Lecture: 4 hours per week
- Lecture and class discussion, with focus on active listening to music.
- Viewing of video programs on music.
- Attendance at live concert performance(s).
- Presentation(s) by guest speaker(s).
A. Foundations for Experiencing Music
- Defining music and its place in culture.
- Constructing a personal musical culture in the contemporary world.
- Developing active listening skills.
- Learning the elements of music: rhythm, melody, harmony, colour, texture, and form.
- Identifying musical instruments and voice types.
- Considering spaces for music and media for musical transmission.
- Exploring the expression of ideas and feelings in music.
B. The Study of Music in Context
- Cultural contexts of music; cultural meaning in music; social functions of music.
- Folk and traditional music from around the world; examples selected from North and South America, Europe, Middle East, Africa, and Asia.
- Historical style periods of Western classical music; examples selected from Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, Romantic, Modern, Post-Modern and Contemporary music.
- Genres of Western classical music; examples selected from symphony, opera, chamber music, choral music, and song.
- Jazz and blues in American culture.
- Rock music; commercial music; music in electronic culture.
- Global music: the fusion of traditions, styles and resources.
- Music in film: source music and functional music.
- Music in the arts: architecture, painting, sculpture, dance, theatre and literature (as related to the musical examples under discussion).
- Music in Canadian culture: issues of identity; the Idea of North; tradition and innovation.
- Music in Vancouver: East meets West.
Upon completion of the course, the successful student should be able to demonstrate the following.
- Awareness of the diversity of music in the world, as well as its traditions and contexts.
- A critical vocabulary for describing music of various cultures and traditions.
- Critical listening skills that allow students to make pertinent observations about the musical characteristics and cultural context of the music they hear.
- Understanding of the relationship of music to other arts and disciplines such as theatre, stagecraft, film and visual arts.
- Deepened comprehension of the ways in which music works as an art.
- Enriched response to the experience of music in life.
Assessment will be based on course objectives and will be carried out in accordance with the ÌÇÐÄvlog´«Ã½Evaluation Policy. Instructors may use a student's record of attendance as part of the student's graded performance. This will be clearly defined in the course outline.
An example grading scheme is as follows:
| Assignments: Report on a video program about music | 10% |
| Review of a live concert | 10% |
| Listening guide to a piece of music | 15% |
| Weekly listening and/or reading quizzes | 20% |
| Listening and written tests (2 in total) | 20% |
| Final examination | 25% |
| 100% |
The instructor will designate a text-and-CD package from the following titles (or will select a text of a similar type). These titles also include access to online study and resource materials.
- Larsen, Arved M., ed. Crossroads in Music: Traditions and Connections. Thomson/Schirmer, 2003. (Text bundled with 4-CD set.)
- Nichols, David C. Musical Encounters. Prentice-Hall, 2001. (Text bundled with 4-CD set.)
- White, Gary, David Stuart and Elyn Aviva. Music in Our World: An Active-Listening Approach. McGraw-Hill, 2001. (Text bundled with 2-CD set.)
Note: Students may be required to pay for tickets to a maximum of three music events attended as part of the course (no more than $50.00 in total).
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(Note: This course is not open to students in the Basic Musicianship or University Transfer music programs at Douglas College.)
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