UNDERGRADUATE
MUSI2081 Music in Western Culture I
Course Type: core/compulsory for music majors/minors (music minors may choose between this and MUSI2082 Music in Western Culture II), free elective for others
Prerequisite: NIL
Prerequisite: NIL
Instructor: Dr. Youn KIM
Semester: First Semester 2023/24
Time: 10:30am-12:20pm, Tuesday
Venue: CPD-LG1.22 Rehearsal Room
Semester: First Semester 2023/24
Time: 10:30am-12:20pm, Tuesday
Venue: CPD-LG1.22 Rehearsal Room
The course examines topics in musical practices, works, and aesthetic ideas from the 17th to the mid 19th centuries. Various musical styles as well as conceptual ideas behind the musical practices are examined. The course emphasises the socio-cultural context in which the music was created, performed, and consumed, as well as its relationship to the other art forms. Together with MUSI2082, the course promotes students’ foundational knowledge in music history and stylistic listening skills. It is also designed to enhance student’s ability to critically think about music and communicate these thoughts. The focus of course content may vary from year to year.
Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:
- demonstrate knowledge in various musical styles and illustrate a deeper understanding of conceptual ideas behind the musical practices;
- appreciate the profound link between music and historical change and explain this link in terms of social function, musical style, and individual creativity;
- think critically about musical practices, works, and ideas in their socio-cultural contexts and communicate these thoughts coherently.
Music Review Essay 20%
Mini Research Paper or Portfolio for a Lecture Concert 30%
Two Quiz Activities 20 x 2 = 40%
Participation 10%
Mini Research Paper or Portfolio for a Lecture Concert 30%
Two Quiz Activities 20 x 2 = 40%
Participation 10%
- “Early music”: a quick introduction
- Humanism and the first operas
- Music of faith, sense, and reason
- Baroque
- Simplicity and sentimentality
- The composer’s voice
- Beethoven
- Musical storytelling
- Stars and spectacles
- Inventing tradition
- Hanning, Barbara Russano. Concise History of Western Music.5th ed. New York: W.W. Norton, 2020. (required textbook for this course and MUSI2082)
Selected readings andlistening/viewing materials are either available on Moodle or on reserve at theMusic Library. Additional resource materials include:
- Burkholder, Peter, Donald Jay Grout, and Claude V. Palisca. A History of Western Music. 10th ed. New York and London: W.W.Norton, 2019.