Music 242 Syllabus
Professor Móricz
Arms Music Building
Room 212
T/TH 10:00-11:20 AM
Office hours: T/TH 12:00-1:00 (by appointment)
Sections TBA, Ben Cohen (bbcohen11@amherst.edu)
Required text:
—W. A. Mozart, Sonatas and Fantasies for the Piano, ed. Nathan Broder (Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania: Theodor Presser Company, 1960) (available in Amherst Books)
—Anthology of additional music (handed out in class)
—Listening: on course website (e-reserves)
—Syllabus, assignments, course materials in general, see course website at https://www.amherst.edu/academiclife/departments/courses/1112S/MUSI/MUSI-242-1112S
Short description of Music 242
A continuation of Music 241 and the second of the required music theory sequence for majors. In this course we will study different manifestations of formal principles, along with the relationship of form to harmony and tonality. We will start with pre-tonal music (Lassus), focus on the understanding of musical form in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Topics to be covered will include eighteenth-century counterpoint, invention, fugue, minuet, sonata form, and romantic character piece. There will be regular assignments of analysis, analytic papers, and piano exercises. Two lectures and two ear-training sections per week.
Requisite: Music 241 or consent of the instructor.
Work:
For every class you'll have assignments to prepare (reading, analysis, and related tasks). I will ask you to post parts of the assignments on the course blog. The blog serves many purposes: it allows you to share ideas with your peers, teach your peers and learn from them; it alerts me before class of potential confusions and allows me to address problems quicker; and, most important, it broadens the basis of discussion in general. (If you feel uncomfortable posting assignments on the course website, please let me know.) We'll discuss assignments in class. You might have extra practical assignments for sections (especially related to piano skills). At the end of units you'll be tested on your knowledge.
Attendance Policy:
Music 242 is a course where active class participation is crucial for the effectiveness of the class. I expect students to come to all classes and all sections (both twice a week). One or two absenses will not affect your final grade directly, but for each absence beyond the first two, 3% will be substracted from your final cumulative grade. Missed appointments count as absences.
Practice rooms:
Since you’ll have to use the piano for preparing for class, I recommend getting practice room keys at the beginning of the semester.
Final grade will consists of: class participation (including assignments), section grade, end of unit tests, midterms, long projects.
Schedule
(quizzes and midterms are indicated by *)
(class-to-class detailed assignments will be posted on the course website)
Week 1: Simple song forms
January 24 (Tuesday): folksongs
January 26 (Thursday): popular songs (Gershwin, Berlin, Rogers, Loesser)
Week 2: Pre-tonal, modal music
January 31 (Tuesday): modal music (2-part motets by Lassus)
February 2 (Thursday): modal music cont.
Week 3: Modal music, cont.
Feb. 7 (Tuesday): modal music cont.
* Feb. 9 (Thursday), midterm 1 on modal music
Week 4: 18th-century counterpoint 1
Feb. 14 (Tuesday): Bach inventions
Feb. 16 (Thursday): Bach inventions cont.
Week 5: 18th-century counterpoint 1-2
*Feb. 21 (Tuesday): Inventions cont., in-class quiz on inventions
Feb. 23 (Thursday): Bach fugues
Week 6: 18th-century counterpoint 2
Feb. 28 (Tuesday): Bach fugues cont.
March 1 (Thursday): Bach fugue review
Week 7: 18th-century counterpoint 2; Form 1: Minuet
* March 6 (Tuesday): Midterm 2: fugue
March 8 (Thursday): Mozart fugue, Menuet
Week 8: Form 1: Minuet; Form 2: Sonata
March 13 (Tuesday): Menuet cont. (Scherzo from Beethoven Fifth)
March 15 (Thursday): Sonata form (Mozart sonatas)
March 17-25, SPRING BREAK
Week 9: Form 2: Sonata
March 27 (Tuesday): Sonata form, expositions
March 29 (Thursday): Sonata form: recapitulations
Week 10: Form 2: Sonata
April 3 (Tuesday): Sonata form, developments
April 5 (Thursday): Sonata form, Haydn
Week 11: Form 2: Sonata
April 10 (Tuesday): Sonata form: Beethoven
* April 12 (Thursday): Midterm 3: sonata
Week 12: Sonata on large scale
April 17 (Tuesday): Beethoven Fifth
April 19 (Thursday): Sonata form: Schubert
Week 13: Slow movements and finales
April 24 (Tuesday): slow movements
April 26 (Thursday): finales (Haydn, Symphony No. 104, Mozart, “Jupiter” Symphony)
Week 14: Review and final
May 1 (Tuesday): sonata rhetoric, review
* May 3 (Thursday): FINAL