First-Year Studies: The Art of Listening

Catalog description

This course will offer an introduction to the history of Western art music from antiquity to the present. The main activities will be focused on listening attentively and creatively to many musical compositions that show the development of genres and styles of classical music over 2,000 years and on creating a language to discuss our experiences and insights. We will learn about the various elements of musical structures and how they combine to create each work. We will also study the historical and societal contexts of those compositions and see how this knowledge informs our listening and how those pieces can illuminate our understanding of the societies in which they were created. The course will feature regular in-class performances, and we will attend a number of concerts. No prior musical knowledge, such as reading of musical scores or music theory background, is required (though it can be utilized in conference work). While the main emphasis of the seminar will be on Western classical music, music that students choose to study for their conference work can also be drawn from popular music traditions and non-Western cultures. Biweekly in fall, students will alternate between individual conferences THE CURRICULUM 10 with the instructor and small-group activities. Biweekly in spring, students will meet with the instructor for individual conferences. Philosophy First-Year Studies: The Problem of Evil