Topics in Medieval Music (350-0-1)

Topic

Medieval Music

Instructors

Drew Davies
847/467-3367
dedavies@northwestern.edu

Meeting Info

RCMA Lower Level 111: Mon, Wed 11:00AM - 12:20PM

Overview of class

This course will engage repertoires of Mediterranean and European music practiced and conceived between the 6th and early 15th centuries. Focusing primarily on repertoires of chant, song, organum, and motet, this class will be organized as a pro-seminar in which lectures are balanced by student discussion on music, culture, and important scholarship. Students will acquire a basic understanding systems of medieval music notation, including the development of the staff and rhythmic notation, learn to navigate music manuscripts, read about culture in the Middle Ages, comment on issues of performance practice, and consider how concepts in musical aesthetics parallel the other arts. Students should feel inspired to discover the beauty, richness, and intellectual appeal of medieval music, a music repertoire unfamiliar to most, yet tremendously rewarding and foundational to later practices. Students will also gain a wider historical framework in which to place common practice era music, contemporary music, and folk music, and question what is meant by Western music altogether, using music of the Middle Ages and its revival as a lens.

Students from outside the music department are welcome in the course and encouraged to meet with the instructor in the first weeks of the quarter to review music rudiments, if necessary.

Learning Objectives

· Become familiar with the principal genres of medieval music, specifically plainchant, song, organum, and motet;

· Learn to navigate and understand the basic content of medieval music manuscripts;

· Explore different of interdisciplinary scholarship in medieval music and culture;

· Review Mediterranean and European history in the period 500-1500 and be able to differentiate attributes of each century;

· Build critical perspectives toward performance traditions of medieval repertories since the 1950s

Class Materials (Required)

Required texts will be available on Canvas, other electronic resources, or in print in the Library.

Enrollment Requirements

Enrollment Requirements: REASON: Pre-registration is not allowed for this class. Please try again during regular registration.