MUS 325L: COUNTERPOINT Fall 2006

Prerequisite: MUS 411 AND 612.

unique days time room

21805 MWF 1100 -1200 MRH M3.114

Instructor: David Neumeyer

Office: MRH 3.748 Office hours: MWF 1:00-1:45 or by appointment

Phone: 471-7346 (you can leave voicemail)

Email: neumeyer@mail.utexas.edu

Course website: http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/~neumeyer/325L_homef05.html

Bulletin description of our course:

Development of contrapuntal skills, covering abstract aspects of counter-point and historical styles from the 13th century through the late 17th century.

This is how the late Dr. Douglass Green taught 325L. I use a compromise between his approach -- which covers a wide range of musical styles -- and the traditional model which focuses entirely on the musical style of Counter-Reformation sacred music as represented by Palestrina. We will in fact spend the majority of our time with vocal music of the mid-sixteenth to early seventeenth centuries, but we will also repeatedly jump forward to the twentieth century, to study and write exercises after composers who have incorporated historical styles and techniques into their own music.

The two classical types of counterpoint are sixteenth-century ("Palestrina") and eighteenth-century ("Bach"). (“Species counterpoint” is a non-style-specific distillation of basic rules for sixteenth-century counterpoint.) A common final project in a sixteenth-century counterpoint course is to write 3 or 4 voice motet or motet-like mass movement. The parallel in an eighteenth-century course is a 3 or 4 voice fugue.

In most schools, counterpoint usually finds its place as an upper-level undergraduate course, and as such it gives the student who has gone through lower-division theory courses an opportunity to spend a focused semester developing composition-like skills through style imitation of historical models. For composers, counterpoint supplements their major-field instruction with a regimen of tightly rule-based practice in style imitation.

For graduate students, the same is true, but composers also take counterpoint to gain a teaching credential, since it is a course which they will typically teach. For theorists, the same may be true, but, primarily, sixteenth-century counterpoint gives a firmer basis of understanding for theories which assign an important role to species counterpoint as an abstract model of tonality (such as Schenker); and eighteenth-century counterpoint does the same for the standard techniques of imitative writing in common-practice and some twentieth-century music.

Your responsibilities:

1. Class attendance. Counterpoint is a hands-on, skills-based activity. Therefore, although our textbook will give us the basic rules and guidelines we need to write in a 16th-century style, no textbook can cover everything -- checking assignments and working out problems in class is essential to success. I won't grade attendance, but I am giving you fair warning that it will be hard to achieve a satisfactory grade without regular class attendance. In addition, I reserve the right to the following: anyone who fails to show up often enough that I know his/her name and he/she has volunteered comments or put up his/her work at the board will be given a final grade of "F" no matter whether he/she does the assignments.

2. Reading. We will read most of the Gauldin text, and we'll use it constantly for reference and as a source of musical examples in class. I will not assign additional readings from other sources, but you may want to do some reading on your own for your two "expert" pieces (see no. 4 below). FYI, in Gauldin, we will NOT read chs. 19 and 20, or the latter sections of chs. 11, 14, 17, and 22. Chapters 7, 12, 15, and 18 consist of musical examples for analysis; we will discuss many of these pieces in class.

3. Assignments (small). You will have short assignments for some class meetings. Short assignments due on Wednesday or Friday will be discussed in class -- usually, a "volunteer" will put his/her solution on the board. These assignments will not be graded, but you are welcome to hand them in for comment.

Assignments due on Monday will be handed in and graded. Each of these will count 5% toward the final grade. Any of these assignments may be corrected and handed in a second (or even a third) time for a higher grade. The graded assignments are clustered near the beginning of the semester, in part to give you prompt feedback on your progress, but mainly to develop your skills quickly.

Any assignment with a grade of "C" or lower MUST be corrected and handed in no later than seven days after I return the original assignments in class (that's whether or not you were attending that day). If you are required to correct and hand in again, but don't, you will lose the points for that assignment.

The grading formula is: the highest grade is given the 5%. In the rare case where the corrected version receives a lower grade than the original, then the original grade will stand. (This semester I have put in two "double" Monday assignments. These are longer problems and count twice the usual amount – 10% rather than 5% -- but you can resubmit them as with any small assignment.)

