Time Schedule:
John Rahn
MUSIC 489
Seattle Campus
Prerequisite: either both MUSIC 303 and MUHST 210 or both MUSIC 312 and MUHST 314.
Class description
Music 489, Music Theory Special Topics, Spring, 2009 Two Slavs Wed, 1:30-3:20, room 212 John Rahn (543-2291, jrahn@u, Music room 217)
We will analyze at least parts of two different pieces: Janacek Sinfonietta Stravinsky Octet for winds
These scores are textbooks. Janacek and Stravinsky are available at the Ustore.
The class will be run as a seminar. You may not have had a seminar-format class before. A seminar expects, and depends on, contributions from the students who are taking it. There will be greater emphasis on your own responsibility, and freedom, to think and do something interesting and share it with the rest of us. Grades will be based on class participation, the quality of the discussions you lead for the analysis projects, and your final paper analyzing a piece of your choice. During the final three weeks or so each member of the seminar will lead a discussion about whatever work she choose to analyze for her final term paper. This need not be a formal presentation, but should be aimed at eliciting helpful feedback from the class. We will stay flexible about exactly how much time we spend on each part. We will be adding various readings and supplementary materials as the term goes on. I will keep an updated copy of this syllabus online at http://faculty.washington.edu/jrahn/Music4892009.html
On Music Reserve:
Benjamin Boretz, Meta-Variations: Studies in the Foundations of Musical Thought (MV). Open Space, 1995 (reprint from 1970). Also available as xeroxed Boretz Selections limited to pages assigned. Also available online through Perspectives of New Music 1970 in JSTOR. Limited to pages assigned: in Open Space edition, pp. 94-97, 102-111, 320-324, 332-341
Rahn, John. Aspects of Musical Explanation. Perspectives of New Music, vol 17, no 2 (1979). Online via JSTOR.
Rahn, John. UN(-) Ravelled, Or, The Hidden Dragon. Perspectives of New Music, vol 43, no 2/44, no. 1 (double issue), 2005-6. Personal copy on reserve
Stravinsky Petrouchka, score on reserve
CDs on reserve in the listening library: Janacek, Stravinsky Octet, Petrouchka, Boretz UN
Week 1 : introductory discussion. Goals and methods. Why these pieces? What does any analysis do for you as a musician? What are your own interests and needs, musically? Week 2 : Introductory Readings Discussion of methodological questions: What is an explanation? What is an analysis? What is meaningful in music? Readings: Rahn, John. Aspects of Musical Explanation. Benjamin Boretz, Meta-Variations: Studies in the Foundations of Musical Thought (MV), pp. 94-97, 102-111, 320-324, 332-341. This refers to and analyzes Stravinsky Petrouchka, score on reserve. Week 3 : Janacek Sinfonietta Week 4 : Janacek Sinfonietta, continued Week 5 : Stravinsky Octet Week 6: Stravinsky Octet Week 7 : Stravinsky projects Week 8 : Stravinsky projects Week 9 : Presentations of work toward term papers Week 10 : Presentations of work toward term papers
Final papers should be 10-15 pages long, double-spaced. Aim for publication quality. Prose and clarity will count. Originality, musical intuition and sensitivity, and interest level will count.
Student learning goals
General method of instruction
Recommended preparation
Class assignments and grading
