MUS 325M: COUNTERPOINT Spring
2006
PREREQUISITE:
MUS 411 AND 612.
unique days time
room
21290 MWF 1100 -1200 MRH
M4.116
Instructor:
Dr. David Neumeyer
Office:
MRH 3.748. Hours: MWF
2:00-3:00, or by appointment
Phone:
741-7346 (you can leave voicemail)
Email: neumeyer@mail.utexas.edu
The
two classical types of counterpoint are sixteenth-century
("Palestrina") and eighteenth-century ("Bach"). A common
final project in a 16th-century counterpoint course is a 3 or 4
voice motet or motet-like mass movement. The parallel in an 18th-century
course is a 3 or 4 voice fugue.
Counterpoint courses will often focus
entirely on the historical styles they cover. I strongly believe, however, that
such courses are most useful if they make substantive connections to
contemporary practice.
This course covers the ground in three
units: the first focuses on continuo style, diminution, and the basics of 18th-century
counterpoint, including imitation and "invention" (or building a
motivically-rich texture on a voiceleading grid). The second unit addresses the
topic of fugue, and the third unit looks at what happens to the fugue in the
twentieth century.
Your
responsibilities:
1. Class attendance. Counterpoint is a
hands-on, skills-based activity; checking assignments and working out problems
in class is essential to success.
I do not grade attendance, but I am giving you fair warning that it will
be hard-to-impossible to achieve a passing 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 the majority
of chapters in Gauldin (see the schedule below for specific readings) and
during Unit 1 I will assign some short texts from Laurence Dreyfus's book Bach
and the Patterns of Invention. You
are encouraged to seek out additional reading sources in order to get a good
sense of context for your large assignments, but such reading is not required.
Good
online resources include the Grove Dictionary (look under "Resources by
Subject" on the library's "databases" page:
http://www.lib.utexas.edu/indexes/) and a set of timelines and chapter outlines
based on Grout, available at http://www.geocities.com/papandrew/.
3. Assignments (small). Assignments
will be due on Monday of most weeks, especially in the first two units. Most of
these are designed to be steps in the writing of your first large composition.
Each will count 5% toward the final grade. Any of these assignments may be
corrected and handed in a second (or third) time for a higher grade. The higher
grade (of the original and the rewrite) will be the final grade. Any assignment
with a grade of "C" or lower MUST be corrected and handed in;
otherwise the grade will be changed to "F". Deadlines for rewrites:
end of the unit in which they were due.
Each
small assignment will count 5% toward the final grade. The total number of
these assignments is 10, or 50% of the final grade. Check the schedule below
for due dates.
4. Composition projects.
The first large assignment:
EITHER
a prelude and fugue in the manner of the Well-Tempered Clavier. Both movements will be in 3 or 4 voices. The prelude will be built on a figured-bass progression which I will supply. The fugue will be based on one from a collection of subjects I will supply. In terms of length, the E major Prelude and Fugue from WTC I should be regarded as a minimum target.
OR
a slow-fast pair of movements in the manner of an instrumental trio sonata or concerto, where the fast movement is fugal. Both movements will be in 3 or 4 voices. Length for the fast movement should be a minimum of 64 bars in 2/4 (using 16th note diminutions) or 3/4 time, or 48 bars in 4/4 or 6/8 time.
Models for the slow movement may be
found among the Bach sinfonias (No. 5 in Eb major, No. 9 in F minor, No. 11 in
G minor); nos. 7 (E minor) and 12 (A minor) are menuet-like slow movements.
Models for the fast movement among the sinfonias are No. 6 in E major and No.
15 in B minor. Other models may be found among trio sonatas by Handel,
Telemann, and many other composers.
The slow movement will be built on a figured-bass progression which I will supply. The fast mvement will be based on one from a collection of subjects I will supply.
Your
composition must be accompanied by notes explaining anything you consider
relevant about the piece, but including
compositional features like those we discuss in class: attributes of
form, imitative technique, part-writing, and stylistic idioms.
The second large assignment is to write a
fugue in the manner of the Op. 87 of Shostakovich or the Ludus tonalis of Hindemith. (Other choices are possible, with
approval.) You must model your piece on a specific composition from these sets.
(An acceptable alternative is to use features of two pieces -- but no more than
two -- and this also needs approval beforehand.) This composition should be
accompanied by notes explaining how you exploited your model.
Each composition, with its accompanying notes, will count 25%. The total of the two projects is 50% of the final grade. There are no rewrite opportunities for the large assignments.
5. Final exam. There is no final
exam in this course.
6. Listening. There are no specific listening assignments or listening exams, but to be successful in imitating Baroque style you must listen to the audio files on reserve for this course and other compositions that you find pertinent to your composition projects. The more the sound of Baroque music is in your ear, the better your own compositional work will be.
Other
information related to grading and my policies:
1. Following UT policy, final grades
are on a simple letter scale: A, B, C, D, F. I will, however, use "+"
and "-" grades in the assignments; these will translate as fractions
when calculating final grades.
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" -- exceptions will be made for documented medical emergency
and may be made for degree recitals or absence due to admission auditions or
job interviews.
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. 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 given to me in class or by some other means through prior arrangement. I will not accept assignments handed in by other students, except through prior arrangement.
Supplies:
Text:
Robert Gauldin, A Practical Approach to
Eighteenth-Century Counterpoint (Waveland Press).
