Visual Sounds: Exploring the Landscape and Architecture of Musical Notation
MUSC 116
Fall 2026
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01
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This course examines a diverse range of musical works seeing their notation as a process of translation, transformation, provocation, and imagination. Tracing a thread from medieval notations through to contemporary scores, we investigate the shifting tensions between the sonic and the visual over the long arc of music history. Why were sounds inscribed in the 9th century? How do 1960s scores reflect the radicalism of their era? Connections across centuries help shed light on musicians for whom the creative potential of notation surpasses its descriptive and prescriptive functions. Featured composers will include Hildegard of Bingen, Guillaume de Machaut, La Monte Young, George Brecht, Earle Brown, John Cage, Cornelius Cardew, Cathy Berberian, Yoko Ono, Pauline Oliveros, Mark Applebaum, and Claudia Molitor. Complementary materials comprise visual art, concrete poetry, and live theater.
One of the reason composers started to experiment with open scores in the 1950s and '60s was to develop a kind of musical notation that could be read, and therefore performed, even by those who did not identify as musically literate. This course is, accordingly, open to all students. No prior knowledge of musical notation or instrumental expertise is required. Meetings will involve discussion of a wide range of readings with the goal of expanding understanding of multiple relationships between music and visual materials.
Learning Objectives:
- To gain familiarity with the diversity of forms of musical notation.
- To recognize the variable relationships between inspiration, transcription, performance, and recordings.
- To consider musical notation as a form of design, a language code, and a form of translation.
- To develop creative processes and understand the creative processes of others. |
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| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
HA MUSC |
| Course Format: Seminar | Grading Mode: Graded |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: None |
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Fulfills a Requirement for: None |
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Past Enrollment Probability: Not Available |
| SECTION 01 |
Major Readings: Wesleyan RJ Julia Bookstore
Beal, A. C. 2002. 'TIME CANVASSES': MORTON FELDMAN AND THE PAINTERS OF THE NEW YORK SCHOOL, in Music and Modern Art. Edited by J. Leggio, pp. 227-245. New York: Routledge.
Behrman, D. 1965. WHAT INDETERMINATE NOTATION DETERMINES. Perspectives of New Music 3:58-73.
Bryars, G. 1976. NOTES ON MARCEL DUCHAMP'S MUSIC. Studio International 192:274-279.
Burroughs, W. S. 1967. THE INVISIBLE GENERATION, in The Ticket That Exploded. New York: Grove Press.
Cardew, C. 1976. WIGGLY LINES AND WOBBLY MUSIC. Studio International 192:249-255.
Cooper, H. 2002. POPULAR MODELS: FOX-TROT AND JAZZ BAND IN MONDRIAN'S ABSTRACTION, in Music and Modern Art.
Edited by J. Leggio, pp. 163-201. New York: Routledge.
Dennis, B. 1991. CARDEW'S 'TREATISE' (MAINLY THE VISUAL ASPECTS). Tempo:10-16.
Dorum, I. C. 1981. GRAINGER'S 'FREE MUSIC', in The Percy Grainger Companion. Edited by L. Foreman, pp. 155-167. London: Thames Publishing.
Kandinsky, W. 1926. POINT AND LINE TO PLANE. Munich: Verlag Albert
Karkoschka, E. 1972. NOTATION IN NEW MUSIC: A CRITICAL GUIDE TO INTERPRETATION AND REALIZATION. New York: Praeger Publishers.
LeCorbusier. 1982. THE MODULOR 1 & 2. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Mondrian, P. 1993a. JAZZ AND NEO-PLASTIC (1927), in The New Art - The New Life: Collected Writings of Piet
Mondrian. Edited by H. J. Holtzman, Martin S., pp. 217-222. New York: Da Capo Press.
--1993b. NEO-PLASTICISM: ITS REALIZATION IN MUSIC AND IN FUTURE THEATER (1922), in The New Art - The New Life: Collected Writings of Piet Mondrian. Edited by H. J. Holtzman, Martin S., pp. 156-163. New York: Da Capo
Press.
O'Grady, T. J. 1981. AESTHETIC VALUE IN INDETERMINATE MUSIC. The Musical Quarterly 67:366-381. Pritchett, J. THE MUSIC OF JOHN CAGE. Cambridge [England]; New York: Cambridge University Press, 1993. Smith, S. a. S. 1981. VISUAL MUSIC. Perspectives of New Music 20:75-93.
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Examinations and Assignments:
Students are expected to complete bullet-point summaries of all assigned readings, two shorter papers, an original graphic or text score (or a third shorter paper), and a final research paper. The outline of each paper is to be critiqued by a peer and approved by the Teaching Assistant. The final paper must be submitted in draft form and will form the basis for an in-class presentation.
Grade breakdown:
Bullet point reading summaries 10%
Participation 10%
Paper 1 (3 pages) 15%
Paper 2 (4 pages) 15%
Paper 3 (4 pages) or Original score 20%
Final paper (5-6 pages) 20%
Concert and final presentation 10% |
Additional Requirements and/or Comments:
Using a wide selection of readings for guidance, students will uncover and articulate a scholarly context for these works. Discussion will be an important element throughout the course, and class participation will count for 10% of the final grade. There will be an enthusiastic emphasis on improving writing skills. |
| Instructor(s): Alden,Jane Times: .M.W... 01:20PM-02:40PM; Location: TBA |
| Total Enrollment Limit: 18 | | SR major: 2 | JR major: 2 | | |
| Seats Available: 18 | GRAD: X | SR non-major: 3 | JR non-major: 3 | SO: 4 | FR: 4 |
| Drop/Add Enrollment Requests | | | | | |
| Total Submitted Requests: 0 | 1st Ranked: 0 | 2nd Ranked: 0 | 3rd Ranked: 0 | 4th Ranked: 0 | Unranked: 0 |
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