5/28/04: This is the course announcement page for Music 337, Music in Sound Film, for first summer session 2004. A public copy of the syllabus is available at: Go to 337 syllabus, summer 2004. I do not expect to add documents here -- we will use the Library's Electronic Reserves for class materials.
The course description from last year's syllabus still fits:
I have used an available course title, "Music for Radio and Television," in order to offer the course this summer, rather than wait another year till a new course number and title were approved. Our topic is in fact "Music in Film Sound," and the course is a survey of music for cinema, concentrating on American feature films in a wide range of genres. (We will touch on music in radio and in television, but only in an historical context -- the influence of radio on early sound film, and film composers who moved into television in the late 1950s.) The broader field, of which musics in sound cinema, radio, television, and recording are all part, is called phonography.
Our object in this course is to develop skills in analyzing the sound track, music's role in the sound track, and the relation of sound track and image track (especially relating to music) on small-scale and large-scale (narrative) levels. The course develops critical listening and viewing skills at the same time it offers a film-music history survey. I will give daily lectures for two weeks as a concentrated introduction to the history of music in film; we will spend the rest of our time building on this information to refine skills in critical viewing through the analysis of films and film techniques as they relate to film-music's narrative functions.
Musical background is not a prerequisite. Information and skills from courses such as Introduction to Film, Music Appreciation, or Introduction to Music Theory can be helpful, but are not necessary for success in this course. The main requirement is a willingness to listen carefully and to articulate what you hear.