Music Program Classes
Classes offered at the Graduate Center
in SPRING 2004
Note: In addition to these courses, Graduate Center students
can request permission to take courses at other CUNY
campuses.
(Classes of previous semesters: Fall
2003, Spring
2003, Fall 2002,
Spring 2002, Fall
2001.)
Music 81502 Seminar:
Aesthetics of Film Music 3 cr.
Prof. Royal Brown Room
Tuesday 2-5pm Room 3491
The course will examine the entire phenomenon of film music and the
technical, artistic, aesthetic, psychological, and political problems it
poses. As an ongoing process, we will track the evolution of film music
and how its metamorphoses run parallel to and diverge from those in the
art and commerce of the cinema. For the "classical" film
score, we will examine essential differences between film and concert
music. Scores will be studied in the light of how the composer has
solved both the musical and dramatic problems at hand, and we will
discuss the ways in which varying musical styles, from romantic to
avant-garde, have been deployed in the cinematic context. In many
instances, the musical score opens doors onto deeper readings of the
filmic text, and we will explore some of the ways in which this occurs.
The movement of film music into non-classical areas, in particular pop
and jazz, will also be examined, as will the recent shift towards
electronics (synthesizers, sampling, etc.) and new tendencies in
film/music interactions, such as the breakdown of the distinction
between source (diegetic) and nondiegetic music. Numerous examples from
films and scores will be presented in class. Video copies of complete
films, including documentaries on composers such as Bernard Herrmann,
Jerry Goldsmith, Toru Takemitsu, and Georges Delerue, will be available
for viewing in the library.
Music 81504 Performance
Practice: 20th and 21st Centuries 3 cr.
Prof. Maurice Peress
Thursdays 10am-1pm Room 3491
A
study of the music of Antheil, Bernstein, Crumb, Ellington, Feldman,
Gershwin, Ives, and Stravinsky. Special emphasis will be given to
American composers whose broad range of vernacular-inspired styles pose
interpretive challenges alongside the technical problems usually faced
by the modern performer: polyrythms, unusual instrumentation, layered
tempi, and aleatoric music. Students will be asked to prepare
applicable works for instrument or voice.
Music 82900 Seminar
in Ethnomusicology: Field Research in Ethnomusicology 3 cr.
Prof. Barbara Hampton
Wednesdays 2-5pm Room 3491
Music 84000 Proseminar in Theory/Analysis:
Music Theory Pedagogy 3 cr.
Prof. Joseph Straus
Mondays 10am-1pm Room 3491
A practical course in teaching music theory. We will consider selected topics in all of
the principal undergraduate classes in music theory (Rudiments, Harmony and Voice Leading,
Sightsinging and Ear-Training, Counterpoint, Post-Tonal Theory, Form and Analysis) and a
variety of associated pedagogical issues (choosing a textbook, leading a discussion,
grading, writing to learn, etc.). Required work will include demonstration teaching,
review of textbooks, several short papers, and a final paper. Limited to 15 Graduate
Center students.
Music 85400 Seminar in Theory/Analysis:
Intermediate Schenkerian Analysis 3 cr.
Prof. L. Poundie Burstein Room 3491
Tuesdays 10am-1pm Room 3491
This course will focus on the practice and theory of Schenkerian analysis. Intensive work
in analysis of selections from the tonal literature will be supplemented by close readings
of Schenker's theoretical and analytical writings as well as readings from the secondary
literature. Prerequisite: Introduction to Schenkerian Analysis (Music 74500) or consent of
the instructor.
Music 85800 Seminar in Theory/Analysis: Modernist Analysis: Carter,
Ligeti, and Birtwistle 3 cr.
Prof. Philip Rupprecht Room 3491
Fridays 10am-1pm Room 3491
The seminar will analyze major works by three vastly influential figures
of the later twentieth century mainstream: Elliott Carter (b. 1908); György
Ligeti (b. 1923), and Harrison Birtwistle (b. 1934). Exploring the
distinctive idiom of each figure, we will reflect on three issues of
urgent concern to many composers plausibly described as
"Modernists": (i) rhythm (new attitudes to regulating
the flow of musical time); (ii) texture (a fascination with simultaneity
and new models of polyphony); (iii) form (strategies for constructing
goal-directed motion; approaches to ideals of coherence). Readings
from the secondary literature will supplement our hands-on analytic
encounters with this music. Pre-requisite: Music 741
(Introduction to Post-Tonal Theory and Analysis) or equivalent class.
Music 86100 Analysis
for Performers 3 cr.
Prof. Peter Basquin
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. Assigned
readings, listenings, short weekly analyses and a longer final paper are required. This
course is intended for and required of all students in the DMA program. Limited to 15
students.
Music 86200 Seminar in Music History
and Ethnomusicology: Multicultural Spain: Studies In The Music Of Catalonia, Andalusia, And Other Iberian Regions
3 cr.
Prof.
Peter Manuel and Antoni Piza
Mondays 2:30-5:30pm Room 3491
A survey of the popular and art music traditions of Spain, with special attention to flamenco, zarzuela, opera, Latin-American-influenced genres, and the
vihuela, guitar and keyboard repertoires, as well as themes such as nationalism, exoticism, and the role of Spain in the European musical imagination. Coverage will include major composers such as Albéniz, lesser-known ones such as Guerau and Literes, and important scholars and their contribution to the construction of a national musical identity.
