| source MIT (X) |
level |
department Music and Theater Arts (X) |
21M.011 Introduction to Western Music ( , ) Prereq: None Units: 4-0-8 You must enter the HASS-D lottery to take this subject. Lecture: W3.30-5 ( 4-270 ) Recitation: MF1 ( 4-160 ) or TR12 ( 4-160 ) or TR1 ( 4-152 ) +final Gives students a broad overview of Western music from the Middle Ages to the 20th century, with emphasis on late baroque, classical, romantic, and modernist styles. Enhances the musical experience by developing listening skills and an understanding of diverse forms and genres. Major composers and works placed in social and cultural contexts. Weekly lectures feature demonstrations by professional performers, and introduce topics to be discussed in sections. Enrollment may be limited. more information ... Fall: M. Marks, T. Neff Spring: L. Lindgren, T. Neff
Score: 11.520687 Details | Listing | Web page
21M.013J The Supernatural in Music, Literature and Culture ( ) (Same subject as 21A.113J , 21L.013J ) Prereq: None Units: 3-0-9 You must enter the HASS-D lottery to take this subject. Lecture: MW11-12.30 ( 14W-111 ) Explores the relationship between music and the supernatural, focusing on the social history and context of supernatural beliefs as reflected in key literary and musical works from 1600 to the present. Provides a better understanding of the place of ambiguity and the role of interpretation in culture, science and art. Explores great works of art by Shakespeare, Verdi, Goethe (in translation), Gounod, Henry James and Benjamin Britten. Readings will also include selections from the most recent scholarship on magic and the supernatural. Writing assignments will range from web-based projects to analytic essays. No previous experience in music is necessary. Projected guest lectures, musical performances, field trips. more information ... C. Shadle, M. Fuller, J. Howe
Score: 11.520687 Details | Listing | Web page
21M.030 Introduction to World Music ( , ) Prereq: None Units: 3-0-9 You must enter the HASS-D lottery to take this subject. Lecture: MW11-12.30 ( 4-160 ) or TR11-12.30 ( 4-364 ) An introduction to diverse musical traditions of the world. Music from a wide range of geographical areas is studied in terms of structure, performance practice, social use, aesthetics, and cross-cultural contact. Includes hands-on music making, live demonstrations by guest artists, and ethnographic research projects. more information ... TBA
Score: 11.520687 Details | Listing | Web page
21M.051 Fundamentals of Music ( , ) Prereq: None Units: 3-3-6 Lecture: WF11-12.30 ( 4-156 ) or WF2-3.30 ( 4-156 ) Lab: TBA Introduces students to the rudiments of Western music through oral, aural, and written practice utilizing rhythm, melody, intervals, scales, chords, and musical notation. Individual skills are addressed through a variety of approaches, including keyboard practice in the required piano labs. Students who have already taken 21M.301 or 21M.302 may not enroll in 21M.051. P. Wood
Score: 11.520687 Details | Listing | Web page
21M.065 Introduction to Musical Composition ( ) Prereq: None Units: 3-0-9 You must enter the HASS-D lottery to take this subject. Lecture: TR9.30-11 ( 4-160 ) Through a progressive series of composition projects, students investigate the sonic organization of musical works and performances, focusing on fundamental questions of unity and variety. Aesthetic issues are considered in the pragmatic context of the instructions that composers provide to achieve a desired musical result, whether these instructions are notated in prose, as graphic images, or in symbolic notation. No formal training is required. Weekly listening, reading, and composition assignments draw on a broad range of musical styles and intellectual traditions, from various cultures and historical periods. more information ... K. Makan
Score: 11.520687 Details | Listing | Web page
21M.215 American Music ( ) Prereq: Permission of instructor Units: 3-0-9 A survey of music in the United States from the colonial period to the present in the context of American cultural history, with an emphasis on Boston's musical life whenever feasible. Listening and writing assignments concern classical, popular, folk, musical theater, and jazz repertories. M. Harvey
Score: 11.520687 Details | Listing | Web page
21M.220 Early Music ( ) Prereq: 21M.011 , 21M.301 , or permission of instructor Units: 3-0-9 Studies the development of European vocal and instrumental music from the early Middle Ages until the late seventeenth century. Focuses primarily on chant and its development, music in Italy 1340-1440, English music at the end of the Renaissance, and Venice at the dawn of the Baroque era. Surveys additional topics that fall between these topics. Assignments, performance projects, and (especially) presentations explore lives, genres, and works in depth. Students study works in facsimiles of original notation where possible. Covers Wipo, Hildegard, "Anonymous," Perotin, Machaut, Francesco da Firenze, Ciconia, Zachara, Du Fay, Josquin, Morley, Byrd, Dowland, Monteverdi, Gabrieli, and Schutz. Requires some score-reading ability. M. Marks
Score: 11.520687 Details | Listing | Web page
