2022-2023 Academic Catalog

Apr 29, 2024

2022-2023 Academic Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

MUSC 210 - Topics in Music History and Criticism

This seminar takes up specific topics and themes in music history that open onto larger cultural contexts and interdisciplinary lines of inquiry. The seminar involves active discussion and student research with a depth and a focus not possible in a survey course. Reading and analyzing writings about music, including historiographic writing and music criticism, is a key component of the coursework. Students will build upon this critical work though writing projects, culminating in a substantial seminar paper.

Seminar topics change each time it is offered, and thus it may be taken more than once for credit. The course welcomes music majors and minors, as well as interested students from other disciplines. The prerequisite is a previous MUSC course or MCA 101.

Fall 2021

Writing about Music: There are as many ways to write about music as there are types of music. From ethnographic discussions of musical cultures, to theoretical texts, to music criticism, to philosophy, critical theory, and fiction, there is no shortage of approaches. Each week we will read texts using these approaches, while also listening to the music that they discuss. The best way to learn to write about music, however, is to do it. Therefore, the class will emphasize a variety of student writing projects-from weekly exercises to longer projects and research papers-each exploring the many options and hopefully discovering new ones. The essential prerequisite for this class is a desire to think critically about a broad array of music-and write about it.

May be repeated for credit.

Prerequisites: Any MUSC course or MCA 101 and IDND 018 or VE Placement

Course Designation/Attribute: VE

Anticipated Terms Offered: Offered every year