Music as a Time Capsule

Catalog description

How does music crystallize moments in our history, memory, and collective experience as humans? We all live with an ever-growing personal soundtrack, and even decades later, music can bring us back to certain important moments in our lives. The same is true of collective memory, when music is the result of, or becomes associated with, monumental human movements and events: arts and literature, religion, political and societal upheaval. In this class we will use pivotal pieces in Western classical music as a lens to examine different angles of our human history. We will examine the historical circumstances, politics, religion, and psychology that fomented the landscape of music being composed and performed, and how that landscape consequently affected our sense of collective culture and identity. We will examine the complicated legacy of music as it captures and expresses cultural norms in an ever-changing world. As students learn about these factors, they will also examine and reflect upon how this knowledge impacts their own understanding and subjective experience. This class aspires to help each individual build their own vocabulary for expressing the fundamental connections between music, society, culture, and the human experience. No prior musical experience or literacy is required, only a willingness to listen with intention.