Contents:

• Quick Facts
• Course Objectives
• Course Specifics
• Evaluation and Grading
  • Extra Credit Opportunities
  • Grade Percentage Scale
• Course Materials
• Core Curriculum Goals
  • Area 2 Goals
  • Area 6 Goals

Save your files for all work turned in. If it should happen that an assignment is damaged or misplaced, be prepared to provide a new copy. Never wipe your computer files for a course until you absolutely know that you have been credited with everything you have earned.

10. There is no midterm exam. There will be Quizzes on Terms and Listening assignments (on Blackboard) for each chapter, depending on the Grading Option contracted by the student. There will be five Unit Quizes (given in class) covering one or two chapters each, including the identification of Listening examples, with multiple-choice questions. There will be a comprehensive final exam covering Listening identifications (multiple choice; required of everyone), and your choice of Term identifications (multiple choice), or Essay questions (which will be provided ahead of time but must be written during the exam). An alternate final exam time is freely available without hassles or paperwork. See below for Grading Options, and see the Final Exam page for additional information.

Additional study aids that will be available on Blackboard include copies of the class PowerPoint presentations, duplicates of which can be downloaded and printed as Handouts and brought to class, and probably additional things added during the semester. (Blackboard thinks it's running the class, but it isn't, so ignore its grade averages and such. I transfer the scores that count into my gradesheet.)

11. Any students who need special consideration because of disabilities should email the instructor with this information and furnish the instructor with a copy of the university form. The instructor will do whatever is necessary and possible to accomodate such students.

(To Top)

2. Extra Credit available for all three Options:

3. Grade Percentage Scale:

Some items treated as opportunities for Extra Credit in past years have now been incorporated into the three available Options. To offset this, the Grade Percentages below have been adjusted downward slightly. Grades are earned, not assigned. They are never curved and they are never "rounded up." Decide what grade you want and work for it from the first week of class, and don't ignore the extra credit opportunities.

(To Top)

Required Text: Stolba, K Marie. The Development of Western Music: A History. 3rd edition. McGraw-Hill, 1998. (The "blue" book, hard cover, used for both 2115 & 2116. On reserve in the Library. Previous editions are no longer used.)

Required Recordings:
Recorded Examples to Accompany The Development of Western Music: An Anthology, Volume II (Pre-Classic through the 20th Century), 3rd ed. McGraw-Hill, 1998. Also on reserve in the Library. (Previous editions are no longer used.)

Anthology of Musical Scores to accompany the recordings, required for music minors, optional for others:
Stolba, K Marie (ed). The Development of Western Music: An Anthology. 3rd ed. Volume II (Pre-Classic through 20th Century). McGraw-Hill, 1998. Also on reserve in the Library. (Previous editions are no longer used.)

Reference Materials:
Grun, Bernard. The Timetables of History: A Horizontal Linkage of People and Events. New, updated ed. New York: A Touchstone Book published by Simon and Schuster, 1979. (Library Reference Room)

Hacker, Diana. A Writer's Reference. 2nd ed. Boston: Bedford Books of St. Martin's Press, 1992. (Or whichever style manual is currently used in Tech English Courses.)

New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians and The New Harvard Dictionary of Music (Library Reference Room)

(To Top)

Area 2 Goals
Goal #1: Examine some of the formative ideas and cultural traditions that have shaped Western experience. The importance of musical ideas and traditions in illuminating the formative ideas and cultural traditions of each historical period are examined.

Goal #2: Study classic and contemporary texts that have influenced or exemplified currents in Western thought and imagination. "Texts" will be studied in two different senses, both the musical texts that transmit to us the musical works which influenced currents in Western society and the literary texts about music which help us interpret those influences.

Goal #3: Gain an understanding of some aspects of human achievement and experience that have been persistently overlooked in mainstream Western culture, including those of women, minorities, and non-Western peoples. The contributions of women and minorities to musical achievement have long been overlooked, and will be addressed both by selection of a text which includes those achievements and through emphasis on those achievements in lectures. Non-Western music is not covered in this course.

Goal #4: Analyze creative works of various mediums both in the arts and technology from the viewpoints of cultural meanings and influence. Intrinsic to the art of music are the instruments used to produce or accompany that music. The changes in musical instruments, in the technologies of designing and making them, and in the way they were used as part of the creative process of performance in different historical periods are examined.

Goal #5: Gain acquaintance with historical traditions and with humanistic methods of studying and interpreting them. The development and change in historical traditions in music is a core concept in this course, and the contrast among the humanistic attitudes of the Renaissance, the influences of the Enlightenment on Baroque and Classical musical traditions, and the influences of the Romantic movement are discussed, and students have the option of writing papers covering these subjects.

Goal #6: Consider the contributions of philosophical, ethical, or religious systems to human life. A very large proportion of the music that has survived into modern times was conceived and intended for use in religious contexts. The philosophy of Nationalism in the 19th century had profound effects on music well into the 20th. Both are discussed.

Goal #7: Recognize how the interaction of tradition and innovation nourishes both individuality and community. Two thousand years of musical development and change is the direct result of constant interaction between traditional concepts and musical forms and innovative concepts and musical forms, and examination of both the musical communities that defined historical style periods and the individuals whose innovations led to changes in style is a core concept for this course.

Goal #8: Gain critical and appreciative perspective upon one's own culture by studying other historical periods and other cultural traditions. Listening to and studying music totally unlike what one is familiar with will lead to discussion of how to critique and appreciate unfamiliar musics and place them in historical and cultural perspective as precursors to the music of today. 

Goal #9: Study the life, thought, and creative activity of men and women of achievement in various fields of human endeavor. The life, thought, and creativity of men and women of achievement and influence in the field of music in each historical period is a core concept for this course.

(To Top)

Area 6 Goals
Goal #1: Participate in cultural events and activities on campus, in both popular and classical arts. Attendance at a minimum of one on-campus concert and writing of a carefully considered review of that concert is required. This concert must contain classical music, but may also include popular music. Attendance at additional concerts, either classical or popular, is encouraged, and students have the option of writing additional Concert Reviews.

Goal #2: Understand how the artists or designers who produce these events and works have shaped their ideas. The social, political, economic and religious influences on the composers of each historical period are examined in detail.

Goal #3: Examine intuitive and metaphorical thought processes and their relationship to the human imagination and other intellectual abilities. The way in which our intuition causes us to interpret the music of the past in new ways are considered, and the extent to which composers of various historical periods used musical metaphor in the form of text painting or tone painting are examined.

Goal #4: Explore the interaction of art and society, including the contributions of diverse groups to cultural life, such as women and members of minority groups. The interaction of music and society and the interaction of music with other arts in each historical period are core concepts in this course, and the contributions of women, minorities, and members of different national and linguistic groups are examined.

Goal #5: Study selected classic works of fine and applied arts. Selected classic musical works will be studied through listening and discussion with regard to their structure and function as well as their esthetic goals and effects.