MUS 688A topic 5-ANALYTICAL TECHNIQUES Fall 2003
unique
#20735 MWF 2:00-3:00 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
Website: We will be using electronic reserves for course materials (see "Reserves" below). An online copy of the syllabus is available at http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/~neumeyer/688a_syllabus_f03.htm.
Object:
To fortify and enhance skills you already have for analysis of form and harmony/tonality in European and American tonal musics; to learn something new about those musics, particularly those for your own instrument or voice and particularly those musics after about 1890. For PhD and DMA students: to satisfy an NASM requirement that all doctoral students be able to do "advanced analysis"; to prepare for the theory section of common comps; to build skills that might be applied to your dissertation or treatise, if appropriate to your subject.
Your responsibilities:
1. Class attendance. No textbook can cover everything. Working out problems in class is essential to success. I don't take or 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. I define "not often enough" as a two-week period of no-show behavior.
2. Reading. This won't be onerous; we will read thirteen of the seventeen chapters of the textbook. One or two additional readings may be assigned during the final unit.
3. Assignments (small). You will have assignments to prepare for most class meetings during the first half of the semester. Generally, these assignments are for class discussion; you may hand them in for correction but they will not be graded. I will, however, identify four of them as graded assignments, which will be due on Mondays. Four small assignments @ 5% = 20% of the final grade
4. Exam. Analysis of a sonata movement. This exam will take two class sessions: (1) formal analysis; (2) bass-line sketch of the development section. The exam counts 25% toward the final grade.
5. Assignments
(large). Two projects, each of which counts 25% toward the final grade.
Project 1. Presentation in class based on a transcription or arrangement for your instrument or a chamber group including your instrument. The composition must come from the period 1875-1950, though I will consider arguments for works written more recently. Voice, opera, conducting, and composition students: discuss options with me. The presentation should be 15-20 minutes, may NOT exceed 20 minutes, and must include at least a partial (live or recorded) performance of the transcription or arrangement. Compositions to be transcribed must be approved beforehand, and scripts for the presentation must be provided to me at least a week before the presentation is scheduled -- no exceptions. I will give a five-point extra credit incentive for presentations delivered before November 1. Grading criteria include (1) quality of the analytical understandings underlying the arrangement and presentation, (2) clarity and conciseness of the presentation, and (3) recital-ready quality of the transcription or arrangement.
Project 2. Analysis of a tonal composition for your instrument or voice type from the period 1880-1960 (may NOT be the same composition or by the same composer as for project 2). Your choice must meet my standards for the project and be approved beforehand. Formats for this analysis may vary, but will usually be a traditional research paper or analysis report; other options could include a transcription/arrangement/composition with careful analytical notes.
Other information related to grading and my policies:
1. Following UT policy, I grade on a simple letter scale: A, B, C, D, F.
2. I will accept late work without docking points only during the week in which the work was due. 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 project 3. 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 well before the end of semester if you are in danger of failing.
Text: William Caplin, Classical form: A Theory of Formal Functions for the Instrumental Music of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998)
Schedule:
W August 27- F 29: Preliminaries (syllabus, schedule); Caplin, ch. 1
M September 1: Labor Day: no class
W September 3 - F 5: Caplin, ch. 2: basic harmonic progressions. Note: Caplin has designed his theory for music of the first Viennese school; he makes no claims about its applicability to other musics. Nevertheless, throughout the semester we will routinely take some class time to consider how Caplin's ideas and the notion of sonata apply to compositions after 1875.
M September 8 - F 12: Caplin, ch. 3: sentence
--NOTE: F 12 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 15 - F 19: Caplin, chs. 4 & 5: period and themes
M September 22 - W 24: Caplin, chs. 6 & 7: small ternary and binary designs
--NOTE: SEPTEMBER 24 WEDNESDAY. Last day to drop a course without a possible academic penalty.
F September 26: no class
M September 29 - F October 3: Caplin, ch. 8; subordinate theme
M October 6 - F 10: Caplin, ch. 9: transition. Presentations (=Project 1) begin this week and continue till the last class day (F December 5)
M October 13 - F 17: Caplin, ch. 10; development
M October 20 - W 22: Exam on sonata form
F October 24, M 27 - F 31: "catch-up" and presentations
M November 3 - F 7: Caplin, ch. 11: recapitulation
M November 10 - W 12: Caplin, ch. 12: coda
F November 14: no class
M November 17 - F 21: Caplin, ch. 13: sonata form
M November 24: continued
W November 26: no class
M December 1 - F 5: "catch-up" and TBA
W December 10 - T December 16, exact date/time TBA: project no. 2 is due at the time of the official final exam. There is no final exam in this course.
Reserves:
I will be using electronic reserves this semester. These files will be primarily sound files, though I will probably add some scores as well. 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.
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.