Poem by Carvens Lissaint

Carvens is a Hatian-American poet and performer from New York City. He was on the 2009 Urban Word NYC slam team. His poem, "Haiti" was written a year ago and has a startling prophetic tone in the wake of recent tragic events in Haiti. He is a passionate and ruthless force. Under heavenly grace and favor, Carvens' mother who was in Haiti at the time of the earthquake is safe and back home in the arms of her family. Carvens continues to be a recognizable face of the future and a profound example of noble men. Please share his poem. Please support Haiti in the relief efforts.

www.everydropchi.com

Every Drop Counts is a grassroots organization developed by a group of young artists and activists in the wake of the earthquake in Haiti. They are working to bring clean drinking and bathing water to Haitians working with the World Water Relief. Please donate to their efforts and follow them on twitter: @everydropchi

--
shot by Steven Duarte
www.stevenduarte.com

Five Universal Fundamentals of Music:

1. Timbre - Tone Quality; Each instrument will sound different from the next. Just as every player will sound different from the next.
2. Tonality - A collection of tones, or sounds; A key signiture
3. Pulse - Rhythmic texture; Beat
4. Density - Amount of activity; Concentration of sound; Balance of sound and silence; Balance of space and movement
5. Implication - Meaning; Purpose

The Syllabus for this class is available here.

The additional recordings we will use in this class are available here. Once you complete the download (537 MB) right click on it (Windows) and extract all onto your computer or thumbdrive. You should be able to do this on any computer.

View the Tree of Influence prezis here.

The Prezi Music timelines are here.

Class discussions will include:

• What is music?
• Fundamentals of Music
• Musical Form
• Musical Styles
• Music Notation
• The role of time in music
• Active Listening
• The purpose/role of music in different places around the world
• Capoeira - Brazilian martial art
  • Music and Musical Instruments
  • Movements
  • Philosophy
  • Historic Origins
• Humanity's struggle for transcendence
  • Religious/Sacred Music
  • Secular Music
  • Blues Music
  • The Underground Railroad
  • Riverdance
  • Capoeira
• Just-Intonation & Equal temperment

Chapters discussed:

1. PART 2 Medieval and Renaissance Music
   • UNIT III The Middle Ages
   • UNIT IV The Renaissance
2. PART 4 The Baroque Era
   • UNIT VI The Baroque and the Arts
   • UNIT VII Vocal Music of the Baroque
   • UNIT VIII Instrumental Music of the Baroque
3. PART 5 More Materials of Form
   • UNIT IX Expanded Elements of Form
4. PART 6 Eighteenth-Century Classicism
   • UNIT X The Classical Spirit
   • UNIT XI Clasical Chamber Music
   • UNIT XII The Classical Symphony
   • UNIT XIII The Eighteenth-Century Concerto and Sonata
   • UNIT XIV Choral Music and Opera in the Clasical Era
5. PART 7 The Nineteenth Century
6. UNIT XV The Romantic Movement

Major Assignments:

Timeline of Music Evolution

(Due Wednesday of Week 3)

Use your text book only to create a timeline of music's evolution from (1750/1800) until (2000). Be sure to include page numbers for each development.

1. Site five major developments from 1750-1800
2. Site five major developments from 1800-1850
3. Site five major developments from 1850-1900
4. Site five major developments from 1900-1950
5. Site five major developments from 1950-2000
6. Major developments include:
   • Music Periods
   • Musicians
   • Musical Styles
   • Cultural events
• Social developmemnts

Tree of Influence

Select any musician from your text book. Create a physical, visual diagram displaying the musicians and events that helped shape the music (s)he, or they, created. Include the following:

• At least 30 influences (musicians, artists, family, events, etc)
• At least 3 sentences about each influence and site the source with each

Wikipedia is not an acceptable source for the works cited and will lower the final grade by at least 10 percent.

Discovering Our Musicians - 10%

1. Group Power Point Presentations during the term:
   • Any musician/music ensemble from southwest Ohio
2. Power Point Slide Show Component
   • Introduce the artist
   • Region(s) where artist performed
   • Time period/current events of the time period
   • Genre
   • Artist’s influences
   • Artist’s impact on the world
   • 20 slides
   • Include a Works Cited page
3. Presenter must make consistent eye contact with listeners
4. Points will be deducted for pour communication with audience, ie lack of eye contact

Audacity Project

We will spend time in class to understand the Audacity audio editing software. The following will be completed outside of the class:

1. Select a minimum of 2 songs (I suggest instrumental) that you have in electronic format, mp3 or wave.
2. Import the songs into Audacity.
3. Compose a Rap or Song Lyric at least 1 minute long
4. Your rap needs to be inspired by a major current event or issue:
   1. Healthcare
   2. Deforestation
   3. Gender Inequality
   4. etc.
5. Record your rap lyric into Audacity
6. Use at least 3 effects from the effects window
7. Finished song must be at least 3 minutes

2 Concert Reports – 5 percent each - 10 percent total:

Attend 2 live, at least 1 hour, Music performances and submit a report answering the following questions:

1. Where?
2. When?
3. Who performed?
4. Who played what instrument(s)/sang?
5. What did the music sound like (genre, emotions, implications, etc)?
6. How did the music make me feel?
7. How was it similar or different from what I normally listen to?
8. What did I gain from attending this performance?

Standing In the Shadows of Motown

We will be watching and discussing this film during the term.

Click to watch "Standing In the Shadows of Motown" here.