Listed in: First Year Seminar, as FYSE-103
David E. Schneider (Section 01)
This course will focus on learning to understand the conventions and subtleties of a variety of forms of Western concert music often referred to as “classical music.” The primary texts for the course will be musical works from the genres of symphony, opera, oratorio, chamber music, concerto, songs, and character piece, which we will listen to on recordings and in concerts on the Amherst campus as well as (conditions permitting) in New York and/or Boston. Supplementing listening with historical and contemporary readings, we will build an historical understanding of musical style and a vocabulary with which to write about it. In addition to studying works by white male composers (e.g. Wolfgang Mozart, Peter Tchaikovsky, and Igor Stravinsky) who have long been canonized, we will also study important contributions to the tradition by women and people of color who have often been excluded from the canon (e.g.Marion Anderson, Florence Price, William Grant Still, Mary D. Watkins, and Olly Wilson). No knowledge of musical notation required.
Fall Semester. Professors Schneider
How to handle overenrollment: FY dean handles this
Students who enroll in this course will likely encounter and be expected to engage in the following intellectual skills, modes of learning, and assessment: listening to musical works, reading plays/libretti, historical documents, and secondary literature, listening quizzes, short response papers/reviews, 1 short and 1 longer group or independent research project consisting of a paper and presentation.