Day Four

Today we met in the music library which is where we will stay for the rest of the semester. We are slightly crowded in the back room, but a little coziness may enhance learning. At least nobody can fall asleep easily!

We spent some time looking at www.lcsproductions.net which is great resource for music history and theory. We then listened to Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde, truly a magnificent piece in all respects. A few more minutes of discussion and we jumped backward in time to early music. What did you think of Liebestod? How did you feel after it was done?

Discussing monody, plainsong, chant, organum, church modes, rhythmic modes, tropes and sequences, and parts of the mass, we landed on Machaut where we spent some time discussing Isorhythm. A few minutes of notation and a few more on the printing press, and we find ourselves nearly ready to go forward in time to today! Should be fun!

Day Three

Okay, we are on Day Three and continue to go through the test, defining terms, extrapolating ideas, and discussing composers. Once done, we will jump into the American musical scene and discuss pop music of today. Then moving into experimental sounds and various approaches to art music of the late 20th century, we will listen and learn some things that are both creative and maybe disturbing to some. A couple of days of this and it will be time to seesaw back to the Middle Ages for some fun discussion of Monody and the development of music.

New class--Day Two

Attendance=all present!