Compositional Language(s)

Instructor: Prof. SIGMANTuesday 13:00-15:00

Lecture I

Welcome/Willkommen/Bienvenue/Benvenuti/Welkom!

0. Administrata

Required Textbooks

1) Weiss/Taruskin, Music in the Western World: A History in Documents

2) Burkholder/Grout/Palisca, A History of Western Music, 8th Edition

[available via Amazon, Kyobo, etc.]

Additional articles/excerpts/book chapters supplied and assigned by instructor.

Assessment

• Weekly assignments• Midterm Exam • Final Exam• Final Paper (6-7 pages) • Attendance/Participation

Office Hours

• Tuesday/Thursday 16:00-17:00, or by appointment

• Room 376

• Feel free to email me at any time!

Lecture slides…

• …will be emailed to you after each class

I. Course Content

A. Topics

• Musical terminology, ca. 1300-2012• German, French, Italian, English, and perhaps

a few other languages• Musical aesthetics• The influence of other arts, philosophy, and

natural sciences on musical concepts • Writing about music: analysis, research, and

scholarly writing methods

B. Activities

• Reading and interpretation: primary sources and commentary

• Music analysis (scores/recordings) • Research and writing

B. Why take this course?

1. This course will NOT…

• a) -> ++ ¥/€/$

• b) make you a better composer (in any direct way)

2. But it will…

• a) help you better understand musical tendencies and concepts in an historical context

• b) create a bridge between composition and research • c) familiarise you with terminology in Western

European languages in music and related fields• d) prepare you for further study and/or your career!

(especially if you are interested in studying or working abroad!)

• e) prepare you for other courses that I will be teaching in the future

C. Course Language

• English, primarily

• If anything is unclear, please let me know!!!

D. Course Structure

• 1) by compositional dimension

• 2) by chronology (+/-)

• Rather than considering historical periods in isolation, we will be comparing and contrasting concepts and approaches of different historical periods side by side.

E. Caveats

• 1) Syllabus subject to change!

• 2) Not ALL subtopics will be covered!!

III. Writing Music vs. Writing About Music

A. About Me:

hi

Besides composing, I:

• Write articles, book chapters, interviews, and reviews

• Edit Search Journal for New Music and Culture (www.searchnewmusic.org)

• Translate

• Have a background in philosophy, linguistics, psychology, and computer science

B. A Paradox

• Composers are completely immersed in the creative process, and therefore the best at writing about music.

• Composers are biased and isolated by being completely immersed in he creative process, and therefore the worst at writing about music.

• How is this resolved????

C. New Concepts, New Vocabulary

• New musical concepts = new musical vocabulary

• Invent new terms, transform older terminology, or borrow/steal from other fields

D. Interpretation and Research

• In writing about/discussing a composer or piece, it is therefore essential to:

• a) be consistent and precise in use of terms• b) have a sense of the origin of the terms• c) have a sense of the application and context for

the terms• d) differentiate between subjectivity and objectivity

in the application and context of these terms

E. Why Write/Talk About Music?

• Music (and particularly contemporary music) does NOT “speak for itself”

• A) It is important to understand how a piece works• B) It is important to understand a composer’s musical thinking

and aesthetic intentions • C) It is important to understand the context(s) in which a

composer is/was operating • D) It is important to develop connections between different

historical periods, geographic locations, and disciplines (arts and other fields).

• E) It is important to develop a discourse around A)-E).

F. How to write/talk about music?

• There is no single “right answer”

• To be addressed throughout the course!

IV. Basic Musical Dimensions, Basic Problems

A. What are music’s basic ingredients?

• Sound

• Time

B. Typical Musical Parameters

• Pitch • Rhythm (Pulse/Meter) • Melody• Harmony• Dynamic • Register• Timbre • Texture • Orchestration

C. Metaphors: Visual Culture

• Pitch/Register as “high” or “low” (spatial metaphor)• Pitch and timbre as “colour” (visual metaphor) • Texture (visual metaphor) • Dynamic as “soft” (tactile metaphor) • Orchestration as “thick” or “thin” (tactile metaphor) • Harmony as “widely” or “narrowly” spaced (spatial

metaphor) • Sound as “sculptural” (visual and spatial metaphor) • [These metaphors exist in German, French, and Italian as

well.]

D. Music Described in Terms of…

• A) Acoustics• B) Psychology (Perception and Cognition)• C) Literature and Poetry • D) Philosophy • E) Visual Art (including Film)• F) Architecture • G) Theatre and Dance• H) Chemistry, Physics, Neuroscience, Computer

Science…