Music Appreciation

Course Number:
MUS 105
Transcript Title:
Music Appreciation
Created:
Aug 15, 2022
Updated:
Aug 15, 2022
Total Credits:
3
Lecture Hours:
30
Lecture / Lab Hours:
0
Lab Hours:
0
Satisfies Cultural Literacy requirement:
No
Satisfies General Education requirement:
No
Grading Options
A-F, P/NP
Default Grading Options
A-F
Repeats available for credit:
0
Prerequisites

IRW 115 or WR 115 or equivalent placement 

Course Description

Establishes an introduction to understanding symphonic, chamber and solo instrumental and vocal genres from pre-renaissance through the contemporary music of our time. Prerequisites/concurrent: IRW 115 or WR 115 or equivalent placement. Audit available.

Course Outcomes

Upon successful completion students should be able to:

  1. Appreciate the western art music tradition, and enjoy a life enriched by the exposure to and the understanding of a means of personal and cultural achievement.
  2. Experience musical works “dynamically” and structurally, that is, to simultaneously discern the uniqueness of a work, its origins and precedents, its potential as an influence and inspiration toward other works and their origins at a certain time and place in history.
  3. Generalize course content to musical works not covered in the course so that one can become an informed listener and classical music enthusiast.

Suggested Outcome Assessment Strategies

Methods used to evaluate student progress and the criteria for assigning a course grade will be clarified at the beginning of the course. Individual instructors may employ any of the following assessment methods:

  • Qualitative –subjective- and quantitative- objective- examinations.
  • Homework assignments –listening, reading, researching.
  • Concert attendance and written reports.
  • In class participation.

Course Activities and Design

The determination of teaching strategies used in the delivery of outcomes is generally left to the discretion of the instructor. Here are some strategies that you might consider when designing your course: lecture, small group/forum discussion, flipped classroom, dyads, oral presentation, role play, simulation scenarios, group projects, service learning projects, hands-on lab, peer review/workshops, cooperative learning (jigsaw, fishbowl), inquiry based instruction, differentiated instruction (learning centers), graphic organizers, etc.

Course Content

Identify attributes of musical parameters including:

  1. Melody: conjunct, disjunct, ascending, descending
  2. Rhythm: beat, meter, tempo, syncopation, polyrhythms
  3. Harmony: major, minor, consonant, dissonant
  4. Form: binary, ternary, sonata, suite, dance
  5. Instrumentation: timbres, brass, strings, woodwinds, percussion families
  6. Textures: monophonic, polyphonic, contrapuntal, choral, symphonic

Develop a familiarity with historical musical periods including:

  1. Medieval, sacred and secular
  2. Renaissance, sacred and secular
  3. Baroque, various instrumental genres, sacred, secular
  4. Classic/rococo, opera, concerto, symphony, sonata
  5. Eighteenth Century Classical: opera, concerto, symphony, sonata, chamber music
  6. Nineteenth Century: the romantic movement, art song, ballet, concerto, chamber ensembles, American classicism
  7. Twenty to twenty-first century modernism: impressionism, serialism, music of Stravisky, Schoenberg, Bartok, electronic music, experimental forms