Concert Critique

MIAMI DADE COLLEGE

HIALEAH CAMPUS

COURSE TITLE: MUSIC APPRECIATION

COURSE NUMBER: MUL 1010

SCHEDULE: M - F 10:00-10:50 am (room 2202)

W (online)

TERM: FALL SEMESTER

CREDIT HOURS: 3

PROFESSOR: Dr. Sergio Gonzalez

DEPARTMENT: Liberal Arts and Sciences

OFFICE LOCATION/HOURS: 2329 TBA

PHONE #: (305) 237-8727

E-MAIL ADDRESS: [email protected]

COURSE DESCRIPTION: The basic materials, terminologies, styles, and forms of music incorporated with listening examples. Lectures and guided listening to develop skills for a better understanding and appreciation of Western concert music.

COURSE COMPETENCIES:

1. The student will demonstrate knowledge of the basic elements of the basic elements of the music by:

a. Identifying and/or defining the elements.

b. Applying knowledge of the elements to various listening activities and performances.

2. The student will demonstrate knowledge of basic music terminology by:

a. Identifying and/or defining the terminology.

b. Applying knowledge of the terms through the descriptions of live or recorded

performances.

3. The student will demonstrate an understanding of various musical styles by:

a. Identifying and/or describing conventions from different historical periods.

b. Identifying and/or describing conventions from different cultures.

4. The student will demonstrate a comprehension of the techniques and methods used by collaborative artists in music by:

a. Identifying and/or describing techniques used by the composer, conductor, and

performers.

b. Relating this knowledge to a performance experience.

5. The student will demonstrate knowledge of music literature by:

a. Connecting major works and their composers.

b. Relating major works to their historical time periods.

c. Matching major works to their various cultures.

6. The student will demonstrate an understanding of the listener’s roll in music by:

a. Identifying appropriate audience etiquette.

GENERAL EDUCATION OUTCOMES: At the completion of this course, the student should be able to:

1. Communicate effectively using listening, speaking, and writing skills. These will be assessed by class presentations and class papers were the student will state his/her opinion and judgment after careful listening sessions.

2. Evaluate and apply information via concert attendance and report.

3. Demonstrate an appreciation for aesthetics and creative activities by being exposed to different musical performances.

REQUIRED TEXT: Music, An Appreciation , 11th ed., Roger Kamien, McGraw Hill

· ISBN: 9781259241314

http://www.chegg.com/textbooks/music-10th-edition-9780078025082-0078025087

ASSIGNMENTS:

1. Two LIVE (meaning you must be in attendance) Classical Concert Reviews. Operas are acceptable. Unacceptable concerts for this review include rock, jazz, hip-hop, rap, etc. Please see concert critique guidelines below.

2. FINAL SPECIAL PROJECT: Oral report to be presented in class. It should include the following:

A. Two (2) musical examples (preferable contrasting) to be played during your oral report.

B. Describe distinctions in styles, musical elements, and instrumentation.

C. Submit a copy of your presentation notes trough the turnitin drop box.

CONCERT CRITIQUE GUIDELINES

Questions for a Concert

What kinds of musical concerts are NOT acceptable for this paper? High school or other children's performances/recitals, outdoor festival performances, any type of pop, rock, rap, Latin, country, or reggae, for example, are not appropriate for this paper. If you're not sure about your choice, ask me.

Print out and take with you so you can be thinking of the questions as you watch the show. 1. Program Notes - most performances have a printed program with printed notes. Read this before the performance begins and save it for reference when you write your paper. 2. Head your paper with your first and last name, the name of the show and where and when you saw it. 3. List the performers and/or the name of the group and the instruments included in the concert. List all the pieces that were played (see program notes for the concert), the name of the person who composed and/or arranged each piece, and the date each work was completed (if possible). Example: The Turtle Island String Quartet includes Joe Bloe, first violin; Sarah Marah, second violin; Topsy Turvy, viola; S. Popping, cello. Their program: Still so Cheerful by Sarah Marah, composed in 2001 Getting up Late by S. Popping, composed in 1998 Saturday Night by Berry Berry, composed in 2004

