Syllabus,
Seminar and Assignment
Schedule,
With
Course Description:
Music
114HNS
Department
of Music
State
University of New York at Buffalo
Fall
Semester, 2004
Monday,
4:00 – 6:50 p.m., Room 211 Baird
Instructor: Prof. Jeff Stadelman
Stadelman
website: http://www.music.buffalo.edu/faculty/stadelman/index.shtml
This
website: http://www.acsu.buffalo.edu/~stadelm/mtisf114.htm
Don’t
forget to vote!: http://www.student-affairs.buffalo.edu/votereg.shtml
Class readings: http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/creserve
Main Naxos site: http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/e-resources/NAXOS.html
[call Nancy Nuzzo at 645-2765, ext. 1438, for
help with Naxos]
List of musical terms: http://www.acsu.buffalo.edu/~stadelm/terms04.htm
GROVEmusic (click “G”): http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/cgi-test/title.cgi
August
General
topics: Class outline and
general goals; requirements; text information ••
Introduction to the short story
•• “Music
as…” a key in
fiction •• Music as non-verbal communication •• The elements of music: pitch, dynamics,
tone color, performing media, form and style ••
plus, "Why study music?", and the importance of taking
notes •• Music questionnaire
Primary
text: J.G. Ballard,
“Prima Belladonna” [read in class]
Secondary
texts: Milan Kundera, extract from The Book of Laughter and Forgetting
Listening
and analysis: provided in
class—works by Bach, Wendy Carlos, Mahler, Palestrina/Machover,others
September
Labor
Day, no class. September 6
General
topics: More musical elements: rhythm, notation, melody, harmony,
continuation of musical form
•• The piano as
domestic stage •• Music in identity formation (part 1)
Primary
text: Eudora Welty,
“June Recital”
Secondary
texts: Lan Samantha Chang,
“A Dream of Western Music,” at http://www.stanford.edu/dept/news/stanfordtoday/ed/9603/9603ss01.html
; Kurt Vonnegut, “Ambitious Sophomore”; Kurt Vonnegut,
“Introduction” to Bagombo Snuff Box; William Butler Yeats,
“The Song of Wandering Aengus”
Listening
and analysis: Ludwig van
Beethoven, “Für Elise”; Felix Mendelssohn, Violin Concerto
(especially movements 1 & 2); John Philip Sousa, The Stars and Stripes
Forever
General
topics: Conclusion of musical elements unit: key, texture, motive,
reference, development
•• Performance,
interpretation, virtuosity
•• Music in
identity formation (part 2)
•• Peter Schickele,
"New Horizons in Music Appreciation"
Primary
text: James Baldwin,
“Sonny’s Blues”
Secondary
texts: H.P. Lovecraft,
“The Music of Erich Zann”; Carson McCullers,
“Wunderkind”
Listening
and analysis: Bud Powell,
“Donna Lee” and Thelonious Monk, “Just a Gigolo”
[non-Naxos mp3s]; Bill Cunliffe plays Bud Powell—“Tempus
Fugit” and “Willowgrove”; Nicolo Paganini, selected Caprices; Ludwig van Beethoven, Piano
Sonata Op. 26, mvmt. 1; George Frederic Handel, “The Harmonious
Blacksmith”
General
topics: Introduction to modernism
•• Introduction
to “the voice”
Primary
text: Franz Kafka,
“Josephine the Singer; or, the Mouse People”
Secondary
texts: William Faulkner,
“Black Music”; Chris Ware, 12 pages from Jimmy Corrigan,
Smartest Kid on Earth; Milan Kundera, extract from The Book of Laughter and
Forgetting;
Stephen Mallarme, “The Afternoon of a Faun” [available at: http://www.angelfire.com/art/doit/mallarme.html
