Music Program Classes
Classes offered at the Graduate Center
in FALL 2004
Note: In addition to these courses, Graduate Center students
can request permission to take courses at other
CUNY campuses.
Click here for Spring 2004 classes.
Music 70000 Bibliography and Research Techniques
(4cr.)
Prof. Allan Atlas
Tuesdays 10am-1pm Room 3389
An introduction to what "musicologists" (using that term in its broadest sense)
do, this by doing some of the things that some of them do: editing, archival research,
sketch studies, codicology, analysis-criticism, book reviewing, etc. A survey of the
chief musicological reference tools, journals, histories, etc. Discussion of one or
two of the "hotter" topics. A series of short papers and semester-long projects.
Music 71200 Research Techniques in Ethnomusicology (4cr.)
Prof. Stephen Blum
Mondays 10am-1pm Room 3389
The proseminar focuses on problems of coordinating several types of sources
in ethnomusicological research. Assignments include a number of exercises
and two major projects: a survey of the state of research in one area, and a
detailed proposal for a monograph or dissertation. Required of students
concentrating in ethnomusicology.
Music 74100 Introduction to the Analysis of Post-Tonal Music (4cr.)
Prof. Philip Rupprecht
Thursdays 2-5pm Room 3389
A survey of approaches to post-tonal theory and analysis. The course will focus on analyzing music by
Webern, Schoenberg, Stravinsky, Maxwell Davies and others . Our analyses will be supplemented by readings in secondary literature by Babbitt, Forte,
Lewin, and other major theorists and analysts of post-tonal literature. NOTE - This course is limited to 15 (Ph.D. and DMA students at the Graduate School only; NOT open for any permit or non-matriculated students).
Music 74500
Proseminar in Theory/Analysis: Introduction to Schenkerian Analysis (4cr.)
Prof. Poundie Burstein
Mondays 10am-1pm
Room 3491
An introduction to the practice of Schenkerian analysis, including discussion of its
notation, terminology, and techniques. Assignments will involve intensive analyses of
works and excerpts of works from the Western tonal repertoire. Students entering the class
should have a strong background in harmony and counterpoint. NOTE - This course is limited to 15 (Ph.D. and DMA students at
the Graduate School only; not open for any permit or non-matriculated students).
81001 Studio Tutorial (Room and Campus TBA) Staff 3 cr.
81002 Studio Tutorial (Room and Campus TBA) Staff 3 cr.
81003 Studio Tutorial (Room and Campus TBA) Staff 3 cr.
81004 Studio Tutorial (Room and Campus TBA) Staff 3 cr.
81101 Ensemble (Room and Campus TBA) Staff
1 cr.
81102 Ensemble (Room and Campus TBA) Staff 1 cr.
81103 Ensemble (Room and Campus TBA) Staff 1 cr.
81104 Ensemble (Room and Campus TBA) Staff 1 cr.
Music 81201 Performance Workshop: Renaissance (2cr.)
Prof. Anne Stone
Thursdays 2-5pm
Room 3491
This course, which is a co-requisite of Music 76001 (see
below),
will provide an opportunity to explore what it's like to attempt to perform medieval songs from their original notation. The quality of the performance is not the point; rather, by engaging with songs in the written medium with which they were originally recorded we gain insight into their makeup that is denied when approaching them through translation into modern notation. Students are asked to practice assigned works in advance so that the workshop can be devoted to experimentation and discussion rather than note-learning.
Music 76001 Proseminar in Music History: Subjectivity and
Song in the Middle Ages (3cr.)
Prof. Anne Stone
Thursdays 5-7pm
Room 3491
The subject of this seminar is the repertory of vernacular songs composed between about 1200 and 1420, a repertory that includes the monophonic songs of the troubadours and trouvéres, the polyphonic songs of the great poet/composer Guillaume de Machaut (1300-77), and the fascinating and complex songs of the generation after him sometimes referred to as the "Ars subtilior." We will examine these songs in their own right, but also use them to theorize more generally about songs, focusing particularly on their "subjectivity"--the way they present and elaborate a first-person speaking subject. This is an approach generally taken by literary rather than music scholars, and much of the secondary literature we will read will be by literary scholars. But the point of the seminar is to investigate to what degree the musical dimension of songs can contribute to the creation of a poetic persona. A governing question will be: Who do we imagine is singing in a medieval song, and what musical aspects of the song contribute to our perception of that imagined persona? This question will be posed against a backdrop of other intersecting historical and theoretical issues: the relationship between orality and literacy; the role of writing in the presentation of the poetic persona; the relationship of the poetic speaker to the author and the emerging notion of authorship; the role of the scribe; citation, quotation, and
intertextuality. The co-requisite for this course is Music
81201 (see above).
Music
81502 Performance
Practice: Baroque (3cr.)
