Musical Language II
Code: 100658 ECTS Credits: 6| Degree | Type | Year | Semester |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2500240 Musicology | FB | 1 | 2 |
Contact
- Name:
- Gabrielle Kaufman
- Email:
- GabrielleEmelie.Kaufman@uab.cat
Use of Languages
- Principal working language:
- catalan (cat)
- Some groups entirely in English:
- No
- Some groups entirely in Catalan:
- Yes
- Some groups entirely in Spanish:
- No
Teachers
- Joaquim Maria Vallvé Cordomí
- Xavier Daufí i Rodergas
Prerequisites
In order to complete the course, conservatoire studies at the lower professional level (grau mitjà) are recommended.
Knowledge comparable to that of having successfully completed Musical Language I is considered the minimum required.
Objectives and Contextualisation
This course explores Musical Language and intends to focus on significant aspects of musical elements in order to offer basic tools for understanding both content and structure of musical discourse.
- Be able to read a musical score for four voices and identify the main elements of harmony (chords, cadences, modulations)
- Be capable of sight-reading a simple annotated melody and to prepare a performance of a four-part song with other students
- Be able to annotate music by ear, including four-note chords and a two-part melody
- Know how to read and write the following harmonic notation systems: the American chord system, the functional system of degrees and figured bass
- Be able to identify and analyse the structure and form of a musical work from a score and or/performance, including classical forms like the fugue or the sonata
- Know how to harmonize and perform a traditional song, creating a varied musical arrangement with different sections and harmonic modulations for more than one instrument
Competences
- Developing critical thinking and reasoning and communicating them effectively both in your own and other languages.
- Students must be capable of applying their knowledge to their work or vocation in a professional way and they should have building arguments and problem resolution skills within their area of study.
- Students must be capable of communicating information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.
- Students must have and understand knowledge of an area of study built on the basis of general secondary education, and while it relies on some advanced textbooks it also includes some aspects coming from the forefront of its field of study.
Learning Outcomes
- Accurately describing an artistic object with the specific language of art criticism.
- Conceptually analysing a work of the subject matter.
- Critically taking part in classroom oral debates and using the discipline's specific vocabulary.
- Demonstrate knowledge of the fundamental problems, vocabulary and concepts of music.
- Discern equivalences and differences.
- Discern the basic elements of the main areas of music and culture and relate them to musical praxis. Develop the experience of cultural relativity in the act of listening.
- Recognise in musical praxis element of different cultures and different historical periods.
- Recognise the main models and their application in musical works.
Content
- Modality, Tonality and Atonality
- Modal and Tonal degrees, tonal functions
- Three- and four-tone chords, inversions, bridges, cadences and modulations
- Harmonic realisation and notation systems (American, functional and figured bass)
- Formal analysis and Genre analysis: Fugue, Sonata, Variation and small form
Methodology
The methodological approach throughout the course will be based on the following principles:
- The classes will be predominantly practical.
- The acquirement of theoretical knowledge will be the consequence of daily practice.
- The basic procedures for all classroom activity will be: listening, expression, performance, comprehension and musical composition.
- Group work and individual work will be alternated.
- Computer software will be used, both individually with free software (musescore...) and, if possible, in specific teaching laboratories
- There will be analysis activities and musical practice in small groups.
On Moodle the student will find a diverse range of auxiliary material for different activities, such as;
- Auditory training
- Reading of musical works
- Analysis of structures and other elements of musical language.
Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.
Activities
| Title | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Type: Directed | |||
| Reading and listening to musical works, recognition of genre | 21 | 0.84 | 5, 3 |
| Structural and formal analysis | 21 | 0.84 | 2, 4, 6, 5, 8 |
| Type: Supervised | |||
| Analysis activities and musical practice | 34 | 1.36 | 2, 4, 5, 8 |
| Type: Autonomous | |||
| Performing melodies, figured bass, cadences, harmonic functions, dictations | 40 | 1.6 | 2, 4, 5, 8 |
| Reading and studying proposed repertoire | 26 | 1.04 | 4, 5, 8 |
Assessment
The assessment will be composed of the following elements:
- Continuous assessment of both class room practice and the proposed activities on Moodle
- Sight reading, intonation and performance
- Dictation
- Analysis
- Composition and harmonic realization
The assessment schedule will contain a number of different activities:
QUESTIONNAIRES RELATED TO THE COURSE MATERIAL 10%
There will be preparational questionaries before some classes, evaluated with a passed/not passed only. These elements will not be obligatory to pass the course.
