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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