What Is Music?-Preliminaries
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Syllabus
Suggested Readings [Update]
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What Is Music?-1.1 - Why we Like What we Like
1.1 - Introduction
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1.2 - Popular Music and Classical Music Compared
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1.3 - Music and Emotions
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1.4 - How Do We Hear Music? Sound Waves and the Ear
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1.5 - Music Thrills Us, Music Chills Us
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1.6 - Why We Like What We Like? It's Nurture
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1.7 - It's Nurture: The Syntax of Western Music
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1.8 - Why We Like What We Like? It's Nature
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How Music Works, it's Magic.-2.1 - We've All Got Rhythm
2.1 - Beat, Meter, and Rhythm
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2.2 - Introduction to Musical Notation
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2.3 - Rhythm: What is It?
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2.4 - Hearing the Downbeat, Feeling the Emotion
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2.5 - Tempo (and How We Feel About It)
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Musical Rhythm, Relaxation, and Creativity
How Music Works, it's Magic.-2.2 - Melody is the Star
3.1 - What is Melody?
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3.2 - Melodic Notation and Scales
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3.3 - Major and Minor Scales
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3.4 - The Chromatic Scale
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3.5 - How We Feel About the Music: Mode and Mood
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3.6 - Melodic Structure: The Tonic
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3.7 - Modulation: Changing the Tonic (of the Key)
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3.8 - Phrase Structure in Music: Beethoven's Ode to Joy
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How Music Works, it's Magic.-2.3 - The Harmony of Music (and Life)
4.1 - Harmony: A Distinctly Western Phenomenon
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4.2 - Chord Progressions and Cadences
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4.3 - Melody and Harmony Working Together
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4.4 - Major and Minor Triads
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4.5 - Hearing the Harmony
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The Sound of Music-3.1 - Tone Color
5.1 - Why Do Instruments Sound Differently, One From Another?
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5.2 - Musorgsky Makes a Wagon Move in Music
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5.3 - The Four Families of Instruments
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5.4 - Building a Symphony Orchestra
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The Sound of Music-3.2 - Texture, Form, and Style
6.1 - Musical Texture
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6.2 - Musical Form
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6.3 - Musical Style
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The Sound of Music-Bonus Content
Module 3 YouTube Playlists
Office Hours I
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Music Back in the Day-4.1 - Music in the Middle Ages
7.1 - Introduction to the Middle Ages
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7.2 - Gregorian Chant
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7.3 - Monasteries and Convents
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7.4 - The Chant of Hildegard of Bingen
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7.5 - Early Polyphony
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7.6 - Polyphony at the Cathedral of Reims: Machaut's Messe de Nostre Dame
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7.7 - Dance Music of the Court
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Women as Creators and the Historical Barriers to Their Recognition
Music Back in the Day-4.2 - Music in the Renaissance
8.1 - Introduction to the Renaissance
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8.2 - Humanism in Music
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8.3 - Musical Instruments and Dances
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8.4 - The A Cappella Motet
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8.5 - Reformation and the Counter-Reformation
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8.6 - The Madrigal
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Music Back in the Day-Bonus Content
Module 4 Youtube Playlist
The Baroque Era-5.1 - The Baroque Period: The Birth of Opera
9.1 - Introduction to Baroque Art and Music
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9.2 - Early Baroque Opera in Italy
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9.3 - Early Baroque Opera in London
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9.4 - Baroque Instruments and Orchestras
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9.5 - A Baroque Favorite: Pachelbel's Canon
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9.6 - Vivaldi: The "Spring" Concerto
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The Baroque Era-5.2 - Johann Sebastian Bach
10.1 - Bach the Young Man and Organist
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10.2 - Cothen: Prelude and Fugue
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10.3 - Cothen: Brandenberg Concertos
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10.4 - Leipzig: The Church Cantata
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10. 5 - Bach's Posthumous Reputation
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The Baroque Era-5.3 - George Frideric Handel: Messiah and More
11.1 - Recap of Baroque Music
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11. 2 - Handel's Early Life & Arrival in London
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11.3 - Royal Connections: Water Music and Fireworks
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11.4 - Opera Seria: Julius Caesar
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11.5 - Oratorio: Messiah
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The Baroque Era-Bonus Content
Module 5 Youtube Playlist
The Classical Era-6.1 - The Classical Period
12.1 - The Classical Period and Music
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12.2 - Introduction to Classical Music Style
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12.3 - Vienna: City of Music
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12.4 - Franz Joseph Haydn and The Emperor
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12.5 - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and his Music
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Mozart and the Dangers of Becoming a Child Prodigy
The Classical Era-6.2 - Classical Genre and Form
13.1 - Classical Venues: The Canon and the Musical Museum
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13.2 - Genres and Forms
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13.3 - Ternary Form: The Mozart Sonata
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13.4 - Sonata-Allegro Form: A Mozart Serenade
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13.5 - Theme and Variations Form: A Surprise from Haydn
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13.6- Rondo Form: Mozart as the Young Turk
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The Classical Era-6.3 Putting the Art in MozART: 3 Classical Pieces
14.1 - Piano Concerto in D minor
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14.2 - Don Giovanni
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14.3 - The Requiem
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The Classical Era-Bonus Content
Module 6 Youtube Playlist
The Bridge From Classical to Romantic-7.1 - Beethoven to the Heroic Period
15.1 - Mozart and Beethoven Compared
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15.2 - Beethoven and the Romantic Genius
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15.3 - Beethoven's Early Years
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15.4 - Growing Deafness and Disability
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15.5 - The "Moonlight" Sonata
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Beethoven’s Deafness: Was it a Dis-ability or an Enabler?
