Syllabus for Mus 104 - Music Since 1900

Harvey Mudd College, Fall 2011

Instructor: Bill Alves

Mondays/Wednesdays 1:15-2:30
Scripps PAC-119

The explosive changes of the last hundred years have created one of the most tumultous but exciting periods of the arts in history. Art music has matched the last century's diversity and change, mirrored its excitement and tragedies. As we move into the twenty-first century art music has continued to challenge as it has begun to break down barriers between high and low art, between East and West, old and new. This course is a creative look at these multifaceted styles, techniques, and expressions that have made art music so powerful.

Because our focus will be on the "classical" tradition, we will not have time in this class to cover popular music, folk music, or music entirely outside of the Western tradition, except as they relate to music in the Western classical tradition. However, this is not to imply by any means that such music is better or more worthy of study.

The materials for this course will include the following:

• The Rest is Noise by Alex Ross (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux 2007) and the associated website and glossary.
• A series of six audio CDs on reserve in Sprague Library and the Scripps Music Library.
• Reserve readings.

Discussions, questions, and updates on assignments between classes will be made through the class electronic mailing list: mus-104-l (the last character is an L, not a one). If you are preregistered, you should already be subscribed.

Prerequisite

Because this course includes some reading and analysis of musical scores, some ability to read music is a prerequisite. If you are in doubt about your fulfillment of this requirement, please talk to me. Otherwise, students may come to this course from a variety of backgrounds, from music majors to those with only a basic knowledge of music theory and music in the twentieth century. Our class discussions and lectures will be aimed at involving everyone, though assignments may be customized with students' different goals and backgrounds in mind. That is, music majors may receive different assignments and be graded with different expectations, though the amount of work and time required will be the same for all students.

Office hours

Course Assignments

Evaluation

Projects

Reading Responses

CD Responses

Class Resources

• The New Groves Dictionary of Music and Musicians -- This is the standard reference work for music in English. Our library has it online, and you should consult it at every opportunity.
• The Database of Recorded American Music (DRAM) -- This is a large database of recordings mostly of works from the 20th century, which our library subscribes to. It will be very valuable for many projects and is much more extensive than the CD collections at Scripps or Honnold.
• Naxos Music Library -- This is another database of recordings our library subscribes to, also with a good representation of the 20th century.
• Music Index -- This is the most complete online database of citations and full-text scholarly articles about music.
• There is a large collection of scores, CDs, and books on 20th-century music at Honnold. Scores that cannot be found there are often available via Link+ and ILL.
• The Nancy Glanville Music Library at Scripps has a collection of scores, CDs, LPs, and videos. It also has listening stations.

Class Participation

This is a class about listening to music. Therefore it is imperative that you listen to the assigned CDs very carefully and several times. Concentrate while listening and take notes. Keeping current and prepared to discuss all assigned listening and reading will also form part of your participation grade.

Late Assignments