21M.223J Folk Music of the British Isles and North America ( ) (Same subject as 21L.423J ) Prereq: None Units: 3-1-8 You must enter the HASS-D lottery to take this subject. Lecture: TR3.30-5 ( 4-364 ) Examines the production, transmission, preservation and the qualities of folk music in the British Isles and North America from the 18th century to the folk revival of the 1960s and the present. Special emphasis on balladry, fiddle styles, and African-American influences. more information ... G. Ruckert, R. Perry
Score: 11.520687 Details | Listing | Web page
21M.226 Jazz (21M.026) ( , ) Prereq: None Units: 3-0-9 You must enter the HASS-D lottery to take this subject. Lecture: TR11-12.30 ( 4-156 ) +final Historical survey from roots in African and American contexts, including spirituals, blues, and ragtime, through early jazz, Swing, bebop, and post-bop movements, with attention to recent developments. Key jazz styles, the relation of music and society, and major figures such as Armstrong, Ellington, Basie, Goodman, Parker, Monk, Mingus, Coltrane, and others are considered. Some investigation of cross-influences with popular, classical, folk, and rock musics. Enrollment may be limited. more information ... M. Harvey
Score: 11.520687 Details | Listing | Web page
21M.230 Vivaldi, Bach, and Handel ( ) Prereq: None Units: 3-0-9 Lecture: MW1-2.30 ( 4-152 ) Listening assignments sample all genres composed by the three great masters and by four significant contemporaries. Reading assignments concern the structural, textural and performance aspects of music and trace contemporary intellectual, artistic and social changes. Four written essays and four oral presentations are based on assigned listening, reading, and live performances. Knowledge of score reading strongly recommended. Requires attendance at two or three performances. Enrollment limited. L. Lindgren
Score: 11.520687 Details | Listing | Web page
21M.240 Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven ( ) Prereq: Permission of instructor Units: 3-0-9 Listening assignments sample all genres composed by the three great masters and by a few notable contemporaries. Reading assignments regard structural, textural and performance aspects, and place the music within its cultural context. Four written essays and three oral presentations concern the assigned repertoire and two or three performances. Requires some knowledge of score-reading. Enrollment limited. T. Neff
Score: 11.520687 Details | Listing | Web page
21M.250 Schubert to Debussy ( ) Prereq: Permission of instructor Units: 3-0-9 Lecture: TR3.30-5 ( 4-152 ) A survey of developments in Western musical style, 1815-1915. Works by 35 composers, including the romantics: Schubert, Chopin, and Schumann; the post-romantics: Wagner, Verdi, and Brahms; the turn-of-the-centurians: Mahler, Debussy, and Ravel; and the Americans: Gottschalk, Beach, and Joplin. Score-reading ability is beneficial. C. Shadle
Score: 11.520687 Details | Listing | Web page
21M.252 Song ( ) Prereq: None Units: 3-0-9 A history of song from the time of Shakespeare to the present, examining ways in which individual composers of different periods and nationalities have responded to great poetry. Songs examined are chosen from a variety of composers, such as Schubert, Debussy, and Stravinsky, and studied in close connection with their texts, which include poetry by Shakespeare, Milton, Goethe, and Verlaine. Performing experience is welcomed but not required. Required reading, listening, and writing assignments. Ability to read music required. Enrollment limited. E. Harris
Score: 11.520687 Details | Listing | Web page
21M.262 Modern Music: 1900-1960 ( ) Prereq: Ability to read music Units: 3-0-9 A survey of major works by European and American composers spanning the first six decades of the twentieth century. Central topics include modernism, tonality and atonality, and the impact of politics and new media. Considers composers in-depth, including Stravinsky, Copland, Shostakovich, and Cage. M. Marks
Score: 11.520687 Details | Listing | Web page
21M.263 Music Since 1960 ( ) Prereq: One subject in music or permission of instructor Units: 3-0-9 Studies the musical world of the recent past, focusing on the continuing impact and transformation of classical music through close listening and presentation of important musical works. Topics include the year 1967; the rise of minimalism and "accessible" styles; postmodernism; computers, video games, and electronic music; texture and instrumentation (including spectral composition); text, narrative, and multimedia; improvisational and performance arts; popular music analysis; post-serial process; and how to study the music of today. Places particular emphasis on works by MIT composers. E. Ziporyn
Score: 11.520687 Details | Listing | Web page
21M.271 Symphony and Concerto ( ) Prereq: Permission of instructor Units: 3-0-9 Lecture: MW3.30-5 ( 4-152 ) Listening assignments include 28 symphonies and 28 concertos, composed from the 1720s to the present. Class discussion and oral presentations focus on the works in 16 miniature scores. Each of the three written papers reviews a concert attended during the term. L. Lindgren
Score: 11.520687 Details | Listing | Web page
