Art Music & History I ((4 Credits))

Catalog description

"Art, Music, and History I" is a survey of European culture from Ancient Greece through the Renaissance, which examines the many historical contexts that underlie art and music. Students do not need any background in the arts, as this is a course we will build from the ground up by first exploring the questions: What is art? Is it necessary? Where does it come from? Why is it important? And "What does it mean?" Our world is filled with art and music, and it did not get that way by accident. Broadly speaking, this is a course about cultural history, or how people live their lives in society--what they think, what they value, and what they do. If you can understand these basic ideas within your own life, then you will be able to understand them in history and vice versa. Although our focus here is on the arts, it is important to emphasize that we will study them within the political, social, economic and technological backgrounds from which they sprang and which they also influenced. Hopefully, you will see art, music, history and the world around you in ways you never thought possible.