INTRODUCTION to WESTERN and WORLD MUSIC
MUSC 2733
Fall 2013 / Spring 2015
Dr. Ruth Morrow
Course Description: Introduction to Western and World Music History is a course designed to
familiarize you with music in its numerous purposes and guises in a variety of settings, most
specifically cultural, historical, and functional. You will both create music and develop an
understanding of the music making (creation and performance) of others in diverse cultures.
Learning Goals: the student who passes this series of courses will be able to:
1. Identify, recognize, and describe general stylistic characteristics of music using
accepted musical terminology
2. Accurately place a musical work within an historical, cultural, or stylistic context
3. Distinguish similarities and differences in musical characteristics among art, folk, jazz,
popular, and world music traditions
4. Understand and categorize how music functions in different historical cultures from
antiquity to the present
5. Understand and appreciate the functions of music in society as cultural, religious,
ceremonial, inspirational, and recreational
6. Demonstrate teamwork by participation in research project presentation
7. Demonstrate social responsibility through journal entries.
8. Attend and meaningfully critique a concert production.
Grading:
Attendance
Quizzes
Concert critique
Recording critique
Written projects
Team class presentation
Journal entries
Exam 1 (best score of 3)
Exam 2 (next best score of 3)
Final Exam (comprehensive)
Total
100
50
25
25
100
100
150
150
150
150
1000
Attendance Policy: You have paid for this class and it would be a shame if you wasted your
money through non-attendance. Lectures go hand-in-hand with assignments, and will expand
your understanding of the historical and cultural contexts of music. Attendance will be taken at
the beginning of class and showing up more than 20 minutes late will counted as an absence.
Each student starts the semester with 100 attendance points. Each tardy lowers that total by 3
points, each absence by 5. The professor may drop a student any time during the semester for
excessive absences, for consistently failing to meet class requirements, for an indifferent attitude,
or for disruptive conduct.
If you skip class and miss a quiz or graded exercise, it cannot be made up. If you miss
class due to illness, you can make it up as long as you a) call/email before class and 2) present
written documentation when you return to class.
Schedule:
Part One:
The various elements and functions of music
The various musical traditions: art, folk, jazz, popular, world, etc.
Presentations
Journal entries
Written project topic approval with initial source citations
Exam 1
Part Two:
Musical periods of western European music: general stylistic characteristics,
genres, composers
Presentations
Journal entries
Written project outline/draft with source citations
Exam 2
Part Three:
Chant in historical and cultural context
Medieval, Renaissance, and into Baroque
Presentations
Journal entries
Written project due
Exam 3
Assignments and Presentations = a synthesis and interpretation of artistic expression: You will
complete several projects both in and out of class in order to synthesize content learned in class
and demonstrate your skill level. While rubrics will be used to aid in assessment of your growth,
only the World Music Project assessments will be used to assess this class for MSU Core.
Choice of Instrumental or Vocal Composition Project:
Instrumental Composition Project
Write a short piece (16+ measures) playable on piano in one of the styles listed below:
Organum from the 12th-13th century
Minuet from the Baroque period
Sonata from the Classic period
Rondo from the Classic period
Waltz from the Romantic period
Prelude from Impressionism
*** You will be directed to specific models in the International Music Score Library Project
(www.imslp.org) for minuet, sonata, rondo, waltz, and prelude.
You will present your composition using the following guidelines:
1. Those of you presenting compositions in the same genre will work as a team to
introduce the genre and its development to the class.
2. You will write a short description of your piece.
3. You, a colleague, or the professor will perform the piece.
Your composition will be graded using the following standards:
1. Did the composition illustrate the form of the genre?
2. Did your composition use harmonic progressions appropriate to the period of its
model?
3. The Writing Proficiency Exam rubric will be used to assess your written
communication skills.
Vocal Composition Project
Write a short vocal piece (with accompaniment unless demonstrably appropriate without) in one
of the following styles:
Folk song from the 1960s (piano or guitar accompaniment) to one verse of “Barbara
Allen” or “The Streets of Laredo”
Vocalise from the late 19th-early 20th centuries
Gospel or barbershop/sweet Adelines quartet on the words “Ave Maria” and/or “Amen”
Art song on the following haiku:
Twinkling in the night/ Stars light up both earth and sky/ You outshine them all
You will present your composition using the following guidelines:
1. Those of you presenting compositions in the same genre will work as a team to
introduce the genre and its development to the class.
2. You will write a short description of your piece.
3. You, a colleague, or the professor will perform the piece.
Your song will be graded using the following standards:
1. Did the voice part(s) follow a voice leading appropriate to the style?
2. Did the vocal part emulate the character, emotion, and meaning of the text?
3. The Writing Proficiency Exam rubric will be used to assess your written
communication skills.
Journal Entry
One of the ten journal entries will be based on the student’s perspective on social responsibility
in the arts. The entry will be graded using the Writing Proficiency Exam rubric as well as a
social responsibility rubric.
Journal Entry #?:
Music is among the most powerful of artforms. As a musician, what is your
responsibility to yourself, to the greater community of music and musicians, to your
society, and to the world as a whole? How would you express that responsibility?
