STANDARD COMPETENCIES:

 

 1.   Define the following basic elements of music and demonstrate the ability to recognize their use in a musical composition:  melody, harmony, texture, rhythm, meter, dynamics, and timbre.

 2.   Identify the instruments of the orchestra by sight and sound; identify various vocal ranges by sound.

 3.   Define and recognize genres of musical composition.

 4.   Illustrate a knowledge of various musical forms and identify the various genres with which they are associated, specifically:  plainchant, motet, madrigal, fugue, sonata form, rondo, theme and variation, recitative, aria, passacaglia (and its related forms).

 5.   Characterize and identify the music of the following eras:  Middle Ages, Renaissance, Baroque, and Classical.

 6.   Evaluate the effects of the religious, social and political climate of each period on the music produced in the period.

 7.   Recognize the similarities in the various parts of specific periods.

 8.   Recall the most important and representative composers from each musical period, and be able to list their most significant compositions and achievements.

 9.   Write a short concert review or analysis of a recorded piece of music demonstrating the understanding of the composer, genre, and period of the pieces performed or the piece recorded.

 10. Read, analyze and apply written material to new situations.

 11. Demonstrate the ability to select and apply contemporary forms of technology to solve problems or compile information.

 TOPICAL OUTLINE:

 

 I.      .      Elements of Music

         A.      Concepts of Pitch, Time (melody, harmony, rhythm, meter, tempo).

         B.      Musical Instruments and Timbre.

         C.      Folk Music and Art Music.

 II.     Music of the Middle Ages

         A.      Plainchant, Gregorian Chant.

         B.      Organum (Leonin, Perotin).

         C.      Motet (Machaut).

 III.    Music of the Renaissance

         A.      Motet, Madrigal, Chanson (Dufay, Binchois, Dunstable, Josquin, etc.).

         B.      Music of the Reformation and Counter-Reformation (Schutz, Palestrina).

         C.      Instrumental Music (dance groups, improvisational pieces for the keyboard, Frescobaldi, Gabrieli).

 IV.     Music of the Baroque

         A.      Opera (recitative style, homophony, Monteverdi, Lully).

         B.      Instrumental Music (dance suite, concerto grosso, Corelli, Vivaldi).

         C.      Cantata, Chorale, Oratorio.

         D.      Handel.

         E.      Bach.

 V.      Music of the Rococo and Classical Periods.

         A.      The Galant Style (Couperin).

         B.      Early Classicists (C.P.E. Bach, Stamitz).

         C.      Haydn (symphony, string quartet).

         D.      Gluck.

         E.      Mozart.

         F.      Beethoven (piano sonata, symphony, string quartet).

 VI.     There will be other composers, in addition to the ones listed, that will be studied during this course.