Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon

Upon successful completion students should be able to:

Appreciate the western music tradition, and enjoy a life enriched by the exposure to and the understanding of personal and cultural achievement.
Experience musical works "dynamically," that is, to appreciate simultaneously the uniqueness of a work, its origins and precedent, its potential as an influence and inspiration on other works, and its relationship to a particular cultural moment.
Generalize course content to other music not covered in the course so that one can understand and value a broad spectrum of musical expression.

Methods used to evaluate student progress and the criteria for assigning a course grade should be made clear by the instructor at the beginning of the course. The individual instructor will determine the method of assessment. Assessment methods may include:

• Qualitative and/or quantitative examinations
• Homework assignments
• Listening assignments
• Concert reports
• Research project
• Class participation

Basic Fundamentals of Listening

• Melody è conjunct, disjunct, rising, falling, wave-like
• Rhythm è beat, meter, syncopation, simple, compound, polyrhythm
• Harmony è consonance, dissonance, diatonic, chromatic, chord, interval, tonality
• Texture è monophonic, polyphonic, homophonic, heterophonic, contrapuntal devices
• Form è binary, ternary, variation, sonata-allegro, rondo, strophic, through-composed, motive, phrase, ostinato
• Tempo and dynamics
• Tone color è soprano, alto, tenor, bass, instruments of orchestra

Music of the Middle Ages

• Sacred music è monophonic chant, mass, organum, motet
• Secular music è troubadour, trouvere, minniesinger, meistersinger, bard, estampe
• Ars Nova è polyphony, early instrumental music

Music of the Renaissance

• Arts in the Renaissance è instruments of the renaissance
• Sacred music è motet, mass, reformation, counter-reformation
• Secular music è court life, chanson, madrigal, instrumental dance

Music of the Baroque

• The Baroque Spirit è religious, secular, monody, harmonic structures, style, women, rise of virtuoso, doctrine of affections, internationalism
• Vocal music è opera, cantata, oratorio, motet, madrigal
• Instrumental music è baroque instruments, concerto, suite, overture, fugue, sonata

Age of Enlightenment

• Rococo è Age of Sensibility, changing opera and musical styles
• Development of forms

Eighteenth Century Classicism

• The arts è patronage system, concert life
• Chamber music- string ensembles, serenades, divertimenti
• Symphony è classical orchestra
• Concerto
• Sonata
• Vocal music è opera, choral forms, solo song
• Transitional period

Nineteenth Century Music

• The Romantic Movement è arts, society, style traits
• Art Song è German lied, song structure (strophic, through-composed), song cycle
• Piano and its literature è lyric piano piece, sonata
• Program music è symphony, tone poem, nationalism
• Romantic Symphony
• Romantic Concerto
• Music in America
• Choral Music
• Opera
• Ballet

Twentieth Century Music

• Impressionism and Post-impressionism
• Expressionism
• Primitivism
• Serialism
• Neo-classisim
• Aleatoric
• Third-stream
• Electronic
• Modernism
• Minimalism

COMPETENCIES/SKILLS
The following skills are to be achieved to successfully meet the minimum requirement ("C" or "Pass") for the course:

• Describe the basic elements of listening: melody, rhythm, harmony, texture, form, tone color and their related terms.
• Recognize musical style periods from recorded or live performance examples.
• Recognize musical textures from recorded or live performance examples.
• Identify and discuss important composers, their musical contribution and how it relates to the social period of their time.
• Apply understanding of music to critically evaluate a symphonic work.