What to Write About: 1. Below are some things you can write about, but the most important is the MUSIC. You don't have to write about every piece on the program. Do write about how the sounds affected you, which voices, selections, or instruments touched you most, what you learned of interest about the composer(s), the performing group, and the compositions. 2. Ambience - Every gathering of people has a feeling tone, a mood: This is the ambience. Notice the people as they come in, find their seats, see what kinds of clothes they are wearing. Look around the theatre; notice the lighting in the room, the stage area. If you have some particular feeling about how you fit in, how you feel being a part of it you might make a comment in your paper. 3. You will understand and appreciate a concert more, and write about it best if you do a little research. It's easy to research on the Internet. Type in the name of the group and a list of web sites will pop up. The same is true for many composers. If the pieces were written in another century find out what you can about the type of composition, something about the composer. 4. Music is the most illusive art form. Like the dance, music happens in real-time: It's gone as soon as you hear it, and impressions are difficult to recall. Program notes give you information that is helpful when you think back on a performance. Program notes give you information about the composers, the music, and in voice concerts you may have translations into English of the words in a song. 5. Each composer had a concept, an idea, and chose specific instruments or voices (types of singers) because of the sounds they make. Listen to how the instruments and/or singers each have their own kind of tone. Typically men have deeper voices than women, but in opera the highest male voice (the tenor) has the same range as the highest female voice (the soprano). The difference in the way they sound is called tone, or, timbre. 6. A voice or instrument may sound brilliant, have a warm luster, may be light or heavy, sweet or somber. Composers use the characteristics of voices and instruments to create a sound painting that disappears as soon as it is heard. What you left with are impressions. 7. Stating the type of concert you attended is important. · Chamber music is for three to about twenty musicians. · A symphony orchestra will have from about 45-75 or so musicians. · Opera is a play set to music with acts, sets, costumes, music composed by one person and words (the libretto) composed by another. · Some contemporary music includes synthesizers, computers, and other technology. · A vocal concert may be one vocalist and a piano.  The size of the group and the voices or instruments involved are things the composer chose in order to display whatever sound painting was in his/her mind. · Some groups mix styles and instruments, fusing different kinds of sounds and styles of music to take off in a new direction. · The music may be specific to one culture, such as Klezmer music. Find out about it before you write your paper. Before or after the concert do some research on the Internet or use your textbook to help you understand some things about the music.   11. Generally, in a music concert, some pieces or performers stand out more than the others. Everyone likes to hear about a special or even spectacular performance. You can't write about every detail of every piece and every performer, so choose what seems most noteworthy. 12. Remember, the concert you attend must be a sit down concert where the audience faces the staging area and is silent during the performance. The more you know about the music, the composers, the musicians, the more your attention will be engaged during the performance. People fall asleep during performances because the sound painting is streaming by and they don't know what to listen to, to listen for: They zone out. 13. Music is extremely important in human existence. It accompanies so much of life that it is a regular backdrop to our impressions of reality. It is very different to listen to a concert than it is to let it stream by as background. What makes the difference is in being informed about what you are hearing. 14. Paper should be no less than 800 words. Make sure to count. 15. Document must be uploaded through turnitin drop boxes found in Lessons page.

COURSE OUTLINE

August 22nd: Getting to know you. Discuss syllabus

24th: (online) Part I - Elements, 1 and 2

26th: Elements – 3, 4, 5, 6

29th: Elements 7, 8, 9, 10

31st: (online) Part II – The Middle Ages – Gregorian Chant

September 2nd: Gregorian Chant

5th: Labor Day, no classes

7th: (online) Gregorian Chant, Hildegard of Bingen

9th: Secular Music in the Middle Ages,

The Development of Polyphony

12th : School of Notre Dame, Fourteenth Century Music

14th: (online) Guillaume de Machaut, Notre Dame Mass

16th: Test 1 – Parts I and II

19th: Part III – Music in the Renaissance. Characteristics of Renaissance Music

21st: (online) Sacred Music in the Renaissance,

Josquind Desprez and the Renaissance Motet

23rd: Palestrina and the Renaissance Mass

26th: Open

28th: (online) Secular Music in the Renaissance

30th: Instrumental Music

October 3rd: Instrumental Music (continued)

5th (online) Test 2-Review

7th: Test 2 (Renaissance)

10th: Part IV – The Baroque Period. 1, 2.

12th: (online) 3, 4, 5

14th: 6, 7, 8. First Concert Critique Due

17th: 9, 10

19th: (online) Open

21st: 11, 12

24th: 13

26th: (online) 14, 15

28th: Test 3 (Baroque)

31st: Part V – The Classical Period. 1, 2

November 2nd: (online) 3, 4, 5, 6

4th: 7, 8, 9

7th: Classical (continued)

9th: (online) 10, 11, 12

11th: Test 4 (Classical)

14th: Open

16th: (online) Part VI - The Romantic Period. 1, 2, 3

18th: 4, 7, 8,

21st: 10, 11

23rd: (online) 12, 13, 14

25th: Thanksgiving weekend.

28th: 16, 17, 18

30th (online)

December 2nd: Oral Presentations

Test 5 (Romantic) Second Concert Critique Due

5th: Oral Presentations

7th (online)

9th: Oral Presentations.

Final Exam: Last week

GRADING SCALES: The following criteria will determine each student’s final grade.

Exams: 25% Quizzes: 15%

Critiques: 25% Final Exam: 20%

Class Participation: 15%

ATTENDANCE: Excessive absences (more than three) will result in a lowered grade. Active participation in class is necessary.

Class Participation credit is earned by attending class regularly and

submitting Friday’s online assignments on time (before Sundays 11:00 pm)

DROPS: If students are unable to continue in the course, they must notify the instructor. It is their responsibility to fill out an official withdrawal form with the registrar’s office. If they do not officially withdraw, they may receive an F in the course.

CLASS DECORUM: As a matter of respect to others in the classroom, you are not to engage in conversations unrelated to the current activities of this course, use cell phones or other electronic devices (turn off such items before entering the classroom), or work on anything unrelated to MUL 1010 during class time.

TESTS: Only under DIRE circumstances (limited to unexpected death in the family, automobile accidents, and medical emergencies only-must have proof of such!) will you be allowed to make up a test. Other than these circumstances, there is absolutely NO

MAKE UPS! You must contact me by telephone or e-mail within twenty four (24) hours after the emergency that prevented you from taking the test. Failure to contact me within 24 hours will result in a zero (0) for that particular exam.

ACADEMIC DISHONESTY: Cheating and/or plagiarism are inconsistent with the guidelines established by the college. Any student caught cheating will fail the entire course and faces possible expulsion from Miami-Dade College.

DISSABILITY ACCOMODATIONS: Students with documented disabilities who need course adaptations or accommodations please make an appointment with me as soon as possible.