski, Chapters 69–70 on modulation to closely related keys.
. . . - For Wednesday, January 30
Review (or read) Monday’s readings from Karpinski on modulation.
. . . - For Tuesday, January 29
Read Chapter 22 of the Laitz. Be sure to listen to the musical examples, or the text will make little sense, and you won’t be able to draw on it for class activities this week. Also, pay special attention to Laitz’s discussion of the songs from Die schöne Mullerin (“Die liebe Farbe” and “Die böse Farbe”). We will deal quite a bit with that song cycle this week.
. . . - For Monday, January 28
Read Karpinski Manual, Chapters 67–68: “Reading in Keys Other than the Notated Key Signature” and “Introduction to Modulation.” We will spend class time focusing on singing and modulation.
. . . - For Friday, January 25
On Friday, we will focus on harmonic listening. Work this week toward passing off levels zero and one by spending a significant amount of out-of-class time working with Bass Generator.
. . . - For Thursday, January 24
We will begin to apply what we’ve studied in Romantic English poetry to Romantic German poetry and art song. Review, if necessary, the resources on poetry:
. . . - For Wednesday, January 23
We will continue our study of Romanticism and Wordsworth’s “London, 1802.” For Wednesday, review that poem and the materials you read for Friday in light of our class discussion. Also consider three of Jonathan Sircy’s four questions—the ones about structure, historical context, and ethics—and come prepared to discuss these in light of the poem. You will need to look up some history on the Industrial Revolution, John Milton, and what was going on in England in 1802. (Some general overview of this is fine, no need to go overboard.)
. . . - For Friday, January 18
We will begin our study of Romanticism and German art song on Friday. To prepare us for German art song, we will begin discussing Romanticism in general, and English Romantic poetry, with an example from Wordsworth.
. . . - For Tuesday, January 22 (performance and listening assessment)
Performance
. . . - For Wednesday, January 16
If you did not complete your thoroughbass transcription and analysis of “Total Eclipse of the Heart” in class on Tuesday, finish it either on your own or with your partner for Wednesday.
. . . - For Tuesday, January 15
Read the new resource on modal mixture, and review the (now revised) resource on modulation.
. . . - Headphone specs
For those of you thinking about investing in a decent pair of headphones/earbuds for dictation and transcription work, here are the specs for my earbuds, which work quite well. They were less than $50, but are now discontinued. If you find something similar, it should work well for you. Try to purchase your headphones locally from a place with a friendly return policy, in case the first ones you try out don’t cut it.
. . . - For Monday, January 14
Continue working with the dictation program and practicing your sight-singing. Make it your goal to master level one for both categories by the end of the week. (One level per week for each category will get everyone to 4s by the end of Unit I.) Ambitious students, or those anticipating struggling with the analysis project, can aim for finishing level two by the end of the week.
. . . - For Thursday–Friday, January 10–11
Continue working with the dictation program. Try to master level zero, and if possible level one, by the end of the week.
. . . - For Wednesday, January 9 (UPDATED)
If you are comfortable, begin working with the dictation program. Try to master level zero, and if possible level one, by the end of the week.
. . . - For Tuesday, January 8
Review the course syllabus, and email me with any questions you have about anything on it.
. . .