Day Three--Boring but necessary

Today was rather dull as we tore into the tests to seek the correct answers. We went through every question, elaborating when necessary and spending some time on the essential ambiguity of Music History and Music Theory. But in spite of the gray area of some terms such as Tone Poem or Serialism, there is still much to gain by attempting to categorize composers and definitions historically.

Please read through the article. It is a nice historical overview of the 20th century and musical developments. I am not sure I like his dogma nor his conclusions, but I do appreciate much of the enlightenment and information. What does "tonality with an attitude" mean to you?

http://axess.se/magasin/english.aspx?article=713

So if God likes tonality and atonality and simply looks for our honesty in musical expression and honoring Him in all things, why is all church music tonal?

The Bad Boy of Music, George Antheil, attempted something new and was labeled a radical. Is there anything new in music today? Are we done with musical developments? What will music be in 100 years?

Day Two--August 26, 2010

We started 5 minutes late which is understandable considering it was our first day in the music library. We were listening to the amazing Liebestod by Wagner but unfortunately got a little caught up in the way the singer looked. This is the downside of youtube for music learning. Music is primarily an aural art and it can be anathema to judge the visual aspects of music over the aural. Yet human nature cannot help but address the visual as well. So it is with caution that we use youtube for some of our listening moments.

Meanwhile, I maintain that Tristan und Isolde is the turning point in music study. It is thoroughly Romantic in all respects but points us to the heavy chromaticism and blurring of tonality that happens later. Plus it is one of the most glorious works in the entire repertory of music literature. Further study is warranted.

We took the test, did the listening, talked about some web resources, and discussed Neo-classicism in the 20th century. Most of the class involved taking a test. Lucky for me, we have plenty to learn. If the students already had complete and accurate knowledge of everything in music, there would be no need for a teacher!

So the question for today is: Why do we tend to prefer tonality over atonality? Does God prefer tonality?

Day One--Fall 2010

We discussed the format of this course and reiterated the importance of attendance. Much of the class will be discussion and listening with information presented on this blog. In addition, the classes will be placed on this blog for supplemental study. We are working to develop a comprehensive understanding of the history of music including all styles of music and its theoretical components. Recognizing this is an ambitious project, we will capsulize much of the information with the hope that students will supplement through web resources available. Rather than approaching this course chronologically, we have decided to play ping-pong with music history by starting at the beginning then bouncing to the present. As we move forward and backward, the plan is to end with the Romantic period! Kind of different, but we established that most weakness seem to be in the areas of early music and current developments.

We discussed the artificiality of the time periods in music. It is absolutely necessary to know them and to place composers, terms, concepts within the time periods, but also necessary to know that rarely is anything kind of systematizing that clean. Know your time periods and be able to articulate something about them but also know that constraints that humans place on the arbitrary musical periods.

We had an odd discussion about harmonic language. How it originated with monody, became polyphony and relied on root movement by 4ths and 5ths. In the Classical period we have root movement by major 3rds, followed by minor 3rds in the Romantic period. Impressionism brings major 2nds and Dodecaphony relies on minor 2nds. It was a fun ride but rather fast and confusing as well.

We ended with a strange discussion about pop music versus cultivated music and had a funny moment talking about "This Little Light of Mine." It was all educational in an unusual sort of way.

So what do you think? What Praise and Worship songs sung today will withstand the test of time and be heard in 100 years? Why?