Other:
1. For assignments, you may use handwritten
manuscript or music notation programs. All assignments must be hard copy; I
do not accept computer-based files.
2. You'll need some music manuscript paper (perhaps
30 sheets) and pencils for work in class.
Schedule:
"Quick
view":
|
1-18
to 2-17: |
UNIT
1 |
Gauldin,
chs. 1-10 Monday
assignments 1-4 |
|
2-20
to 3-31: |
UNIT
2 |
Gauldin,
chs. 11-21 (with some omissions) Monday
assignments 5-9 |
|
4-3
to 5-5: |
UNIT
3 |
No
assigned reading Monday
assignment 10 Large
assignment 1 |
|
5-11,
9am to noon |
Final
exam |
Large
assignment 2 |
Details:
Unit
1:
W January 18-F 20 (write basic 1:1 and 2:1 counterpoint
in two voices)
--read
Gauldin, Chapters 1-3
M January 23 - F27 (1:1 and 2:1 counterpoint, 2v,
continued)
--read
Gauldin, Chapters 4-5
--Monday
assignment 1 this week
M January 30 - F February 3 (the
invention principle, dances, two-reprise form)
--read
Gauldin, Chapters 6-7
--Monday
assignment 2 this week
FEBRUARY 1 WEDNESDAY. Twelfth class
day. Last day to drop a course for a possible refund.
M February 6 - F 10 (imitation, double
counterpoint, canon, and invention)
--read
Gauldin, Chapters 9-10 (chapter 8 is optional)
--Monday
assignment 3 this week
M February 13 - F 17 (continue invention; the connection
between invention and fugue)
--Monday
assignment 4 this week
FEBRUARY 13 MONDAY. Last day to drop a
course without a possible academic penalty.
Unit
2:
M February 20 - F 24 (write basic 1:1 and 2:1 counterpoint in three voices)
--read
Gauldin, Chapter 11 (chapter 12 is optional)
--Monday
assignment 5 this week
M February 27 Ð F March 3 (chromaticism; more on
two-reprise forms)
--read
Gauldin, Chapters 13-14
--Monday
assignment 6 this week
M March 6 - F 10 (tonal and real answer,
three-voice fugue)
--read
Gauldin, Chapter 15, first part (pp. 177-186), and 17 (16 is optional)
--Monday
assignment 7 this week
March 13-18: spring break
M March 20 - F 24: (continue work on three-voice
fugue)
--Monday
assignment 8 this week
If you want me to correct a draft of all
or part of the first large assignment, hand it in no later than Friday 24,
for return on Monday 27.
M March 27 Ð F 31:
--read
Gauldin, Chapter 20, in part (pp. 266-274), and 21
--Monday
assignment 9 this week
MARCH 27 MONDAY. 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:
M April 3 - F April 7: Shostakovich Preludes and
Fugues
--Monday
assignment 10 this week
Large assignment no. 1 is due this week.
M April 10 - F 14: Shostakovich Preludes and Fugues
M April 17 - F 21: Hindemith Ludus tonalis
M April 24 - F 28: Hindemith Ludus tonalis
M May 1 - F May 5: Other composers
Large assignment no. 2 is due by the end of the
official final exam time for this course:
TBA.
Reserves:
I am using electronic reserves exclusively this
semester. More information about our class reserves site, including the
password, will be provided during the first week.
The eRes site has a copy of this syllabus, a couple
handouts, and files with
statistics about the Bach inventions, sinfonias, and the Well-Tempered Clavier.
The site also has scores for three of the French suites, some of the inventions
and sinfonias, and several preludes and fugues from the two volumes of the
Well-Tempered Clavier. There are audio files for some of these. Selected
preludes and fugues by Shostakovich and Hindemith are also on the site, along
with audio files.
Other online resources:
[Note:
I haven't checked the following links since last year and so cannot be sure if
they are all still valid. If you have trouble finding electronic files of
scores you need, let me know.]
You may find the entire Well-Tempered Clavier here:
http://www.dlib.indiana.edu/variations/scores/abt8726/index.html
Or you can download the files from
http://www.sheetmusicarchive.net/
(Note that you can only download two files a
day unless you buy a subscription.)
Here is another site with all the
inventions and sinfonias for free:
http://sca.uwaterloo.ca/Mutopia/.
Sound files for all the inventions are on this
site: http://icking-music-archive.sunsite.dk/
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.
Material
to remember from Gauldin, chs. 1-5.
Note: All of these are practical tables
of information that we will refer to frequently as we work on class exercises
and that you will want to use as reference for assignments.
Chapter 1:
1. The figured-bass symbols in musical examples on
pp. 6-7
2. Scale forms in the example on p. 8
3. The list of chords on diatonic degrees: pp. 9-10
4. Cadential formulas on p. 15
5. Table of sequence patterns on pp. 16-18
Chapter 4:
6. Table of "undesirable" melodies on pp.
42-43
7. Figure for harmonic implications in two-voice
settings on p. 48
Chapter 5:
8. Tables with the different types of
diminutions in 2:1 counterpoint:
Exxs.
5.2 and 5.3 (chordal diminutions);
5.7
(5-6 and 6-5 figures);
5.8
and 5.9 (unaccented non-harmonic notes);
5.10
and 5.11 (accented non-harmonic notes);
5.16
(suspensions); and
5.17
(chordal dissonance).