Class 1
style
genre
cadence
phrase
episodic
Class 2
piccolo
Subjects taught in this department (under the heading, "music
theory"):
harmony and voice-leading
counterpoint
form
instrumentation and orchestration
ear-training and sightsinging (aka solfege)
Two very common forms:
theme-and-variations form
rondo form
Class 3
virtuosity
musical interpretation
metronome
tempo
Two common American musical forms:
12-bar blues form
American popular song form
Class 4
pan pipes; syrinx
Pythagoras, Apollo, Dionysus, Pan
absolute music vs. program (or programmatic) music
vocal music vs. instrumental music
tonal music vs. atonal music
meter (and beats)
irregular meter
Class 5
Concerning Modernism
A decent dictionary definition: an era in the arts and humanities
characterized by self-conscious break with the past, and search for new
forms of expression. In music the Modern Era arguably reigned throughout
most of the twentieth century.
Hallmarks of Modernism [not exhaustive; and few specific instances
of modernism will include all]
-self-conscious break with the past; preoccupation with future
-search for new forms of expression, technique, organization,
perspective
-use of new technologies
-quasi-scientific search for codifying rules
-interest in systematization
-emphasis on novel, unfamiliar, strange, mystical art works and
experiences
-experimentation (the artist unable to foresee fully the precise outcome
of work)
Sonata-Allegro Form
-remember the difference between sonata as a form, and sonata as a
genre
-the form also divides into three larger sections: exposition,
development, recapitulation. You should also be familiar with the finer
divisions of the form. Check your notes, Grove's Dictionary, or one of
many websites that discuss the form (here's one to try:
On
Sonata Form
-sonatina
Class 6
(remember: these lists are not exhaustive)
-P.D.Q. Bach (Peter Schickele)
-Earl Bostic
-"fan fiction"
-double stops
-Aubade (morning song)
-fugue
-fugue subject
-stretto
-embouchure
-(in jazz tunes) head, bridge and chorus
-dominant vs. tonic harmonies or chords
-root chords
-dictionary definition of "entropy": 1. a measure of disorder or
randomness in a closed system; 2. the tendency for all matter and energy
in the universe to evolve toward a state of inert uniformity; 3.
inevitable and steady deterioration of a system or society. [BE SURE TO
THINK THROUGH THE WAY THIS CONCEPT IS THEMATIZED IN PYNCHON'S STORY,
ESPECIALLY AS IT RELATES TO MUSIC AND SOCIETY.
-the de Angelis Quartet
-Jean Sibelius (familiarize yourself with the main points of his life and
work, his nationality, etc.--this information was given in my email of
Oct. 4). What is "the silence of Sibelius" and how does it relate to
Julian Barnes' story, "The Silence"? What are the main images and themes
of that story? How is that story organized? In the form of ...?
-Stanley Kubrick's film, Paths of Glory: how is music used in the
moralizing final scene of this movie?
-Modest Mussorgsky, Pictures at an Exhibition
Class 7
-A few general remarks: One of the main themes from Week 6 was the
importance, in several of these stories, of error, failure, imperfection
in life and in works of art. The idea that imperfection is naturally and
inevitably a part of life is raised to an all-pervading nth degree in two
of the stories, scientifically by virtue of the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics
(the irreversible tendency of a system, incl. the universe, toward
increasing disorder) in "Entropy," as well as the observation that it is
only the fact of impurities in crystallization (whether the impurity of
foreign elements/molecules, or the impurity of fragmentation into smaller
bits) that allows life and change and pleasure to exist (rather than
boring repetitive perfection). Both of these scientific conditions are
extrapolated to human relations: for Entropy it was the image of
Callisto trying to control everything in a sealed socio-physical biosphere
vs the chaotic mess downstairs. Etc. For Crystals you have a more
gender-based distinction, with male favoring mastery, control,
predictability and the conceptual; and the female favoring life,
improvisation, imperfection, the physical. Even Vug's temptation of Qfwfq
to roam outside the crystal-like straits of his marriage can be seen
through this llens, as well as re-animating the familiar Adam/Eve
archetype.
-authenticity and sincerity, w/r/t music
-Bob Dylan and Thelonious Monk
-high (classical) art/music vs. popular art/music
-Charles Ives
-Charles Ives, Country Band March
-collage
-metafiction and metamusic
Concerning Postmodernism
From Wikipedia: "Where modernists hoped to unearth universals or the fundamentals of art, postmodernism aims to unseat them, to embrace diversity and contradiction. A postmodern approach to art thus rejects the distinction between low and high art forms. It rejects rigid genre boundaries and favours eclecticism, the mixing of ideas and forms. Partly due to this rejection, it promotes parody, irony, and playfulness, commonly referred to as jouissance by postmodern theorists. Unlike modern art, postmodern art does not approach this fragmentation as somehow faulty or undesirable, but rather celebrates it. As the gravity of the search for underlying truth is relieved, it is replaced with 'play'. As postmodern icon David Byrne, and his band Talking Heads said: 'Stop making sense'. Post-modernity, in attacking the perceived elitist approach of Modernism, sought greater connection with broader audiences. This is often labelled 'accessibility' and is a central point of dispute in the question of the value of postmodern art. It has also embraced the mixing of words with art, collage and other movements in modernity, in an attempt to create more multiplicity of medium and message. Much of this centers on a shift of basic subject matter: postmodern artists regard the mass media as a fundamental subject for art, and use forms, tropes, and materials - such as banks of video monitors, found art, and depictions of media objects - as focal points for their art. Andy Warhol is an early example of postmodern art in action, with his appropriation of common popular symbols and "ready-made" cultural artifacts, bringing the previously mundane or trivial onto the previously hallowed ground of high art. Postmodernism's critical stance is interlinked with presenting new appraisals of previous works. As implied above the works of the "Dada" movement received greater attention, as did collagists such as Robert Rauschenberg, whose works were initially considered unimportant in the context of the modernism of the 1950s, but who, by the 1980s, began to be seen as seminal. Post-modernism also elevated the importance of cinema in artistic discussions, placing it on a peer level with the other fine arts. This is both because of the blurring of distinctions between "high" and "low" forms, and because of the recognition that cinema represented the creation of simulacra which was later duplicated in the other arts.
Also from Wikipedia: "It favors eclecticism in form and musical genre, and often combines characteristics from different genres, or employs jump-cut sectionalization. It tends to be self-referential and ironic, and it blurs the boundaries between "high art" and kitsch. Daniel Albright (2004) summarizes the traits of the postmodern style as bricolage, polystylism, and randomness."