Classical Concert Critique Guidelines
The following format is to be used for submission of critiques of the concerts you attend:
1. The critique must be at least 3 pages long plus cover page, stapled once at top left.
2. The critique is to be printed using 12 point Times New Roman font, double-spaced.
3. Critiques need to be written using complete sentences using the attached rubric as a
guideline.
4. Your name must be printed in the upper right corner of each page of the critique.
5. Use a cover page that includes: your name, the concert, and where and when you
attended.
The following are guidelines for a concert critique:
1. Answer the following questions:
What pieces were performed?
Was there a soloist or soloists? How did their participation enhance the
concert?
Was there a sense of progression or other unifying order to the selection of
pieces?
What was the most successful piece, in your opinion? Why?
What was your impression of the audience response to the concert?
Did your impression of the concert or to a specific piece change upon your
perception of its response from others?
How did your attendance at this concert impact your musical life?
2. Write and rewrite. Proof your work.
3. Use examples from pieces in the concert to illustrate points as you are able.
Recording Critique Guidelines
The following format is to be used for submission of critiques of the concerts you attend:
1. The critique must be at least 3 pages long plus cover page, stapled once at top left.
2. The critique is to be printed using 12 point Times New Roman font, double-spaced.
3. Critiques need to be written using complete sentences using the attached rubric as a
guideline.
4. Your name must be printed in the upper right corner of each page of the critique.
5. Use a cover page that includes: your name, the recording, the artists, record label
and original release date.
The following are guidelines for a recording critique:
1. Answer the following questions:
What is the genre of this recording? Explain the genre in addition to naming it.
Why have you picked this genre to critique?
Why have you picked this particular recording to critique?
Is this a recording with which you were already familiar?
What is the artist/composer/group trying to say?
How are they conveying that message?
Is the message worthwhile?
Do all tracks of the recording convey the same message? Explain.
What is/are your favorite track/s? What makes it/them so?
What has been the media response to this recording? Do you agree with it?
2. Write and rewrite. Proof your work.
World Music Project
You will be working in a team to produce a 15-20 minute presentation on the music from a
specific part of the world and of music not considered part of the western European tradition.
Your main source material will come from the textbook; however, it is expected that you will
augment this by appropriately documented material from additional printed, recorded, and
internet sources. Time will be allotted during the lab hour for team consultation and evaluation
after students have had time to complete individual tasks.
Personnel:
Team Leader: responsible for developing the concept of the presentation. Must aid in
research as needed and requested and ensure that presentation is on schedule.
Researcher #1: instruments of country, genres of music, specific pieces.
Researcher #2: history and culture of country, how music fits into various aspects of
that culture.
Schedule:
Week One: Choose country and any necessary stipulations/limitations on types/genres of
music to be discussed.
Week Two: Individuals come back with preliminary results from research as outlined
Above; PowerPoint flow discussed and initiated.
Week Three: Presentation, including PowerPoint and recorded examples, readied.
Decide who will talk, who will provide technical support.
Week Four: Presentations to class.
Week Five: Turn in 1+ page paper on the following: How does the music of the selected
country and genre compare with the music you listen to normally? How does it
compare to western European art music? With contemporary popular music?
What did you learn from this project? What can the USA “music scene” learn
from world music musicians and what can world music musicians learn from
musicians in urbanized society? Do you interact with music differently because of
what you learned from this?
Grading:
1) Participation (40%): Your daily participation (teamwork and social responsibility) will
be evaluated in class by the professor using teamwork and ethics rubrics.
2) Performance (40%): Each participant will be graded on their ability to fulfill their
obligations as listed above through a critical thinking rubric.
3) Paper (20%): Papers will be graded based on the Writing Proficiency Exam rubric
and the appropriateness of the material in the paper through a critical thinking rubric.
Academic (Dis)Honesty: Plagiarism is NOT allowed!!! Doing so can result in penalties ranging
from receiving a “0” on an assignment to being dropped from the course with the
annotation of “plagiarism” being added to your official MSU transcript, depending on the
severity of the infraction. Cheating by any means will result in similar actions.
Special Needs: If you need course adaptations or accommodations because of a disability, if you
have emergency medical information that needs sharing, or if you need special
accommodations in case the building must be evacuated, please make an appointment
with the professor to discuss these needs as soon as possible. Please note that in order to
qualify for consideration of special accommodations, the student must be registered with
the MSU Office of Disability Services, and the professor must receive a memo on file
from that office, along with the Special Accommodations Request Form.
Student Privacy: Federal privacy law prohibits the instructor from releasing information about
students to certain parties outside of the university without the signed consent of the
student. Thus, in almost all cases the professor will not discuss students’ academic
progress or other matters with their parents. Please do not have them call. Regardless of
these important legal considerations, the professor’s general policy is to communicate
with the student(s), not their parents, even when a student has signed a consent form.
Social Justice: Social justice is stated as one of Midwestern State University’s core values, and
the professor considers the classroom to be a place where the students will be treated with
respect as human beings, regardless of gender, race, ethnicity, national origin, religious
affiliation, sexual orientation, political beliefs, age, or ability. Moreover, diversity of
thought is appreciated and encouraged, provided the students can agree to disagree. It is
the professor’s expectation that ALL students be able to consider the classroom a safe
environment.