Textbook for Modern Music course for non-majors
Pan
Starting in September, I'll be teaching a course in Modern Music for
the first time, after many semesters of teaching other music
appreciation courses. The course is being taught at an engineering
school which has smart, well-prepared, and generally relatively
hardworking students, but the level of musical education among the
students in music classes varies widely. My preference is for a
textbook which gives a wide representation of different types of
modern music (though it can have a bias toward "Western" music),
includes a series of CDs, is well-written but will not lose a class
that includes novices with an extreme amount of detail, and is
affordable (preferably $70 or less). A trip to the Barnes & Noble
textbook store on 18th St. and 5th Av. in New York was very
disappointing. Do any of you have any type of suggestion that might
possibly be helpful? Thank you very much in advance.
Sincerely,
Michael
To reply by email, please take out the TRASH (so to speak). Personal messages only, please!
Colin Broom
> Starting in September, I'll be teaching a course in Modern Music for
> the first time, after many semesters of teaching other music
> appreciation courses. The course is being taught at an engineering
> school which has smart, well-prepared, and generally relatively
> hardworking students, but the level of musical education among the
> students in music classes varies widely. My preference is for a
> textbook which gives a wide representation of different types of
> modern music (though it can have a bias toward "Western" music),
> includes a series of CDs, is well-written but will not lose a class
> that includes novices with an extreme amount of detail, and is
> affordable (preferably $70 or less). A trip to the Barnes & Noble
> textbook store on 18th St. and 5th Av. in New York was very
> disappointing. Do any of you have any type of suggestion that might
> possibly be helpful? Thank you very much in advance.
You could do worse than 'Leaving Home: A Conducted tour of Twentieth Century
Music", by Michael Hall. There was a UK TV series of the same name with
Simon Rattle, but the book is much better - very well written and an
interesting read. A set of CDs was released to accompany the book/series,
but they might be quite difficult to get now. I notice that Amazon.co.uk
has 2 of the CDs available (do a net search for LEaving Home' in the
classical section) but not the book, while Amazon.com has the book but not
the CDs.
Failing that, I would get a book (such as the one above) then invest in a
number of CDs with what you see as being appropriate materia in relation to
the book. I don't know that there are that many books on 2k music that have
accompanying CDs.
Colin.
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Colin Broom, composer
e-mail: colin.broom@Cb7#9strath.ac.uk
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Invention Ensemble: www.inventionensemble.com
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Pan
<colin.broom@Cb7#9strath.ac.uk> wrote:
Thanks for your response.
>You could do worse than 'Leaving Home: A Conducted tour of Twentieth Century
>Music", by Michael Hall. There was a UK TV series of the same name with
>Simon Rattle, but the book is much better - very well written and an
>interesting read. A set of CDs was released to accompany the book/series,
>but they might be quite difficult to get now. I notice that Amazon.co.uk
>has 2 of the CDs available (do a net search for LEaving Home' in the
>classical section) but not the book, while Amazon.com has the book but not
>the CDs.
Is the book out of print? If it is, I'm not going to touch it with a
10-foot pole, as I went through that with an Intro to Opera course I
taught a few years ago, and it was a pain in the neck to get used
books to the students. Who publishes it? Could you tell me anything
about the contents?
>Failing that, I would get a book (such as the one above) then invest in a
>number of CDs with what you see as being appropriate materia in relation to
>the book. I don't know that there are that many books on 2k music that have
>accompanying CDs.
I'm willing to have them purchase a text plus a separate set of CDs,
providing the book is cheap, so that the CDs don't end up making the
cost of class materials prohibitive. I'd like to keep things under
$70, if possible.
Best,
D.G. Porter
> > the first time, after many semesters of teaching other music
> > appreciation courses. The course is being taught at an engineering
> > school which has smart, well-prepared, and generally relatively
> > hardworking students, but the level of musical education among the
> > students in music classes varies widely. My preference is for a
> > textbook which gives a wide representation of different types of
> > modern music (though it can have a bias toward "Western" music),
> > includes a series of CDs, is well-written but will not lose a class
> > that includes novices with an extreme amount of detail, and is
> > affordable (preferably $70 or less). A trip to the Barnes & Noble
> > textbook store on 18th St. and 5th Av. in New York was very
> > disappointing. Do any of you have any type of suggestion that might
> > possibly be helpful? Thank you very much in advance.
Is David Cope's book (ppb.) still in print? Or is that considered
outdated?
Pan
<dgpo...@NOSPAMMERSpacbell.naught> wrote:
>Is David Cope's book (ppb.) still in print? Or is that considered
>outdated?
Please give me the title and, if possible, the publisher, so that I
can look it up more easily.