The Bridge From Classical to Romantic-7.2 - The Heroic Beethoven and Beyond
16.1 - The Three Periods of Beethoven
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16.2 - Symphony No. 3, the "Eroica"
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16.3 - Symphony No. 5
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16.4 - Beethoven's Gift to Music: SOUND
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16.5 - Beethoven Toward the End
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16.6 - The Late Period and "Ode to Joy"
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The Bridge From Classical to Romantic-7.3 - Romanticism and the Romantic Art Song
17.1 - Introduction to Romantic Music
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17.2 - Domestic Music-Making of the Middle Class
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17.3 - Sketch of the Life and Music of Franz Schubert
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17.4 - Schubert's Erlkönig
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17.5 - Robert and Clara Schumann
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The Bridge From Classical to Romantic-Bonus Content
Module 7 Youtube Playlist
Office Hours II
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The Romantic Era-8.1 - 19th Century Program Music: Berlioz Goes to Hell
18.1 - How Do We Communicate in Sound?
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18.2 - Musical Signifiers and the Language of Sound
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18.3 - Berlioz and His Symphonie Fantastque
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18.4 - Symphonie Fantastque, "March to the Scaffold"
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18.5 - Symphonie Fantastque, "Witches Sabbath"
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18.6 - Do You Speak Fluent Program Music?
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The Romantic Era-8.2 - The Romantic Piano and Piano Music
19.1 - Fixed Pitch Keyboard Instruments: A Quick Review
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19.2 - The Pianos of Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert
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19.3 - The Pianos of Chopin and Liszt
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19.4 - From Wagner's Piano to the Steinway of America
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19.5 - Frédéric Chopin and the Nocturne
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19.6 - Franz Liszt and the Etude
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The Romantic Era-8.3 - Romantic Opera
20.1 - Introduction to the 19th Century Opera
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20.2 - Bel canto Opera
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20.3 - Verdi's Operas and his Dramaturgy
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20.4 - Verdi's La traviata
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20.5 - Introduction to Richard Wagner
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20.6 - Wagner's Ring Cycle
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20.7 - Wagner's Die Walküre
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The Romantic Era-8.4 - The Romantic Orchestra
21.1 - Introduction to the Romantic Orchestra
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21.2 - Musical Instruments and the Industrial Revolution
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21.3 - Musical Time Slows Down: The Grand Symphonic Gesture
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21.4 - Bigger Orchestra, Bigger Concert Halls
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21.5 - The Gustav Mahler Sample
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The Romantic Era-Bonus Content
Module 8 Youtube Playlist
Music to the Present-9.1 - Impressionism
22.1 - Introduction to Impressionism
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22.2 - Claude Debussy's "Claire de lune"
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22.3 - Debussy's "Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun"
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22.4 - Debussy's "Violes" (Sails) for Piano
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22.5 - Impressionism and Exoticism
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22.6 - Spanish Exoticism and the Spanish Tradition
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22.7 - From Post Impressionism to Modernism
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Music to the Present-9.2 - Modernism
23.1 - Introduction to Modernism
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23.2 - Stravinsky and His Early Ballets Russes
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23.3 - Stravinsky and The Rite of Spring
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23.4 - Schoenberg and Atonal Music
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23.5 - Schoenberg and the Twelve-tone Music
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23.6 - The Challenge of (and Antidote to) Modernism
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Music to the Present-9.3 - Post Modernism: Music For Everyone!
24.1 - Simplifying Modernism: Aaron Copland
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24.2 - "A Gift to be Simple" and Appalachian Spring
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24.3 - Postmodernism
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24.4 - When Less is More: Minimalism in Art and Music
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24.5 - Beyond Minimalism: John Adams
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24.6 - The Ultimate Mystery of Music
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Music to the Present-Bonus Content
Module 9 Youtube Playlist
Office Hours III
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From the TA!
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Music to the Present-Additional Recommended Courses and Videos
Additional Recommended Courses and Videos