Syllabus Spring 15/MUSC 1300/Prof.

Lupo/1

Brooklyn College of the City University of New York

Music: Its Language, History, and Culture, Core MUSC 1300 TR2A, Spring 2015
T, Th 2:153:30 206G Roosevelt Extension (RE)
Professor Michael Lupo

Contact information:
Email: Muslupo@gmail.com (this is the best way to reach me)
Music Office Phone: 718.951.5286
Office Hours: By Appointment

Course Description and Learning Objectives: The aim of this course is to become familiar and
fluent with the analytic tools necessary to comprehend, interact with, critique, and deconstruct
music as both sonic product and social practice. Given our method of understanding music
through listening, this class assumes no formal training on the part of the student (e.g., the ability
to read or write music) but does, however, presume an open mind. Among the repertoires
considered will be Western art music, jazz, pop, rock, film music, and African and Latin
American performance practices. Students who have successfully completed this course will be
able to identify works that are representative of a variety of musical styles and to speak and write
about the salient features of these styles with appropriate terminology. We will engage in a
number of discussions and activities in our sessions based on assigned readings, and regular,
thoughtful participation is expected. Finally, successful completion of this course will entail
attaining not only a firm understanding of the continuum of Western art and vernacular music
history, but will also provide the groundwork for locating these repertoires intersections with the
musical practices of today.

Course Materials: Reading and listening assignments will come from the required textbook,
Music: Its Language, History, and Culture, as well as from other primary and secondary source
materials. All of these sources will be made available to you for free (usually in PDF form) on
Blackboard, which is accessible via the CUNY portal. I expect you to be prepared to reference
these readings during class discussions either via your notes or via printouts of the readings
themselves. Other online sources, particularly Oxford Music Online, but also JSTOR and Project
Muse, will be of use occasionally, especially when you are researching your concert reports. To
access these online databases, go to the Brooklyn College Library homepage and select the
Databases tab; links to databases are listed alphabetically.

Accessibility: Center for Student Disability Services: In order to receive disability-related

academic accommodations students must first be registered with the Center for Student
Disability Services. Students who have a documented disability or suspect they may have a
disability are invited to set up an appointment with the Director of the Center for Student
Disability Services, Ms. Valerie Stewart-Lovell at 718-951-5538. If you have already registered

Syllabus Spring 15/MUSC 1300/Prof. Lupo/2

with the Center for Student Disability Services please provide your professor with the course
accommodation form and discuss your specific accommodation with him/her.
If you struggle with the writing process or have not frequently written academic papers in
English, I encourage you to take advantage of Brooklyn Colleges Learning Center. The
Learning Center provides free writing tutors that can look over your work before you turn it in.
Call (718) 951-5821 or go to their office in 1300 Boylan Hall to make an appointment.

Attendance & Participation: As Brooklyn College puts it:

Attendance means more than just showing up; it means doing the reading and, more
importantly, actively engaging with the ideas and issues brought up in the reading and in lecture.
Your comments, questions and opinions are essential ingredients for making this course a
challenging and rewarding experience for your classmates as well as for yourself, and I expect
you to come prepared to make this contribution. In turn, I promise you that I will come fully
prepared for each class, will return your assignments in a timely fashion, and will do my best to
create an atmosphere of constructive dialogue in the classroom.
Attendance is mandatory for all classes. However, two classes are automatically excused. You do
not have to email me or provide any documentation; they are yours to take for whatever reason
you wish (but I highly suggest you hold on to them, as it is possible that youll wish to use them
as sick days). After these days have been exhausted, failure to attend class will adversely affect
your grade. Should an emergency occur and you need more than these allotted days,
documentation must be provided that states precisely why you could not attend on the days/times
in question. An attendance sheet will be available to be signed from the time at which I arrive in
the classroom until the beginning of class at 2:15. If you fail to sign the attendance sheet before
class begins, youll be asked to sign the back of the sheet and marked late. Two late marks equal
one absence. If you must miss a class, check the course schedule as well as Blackboard and/or
consult a classmate to find out what material you missed, and be sure to look at/listen to these
materials before the next session. Also note that missed quizzes and exams cannot be made
up; failure to be in attendance on the day of any of these events will result in a zero on the
assignment. No exceptions. Religious holidays are excused just let me know well in advance.

Class Conduct and Professionalism

Cell phones: No.
Email Correspondence
I will use e-mail to send out announcements, changes in the syllabus, reminders about tests or
due dates, etc. It is your responsibility to check e-mail regularly to keep up-to-date with these
announcements.
Golden Rules of Email:

Check your email daily.

Syllabus Spring 15/MUSC 1300/Prof. Lupo/3

ALWAYS PUT <your last name> AND <class title> IN THE SUBJECT so I know
whom the message is from.
Email is a formal means of communication in the context of school or work; please sign
every message at the bottom, use polite language, capital letters, punctuation, greetings
and salutations. Please avoid lol ty u r and other abbreviationsthis is an email, not a
text message.
I will not accept assignments via email. If you fail to give me a printed assignment, you
will not receive a grade for that assignment, regardless of the situation in my inbox.

