Graduate Courses

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This course introduces fundamental tools of tonal analysis, applied to music of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, accomplished through a focus on Heinrich Schenker's influential theory of linear analysis. A portion of the course will be given over to exploring the historical and cultural context of Schenker's theory, its critical reception, and the ways it has been applied. This will be complemented by an introduction to Schenkerian techniques and the analytical resources they offer. Note: Music 31100 is conceived as a preparation and foundation for Music 31200, which will build directly upon the analytic models and repertoire introduced in Music 31100.

This course is a continuation of Music 31200, a study of advanced techniques in tonal analysis. Much of our work will center on Schenkerian theory, but we will also place Schenkerian approaches in dialogue with other methods, including recent approaches to Formenlebre, schema theory, and neo-Riemannian theory. We will be interested in exploring the intersections (and frictions) between these diverse analytical methods, seeking at once to develop analytical fluency in each of them and to heighten our sensitivity to the methodological issues involved in a pluralist approach to tonal analysis.

This proseminar provides both an active, hands-on workshop in musical analysis as well as an opportunity reflect on the nature of academic musical analysis and its place in the disciplinary landscape of 2017. Readings drawn from the current theoretical literature will introduce students to a range of analytical methods, most of which fall outside the purview of the "canonical" graduate music analysis classes in the music curriculum (i.e., Music 31100-31300). In our weekly analytical work we will seek a balance between comparative breadth-drawing on multiple analytical methods-and mastery of specific analytical techniques. Our aim will be to embrace plural methodologies while at the same time honing our critical and evaluative capacities; indeed, we will be especially interested in exploring the status of analytical validity and "criteria of correctness" (Dunsby) in a pluralistic methodological field. Another central theme will be the "multimedia" of academic music analysis: the interaction of sound, text, image, and performance in the effective communication of analytical insight. Repertories addressed will include early music, non-Western repertories (centering especially on the recent work of Tenzer, Roeder, et al), and popular music, in addition to more familiar common-practice fare. Coursework will involve weekly analytical assignments, presentations, and a final paper.

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The Maqam Chamber Course gives instrumentalists and vocalists the opportunity to explore maqam repertoire, theory, improvisation, and performance practices through a hands-on approach. Students in this course study maqam, the microtonal modal and phrasing system used in throughout North Africa, Southwest Asia, and Transcaucasia. Students meet on a weekly basis to learn and practice repertoire from these regions, with a focus on interpretation, ornamentation, extended techniques and improvisation skills. Through group rehearsals and exercises, students acquire skills necessary to contribute within a small ensemble setting.

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This course examines issues and contexts for European music in the period, concentrating on cultural meaning, transmission, improvisation, and sources. Students will do work with digital editions of Renaissance music, interactions between Europe and the Americas, and problems of gender and music.

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History and Notation of Monophonic and Polyphonic Music to c. 1520. This proseminar deals with issues of transmission, compositional history, context and function of music, c.750-c.1520. There will be weekly readings on important problems, listening, and notation assignments. The course requires two papers (each ca. 10 pp.), one on a monophonic topic, one on a polyphonic topic.

This course looks at themes and moments of music in Europe and the European abroad, with some comparisons of other musical traditions. Students will engage source readings, notation/improvisation, and cultural contexts, along with trans-continental links and disjunctures. Requirements include: dealing with sources, one class report, a mock single-sheet exam, and a take-home final. It is possible that we might interact with the Haymarket Opera Company's production of Monteverdi's *Poppea* in June.

This proseminar examines issues in European music from the late Renaissance to the French Revolution. We explore changes in cultural context, music's role in late feudal society, expressions of gender and social class, and the development of specifically instrumental repertories in an art which continued to valorize vocality. Students work on both issues of cultural history and specific pieces as they examine music in early modern Europe.

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This proseminar will engage contemporary musicology's revivification of the elusive concept modernity, engaging some grounding theories of the modern alongside new and imaginative work in music and sound studies, much of it reframing what modernity was and, through narrative and archival revision, might still be. Familiarity with western music history, musical repertoire, and music notation may in some cases help but is not a prerequisite.

Part 2 of New History Series: Description TBD

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