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Histories of Western Music Dr. Matthew Chamberlain Western Music Appreciation | IHSS 1740 Monday, 15 January 2019 Histories of Western Music Todays Class About Me 1. 2. What is Music Appreciation? 3. Central Topics For this Class What

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Histories of Western Music

Western Music Appreciation | IHSS 1740 Monday, 15 January 2019

Dr. Matthew Chamberlain

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Histories of Western Music

1.

About Me

2. What is Music Appreciation?
3. Central Topics For this Class

What exactly are histories?

4. Syllabus Walkthrough

Class Policies, Assignments, Schedule

Today’s Class

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Histories of Western Music

1.

Conductor, primarily of “contemporary music”

focussing on music written since 1950

2. Composer

particularly interested in computer-assisted composition, microtonality, imperfection, and humor

About Me

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What does it mean to appreciate music?

/ Why are you taking this class?

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Histories of Western Music

1. Music and Meaning
2. Music History Has a History
3. Histories Are Stories

Central Topics For this Class

What exactly are histories?

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Does a Piece of Music Have a Meaning?

If so, what is that meaning’s source?

3 MINUTES

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Histories of Western Music

Walkürenritt (The Ride of the Valkyries) from Die Walküre (1870).

One (tiny) part of a 5-hour opera by the German composer Richard Wagner (1813-1833).

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Histories of Western Music

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Histories of Western Music Amalie Materna as the valkyrie Brünnhilde from Wagner’s Die Walküre (1876) Tessa Thompson as Valkyrie in Thor Ragnarok (2017)

Times Tend to Have Changed

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Histories of Western Music

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Histories of Western Music

That performance was at the MET in NYC. It seats 3500 people. Opera singers have to be able to sing loudly enough that all 3500 listeners can hear them… …even while an orchestra of about 75 musicians plays.

SIDE NOTE

Singers are Athletes

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Histories of Western Music

Apocalypse Now (1979) directed by Francis Ford Coppola.

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Does the meaning of this music change along with these different contexts?

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Histories of Western Music

Music history has a history.

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Histories of Western Music Carl Dahlhaus 1928–1989 Heinrich Schenker 1868–1935

Important Dead White Men Behind “Music History”

Meow…

Hugo Riemann 1849–1919

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Histories of Western Music

A history is a story written by an author. It has a beginning and an end, a particular setting, a language, a style. It is limited by the perspective of its author. It is not objective.

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Histories of Western Music

A major focus of this class is to approach histories critically, to celebrate their contributions to our understanding of past events while also recognizing their limitations.

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Histories of Western Music

Teleology and its Critiques

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Histories of Western Music

Teleology is an explanation for something as a function of its end, purpose, or goal.

ex. “Aquatic creatures slowly developed legs as

they evolved to become humans.“

ex. “The seed burst open to grow into a tree.“

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Histories of Western Music

Teleologies can be made explicit in the language used to tell histories. They can also be implied by the choice of what information to include, the order in which facts are presented, and the style of presentation.

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Histories of Western Music

Historiography is the study of histories — how they are researched and written. We will explore multiple historiographic methods — i.e., approaches to understanding the past — in order to challenge teleological narratives about music history.

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Histories of Western Music

Let’s look at the syllabus to get more detail.

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Histories of Western Music

1. Intro Survey
2. Listening + Response

Homework

The only thing as certain as death and taxes.

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Histories of Western Music

Histories of Western Music

Western Music Appreciation | IHSS 1740 Monday, 15 January 2019

1.

About Me

What exactly are histories?

Class Policies, Assignments, Schedule

Today’s Class

1.

Conductor, primarily of “contemporary music”

focussing on music written since 1950

particularly interested in computer-assisted composition, microtonality, imperfection, and humor

About Me

What does it mean to appreciate music?

/ Why are you taking this class?

Central Topics For this Class

What exactly are histories?

Does a Piece of Music Have a Meaning?

If so, what is that meaning’s source?

3 MINUTES

Walkürenritt (The Ride of the Valkyries) from Die Walküre (1870).

One (tiny) part of a 5-hour opera by the German composer Richard Wagner (1813-1833).

Times Tend to Have Changed

That performance was at the MET in NYC. It seats 3500 people. Opera singers have to be able to sing loudly enough that all 3500 listeners can hear them… …even while an orchestra of about 75 musicians plays.

SIDE NOTE

Singers are Athletes

Does the meaning of this music change along with these different contexts?

Music history has a history.

Important Dead White Men Behind “Music History”

A history is a story written by an author. It has a beginning and an end, a particular setting, a language, a style. It is limited by the perspective of its author. It is not objective.

A major focus of this class is to approach histories critically, to celebrate their contributions to our understanding of past events while also recognizing their limitations.

Teleology and its Critiques

Teleology is an explanation for something as a function of its end, purpose, or goal.

they evolved to become humans.“

Teleologies can be made explicit in the language used to tell histories. They can also be implied by the choice of what information to include, the order in which facts are presented, and the style of presentation.

Historiography is the study of histories — how they are researched and written. We will explore multiple historiographic methods — i.e., approaches to understanding the past — in order to challenge teleological narratives about music history.

Let’s look at the syllabus to get more detail.

Homework

The only thing as certain as death and taxes.

Next Class The "West" and its Music(s)