City University of New York (CUNY) CUNY Academic Works Open Educational Resources City College of New York 2019 Music in the Big Apple Stephen Jablonsky CUNY City College How does access to this work benefit ou?y Let us know! More information about this work at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu/cc_oers/261 Discover additional works at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu This work is made publicly available by the City University of New York (CUNY). Contact: [email protected] Music in The Big Apple A Music Appreciation Textbook For New Yorkers Professor Emeritus Stephen Jablonsky The City College of New York Music in the Big Apple A Music Appreciation Textbook for New Yorkers July 10, 2019 Stephen Jablonsky, Ph.D. Professor Emeritus The City College of New York Email: [email protected] Website: www.stephenjablonsky.net Music: soundcloud.com/stephen-jablonsky Table of Contents Summertime on YouTube 81 The Great American Songbook 82 INTRODUCTION Songs About NYC 84 The Mass 85 Dear Reader 4 Music for the Stage 88 Using a Textbook 6 Music for the Ballet 90 Twelve Things to Know About Music 7 YouTube Adventures 91 How Big is the Problem? 8 Dance Assessment Inventory 92 Music Is… 9 The Relatedness of Knowledge 10 THE VENUES The CIPA Formula 11 The 5 Ws of Music 12 Carnegie Hall 93 Some Themes of Life 13 Lincoln Center 94 Connecting the Dots 14 Other Concert Venues and Music Schools 95 Popular and Unpopular Music 16 Inspired Improbabilities 17 COMPOSERS (The Immigrants) Music as Narrative 19 A Composer’s Complaint 97 Dvorak in New York 99 THE ELEMENTS OF MUSIC Mahler Apotheosis 100 The Materials of Music 20 Varese in New York 101 A Music Listener’s Checklist 21 Bartok in New York 102 Basic Music Theory 22 Stravinsky in New York 103 The World of Pitch 23 Rachmaninoff in New York 104 The Major Scale 24 Irving Berlin in New York 105 Fascinating Rhythms 25 Reading Rhythms 26 COMPOSERS (The Homies) Meter 27 Stephen Foster 108 Tempo 28 Charles Ives 110 Modern Music Notation 29 George Gershwin 112 The Fundamentals of Music Notation 30 Duke Ellington 114 Measuring with Intervals 31 Aaron Copland 115 The Overtone Series 32 Jerome Kern 116 Various Scales 33 Richard Rodgers 118 The Choice of Scale 34 Stephen Sondheim 120 The Construction of Triads 35 Carole King 121 The Four Types of Triads 36 Mohammed Fairouz 122 Musical Combinations 37 The Grawemeyer Winners 123 Musical Instruments 38 Composers Born in New York 124 Musical Structure 40 Multi-sectional Instrumental Forms 41 THE PERFORMERS Musical Performers 125 MUSIC HISTORY Legendary Stars of Music 126 The Basics of Music History 44 The Conductor 127 Western Classical Music History 45 The Orchestra 128 Some Dates to Remember 46 Arturo Toscanini 129 NYC Timeline 47 Leontyne Price 130 Music Timeline in the Big Apple 50 Leonard Bernstein 131 A Geocentric View from CCNY 52 Yuja Wang 132 Maps of the US and Europe 53 Pierre Boulez 133 The Voyager Record 55 James Levine 134 The Tale of Two Georgs 57 John Lennon 136 Bach’s Goldberg Variations 58 Tito Puente 137 Women in Music 59 Bob Dylan 138 Extraordinary Women in Music 60 John Lewis 139 Lorenzo Da Ponte 62 Buddy Rich 140 A Matter of Style 63 Barbra Streisand 141 From Rags to Rap 63 NYC Ballet 142 Listening to Recorded Music 66 Recent NYP Music Directors 143 The Problem of Modern Music 68 Stockhausen is Dead 70 THE APPENDIX Your Grandparents’ World 71 Steinway & Sons 144 Musicians’ Birthdays 145 MUSICAL GENRE Grammy Music Genre 147 Historical Repertoire 72 Necrology 148 Keyboard Sonatas 74 Stars of Dance 149 Chamber Music 75 Art Assessment Inventory 150 The Symphony 76 The Star Spangled Banner 151 The Concerto 79 Glossary of Terms 152 Art Song 80 I Like the Island Manhattan 157 Dear Reader: Chances are you registered for Music Appreciation because it fit in your schedule and you like music. Maybe you thought this would be an easy class. What you may not have realized is that there are no easy subjects. You obviously wanted to learn more about music but really had no idea what you were getting yourself into. My job is to introduce you to the principles and concepts of a subject that has its own history and technology going back hundreds of years. Now is a really good time to ask yourself what you wanted to know about music when you signed up for this adventure. I can assure you that every time I prepare for this course, which I first taught in 1964, I ask myself what is it that I