Understanding Music

PERF-110

An introduction to musical language through listening and comprehension. The fundamentals of acoustics, melody, harmony, form, texture, and color in a wide range of music from ancient and global music to European concert music, jazz, blues, and popular music. Includes listening and concert attendance requirements. 

This course will be an instructor-guided discussion among all participants who must be open to experiencing all types of music as well as prepared to share the music they enjoy most with the class.

The Washington Lab field experience will provide an essential backdrop for this course. We will use the lab experience to attend a wide and diverse array of performances from the concert hall to the coffee house.

Counts toward the fulfillment of Area 1 of General Education.

This seminar is Fall-semester only

From the Professor...

What is your style in the classroom?
I teach in a seminar versus lecture style. I guide and lead the class but student investment and involvement is critical to the success of the course. The classroom has an informal feel to it given the openness of communication between the students and me but the participants should not be misled by that to expect that anything but the highest standards will be applied to their work and the assessment of their contributions. The course is rigorous and demands that students think and come to conclusions based upon what they are learning and being exposed to.

What's distinctive about the way you teach this class?
As I said above, one of the main distinctions is the emphasis I place on the Socratic method of asking and answering questions (though not only those with contrary viewpoints) to go deeper in to the subject matter. The students also become teachers in my classroom by sharing the music that is most special to them in class presentations.
The uniqueness of teaching music also greatly informs how I teach. I often think that the best way to teach music is to have students listen A LOT! (In fact, I have been known to say that the best way to teach music would be to lock the students in a room with carefully selected recordings and just make them LISTEN! The flaws with this approach are sure to be evident but so, I hope, would be the benefits.) There is irony in the fact that so much teaching of music involves listening to talk instead of the music itself. Of course we need to guide the listener, learn about the works being discussed etc. but, the most meaningful and lasting experiences come from those life changing moments when we are directly inspired by the art.

What do you like best about teaching undergrads?
The same things I like about teaching anyone: the opportunity for me to share something I love and care deeply about with others.

This course is conceived and taught knowing that some of the participants may not have any prior knowledge about music beyond their enjoyment of it. Basic rudiments are addressed early in the course and reinforced throughout primarily to aid in listening and to enhance our communication about what is being explored. It is a wonderful thing to witness a listener's deepening appreciation of what they are hearing because of what they are able to recognize in a piece of music. This appreciation is not something that is only available to the trained musician, it is something that, with proper guidance by a caring and good teacher, can and should be available to all who are willing to go deeper and do the work.