Catalog Description
Hours: 8 to 54 lecture as scheduled
Description: Course designed for older adults. Study of selected styles and periods of music. Includes discussion of musical elements, composition, orchestration, vocabulary and history for the selected topics. May be repeated. (noncredit)
Course Student Learning Outcomes
- CSLO #1: Identify the contributions of various composers in musically historic eras.
- CSLO #2: Describe and distinguish between Classical and Romantic era operas.
- CSLO #3: Describe the effect of Jazz on the 20th century.
Effective Term
Fall 2021
Course Type
Noncredit
Contact Hours
8-54
Outside of Class Hours
16-108
Total Student Learning Hours
24-162
Course Objectives
Through listening to selected recordings and lectures, class discussion and exercises, upon completion of the course the older adult student will:
1. Aurally recognize and identify the selected series of compositions' characteristics through their:
a. musical elements
b. structure
c. orchestration
2. Determine the historical context and relationship of a series of works to their:
a. geographic proximity to centers of music-making;
b. economic constraints of the times; and
c. cultural expectations of the population.
3. Compare and contrast various compositions with current performance practice, historical performance practice and their differences.
4. Through investigating various cultures' music making activity, the older adult student will be able to integrate knowledge of musical elements and critically assess similar compositions from a stylistic period.
General Education Information
- Approved College Associate Degree GE Applicability
- CSU GE Applicability (Recommended-requires CSU approval)
- Cal-GETC Applicability (Recommended - Requires External Approval)
- IGETC Applicability (Recommended-requires CSU/UC approval)
Articulation Information
Methods of Evaluation
- Projects
- Example: 1. Present a concise five-minute summary of a chosen composer's work including that composer's contribution to the literature of the style period. 2. Choose a composition from one's childhood and present a 5 minute report on its origins. Compare one's understanding from the initial hearing of the piece in childhood with one's present day understanding as an older adult. All projects will be graded with a rubric.
- Reports
- Example: Observe and analyze assigned musical elements of a composition and report in a two page paper. Rubric Grading. 2. Based on an understanding of musical elements, compare and contrast two compositions from two different eras for example, as an older adult, popular music from the 1940-1960s and popular music of the present in a three page paper.
Repeatable
Yes
Methods of Instruction
- Lecture/Discussion
- Distance Learning
Lecture:
- The instructor will lecture, assign reading and lead class discussion on developing an understanding of musical elements and the structure of compositions.
- The instructor will provide recordings and videos, lead class discussions, and evaluate one-two page paper written assignments to deepen understanding of various historical style periods. Written assignments challenges the older student to express on paper their perceptions using music vocabulary.
- Class discussion and instructor-guided analysis upon listening to a recording will require the older adult to itemize musical elements and synthesize that detailed understanding into a cogent conclusion about the composition's standing in the work of the composer.
Distance Learning
- The instructor will post a lecture video and several performance videos of selected musical works to the Canvas course. Students will write and submit a report in MLA style to Canvas that presents a comparison of the selected musical compositions that focuses on the development of current performance practice and discusses the differences found between current performance aesthetic and historical performance practice.
Typical Out of Class Assignments
Reading Assignments
1. Making use of the library as a resource the older student will research two articles about an historical style period that focuses on a particular musical element to report back to the class. 2. Using the internet, the older student will find a review that illustrates the various elements of an opera in an opera performance.
Writing, Problem Solving or Performance
1. Through listening to a recording of a particular composer, identify and compare musical elements of that composer that are similar or different from the prevailing style period and write a two page paper of personal observations. 2. After listening to a performance of a piano work by two different performers, write a two page paper comparing and contrasting those performances.
Other (Term projects, research papers, portfolios, etc.)
1. Students will participate in small group discussion of issues presented in class. 2. Prepare and present a five-minute presentation about a particular composition and/or composer detailing the elements significant to that composition and/or composer.
Required Materials
- George Gershwin: An Intimate Portrait
- Author: Walter Rinler
- Publisher: U. of Illinois Press
- Publication Date: 2009
- Text Edition:
- Classic Textbook?: No
- OER Link:
- OER:
- Highbrow/Lowdown: Theater, Jazz and the Making of the New Middle Class
- Author: David Savran
- Publisher: U. of Michigan Press
- Publication Date: 2010
- Text Edition:
- Classic Textbook?: No
- OER Link:
- OER:
- How to Listen to Great Music: a guide ti its history, culture and hear
- Author: Robert Greenburg
- Publisher: Plume
- Publication Date: 2011
- Text Edition:
- Classic Textbook?: No
- OER Link:
- OER:
