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Harvey Mudd College, Fall 2021Instructor: Bill AlvesMondays/Wednesday 1:20-2:35
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This course will cover the fundamentals of music and listening through a survey of traditional, classical, popular, and intercultural music around the world. Among those cultures covered will be those of Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia, India, Indonesia, Japan, China, Eastern Europe, and Latin America.
Neither an ability to read music nor any other background in music is required. The first part of this class will be devoted to learning the fundamentals of music. While I understand that students will come from very disparate musical backgrounds, I think that all will benefit from this very generalized perspective of the basic concepts of music. It will give us a foundation of vocabulary and ways of listening to music that will be used for the remainder of the course.
The materials for this course will include the following:
Music Fundamentals in-class quiz | 8% |
Online quizzes | 44% |
Video searches | 24% |
Listening quizzes | 24% |
Listening quizzes: There will be three short quizzes on the required listening lists. For each listening excerpt you will be asked to identify the country of origin and the title, but, more importantly, discuss the important stylistic characteristics that you hear and apply the principles you have learned from the fundamentals section. Listening quizzes can be made up only when missed because of an excused absence. Examples of reasons for excused absences include illness (with note from student health), family death, and religious holidays. Examples of unexcused absences include clinic trips, travel for sports, visits to grad schools, and airline travel for spring break.
Online quizzes: Each section will include some short online quizzes that you will take outside of class time, after having read the corresponding section of the textbook. Quizzes will cover terms, concepts, and listening, in the form of multiple choice questions. Each student will be given a URL, user name, and password in the first week of classes.
Video searches: For each region, you will submit on a Sakai forum the URLs of videos from YouTube or similar sites that are examples of types of music discussed in the chapter you have read. You will include the reference to the text as well as a brief description and response.
Hands-on Workshops and Guest Lecturers: In order to give you a clearer understanding of some of the music of some of these cultures, I will arrange, when possible, some hands-on workshops to learn the basics of performance in a certain style and culture. I will also try to bring in guest performers to demonstrate and perform on their instruments.
Class Participation: Because this class depends on listening, discussion, and participation in hands-on workshops, your attendance is crucial not just for your own experience but also for everyone else's. Normally, therefore, each unexcused absence after the first two will result in reduction of the final grade -- A will become A-, A- will become B+ and so on. However, under no circumstances should you attend class if you are ill or are showing any symptoms. Such absences are excused, as are any absences that are a result of necessary isolation or quarantine. Other examples of excused absences include family death and religious holidays. It is imperative that you listen to the listening lists very carefully and several times in advance of the classes in which we discuss the music. Concentrate while listening and take notes.
Assigned reading, online quizzes, video searches, and other assignments are due at class time on the date show. Late Assignments are normally penalized one letter grade per class meeting late, but assignments will always receive some credit, no matter how late. Assignments that are late because of illness or isolation will not be penalized.
Date | Topic | Reading due | Assignment due |
Aug. 30 | Introduction to the Class | ||
Sep. 1 | Music Fundamentals | Chapters 1, 2 | |
Sep. 6 | Labor Day | ||
Sep. 8 | Music Fundamentals | Chapter 3 | |
Sep. 13 | Music Fundamentals | Chapter 4 | |
Sep. 15 | Music Fundamentals | Chapter 5 | |
Sep. 20 | The Music of Sub-Saharan Africa | Chapter 6 | Quizzes 1 through 6 |
Sep. 22 | Music Fundamentals quiz The Music of Sub-Saharan Africa | Africa video search | |
Sep. 27 | The Music of Sub-Saharan Africa | Quizzes 7, 8 (Africa) | |
Sep. 29 | The Music of the Middle East | Chapter 7 | Mideast video search |
Oct. 4 | The Music of the Middle East | Quizzes 9, 10 (Mideast) | |
Oct. 6 | The Music of Eastern Europe | Chapter 8 | Eastern Europe video search |
Oct. 11 | The Music of Eastern Europe | Quizzes 11, 12 (Eastern Europe) | |
Oct. 13 | Listening quiz 1 | ||
Oct. 18 | Fall Break | ||
Oct. 20 | The Music of Latin America | ||
Oct. 25 | The Music of Latin America | Chapter 10 | Latin America video search |
Oct. 27 | The Music of India and South Asia | Chapter 13 | Quizzes 13, 14 (Latin America) |
Nov. 1 | The Music of India and South Asia | India video search | |
Nov. 3 | The Music of India and South Asia | Quizzes 15, 16 (India) | |
Nov. 8 | Listening quiz 2 | ||
Nov. 10 | The Music of China | Chapter 14 | China video search |
Nov. 15 | The Music of China | Quizzes 17, 18 (China) | |
Nov. 17 | The Music of Japan | Chapter 15 | Japan video search |
Nov. 22 | The Music of Japan | Quizzes 19, 20 (Japan) | |
Nov. 24 | Thanksgiving break | ||
Nov. 29 | The Music of Indonesia | Chapter 16 | Indonesia video search |
Dec. 1 | The Music of Indonesia | Quizzes 21, 22 (Indonesia) | |
Dec. 6 | The Music of Indonesia | ||
Dec. 8 | Listening quiz 3 |
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