Music 86400 Seminar in Music History: Writing About Music
3 cr.
Prof. Allan Atlas
Tuesdays 10:30-12:30pm Room 3389
To some extent, this course is an "advanced writing workshop."
It will deal with the strategies of scholarly writing, with the
presentation of historical, analytical, and aesthetic judgments/
interpretations in a clear, polished, and even hard-driving manner.
Each student will write (1) four short papers (approximately 500-750
words = 2-3 pages) on assigned topics, these to be submitted at the rate
of one every other session over the course of sessions 3-10 (each paper
will be read by the entire class and will, moreover, be assigned two
respondents who will open up the discussion of each paper); and (2)
either a Notes-length (approximately 1,000 words) review of a book,
edition, or recording of your choice OR a faux dissertation proposal
(approximately 1,500 words plus annotated bibliography (due at sessions
11-12) In addition, students will work in teams of two or three
with the aim of producing an annotated outline-one per team, and, in
effect, an annotated table of contents of the kind that one might submit
to a publisher-for a large-scale book on the history of "musical
culture" (the definition of which can vary from one team to
another) in the nineteenth century. Finally, from time to time we
will analyze selected readings from the musicological (in the widest
sense) literature, studying strategies and prose styles (both good and
bad) that various scholars have used.
The general "areas" for the assigned papers (and there will be
two topics per area) are: (1) analysis (and I don't mean Schenker
or set-theory), (2) "tables" (yes, "tables," one of
which is generally worth a million words), (3) Puccini, and (4)
Renaissance problems.
N.B.: (1) class limit: eight
students; (2) pre-requisite: either our own Music Program's MUS
70000 course, OR an equivalent course taken elsewhere, OR permission of
the instructor; and (3) although the course is worth 3 credits, it will
meet 2 hours each week, in addition to which I'll make myself available
for another three hours each week. For course syllabus, please
be in touch with Prof. Atlas immediately upon registering for the
course.
Music 86700 Seminar in Music History: Iconography: Music and Society in the 17th and 18th Centuries
3 cr.
Prof. Barbara Hanning
Fridays 10am-1pm Room 3491
The course will study paintings on musical subjects, principally from
the 17th and 18th centuries, and how they reveal the ways in which music
as an embodied practice, a physical activity subject to the gaze,
encodes complex and multiple levels of meaning. Topics will
include emblem books as a source of the visual vocabulary of the Baroque
affections; images of early monody; musical themes in art of the Dutch
Golden Age; representations of music-making in the 18th-century
French salon; and the relationship between musical performance practice
and the depiction of performance in art. Special attention will be
paid to the treatment in art of women musicians, including amateurs and
professionals, saints and muses.
Music 86800 Seminar in Music History: Berlioz, Opera, and Criticism in Paris, 1773-1863
3 cr.
Prof. Ora Saloman
Tuesdays 2-5pm Room 3389
To understand the musical, aesthetic, and cultural interactions
shaping operatic developments in Paris, we shall examine musicodramatic
works by Gluck, Cherubini, Spontini, Beethoven and Weber in France,
Rossini, Halevy, Meyerbeer, and Berlioz particularly through the
critical perspectives of Hector Berlioz. Topics include operatic
genres, styles, and characterizations as well as contemporaneous
critical discourse and aspects of reception history. A reading
knowledge of French is highly desirable although not essential.
Music 86900 Seminar
in Music History: History/Theory/Criticism of Hip-Hop
3 cr.
Prof. Hisama
Thursdays 10am-1pm Room 3389
This seminar will explore hip-hop culture, including MCing, DJing,
breakdancing, and graffiti, from its beginnings to the present by using
historical, analytical, and critical perspectives. We will examine
hip-hop's complex relationships to race, gender, sexuality, class, and
nation as manifested in recordings, performances, music videos, films,
fashion, and popular culture. Readings by Juan Flores, Robin D. G.
Kelley, Sunaina Marr Maira, Cheryl Keyes, Tricia Rose, and others.
Enrollment limited to 15 students. Non-Graduate Center students need
permission of instructor to enroll.
Music 88500 Composer's
Orchestration
3 cr.
Prof. David Del Tredici
Thursdays 5:15-7:30pm Room 3491
Music 89200 Composers
Seminar 3 cr.
Prof. David Olan
Thursdays 7:45-9:45pm Room 3491
The Composers Forum features a series of lectures by prestigious composers and
scholars of 20th-century and contemporary music. The meetings of the Composers Forum are
open to the public. Note that the Composers Forum does not meet every Thursday, but only
on selected dates; the specific dates and events may be found on the Composers Forum page.
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.
89000 Independent Study and Composition Tutorial (Room and Campus
TBA) Staff
1-12 cr.
90000 Dissertation Supervision 1 cr.
Note: In addition to these courses, Graduate Center students
can request permission to take courses at other CUNY
campuses.
Music Programs • The Graduate Center,
CUNY
365 Fifth Avenue • New York, New York 10016-4309
(212) 817-8590 • music@gc.cuny.edu