21M.273 Opera ( ) Prereq: None Units: 3-0-9 Focus on the text, music, and staging of 43 works by 25 composers, including 17 by Mozart, Wagner, and Verdi. Live performances are the primary basis for four written papers. Works composed during the last 125 years are the basis for two oral presentations. Enrollment limited. L. Lindgren
Score: 11.520687 Details | Listing | Web page
21M.283 Musicals of Stage and Screen ( ) Prereq: One subject in film, music, or theater; or permission of instructor Units: 3-0-9 Covers Broadway works and Hollywood films in depth. Proceeds chronologically, exploring three stage musicals and three films at a time, within four historical categories: breakthrough musicals of the 1920s and '30s; classic "book musicals" of the '40s and '50s; modernist and concept musicals of the '60s and '70s; and post modern and cutting-edge works of the '80s and '90s. Attention given to the role of music in relation to script, characterization, and dramatic structure. Final papers involve comparison of one stage and one film work, selected in consultation with the instructor. Oral presentations required and in-class performances encouraged. M. Marks
Score: 11.520687 Details | Listing | Web page
21M.284 Film Music ( ) (Subject meets with CMS.925 ) Prereq: None Units: 3-3-6 Surveys styles and dramatic functions of music for silent films of the 1910s-20s, and music in sound films from the 1930s to the present. Close attention given to landmark scores by American and European composers, including Korngold, Steiner, Rozsa, Prokofiev, Copland, Herrmann, Rota, Morricone, and Williams. Subsidiary topics include new trends in contemporary film-scoring, pop scores, the impact of electronics, and specialized genres (e.g., animation). Students taking the graduate version complete different assignments. Some background in the study of film and/or music is expected. M. Marks
Score: 11.520687 Details | Listing | Web page
21M.291 Music of India ( ) Prereq: None Units: 3-0-9 Focuses on Hindustani classical music of North India, and also involves learning about the ancient foundations of the rich classical traditions of music and dance of all Indian art and culture. Practice of the ragas and talas through the learning of songs, dance, and drumming compositions. Develops insights through listening, readings, and concert attendance. G. Ruckert
Score: 11.520687 Details | Listing | Web page
21M.292 Music of Indonesia ( ) Prereq: None Units: 2-2-8 Provides an introduction to the fascinating, intricate music of Indonesia. The Indonesian archipelago is home to a wide variety of cultures and musical traditions, many of them largely unknown in the West. From the Gamelan percussion orchestras of Bali and Java to the indigenous folk traditions of Sumatra and Borneo, and Western-influenced pop and street traditions. E. Ziporyn
Score: 11.520687 Details | Listing | Web page
21M.293 Music of Africa ( ) Prereq: None Units: 3-0-9 Lecture: TR1-2.30 ( N52-199 ) Focuses on musical traditions of West Africa. A variety of musical practices and their cultural contexts are explored through listening, reading and writing assignments with an emphasis on class discussion. Subject includes in-class instruction in Senegalese drumming, song and dance, as well as live lecture-demonstrations by guest performers from throughout West Africa. P. Tang
Score: 11.520687 Details | Listing | Web page
21M.294 Popular Musics of the World ( ) Prereq: None Units: 3-0-9 Focuses on popular music created for and transmitted by mass media. Various popular music genres from around the world are studied through listening and reading assignments, while considering issues of musical change, syncretism, Westernization, globalization, the impact of recording industries, and the post-colonial era. Case studies include bhangra, Afro-pop, reggae, and global hip-hop P. Tang
Score: 11.520687 Details | Listing | Web page
21M.295 American Popular Music (New) ( ) Prereq: None Units: 3-0-9 Surveys the development of popular music in the US, and in a cross-cultural milieu, relative to the history and sociology of the last two hundred years. Examines the ethnic mixture that characterizes modern music, and how it reflects many rich traditions and styles (minstrelsy, music-hall, operetta, Tin Pan Alley, blues, rock, electronic media, etc.). Provides a background for understanding the musical vocabulary of current popular music styles. G. Ruckert
Score: 11.520687 Details | Listing | Web page
21M.301 Harmony and Counterpoint I ( , ) Prereq: 21M.051 or permission of instructor Units: 3-3-6 You must enter the HASS-D lottery to take this subject. Limited enrollment. Lecture: MW9.30-11 ( 4-160 ) or MW3.30-5 ( 4-156 ) or TR11-12.30 ( 4-152 ) or TR2-3.30 ( 4-152 ) Lab: F3 ( 4-270 ) Basic writing skills in music of the common-practice period (Bach to Brahms). Work includes regular written assignments leading to the composition of short pieces, analyzing representative works from the literature, keyboard laboratory, and sight-singing choir. It is recommended that entering students have some concert music listening or playing background. Enrollment may be limited. more information ... Fall: E. Ruehr, J. Matheson, G. Ruckert, C. Shadle, G. Saraydarian Spring: M. Harvey, E. Ruehr, G. Ruckert, M. Cuthbert, G. Saraydarian
Score: 11.520687 Details | Listing | Web page