really want my students to get from these fifteen weeks together. Each time I ask that question I get a different set of answers, so this semester you will benefit from my most recent introspection. My intention is to help you become curious critical thinkers. I also hope to excite you about music and its relationship to all the areas of human invention and investigation. It is the interrelatedness of all things and all people that fascinates me. In the brief time we have together I hope we can learn a thing or two about each other, and about the vast universe we inhabit. Your college education may appear to be segmented into separate subject areas taught in separate buildings, but it is the wise student who realizes that this is all one campus and the search for truth and beauty goes on in every classroom, studio, and laboratory. There are so many ways to talk about music and each of them has value. No matter which path I choose, I know one thing – I cannot really teach you anything. All I can do is invite you to learn. You and I have a good shot at success if the course designed by me has merit and you are willing to do a lot of hard work and investigation on your own. Learning takes place when you integrate what I share with you in class with what you discover for yourself elsewhere. I am your intellectual caterer. I will prepare a buffet of fascinating materials and challenges for you and invite you to partake in the feast. You need to grab a plate, come up to the buffet, and partake of what I offer. Fill your plate and return to your seat and enjoy the intellectual victuals. Look at what is on your plate, assess it, smell it, taste it, chew on it, and swallow. All this is, hopefully, a pleasurable activity. Of course, you also have the option of fasting. The choice is yours. I have compiled this textbook for your delight and edification. Read it as if you had paid a king’s ransom for it. It is advisable to take notes on items that seem important enough to show up on the next test. In the best of all possible worlds you would be inspired by what you have read to come to class and engage me in conversation about things that intrigued you. Make sure you stay ahead of the reading schedule in your syllabus. There may be items you want to read a second time to solidify your knowledge. You are responsible for the contents of this volume. You will be tested on your reading comprehension and your ability to properly process subjects covered in class. You are a professional student and will earn the grade that I record for you at the end of the semester. We are partners in this endeavor. The study of music can help us better appreciate what it means to be human. It can even help us learn more about ourselves, a process of self-discovery that takes a lifetime. Let us fill it with good music and the joy of learning. There are vast numbers of gorgeous soundscapes waiting for you to discover them. This class will, hopefully, point you in the right direction and provide you with a proper foundation for further discovery. The hardest part of this class is getting your head out of your cell phone, following directions, and meeting deadlines. While you are at it, make a friend. Dr. Jablonsky Addendum: As you go through life you are either connecting or disconnecting from people you know. Occasionally a rift develops between us, especially when information needs to be shared. I have had students who were in trouble and, when I wrote to them, they never responded. I had one student who still owed me two papers after the final exam and so I wrote to her asking for her plan. Three days later, at 1:15 in the morning, the papers arrived in my email but the grades had already been posted at 8PM. If she had written to me in a timely fashion, I could have waited, but there was a major disconnect between us. Hopefully, a byproduct of your years at CCNY will be your ability to communicate efficiently and effectively, both verbally and in writing. Get connected! Stay connected! The Great Hall at CCNY How To Use a Textbook It is entirely possible that no one ever told you how to use a textbook. A textbook is different from a novel. When you read a novel you start on page one and go to the end. Because you want to enjoy the literary trip you do not peek at the last page. When you acquire a textbook you do not read it, you study it. You begin by previewing it by checking the table of contents, preface, and introduction.