Catalog Description

Prerequisite: Completion of MUS 9A with grade of "C" or better
Advisory: Completion of MUS 40D with grade of "C" or better or equivalent piano skill; completion with grade of “C” or better or concurrent enrollment in MUS 4B
Hours: 54 lecture
Description: Incorporates the concepts from MUS 9A. In addition, through writing and analysis, includes: post-Romantic techniques such as borrowed chords and modal mixture, chromatic mediants, Neapolitan and augmented-sixth chords, 9th, 11th and 13th chords, altered chords and dominants; and 20th century techniques such as: Impressionism, tone rows, set theory, pandiatonicism and polytonalism, meter and rhythm. (C-ID MUS 150) (CSU, UC)

Course Student Learning Outcomes

  • CSLO #1: Identify pitch-class sets with pitch integers.
  • CSLO #2: Identify pitch-class set transposition and the use of mod12 Arithmetic.
  • CSLO #3: Create a 12-tone row and assemble a complete matrix for that row; label transpositions of the row plus inversions, retrograde and retrograde inversions.

Effective Term

Spring 2021

Course Type

Credit - Degree-applicable

Contact Hours

54

Outside of Class Hours

108

Total Student Learning Hours

162

Course Objectives

1. Define, analyze, and/or write examples of 20th century techniques such as: Impressionism, tone rows, set theory, pandiatonicism and polytonalism, and advanced approaches to notation, meter and rhythm.
2. Identify new approaches to traditional form in musical scores.
3. Identify new developments in musical form and notation in musical scores.
4. Compose music using musical elements included in course content.

General Education Information

  • Approved College Associate Degree GE Applicability
    • AA/AS - Fine Arts
  • CSU GE Applicability (Recommended-requires CSU approval)
    • Cal-GETC Applicability (Recommended - Requires External Approval)
      • IGETC Applicability (Recommended-requires CSU/UC approval)

        Articulation Information

        • CSU Transferable
        • UC Transferable

        Methods of Evaluation

        • Essay Examinations
          • Example: 1. Choose two pieces from Schoenberg's Six Pieces for Piano, analyze and discuss how they illustrate his compositional philosophy. Rubric Grading. 2. From a reading about recent trends, discuss why a particular trend is connected to traditional forms.
        • Objective Examinations
          • Example: 1. Analyze an example of music from the 20th century harmonically, rhythmically and formally. If it is tonal, show its tonality; if not, discuss whatever compositional techniques apply. 2. From a given twelve-tone row, identify its transpositions and its retrograde and inversion in a work of Webern.
        • Projects
          • Example: 1. Write an example of a 12-tone row and use it in a short composition in the style of Webern or other atonal composer. 2. Create a composition in a non-traditional notation using polyrhythms.

        Repeatable

        No

        Methods of Instruction

        • Lecture/Discussion
        • Distance Learning

        Lecture:

        1. In online lecture-videos, instructor will lecture on the use of 12-tone row as a compositional device. Students will create an original 12-tone melodic pattern and identify transpositions and inversions.
        2. In online lecture-videos, instructor will lecture on the use of poly-tonality and non-tonality in 20th century compositional technique. Students, working in small groups, will be given an eight measure score of a 20th century musical composition and asked to analyze it to determine if it is an example of tonal or non-tonal composition.

        Typical Out of Class Assignments

        Reading Assignments

        1. Read the text on set theory and discuss in class. 2. Read an article about the musical revolution which took place in the early twentieth century and report your findings.

        Writing, Problem Solving or Performance

        1. Write a critical review of a live performance of Post-Romantic or later music. Include the terminology introduced in class. 2. Write a short essay about your personal definition of "Music" with reference to the works and philosophy of Arnold Schoenberg.

        Other (Term projects, research papers, portfolios, etc.)

        Create a composition in any of the styles studied in this course and describe the style and techniques you selected and why.

        Required Materials

        • The Musician's Guide to Theory and Analysis
          • Author: Jane Piper Clendenning, Elizabeth West Martin
          • Publisher: W. W. Norton
          • Publication Date: 2016
          • Text Edition: 3rd
          • Classic Textbook?: No
          • OER Link:
          • OER:
        • Music Theory Remixed
          • Author: Kevin Holm-Hudson
          • Publisher: Oxford University Press
          • Publication Date: 2017
          • Text Edition: 1st
          • Classic Textbook?: No
          • OER Link:
          • OER:
        • Concise Introduction to Tonal Harmony
          • Author: L. Poundie Burstein, Joseph N. Strauss
          • Publisher: W. W. Norton
          • Publication Date: 2016
          • Text Edition: 1st
          • Classic Textbook?: No
          • OER Link:
          • OER:

        Other materials and-or supplies required of students that contribute to the cost of the course.