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1 MUHL M406 Topics in Music History 1850-Present, 2 Credits, MUHL

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1 MUHL M406 Topics in Music History 1850-Present, 2 Credits, MUHL MUHL M406 Topics in Music History 1850-present, 2 credits, MUHL M815, 3 credits Topic: Three American Mavericks: Charles Ives, Ruth Crawford Seeger, and Aaron Copland Fall 2006 Instructor: Dr. Valerie Goertzen, Communications/Music 201 Phone 865-2207; email [email protected] Office hours: Mondays, 2-3 p.m., Tuesdays, 9:30 to10:30 a.m., or by appointment Class meeting time: Wednesdays, 4:30-6:20, Room CM 135. Bulletin description: A seminar-style study of a single topic concerning music from Wagner to the present, usually focusing on some aspect of western art music but including consideration of influences from nonwestern and popular musics. Course may be repeated for credit, as long as topic is different. Topic description: According to Aaron Copland, “contemporary music as an organized movement in the U.S.A. was born at the end of the First World War” (Our New Music, 1941). Copland (1900-90) and Ruth Crawford Seeger (1901-53) were among a group of Americans who strived to create independent and challenging approaches to composition in the 1920s. With the coming of the Great Depression in the 1930s and World War II, they transformed their work in accordance with the prevailing spirit of nationalism and populism. Copland composed his famous ballets and other accessible works drawing on materials of the Americas, and Seeger largely set aside composition in order to collect and preserve folk music and to devote her energies to music for children. The compositions of the staunch individualist Charles Ives (1874-1954) of the previous generation became known to a broad spectrum of musical America only beginning in the 1920s, and thus also formed a part of this emerging repertory of new music. This seminar focuses on three American mavericks; each engaged in his or her own way with questions of musical modernism and the American voice. Among issues we will consider are: --the desire for spirituality in music, and the perceived threat to human experience posed by mechanization, mass media, and cerebral approaches to art; --stylistic changes reflecting social and economic upheaval; --the emergence of composers as political and social activists; --dissonance as a reflection of the strength, independence, and diversity of Americans; --gendered language and conceptions in American music culture. Prerequisites: MUTH M203 (Theory IV) and MULH M307 (Music History II), or permission of instructor. 1 Textbooks and other materials to be purchased by student: None required. Materials for reading and listening (see separate list) will be on reserve in the library. Recordings of some compositions to be studied are available through the NAXOS online listening service; those that are not are being streamed and made available through Blackboard (after ca. Sept. 6). Expect to invest a few dollars in photocopying handouts for your presentation and for other assignments. Blackboard: I have established a Blackboard account for this course. There I will post the syllabus, assignments, other class materials, and announcements; we also may use Blackboard to expand upon class discussions. I sometimes send emails to the entire class through this account, so please be sure that you check your loyno account regularly. In the event of an evacuation, you are required to check in to your Blackboard account within 48 hours. See the evacuation statement below. Course requirements: 1. Regular attendance and active participation in class. See my policy below. 2. Preparation of daily reading and listening assignments, leading discussions as assigned, and contributing on a regular basis. Grad students will be required to take on additional reading in some weeks. 3. In lieu of in-class exams, there will be three sets of take-home essays. These are an opportunity for you to synthesize your own ideas with those from readings, listening, and class discussions. I will give specific questions or topics for you to write about, in due time. There will be no final exam. 4. Class presentation (30 minutes) and paper (8-10 pages for undergrads, 12-15 pages for grads) on a topic of your choice, approved by me. Papers are due Wednesday, December 6, at the beginning of class. Paper topics must be declared by September 20; topic paragraphs and annotated bibliographies are due October 11. Rough drafts are optional and are accepted through Nov. 22. 5. Additional written and oral assignments as given. 6. Additional reading and writing assignments are required of graduate students enrolled in M815 (3 credits). 