Plagiarism and Academic Misconduct

Academic Dishonesty is prohibited in the City University of New York and is punishable by
penalties, including failing grades, suspension, and expulsion, as provided herein.
CUNY Policy on Academic Integrity. Adopted by the Board of Trustees 6/28/2004
Please go to http://www.brooklyn.cuny.edu/bc/policies/ for further information about:
CUNY Policy on Academic Integrity
BC Procedures for Implementing the CUNY Policy on Academic Integrity
Flow Chart of the BC Procedures for Implementing the CUNY Policy on Academic Integrity
The best learning is done in conversation with others, whether they are peopleclassmates,
teachers, friendsor textsbooks, articles, essays, poems, films etc. It should not be an interior,
closed, solitary process. However, the assignments that you hand in for this course must be done
on your own, should represent your own thinking, and should be original work that you have
done for this particular course. In my opinion, the best way to balance these two seemingly
contradictory approaches (collaborative learning and original individually-produced work)
without knowinglyor, even unwittinglyresorting to plagiarism or other forms of academic
misconduct is to learn and meticulously observe the rules for citing the work of others. It is your
responsibility to learn what constitutes plagiarism and the correct rules for citing sourcesread
the information on the following website carefully: http://www.brooklyn.cuny.edu/bc/policies/.
The bottom line is: passing off anyones words or ideas as your own for any reason whatsoever is
plagiarism.

Basis of Grade:
Response Essay

15%

Quiz(s) on homework

10%

Midterm

20%

Final Exam (semi-comprehensive)

25%

Attendance/ Class Participation

10%

Syllabus Spring 15/MUSC 1300/Prof. Lupo/4

Concert report (will not be accepted late)

20%

One Extra Credit assignment, the successful completion of which will earn you up to 3% on top
of your final grade
Overview of Assignments
Unless otherwise specified, all written assignments are due IN CLASS on the day indicated
in the course schedule. As stated above, electronically submitted work will not be graded: you
must provide a printed copy. Aside from the concert report, late work is accepted unless
otherwise specified, but 5% points will be deducted for each class meeting after the due date.
I. Twelve reading / listening homework assignments will be given on an approximately weekly
basis. On all days when homework assignments are due, you should come to class ready to
discuss (and possibly take a quiz on) what you have heard and read, and respond to any
questions given in the assignment. You do not need to hand anything written into me when these
are due (aside from one response essaysee below). Assignment due dates are indicated on the
course schedule; assignment materials are posted on Blackboard.
II. A 500 word (2 page) response essay based on one of the 12 assignments listed in the course
schedule, due on the same day as that assignment. The content of this response essay is quite
open-ended: the only requirement is that you address some aspect of the assignment in a detailed
and meaningful way. This could involve, for example, a discussion of specific musical elements
of a piece, a historical, political, or cultural contextualization of a writer or composer, a reaction
to some aspect of a writers argument or philosophy, a close reading of a particular passage of
prose, etc. This should not be a straight summary of the assignment.
III. A concert report is due in class absolutely no later than 7 May. You must attend a live
musical performance of classical music (broadly conceived), and write a review of the concert.
The resulting essay should be 750-1255 words (approximately 3-5 pages) and should include a
bibliography with at least 2 scholarly sources. More detailed information about this assignment
is posted on Blackboard and will be discussed in class.
Important Deadlines:
17 February: Quiz on music fundamentals
24 March: Midterm
5 May: Extra credit proposal (optional)
7 May: Concert report
21 May: Final Exam in classroom (DATE/TIME SUBJECT TO CHANGE!)
A Final Note: Critical Thinking
Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit; wisdom is knowing not to put it in a fruit salad.
Brian Gerald ODriscoll (professional rugby player, 2009)
Although there is no standard definition of critical thinking, most agree that it a practice adopted
by those who follow reason and evidence wherever they lead, eschew egocentric judgment, are
open-minded, self-reflexive, inquisitive, and most of all, critical. Wisdom, in my estimation,

