11:15A-12:30P   TR   SY 002

Students will be escorted into the castles, cathedrals, cities and
monasteries of the Middle Ages through the gateway of music.  Time travel
is not yet sophisticated enough to allow us to go to an actual medieval
entertainment, but music from the Middle Ages survives on more than just
paper and parchment.  What about those monks who sold more than a million
CDs singing Gregorian Chant?  There are also popular musical groups, such
as Anonymous Four and Ensemble Sequentia, who specialize in the
performance of music of the Middle Ages.  The course will radiate outward
from a specific list of pieces drawn from the music of the Middle Ages.
We shall study who made music, on what instruments, what sort of music,
where, why, how and when (for instance, who were the musicians who wrote
songs praising the eccentric French nobleman, Gaston Febus?).  Students
will read and write about people, places and things from medieval "pop
stars" to the way number systems inspired some music (the way it has done
for rap artists today). Through  the study of specific tunes, topics such
as poetry, rhetoric, language, architecture and memory in the Middle Ages
will be introduced.

The class meets twice a week. There will be reading and brief writing
assignments every week, the results of which students will share with one
another on a regular basis.  There will be a written examination in the
sixth week of the semester in which students will be asked to identify
(and correctly spell!) terms from a list received at the beginning of the
semester.  At the end of the semester there will be a listening exam, for
which students will be expected to identify and answer questions about the
musical selections we've looked at and listened to.

The class grade will be based on the written assignments (60%), the
written exam (20%), and the listening exam (20%), with class participation
as a possible source of extra credit.  More than one unexcused absence
will affect the grade negatively.

Prerequisite:  The ability to distinguish one tune from another. Formal
musical training is not necessary, nor is the ability to read music
essential.  Students will, however, be required to recognize specific
tunes from the assigned list when they hear them.