KEY KNOWLEDGE EXERCISES 30%
There will several exercises evaluating key course knowledge. These will be obligatory and a minimum grade of 4 for each exercise is needed for the medium course grade to be calculated. In the case of obtaining a lower grade, the student can ask to be revaluated in June.
SONATA ANALYSIS 10%
There will be a on-site exam, avaluating the capability of analysing a classical Sonata. This exam will be compulsory but without a minimum grade requirement.
VOCAL EXAM 20%
There will be an exam, evaluating vocal skills, that will consist in a performance of a four-part choral song alongside other students, as well as individually sight-reading a simple melody. In connexion with the exam, the student must also hand in a recording, performing another song previously agreed upon. This will be a compulsory evaluation element and the minimum grade will be 3/10. In case of obtaining an inferior grade, the student can ask to be revaluated in June.
COMPOSITION PROJECT 30%
At the end of the trimester the student must submit a compositional project with a harmonisation of a traditional melody as well as performing and recording the piece. This element is compulsory but without a minimum grade requirement.
Students with a medium score of 3/10 will have the right to take the reevaluation exam (written assessment elements only).
In the event that tests or exams cannot be taken onsite, they will be adapted to an online format made available through the UAB’s virtual tools (original weighting will be maintained). Homework, activities and class participation will be carried out through forums, wikis and/or discussion on Teams, etc. Lecturers will ensure that students are able to access these virtual tools, or will offer them feasible alternatives.
In the event of a student committing any irregularity that may lead to a significant variation in the grade awarded to an assessment activity, the student will be given a zero for this activity, regardless of any disciplinary process that may take place. In the event of several irregularities in assessment activities of the same subject,the student will be given a zero as the final grade for this subject.
Assessment Activities
| Title | Weighting | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Composition project | 30% | 1.5 | 0.06 | 2, 4, 6, 5, 8, 7 |
| Exercises, Key course knowledge | 30% | 4 | 0.16 | 2, 4, 1, 6, 5, 3, 8 |
| Questionnaires | 10% | 0 | 0 | 2, 4, 1, 6, 5, 3, 8, 7 |
| Sonata Analysis | 10% | 1.5 | 0.06 | 2, 4, 6, 5, 8 |
| Vocal exam | 20% | 1 | 0.04 | 5 |
Bibliography
GARCÍA, J. M., Forma y estructura en la música del s. XX, ed. Alpuerto, Madrid, 1996.
HINDEMITH, P., Armonía Tradicional, ed. Ricordi Americana, Buenos Aires, 2009.
HODEIR, A., Cómo conocer las Formas de la Música, ed. Edaf, Madrid, 1988.
KÜHN, C., Tratado de la Forma Musical, ed. Labor, Barcelona, 1992.
MICHELS, U., Atlas de Música, I, Alianza Editorial, Madrid, 1985.
MICHELS, U., Atlas de Música, II, Alianza Editorial, Madrid, 1992.
PISTON, WALTER, Armonía,Labor, Barcelona, 1992.
SCHOENBERG, A., Funciones Estructurales de la Armonía, ed. Labor, Barcelona,1990.
SEGARRA, I., El Meu llibre de Música V, ed. Publicacions de l'Abadia de Montserrat, 1986.
XUCLÀ, T., Harmonia popular i moderna, Edicions El mèdol, Tarragona, 1998.
ZAMACOIS, J., Tratado de Armonía, ed. Labor, Barcelona, 1982 (3 volums).
ZAMACOIS, J., Curso de formas musicales, ed. Labor, Barcelona, 1994.
(There will be complementary information on Moodle for this course: harmony material, websites of exercises and musical theory etc ...)
Software
Musescore/Finale
Audacity or sim.