Seminars Offered by the Music Theory Faculty
Academic Year 2006–07
(Times subject to change; see quarterly updates. Course prerequisites below.)

Fall

16-MTHC-881 (3 G). Analysis of Early Music (Roig-Francolí, TH, 1:00-3:50). In this seminar we will study and apply selected analytical techniques appropriate to the music of the fourteenth through the early seventeenth centuries. The seminar will include the critical discussion of analytical methodologies, a selective survey of the analytical literature, and the analytical study of representative Medieval, Renaissance, and early-Baroque compositions, ranging from Ars Nova composers to Monteverdi.

Winter

16-MTHC-881 (3 G). Leonard B. Meyer (Zierolf, M, 2:00-4:50, Room 3234). In this seminar we will examine Meyer's ideas on meaning and style through close readings of Emotion and Meaning in Music (ISBN 0226521397) and Style and Music (ISBN 0812281780), with some attention to Music, the Arts, and Ideas (ISBN 0226521435). Students must purchase these books (used if in good condition) online. Other readings via a coursepack will deal with information theory, perception, and implication-realization. Each week, each student will deliver a 10-minute presentation on prose or analysis assigned and submit a two-page summary with commentary as the basis for the presentation. A final paper detailing a creative-exegetical view of style as gleaned from Meyer will be due on March 14. Prior to the first meeting on January 8, students must have read and prepared a non-graded synopsis of Emotion and Meaning in Music, The Meaning of Music portion (end) of Ch. 1, and a second, also non-graded, synopsis of Style and Music, Ch. 1.

Spring

16-MTHC-881 (3 G). Schenkerian Formenlehre and the Interpretation of Sonata Form (Berry, TBA). This seminar will focus on Schenkerian conceptions of form, and especially the analysis of sonata form. It will involve both extensive readings and frequent analysis. The readings will be drawn from texts that address Schenkerian Formenlehre more broadly, as well as those that specifically address sonata form and the analysis of its various components. Pieces for analysis will be drawn from the Classical period. A final analytical paper will be required, in which the student will (1) analyze a sonata-form piece (with graphs and commentary); or (2) engage in theoretical discussion of (and refinements to) the issues involved when analyzing sonata forms; or (3) do a combination of both. (Pre-requisites: Schenker I and II, or permission of the instructor.)

 

PRE-REQUISITES 

800-Level Seminars

Undergraduate: These courses are not open to undergraduates.