]
Listening
and analysis: Billie Holiday,
“All of Me,” Joni Mitchell, “California,” and PJ
Harvey, “Water” [all non-Naxos mp3s]; Claude Debussy, Prelude to
the Afternoon of a Faun; excerpt from Harrison Birtwistle, Panic [non-Naxos mp3]
October
General
topics: Music, intimacy, submission
•• Beethoven
– hero •• Introduction to postmodernism
Primary
text: Leo Tolstoy, “The
Kreutzer Sonata”
Secondary
texts: Bruce Sterling and
Louis Shiner, “Mozart in Mirrorshades”; John Cheever, “The
Enormous Radio”
Listening
and analysis: Ludwig van
Beethoven, Sonata for Violin and Piano (“The
Kreutzer”—especially mvmt. 1); Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, selected
movements; John Oswald, “Plunderphonics” [non-Naxos mp3]; John
Zorn, excerpts [non-Naxos mp3]; John Cage, Imaginary Landscape No. 4 [in class]
General
topics: Music, science and fiction
•• Pop music
vs. classical •• Music as universal language
Primary
text: Thomas Pynchon,
“Entropy”
Secondary
texts: Julian Barnes, “The Silence”; Italo Calvino,
“Crystals” and “Priscilla”; Joan Jett and Greg Kihn,
“Bad Reputation”
Listening
and analysis:
•For
“Entropy”: Earl Bostic, “That’s the Groovy Thing” http://www.wfmu.org/Comics/sounds/groovy.MP3
; Chet Baker, “Love for Sale” [non-Naxos mp3];; Modest Mussorgsky,
excerpts from Pictures at an Exhibition; Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, “Purche porti la
gonnella, Voi sapete quel che fa!” from Don Giovanni; Igor Stravinsky, excerpts
from L’histoire du soldat
•For
“Bad Reputation”: Joan Jett, “I Love Rock and Roll” [non-Naxos mp3];
•For
“The Silence”: Jean Sibelius, Symphony No. 4
•For
“Crystals” and “Priscilla”: Thelonious Monk,
“I’m Getting Sentimental Over You” [non-Naxos mp3s]; Karlheinz
Stockhausen, Hymnen [in class]
Other:
excerpt from Stanley Kubrick, Paths of Glory [in class]
General
topics: Music and redemption
•• Metafiction
and metamusic
Primary
text: Anton Chekov, “Rothschild’s Fiddle”
Secondary
texts: David Foster Wallace, “Octet”; Kurt Vonnegut, “The
No-Talent Kid”
Listening
and analysis: selected “folk” works for kemenche, fiddle, gypsy
(Rom) orchestra [Naxos playlist]; Luciano Berio, Melodrama [non-Naxos mp3]
General
topics: Music and dreams, obsession, competition, humor … and Elvis
Primary
text: Zoran Zivkovic,
“The Whisper,” from Seven Touches of Music [pp. 7-23]
Secondary
texts: Joyce Carol Oates,
“Elvis is Dead. Why Are You Alive?”; David
Morrell, “Presley 45”; Donald Barthelme, “The King of
Jazz” ; Donald Barthelme, “How I Write My Songs” [read in
class]
Listening
and analysis: Frederic Chopin, Piano Concerto No. 2; Elvis Presley,
“You Ain’t Nothin’ but a Hound Dog,” and
“Don’t Be Cruel” [non-Naxos mp3s]; Charlie Parker, Benny
Carter, Johnny Hodges, others, “What Is This Thing Called Love”
(from Norman Granz’s Jam Sessions) [non-Naxos mp3]
November
General
topics: Genius, virtuosity,
madness
Primary
text: Thomas Bernhard, The
Loser
Optional
alternate text: Julio Cortazar, The Pursuer
Listening
and analysis: excerpts from
Johann Sebastian Bach, The Goldberg Variations [Naxos playlist]; Francois
Girard, 32 Short Films about Glenn Gould [in class]
General
topics: Music, love, sex,
power, mastery
Primary
text: Thomas Mann,
