Posted: December 20th, 2014

Music

Music

Order Description

MSC 1003
2-3 Pages

Below is a list of questions. These questions are based on topics that we covered throughout the semester, but are prompts that also encourage you to bring your own insights and observations to the material. In complete sentences, please select any 2 of the following 5 prompts to answer. For each of the 2 essays that you will answer separately, you should plan to write between 1 and 1.5 pages per essay, for a total of 2 to 3 pages. (It is fine if you go onto a 4th page.) Your responses should be typed in Times New Roman Font (size 12) with 1-inch margins.

Potential Essay Questions:

1. Selecting any 3 of the musical examples we?ve looked at throughout the semester, explain how each work was a mirror of the society in which it was composed. Be sure to identify the period in which the work was written, as well as some defining musical features of each piece. (The pieces you select should come from at least 2 different periods; i.e. Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, or Modernism and Postmodernism)

2. If you were making a soundtrack to your life, which pieces of music or songs would you pick? Why? Include at least 2 pieces that we talked about in class, although the other 4-6 pieces do not have to be things we?ve discussed in this class.

3. The 20th century saw a proliferation of styles and genres as composers struggled to find a new musical language to express not only their experiences, but to describe the world around them. Pick 2 of the artists/groups we discussed and comment on their work. What do you like about it? What do you not like? You can feel free to incorporate perspectives from modernist or postmodern composers, The Beatles, or Jazz musicians like Louie Armstrong, Miles Davis, and John Coltrane.

4. Watch either Alfred Hitchcock?s Vertigo or The Birds and discuss how you hear him using music throughout these films. Be able to discuss at least 2 instances where does he use diegetic music versus non-diegetic music. Does he use music diegetically or non-diegetically in these scenes? Why do you think Hitchcock made the choices he did regarding sound and music?

Possible films:
Vertigo (DVD 694, available on reserve at Baruch Library?Held under the class MSC 3034, Music in Film)
The Birds (DVD 102, available on reserve at Baruch Library?Held under the class MSC 3034, Music in Film)
*You can also rent either of these films for $2.99 on Amazon, streaming for 24 hours

5. You are a good friend of John Cage?s, and he would like to collaborate with you on a piece. He?s left all the artistic decisions up to you. What kind of piece would you write? Describe the piece?s philosophy (i.e. what is it trying to show/prove/argue/disprove?). What kinds of instruments will you use in your piece? Or will there be instruments at all? The answer to this question could involve anything from designing your own graphic notation to outlining the piece?s components in a 1-page response.

Course Materials
Text: Craig Wright, Listening to Western Music, 7th Edition. Boston: Schirmer, Cengage Learning, 2011.
Recording: 2-CD Set or Online CD Bundle
To purchase book + 2 CDs at a discounted price, cut and paste this link into your browser:
https://www.cengagebrain.com/micro/1-1HMYK6G

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