The total number of these assignments is 10, or 50% of the final grade.

4. Assignments (large). During the semester, you are expected to become an expert in two compositions of your choosing: (1) from the 16th century, and (2) from EITHER the period roughly 1595-1650 OR the twentieth (or twenty-first) century. Some composers for the first piece: Josquin, Tallis, Willaert, Palestrina, de La Rue, Lassus, Byrd (also see p. 290 in Gauldin for a list of composers). Normally, you should choose a sacred choral composition, but I am happy to entertain exceptions (such as chansons, madrigals, or instrumental fantasies) if the composition involved is substantially polyphonic and if you get my approval beforehand. For the second piece: in the period 1590-1650, composers include Giovanni Gabrieli, Michael Praetorius, Byrd, Dowland, Monteverdi, Schuetz, Carissimi. Twentieth-century composers include Pärt, Tavener, Distler, Hindemith (choral music). Film scores which revive historical styles are also possible (Walton’s or Doyle’s Shakespeare scores, Rota’s score for Zeffirelli’s Romeo and Juliet, etc.), though you should recognize that in most cases you will have to make your own transcriptions for study.

You will demonstrate your expertise in two ways: (1) by explaining its compositional features in detail, through interview with me or a written paper; and (2) by composing an original piece using the composition as a model (and providing notes that explain how the model is relevant to the new piece). "Compositional features" means the same attributes of form, imitative technique, part-writing, text setting, and stylistic idioms that we will be using as the basis for our counterpoint exercises. These include mode, cadences and their positions, dissonances(especially suspensions), interval patterns and distance for points of imitation and other imitative passages, and text setting (including text painting, where applicable).

Thus, for each large assignment, (1) you will analyze an appropriate composition and present your results either in a paper or an interview with me; (2) you will provide notes explaining how this model was used as the basis for your original composition; and (3) you will provide the score of your original piece.

Each interview or paper will count 10% toward the final grade; each composition will count 15%. Unlike the small assignments, you may not resubmit large assignments for regrading – instead, I strongly encourage you to get to work on the project early and show me sketches that I can correct before the due date.

5. Listening. There are no specific listening assignments or exams, but I do strongly (that's STRONGLY) suggest that you listen on your own to a body of sixteenth and early seventeenth-century music to get the sound in your ear. At the end of the day, having the sound of the style in your ear is just as important as knowing the rules.

Other information related to grading and my policies:

1. I grade on a percentage scale (in other words, I don't use a curve). Your final grade will be based on 90-100 = “A”, 80-89.999 = “B” etc.

2. I will accept late work without docking points only during the week in which the work was due -- so, for example, you can hand in those graded assignments due on Monday as late as Friday without losing points. After that the grade is "F" -- only exception is for documented medical emergency.

3. I do not offer extra credit options to raise the final grade or to avert failing the course.

4. I do not give incompletes except for documented medical emergency that prevents you from completing the final large assignment (interview/paper and original composition). In particular, I do not give incompletes as a way of avoiding a failing grade -- because of the steady flow of assignments through the semester, you should know long before the end of semester if you are in danger of failing.

5. I will accept assignments only if they are handed in in class or by some other means through prior arrangement. (Sliding the assignment under my door but not attending class is not a "prior arrangement".) I will not accept assignments handed in by other students, except through prior arrangement.

6. Notes for the two large assignments must be provided in paper form; I cannot accept email attachments except on an emergency basis agreed to beforehand.

Supplies:

Textbook

Robert Gauldin, A Practical Approach to Sixteenth-Century Counterpoint (Waveland Press). ISBN: 0881338524 (paper). Available at Coop East.

Other:

1. For assignments, you may use handwritten manuscript or printouts from Finale, Sibelius, or other music notation programs. Unfortunately, I cannot accept computer files -- either directly generated from a notation program or as a pdf file. I need paper copies for grading.

2. Whatever your choice for assignments, you'll need some music manuscript paper (perhaps 30-40 sheets) for work in class.