“Tristan”
Secondary
texts: John Cheever,
“The Music Teacher”; Sylvia
Townsend Warner, “Four Figures in a Room. A Distant Figure”; &
“Foreword”
Listening
and analysis: Richard Wagner,
selected excerpts from Tristan und Isolde; Claude Debussy, Etude No. 1; Francis Poulenc, Mouvements
Perpetuels;
excerpts from Bela Bartok, 44 Violin Duets
General
topics: The power of music
Primary
text: P.G. Wodehouse, “Jeeves and the Song of Songs”
Secondary
texts: Robert Ford, excerpt from The Student Conductor
Listening
and analysis: Al Jolson, Bud G. DeSylva, Lew Brown and Ray Henderson,
“Sonny Boy” [non-Naxos mp3]; Beethoven excerpts TBA
General
topics: Musical performance
and memory •• The musicality of images and experience
Primary
text: J.G. Ballard, “The
Sound Sweep”
Secondary
texts: Chester Himes,
“Da-da-dee”
Listening
and analysis: Georges Bizet,
two arias (“Habanera” and “Toreador Song”) from the
opera, Carmen; Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov, “The Flight of the
Bumblebee”; Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, “Der Holle Rache kocht in
meinen Herzen” (“The Queen of the Night Aria”) from the
opera, The Magic Flute
General
topics: Other touches of
music…
Primary
texts: Zoran Zivkovic, “The Puzzle” (pp. 93-116), “The
Waiting Room” (pp.69-92), and “The Violinist” (pp. 117-34),
from Seven Touches of Music
Secondary
texts: Greg Kihn,
“Mirror Gazing with Brian Jones”
Listening
and analysis: John Cage, Atlas Australes (“The Puzzle”);
Milton Babbitt, excerpt from Three Compositions for Piano (“The
Puzzle”); J.S. Bach,
excerpts from Sonatas and Partitas for Violin Solo (“The
Violinist”); two examples of barrel organ (hurdy-gurdy) music (“The
Waiting Room”) [non-Naxos mp3]; Brian Jones (producer), Master
Musicians of Jajouka [non-Naxos mp3]
December
General
topics: Music and men and
women
Primary
text: Amit Chaudhuri, “White Lies”
Secondary
texts: Penelope Fitzgerald, “Beehernz”; John Updike, “The
Music School”
Listening
and analysis: selected vocal ragas (“White Lies”) [non-Naxos
mp3s]; Gustav Mahler, movement no. 5 from Sympony No. 7
(“Beehernz”); German folksong, “Ich ging im Walde, So
für mich hin” [non-Naxos mp3] (“Beehernz”); Olivier
Messiaen, “Le baiser de l’enfant Jesus” (“The Kiss of
the Baby Jesus”), movement no. 15 from Vingt regards sur
l’enfant Jesus (Twenty Views of the Baby Jesus) (“The Music
School”)
Final
Examination
Monday,
Dec. 13, 2004
11:45
a.m. –2:45 p.m.
327
Baird
Other
texts:
David
Foster Wallace, “Girl with Curious Hair”
Robert
Browning, “A Toccata of Gallupi’s”
Annie
Proulx, “Heart Songs”
Anthony
Burgess, “1889 and the Devil’s Mode”
Ingmar
Bergman, “Autumn Sonata” (screenplay and film)
Lou
Reed, “Damaged Goods”
Julio
Cortazar, “The Pursuer”
Carson
McCullers, “The Sojourner”; “Madame Zilensky and the King of
Finland”
O.
Henry, “The Thing’s the Play” http://www.eastoftheweb.com/short-stories/UBooks/ThinPlay.shtml
John
Updike, “You’ll Never Know Dear How Much I Love You”
Michael
R. Martin, “Soothe the Savage Beast” [in Challenging Destiny no. 16]
Thomas
Mann, “Blood of the Walsungs”
Chester
Himes, “Naturally, the Negro”; “The Song Says Keep on
Smiling”
Honore de
Balzac, Sarrasine
Donald
Barthelme, “The New Music”; “Träumerei”
Vladimir
Nabokov, “Bachmann”; “Music”
J.G.
