Visual Sounds: Exploring the Landscape and Architecture of Musical Notation (FYS)
MUSC 116F
Fall 2020
| Section:
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. |
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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: (MUSC) |
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Past Enrollment Probability: Not Available |
| SECTION 01 | | Special Attributes: FYS |
| Major Readings: Wesleyan RJ Julia Bookstore
| Examinations and Assignments:
Grade breakdown:
Bullet point reading summaries. 10%
3 papers (3 pages each) 50% (15%, 15%, 20%)
Final paper (5-6 pages) 25%
Participation 15%
Your papers should include:
- informed use of sources
- analytical skills
- critical treatment of secondary sources
- well-structured arguments
- correct use of footnotes and citations, organization of materials
With a writing tutor to assist you, there will be an enthusiastic emphasis on improving writing skills. |
| Instructor(s): Alden,Jane Times: .M.W... 01:00PM-02:20PM; Location: ONLINE; |
| Total Enrollment Limit: 15 | | SR major: X | JR major: X | | |
| Seats Available: 5 | GRAD: X | SR non-major: X | JR non-major: X | SO: X | FR: 15 |
| 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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