3. Pencils for work in class.

Schedule:

Unit 1: 2-voice writing in "Palestrina-style"; “excursions” into the 17th and 20th centuries

W August 30 - F September 1: Preliminaries (syllabus, schedule); 2v writing with white notes

--read Gauldin chs. 1-3 as soon as possible, but no later than F Sept. 1

M September 4: Labor Day: no class

W September 6 – F 8: 2v writing with white and black notes

--read Gauldin chs. 4-5 this week (we will consult musical examples in ch. 7 in class)

M September 11 - F 15: the motet; the continuo motet

--read Gauldin ch. 6, pp. 55-60 only; and ch. 17, pp. 194-195 this week

--Monday assignment this week

--NOTE: F 15 is the twelfth class day; this is the date the official enrollment count is taken. Last day an undergraduate student may add a course except for rare and extenuating circumstances. Last day to drop a course for a possible refund.

M September 18 - F 23: finish motet; twentieth-century examples

--Monday assignment this week

--NOTE: You can schedule the interview or hand in the paper for large assignment no. 1 any time but it must be completed by M October 30.

Unit 2: 3-voice writing in "Palestrina-style"; more 17th and 20th century examples

M September 25 - F 29: begin 3v writing with white notes

--read Gauldin chs. 8-9 this week

--NOTE: SEPTEMBER 27 WEDNESDAY. Last day to drop a course without a possible academic penalty.

M October 2 - F 6: 3v writing with white and black notes; triple meter

--read Gauldin ch. 10; ch. 16, pp. 187-193 this week

--"double" Monday assignment due this week

M October 9 - F 14: 3v writing continued

--read Gauldin ch. 11, pp. 105-112 this week

--Monday assignment this week

M October 16 - F 20: finish 3v writing with white and black notes; twentieth-century examples

--Monday assignment this week

M October 23 - F 27: continued

--no Monday assignment this week

-- interview must be finished by the end of this week or paper must be handed in for large assignment no. 1

--NOTE: OCTOBER 25 WEDNESDAY. Last day an undergraduate student may, with the dean's approval, withdraw from the University or drop a course except for urgent and substantiated, nonacademic reasons.

Unit 3: 4- and 5-voice writing in "Palestrina-style"; more 20th century examples

--NOTE: You may schedule the interview or hand in the paper for large assignment no. 2 any time but it must be completed by the university’s official final exam time.

M October 30 -- F November 3: 4v writing

--read Gauldin ch. 13 this week

--Monday assignment this week

M November 6 - F 10: imitation and reentry in 4v writing

--read Gauldin ch. 14, pp. 146-150; ch. 21; ch. 22, pp. 263-269 this week

--Monday assignment this week

M November 13 - F 17: techniques of the late 16^th century;

--read Gauldin ch. 16, pp. 178-187 this week

--no Monday assignment this week

--original composition for large composition no. 1 must be handed in this week

M November 20 - W 22: secular vocal music about 1600 (Dowland)

--"double" Monday assignment due this week

F November 24: no class meeting

M November 27 - F December 1: 5 voice writing

--no Monday assignment this week

M December 4 - F 8: twentieth-century examples

--no Monday assignment this week

W December 13 - T December 19, exact date/time TBA: original composition for large assignment no. 2 due at the official final exam. There is no final exam in this course.

Reserves:

I will be using electronic reserves this semester. Go to the Library's main page http://www.lib.utexas.edu/ and under "Library Services" select "Reserves," then select "Find" under the Electronic Reserves/Students heading. You will need a password to access the course site; I will give the password at our first class meeting.

"Gauldin examples" has .mp3 files and one score for some examples in the textbook.

"Lassus two-part motets" has several scores and .mp3 files relevant to Unit 1.

"Palestrina missa brevis" has scores.

"CD1" has audio files for the Palestrina Missa Brevis and Victoria motet and mass O Magnum Mysterium.

"Palestrina mass scores" is empty -- I'll remove it eventually.

"other 16th century examples" has scores for two Tallis hymns, a Lassus chanson, and the Victoria motet.

The remaining folders have .mp3 files for 20^th century pieces we will discuss in class. "Pärt" also has a document on his compositional method.

The University of Texas at Austin provides upon request appropriate academic accommodations for qualified students with disabilities. For more information, contact the Office of the Dean of Students at 471-6259, 471-4641 TTY.