Concept Album: From Guthrie to Radiohead

Catalog description

Students will learn the skill of active listening and develop a critical framework for listening to, thinking about and responding to music. This attention to detail will enable the student to "see the big picture", to make connections, and to understand how the details help to build a cohesive large-scale work. The course will focus on the history of the concept album from Woody Guthrie to Radiohead and cover many genres, musical techniques and song forms. There will be a heavy emphasis on listening and written response. The following questions will be examined: What actually happens in the details of a musical work that enables the listener to understand the work as a unified whole? What is the composer's intent: is it to tell a story, to describe a state of mind, or to comment on society?