7. If additional motivation or structure is needed, quizzes may be added to the schedule. Evacuation Statement: Students must log on to the College emergency web site (www.loyno.la) and the University Blackboard site (http://loyno.blackboard.com) within 48 hours of any University evacuation to receive information about contacting instructors and proceeding with the course. Students will be required to do assigned course work for any evacuation of more than 48 hours. Students should also monitor the University site (www.loyno.edu) for general information. Special Accommodations: A student with a disability that qualifies for accommodations should contact Sarah Mead Smith, Director of Disability Services at 865-2990 (Academic Resource Center, Room 405, Monroe Hall). A student wishing to receive test accommodations (e.g., extended test time) 2 should provide the instructor with an official Accommodation Form from Disability Services in advance of the scheduled test date. Academic Integrity: All work you do for this class is expected to be your own, and there will be severe penalties for academic dishonesty, which includes, but is not limited to, plagiarism on papers or cheating on exams. Note that 1) using another writer’s words without quotation marks and 2) closely following the structure of another writer’s argument both constitute plagiarism, even if you cite the source. Summaries of the University’s definitions and procedures concerning academic integrity can be found on pp. 50-52 of the Undergraduate Bulletin and on p. 45 of the Graduate Bulletin. If you are uncertain how to use and cite the work of others within your own writing, consult reference works such as Kate L. Turabian, A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations, 5th ed., revised and expanded by Bonnie Birtwhistle Honigsblum (Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 1987), or the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2003), or ask me. Course Objectives: The principal objective of the course is to study in depth a single topic, considering both specific works and composers and the general cultural context of that time and place. Students should also improve their ability to read and listen critically, write effectively, and make oral presentations. Expected student learning outcomes: It is expected that at the end of the course students --will be familiar with major issues relating to musical life in the U.S. in the first half of the 20th century. --will have an understanding of aesthetic values and compositional styles of Ives, Seeger, and Copland, and of these composers’ roles and impact. --will have a detailed knowledge of about twenty representative works. --will have improved their ability to develop and articulate interpretations of musical compositions. --will have improved their research skills and their ability to evaluate sources. --will have been challenged to consider the role and power of music in American culture. Course Outline: see end of syllabus Evaluation: 3 essay assignments @ 12% 36% Presentation 12% Paper 25% Attendance and daily preparation and participation 22% Quizzes and other written assignments 5% 3 The grading scale is as follows: A 92-100 B+ 88-91 B 82-87 C+ 78-81 C 72-77 D+ 68-71 D 60-67 F below 60 Attendance: This class is a seminar. Regular attendance is essential to the success of the course and to each student’s performance. Even one unexcused absence will affect your grade. If you must miss class for an excellent and legitimate reason, notify me in advance by phone, email, or note. You are responsible for making up missed work. Note that attendance and participation counts for 22% of your grade; this includes being prepared and participating in a constructive way in class discussions. Late work Written work turned in late will be penalized normally five points for every day late (not every class period late). No term papers will be accepted after 5 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 14. Presentation and paper: Each of you will be responsible for making a half-hour presentation to the class and writing a paper on a topic of your choice. Your project should focus on a topic relating to the course. Presentations will be scheduled for the last three weeks of class, plus the final exam time. Your paper is due Wednesday, December 6 at the beginning of class. You must deliver the paper to me in person by that time. Early papers will be accepted but must be given to me in person. Late papers will be penalized. No papers will be accepted after the final exam. A fuller paper assignment will be handed out in the very near future. 4 MUHL 406/815 Topics in Twentieth-Century Music Schedule of topics and major assignments Aug. 30 Introductions; Topic and contexts Sept. 6 Ives songs: “Two Little Flowers,” “The Things Our Fathers Loved,” “Tom Sails Away,” “General William Booth Enters into Heaven” Listen to these songs with score; be prepared to discuss Read: Grove article on Ives by Burkholder Burkholder, All Made of Tunes, 253-62, 306-11, 363-64 on these songs Hitchcock, Music in the United States, 169-171 on “Two Little Flowers” Read around in Ives, Memos, especially Part One and Part Three; what are Ives’s views on music? Sept.
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