Prof. Raymond Erickson
Tuesdays 10am-1pm Room 3491
This course, intended for performers, will approach various issues in Baroque performance
practice primarily through the music of J.S. Bach. Issues to be dealt with include: Baroque
instruments and vocal and instrumental technique, dances and dance music, national styles,
ornamentation, and continuo playing.
Music 82000 Analysis
for Performers (3cr.)
Prof. John Graziano
Tuesdays, 2-5pm
Room 3491
Analysis of various works in tonal and post-tonal styles, with emphasis on those aspects (harmonic, melodic, structural, rhythmic and thematic) that influence performance decisions. Students will prepare works for analysis and performance in class. This course is intended for and required of all students in the DMA program. (Limit 15 students)
Music 82501 Music
History of Music Theory I (3cr.)
Prof. Ruth DeFord
Mondays 2-5pm Room 3491
This course focuses on three broad issues in music theory from ancient times to ca. 1600: (1) concepts of pitch, including interval measurement, tuning systems,
musica ficta, and the chromatic and enharmonic genera; (2) theories of counterpoint; and (3) mode. It emphasizes conflicting opinions, both among early theorists and among their modern interpreters, with the objective of discovering the (often unstated) assumptions that underlie these conflicts. Relationships of theory to composition and performance practice are also considered.
Music 83400 Musical Relationships between African Americans and European Americans in the US, 1870-1970
(3 cr.)
Prof. Stephen Blum
Wednesdays 10am-1pm Room 3491
The history of musical relationships between African Americans and European Americans during the first century after the Civil War, as a particularly important case study of the musical aspects of contact between members of a dominant population and an oppressed minority. Considerable attention is devoted to problems of interpreting social and musical action from the actors' points of view. Extensive reading and listening assignments, culminating in a research paper. Restricted to students
enrolled in a music doctoral program.
Music 83500 Music, Globalization, and Diasporas (3cr.)
Prof. Peter Manuel
Mondays 2-5pm Room 3491
A cross-cultural exploration of the musical ramifications of globalization, including the socio-musical dynamics of diaspora cultures. Theoretical literature on cultural globalization will be studied in relation to music. Topics will also include: reconsideration of standard approaches to acculturation and syncretism; perspectives on world beat; music and the cultural imperialism thesis; postmodernism and transnational music flows; the ethics, aesthetics, and legal issues (i.e., pertaining to copyright) of transnational musical interactions. Diaspora studies will be approached via theoretical literature and a set of case studies. Assigned readings, listenings, seminar reports: one term paper, on a topic related to one's interests.
Music 84200 Seminar in Theory/Analysis: Current Trends in Music
Theory (3cr.)
Prof. Joseph Straus
Fridays 10am-1pm Room 3389
Music 85400 Analysis of Nineteenth-Century Opera (3cr.)
Prof. William Rothstein Room 3491
NOTE: This seminar is not a Schenker course .
This seminar focuses on the music of serious operas from the early and middle nineteenth century, from Rossini's Tancredi (1813) to Wagner's
Die Walküre and Verdi's Un ballo in maschera (both from the 1850s). Other operas to be discussed include Weber's Der
Freischütz , Rossini's Semiramide and Guillaume
Tell, Bellini's Il pirata, Meyerbeer's Les Huguenots, Wagner's
Lohengrin, and Verdi's Rigoletto. Only Rigoletto will be covered as a whole; for other operas, excerpts for study will range from a single number to an entire act. A recurring focus will be the difference between operatic music and instrumental music during this period. Students will write a few short analytical papers, plus one longer paper on an excerpt not covered in class. Prerequisites: A strong background in the analysis of musical form is essential, but no experience in Schenkerian analysis is required or assumed. This is not a Schenker course. A reading knowledge of Italian, German, or French will be helpful but is not required
Music 86200 New
Currents in American Music Studies (3cr.)
Prof. Ellie Hisama
Thursdays 10am-1pm Room 3491
This seminar will explore recent scholarship on American music, paying particular attention to popular music, jazz, ethnic musics of urban America,
and twentieth-century composition. We will consider new perspectives on established topics in American music such as ultra-modernism and the array
of approaches to more recent areas such as popular music studies. Critical
and interdisciplinary methods that reflect upon the roles of race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, class, politics, and nation in the production
and reception of American music will form the basis of our discussions. Readings by Averill, Brackett, Kelley, Lewis,
Mockus, Oja, Rasmussen, Suisman, Taylor, Tick, Tucker, Wong, and others. Enrollment limited to 15
doctoral students in music. Non-music students, consortium students, and
auditors only by permission of instructor; not open to permit students.
Music 89100 Composers Seminar (3cr.)
Prof. Tania Leon
Tuesdays, 2-5pm Room 3491
Classes of previous semesters: Spring 2004, Fall
2003, Spring
2003, Fall 2002,
Spring 2002, Fall
2001.
Music Programs • The Graduate Center,
CUNY
365 Fifth Avenue • New York, New York 10016-4309
(212) 817-8590 • music@gc.cuny.edu
