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History
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American Music
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Some musical knowledge is requireThe course deals with the earliest Amerirican music from the Pilgrims, and from Boston, New York, and Philadelphia; Music of the Federal Period; the music of William Billings and Lowell Mason; Stephen Foster and the 19th-century ballad; Shape-note hymnody; late 19th-century classical composers; the birth of Tin Pan Alley and the roots of jazz; the creation of music departments at Harvard, Columbia and Yale; American classical composers of the early 20th century; the contributions of the many leading composers who came from Europe to live in the United States prior to World War II, and finall, the American avant0garde and contemporary classical american composers in the second half of the 20the century and today.
The textbook is Music in the New World by Charles Hamm.
There are eight listening tests, six written tests, a substantial term paper, class reports, and required trips to Manhattan.
The videos of the PBS series, Visions, on the history of American art are also a part of the course.
The Listening tests are based on required listenings. The written tests are based on class notes, the Notes to the Listenings, and the textbook.
There is a Lab component to this course which must be completed to receive credit. This attendance at concerts in Manhattan is a required part of the course. The class attends these concerts together. The five required concerts comprise 20 percent of the final grade. They are scheduled on week-ends.
Recent Concerts Include
Carnegie Hall, The National Sym. Orch., Leonard Slatkin, cond.: Gershwin, Cuban Overture; Wallace, Gorilla in a Cage (premiere); Joan Tower, Tower Music; Ravel, Bolero
NJPAC, The Miles-Coltrane Project
NJPAC, The New Jersey Sym., American Composers (MacDowell, etc.)
Lincoln Center, Avery Fischer Hall, London Philharmonic, All-Rachmaninoff program
New York City Ballet, Lincoln Center, American works
New York City Opera, Stephen Sondheim, Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street
National Symphony, Music of John Adams, Carnegie Hall
Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Carnegie Hall: Charles Ives, Three Places in New England; Aaron Copland, Appalachian Spring; Walter Piston, Sinfonietta; Edgar Meyer, Concerto for Double Bass and Orchestra
Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Alice Tully Hall: Philip Glass, Music from The Sound of a Voice (premiere); Tan Dun, Ghost Opera for pi'pa and string quartet; Granghiz Ali-Zadeh (Azerbaijan), Sabah (premiere).