Ballard, “The Singing Statues”
Marguerite
Duras, Moderato Cantabile
James
Joyce, “The Dead”
||
Fine
Monday, 4:00 – 6:50
p.m.
211 Baird Hall
Department of Music
3 credits
Open
to all honors students, regardless of musical background
Course Description
As a central feature of daily human life and culture,
music naturally appears as a theme in much literature. This course engages in particular with
the short story as a way into a whole range of classical, popular and non-Western
musical genres. Indeed, the many
ways music has been employed, thematized, depicted and otherwise harnessed in
short fiction present not only an opportunity to reflect on music in its
cultural and literary roles; but they also appear as windows onto formal,
structural and stylistic mysteries of music drawn from widely dispersed genres,
periods and cultures.
Stories representing a whole range of styles and genres
will be read, analyzed and discussed for their literary value, and more
especially for the light they shed on the musical experience. Science fiction, nineteenth-century
romance, poetry, horror, folk tales, comic writings, diaristic and epistolary
genres, post-modern and experimental fiction will all be engaged alongside
musical works from 1600 to the present day.
Just a few of the many stimulating author/composer
pairings presented in the course are: Tolstoy and Beethoven, Marguerite Duras
and Charlie Parker, Milan Kundera and Arnold Schoenberg, Chekov and the
kemenche, Thomas Mann and Richard Wagner, James Joyce and Irish folksong,
Thomas Pynchon and Mussorgsky, Lan Samantha Chang and Mendelssohn.
More generally, then, this is a creative reading and
listening
course, in which students learn to hear musical form, understand its context,
and think critically about the substance and structure of pieces; as well as
about the wider cultural meanings presented by works of musical art. Once basic
critical listening skills are established, the rest of the semester will focus
on the paired readings and listenings outlined above. A central tenet here is that the analytic and interpretive
sophistication that students naturally bring to their reading of literature may
be used to build out a corresponding mastery in music, where comparable
understanding and communication tend to be more difficult and rare.
Through it all, a primary goal of the course is to
provide critical tools for the non-musician to extract basic sense and
enjoyment from almost any music that might be heard. Experienced musicians are also welcome and should find the
course rewarding.
Requirements include weekly reading, listening and
analysis assignments. Students
should expect occasional quizzes and a final examination. Music 114HNS will be run as a
proseminar, with in-class listenings and readings, and vigorous discussion
encouraged at all times.
The course has no prerequisites.
Other Information
Requirements
weekly
assignments (reading, listening, and written)
final
exam (no midterm)
occasional
quizzes
5-7 page
final paper
attendance
of two Music Department-sponsored concerts
attendance
of class meetings
Texts
Most pertinent texts and recordings will be available
online. Readings in particular may
be found at http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/creserve
, where you will need to type in my last name (Stadelman) and click on
“Search.” Many of the
course recordings will be accessed through the Naxos Music Library. See http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/e-resources/NAXOS.html or find the link by following "Resources by
Subject" and then "Music" from the University Libraries main Web
page.
The primary musical
reference text for this course is also online. Access to the vast and authoritative New Grove’s
Dictionary of Music and Musicians is available free of charge to UB students
at: http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/cgi-test/title.cgi
. Click on “G,” then
go to “GROVEmusic.”
You can also get to it by navigating through the main UB Libraries
portal (http://www.ublib.edu ), then
clicking on “Databases.”
The same dictionary (really an encyclopedia) in hard format is available
at the Music Library reference shelf, as well as other UB libraries.
To
enable classroom discussion it will be necessary in many cases for you to print
out copies of the class texts.
I will give you more guidance on this during class meetings.
Finally,
you will want to take notes during the period(s) of class when I present
technical and terminological information about music—and probably at some
other times as well.
Grading Policy Professor
quizzes
= 10% Jeff
Stadelman
weekly
assignments = 20% 234
Baird
final
exam = 25% telephone: 645-2765 x1255
final
paper = 25% office
hours: TBA
class grade = 20%