2008 Non-Majors Classes

The following courses are open to non-music majors.

Introduction to Music

GENL MUS 170 Sec. 26

Instructor: Bruce Duffie

• 6 weeks
• 6/23 - 8/1
• MTWThF 12:00 - 1:00 p.m.
• Evanston Campus

The course is designed to provide an overview of our musical culture, with an emphasis on concert music from about 1600 to the present. It will deal with the materials of music and the history of the "Classical Music Tradition." Instruments and voice types will be examined, and there will be in-class presentations by performers. The course will include lectures illustrated with recorded examples, listening assignments in the Music Library, and demonstrations of specific instruments in the class. There will also be reading of articles and interviews, as well as topics and ideas within the scope of this area. Going to live concerts will also be strongly encouraged. No prerequisites

Selected Topics: Song Writing

GENL MUS 175-0 Sec. 43

Instructor: Christopher Mercer

• 3 weeks
• 6/23 - 7/11
• MTWThF 10 a.m. - 12 noon
• Evanston Campus

This course will examine techniques employed in the creation of music and lyrics in popular song.  Topics include song structure, melody and harmony, rhyme scheme, wordplay, record production as a stylistic factor, and genre conventions.  Students should have a basic understanding of music theory as it relates to popular song (chord changes, meter, phrase structure, song form).  The class will include in-depth analysis drawn from 20th century popular repertoire and covering a wide range of genres and technical approaches.  Students will analyze songs for musical and literary content and write songs of their own using techniques discussed in class, presenting them in workshops for feedback and critique.  Songwriting exercises may be realized on the students’ own instruments or in the computer, prerecorded or performed in class.  Collaborations are welcome.

Selected Topics: The Needle and the Rhyme: Developments in Rap Music

GENL MUS 175-0 sec. 26

Instructor: Drew Baker

• 6 weeks
• 6/23 - 8/1
• MW 2 - 4 p.m.; F 2 - 3 p.m.
• Evanston Campus

This course will identify the techniques and approaches common to rap music past and present.  A special focus will be placed upon the role of the DJ and the turntable as an instrument.  Readings and lectures will further examine the musical trends that lead to modern rap and the influence of rap upon other popular and classical genres.

Selected Topics:  America’s Music:  The Art Form of Jazz

GEN MUS 175-0 Sec. 46

Instructor: Joel Spencer

• 6 weeks
• 6/23-8/1
• MW 8 - 10 a.m.; F 9 - 10 a.m.
• Evanston Campus

This course traces the evolution of Big Band Jazz in the 20th century in relation to compositional style and development. The main objective of the course requires students to discuss and elaborate on the evolution of Big Band Jazz and its relationship to the war years and the phenomenon of swing as a popular music. The course will feature six innovative Big Bands that historically represent each era of Jazz.

Selected Topics:  Opera as a Mirror of Culture

GENL MUSIC 175-0  Sec. 36

Instructor: Richard Boldrey

• 6 weeks
• 6/23-7/31
• MTh 6:30 - 9 p.m.
• Evanston Campus

Opera is more than high-brow art.  It is a reflection of cultural development throughout the world. The three most common themes in opera are love, death, and politics, and in most cases these themes are closely tied in with the culture of the day.  Many of the great operas are set to texts by the likes of Shakespeare and Goethe. Did you know that George Gershwin's opera Porgy and Bess has always been sung with an all black cast and was written to share real life in the ghetto, and that the original New York trained black singers had to be persuaded to sing in black slang? Did you know that the great opera composer Giuseppi Verdi became a folk hero because of his support of the Italian political revolution, and that one of his opera choruses is now the unofficial national anthem of Italy? Did you know that Amadeus Mozart's great comedy The Marriage of Figaro was a setting of the parody of Beaumarchaison the Europeon court caste system, and that the court servants are featured as counter-cultural heroes?  Did you know that the famous Carmen by Georges Bizet is a presentation of the gypsy culture in Spain?  Join us in this unique study of one of the great art forms of music. Students will study these and other operas as they relate to the political and social cultures of their day. Students will also take a good look at many of the "cross-over" pieces by Sondheim, Weill and others, such as Phantom of the Opera, which combine elements of both opera and musical theatre.

Selected Topics:  Issues in African Popular Music

GEN MUS – 175-0 sec 23

Instructor: Andrew Eisenberg

• 3 weeks
• 7/14 - 8/1
• MTWThF 12 noon - 2 p.m.
• Evanston Campus

This introductory course is literature and recording based.  Musical literacy is not required, however.  Students should have an active interest in music and/or the African continent, and they should be prepared to think about music as social product.  The course is not meant as a comprehensive survey. Instead, it will focus on only a few of the many sub-Saharan popular music genres.  Using selected scholarly literature from anthropology, ethnomusicology, and history, the class will explore (1) the historical foundations of popular music in Africa; (2) the question of “syncretism” ( cultural and musical mixture); (3) the commodification and  globalization of African  popular music; and (4) the intersection of popular music and politics.

Recording and Basic Audio

MUS TECH 322- sec. 23

Instructor: Christopher Mercer

• 3 weeks
• 6/23 - 7/11
• MTWThF 10 a.m. - 12 noon
• Evanston Campus - Kresge 1-370

The class will look in detail at microphone design and placement techniques, covering stereo miking; close and distant miking of voices, acoustic instruments, and ensembles; and “source” recording for sound design and musique concrete applications.  The class will also introduce practical issues related to field and studio recording and a variety of fundamental audio concepts including signal flow, console design, word clock, time code, dynamics processing, and effects processing.  Students will participate in extensive in-class miking demonstrations using various instruments and microphone techniques and will make their own recordings using the techniques discussed in class with the goal of producing professional quality projects.

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