Syllabus Spring 15/MUSC 1300/Prof. Lupo/5

results not only from accumulating facts from a range of sources, but also being able to use these
facts to synthesize innovative theses. Be discerning, skeptical, and question assumptions.
Course Schedule
Unit I: Fundamentals
Thursday 1/29
syllabus and course schedule overview; listening
exercise; towards a definition of music
Tuesday 2/3
planes of listening; physical elements of sound; timbre;
orchestral instruments and voices
Thursday 2/5
rhythm; meter; scales; chords
Tuesday 2/10
melody; harmony; texture; dynamics;
Thursday 2/12
Lincolns Birthday; NO CLASS
Unit II: Western Art Music
Tuesday 2/17
Form; genre; analysis; Western art music preliminaries
Thursday 2/19
Troubadours/trouvres/Minnesingers; Adam de la Halle;
Vocal Music:
plainchant; Hildegard of Bingen; Notre Dame School
Middle Ages and (Leonin and Perotin); Machaut; Josquin; Tallis
Renaissance
Tuesday 2/24
Monteverdi (Orfeo); Purcell (Dido and Aeneas); J. S.
Early Opera;
Bach (Fugue in G minor, BWV 578, Little); sequence;
Baroque Period
counterpoint
Thursday 2/26
Haydn (string quartet in C Major, op. 76, mvt. II);
Classicism and
(Symphony No. 102); Mozart (Symphony No. 40, in G
Sonata Form
minor, mvt.. I); sonata form; rondo form, theme &
variations, minuet & trio
Tuesday 3/3
Beethoven: Symphony No. 3 Eroica mvt. I, Symphony
Beethoven,
No. 5, mov. I); Schubert (Der Erlknig, Gretchen am
Heroism,
Spinrade)
Romanticism
Thursday 3/5
Berlioz (Symphonie fantastique); Liszt (Totentanz);
Art Song and
Debussy (Voiles); Impressionism
Program Music
Tuesday 3/10
Richard Wagner (The Valkyrie); Stravinsky & the Ballet
Modernism I:
Russes (Le sacre du printemps); Schoenberg (Pierrot
Europe
Lunaire); Expressionism
Thursday 3/12
Ives (The Unanswered Question); Copland (Appalachian
Modernism II:
Spring); Ruth Crawford Seeger (Piano Study in Mixed
America
Accents)
Tuesday 3/17
Babbitt (Philomel); Varse (Pome lectronique); Nono
Modernism III:
(Prometeo); The Darmstadt School
Technology
Thursday 3/19
John Cage; Indeterminacy; Abstract Expressionism;
Experimentalism;
Midterm review
Postmodernity
Tuesday 3/24
Midterm [Units I and II]

[assignment 1]
[assignment 2]
[assignment 3]

Quiz on terms
[assignment 4]

[assignment 5]

[assignment 6]
[assignment 7]
Be on time

Syllabus Spring 15/MUSC 1300/Prof. Lupo/6

Unit III: Case Studies in World Music and Film Sound

Thursday 3/26
areto; punto; dcima; rumba; conga; ballroom music;
Cuban Music
son; salsa
Tuesday 3/31
polyrhythm exercise; Mbuti Pygmies; West African
African Musical
drumming (Ghana), Shona bira ceremony (Zimbabwe)
Practices
Thursday 4/2
The Big Sleep (1946); Vertigo (1958) The Shining
Film Music
(1980); Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998); The
Royal Tenenbaums (2001); Mulholland Drive (2001)
Tuesday 4/7 &
Spring Break: NO CLASS
Thursday 4/9
Unit IV: Jazz and Popular Music in the United States
Tuesday 4/14
Ragtime (Scott Joplin); Classic Blues (Bessie Smith, W.
Origins of Jazz
C. Handy); Country Blues (Robert Johnson); Marches
(John Philip Sousa)
Thursday 4/16
Dixieland (Louis Armstrong, King Oliver and His Creole
Early Jazz
Jazz Band, Original Dixieland Jazz Band); Stride Piano
(James P. Johnson, Jelly Roll Morton)
Tuesday 4/21
Swing (Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, Count Basie);
Radio Days
Tin Pan Alley Song (George Gershwin, Irving Berlin,
Cole Porter); Crooners (Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra)
Thursday 4/23
Billie Holiday; Coleman Hawkins; Charlie Parker; Dizzy
Bebop and
Gillespie; Max Roach; Abbey Lincoln; Charles Mingus
Political Jazz
Tuesday 4/28
Woody Guthrie Dust Bowl Ballads (1940); Pete Seeger;
Folk/Rock
Peter, Paul and Mary; Bob Dylan The Times They Are aChangin (1964), Bringing it All Back Home (1965); Joni
Mitchell Ladies of the Canyon (1970)
Thursday 4/30
the Beatles A Hard Days Night (1964); Revolver (1966);
British Invasion
Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967); White
Album (1968); The Rolling Stones Beggars Banquet
(1968)
Tuesday 5/5
Terry Riley In C; Steve Reich Violin Phase and Music
Minimalism
for 18 Musicians; Philip Glass Einstein on the Beach
Thursday 5/7
Rock, Post-punk,
Alternative
Tuesday 5/12
Thursday 5/14
Thursday 5/21

The Velvet Underground The Velvet Underground and

Nico (1967); The Sex Pistols, Radiohead OK Computer
(1996)
Optional Extra Credit Presentations
Final Exam review
Final Exam [Units III & IV] *date/time may change*

[assignment 8]

[assignment 9]

[assignment 10]

[assignment 11]

[assignment 12]
EC proposal
due
concert report
due in class

1:00-3:00