Thanks.
D.G. Porter
>
> On Sat, 13 Jul 2002 00:41:13 GMT, "D.G. Porter"
> <dgpo...@NOSPAMMERSpacbell.naught> wrote:
>
> >Is David Cope's book (ppb.) still in print? Or is that considered
> >outdated?
>
> Please give me the title and, if possible, the publisher, so that I
> can look it up more easily.
>
> Thanks.
I wish I could. I used it in the middle '70s and lent it to someone and
I lost track of him. It was a pretty good little book.
For the 1st half of the last Century, try Eric Salzman's
"Twentieth-Centruy Music: An Introduction." Prentice Hall, 1967.
Edited by (my friend) Wiley Hitchcock.
Now these books were written when everyone was looking around and the
train wreck that was "modern music" and trying to do something more than
go "Uhh, gee! What happened??" Everything from before WWII was old hat
(even 12-tone, although a lot of people were still writing that stuff),
and then you had "Totoal serialism" after WWII which went nowhere, then
you had Cage and chance (v. Boulez and "aleatory" -- Europeans don't
like not having rules, so when they had chance they had to strictly
regulate it), and then Terry Riley happened, and then he was followed by
other tonalists and "minimalists." Then there was kind of a black
hole. Now you have these hacks like Gorecki writing "Charlotte Church
for the art-music crowd." I don't know of any figures comparable to the
members of, say, Les Six (Honneger, etc.), Stravinsky, Varese or Ives,
or even Mahler and Vaughan-Williams. It's pretty bleak out there.
John L
<dgpo...@NOSPAMMERSpacbell.naught> wrote:
>Pan wrote:
>>
>> On Sat, 13 Jul 2002 00:41:13 GMT, "D.G. Porter"
>> <dgpo...@NOSPAMMERSpacbell.naught> wrote:
>>
>> >Is David Cope's book (ppb.) still in print? Or is that considered
>> >outdated?
>>
>> Please give me the title and, if possible, the publisher, so that I
>> can look it up more easily.
>>
>> Thanks.
>
>I wish I could. I used it in the middle '70s and lent it to someone and
>I lost track of him. It was a pretty good little book.
Possibly this?
Cope, David.
New directions in music.
Dubuque, Iowa, W. C. Brown Co. [1971]
xii, 140 p. illus., music. 23 cm.
Try searching
http://catalog.loc.gov
http://www.oclc.org/home/
Or if you want locations of 2nd hand copies worldwide try
www.abebooks.com
(There seem to be some copies going for 5 dollars or less)
etc
John L
Colin Broom
"Pan" <panNO...@musician.org> wrote in message
news:3d2df628...@news.erols.com...
> On Thu, 11 Jul 2002 21:20:47 +0100, "Colin Broom"
> >You could do worse than 'Leaving Home: A Conducted tour of Twentieth
Century
> >Music", by Michael Hall.
> Is the book out of print? If it is, I'm not going to touch it with a
> 10-foot pole, as I went through that with an Intro to Opera course I
> taught a few years ago, and it was a pain in the neck to get used
> books to the students. Who publishes it? Could you tell me anything
> about the contents?
It is published by Faber & Faber, 1996. [ISBN 0-571-17877-4]. I am not sure
whether it is out of print or not (Amazon doesn't list it as being out of
print, so I would think not), though it's a real shame if it is.
Blurb on the back says:
"The story of music in this century is one of leave-takings. Traditional
relationships with tonality, rhythm form and sound have been left behind or
radically reinterpreted. Western Europe has been usurped as the centre of
musical culture. Exile and misunderstanding have forced composers to
rethink their affiliations. The most dramatic period of change in history
has been reflected in music of extraordinary beauty and excitment.
"Accompanying the TV series of the same name, Leaving Home looks at the
central preoccupations of composers in this century and their relationship
to the other arts. Michael Hall examines how the impact of their sounds and
ideas can be seen finally to have most acute and elemental resonance with
this century of turmoil and diversity".
Chapter Headings:
1. A View of the Century
2. Dancing on a Volcano
3. Rhythm
4. Colour
5. Three Journeys through Dard Landscapes
6. America
7. After the Wake
8. Music Now
> I'm willing to have them purchase a text plus a separate set of CDs,
> providing the book is cheap, so that the CDs don't end up making the
> cost of class materials prohibitive. I'd like to keep things under
> $70, if possible.
Another well-written book is Paul Griffiths' " Modern Music and After"
[ISBN: 0198165110], which covers music from after the war to the present.
His earlier book "Modern Music: A Concise History from Debussy to Boulez"
was also excellent but alas seems to be out of print.
Also, consider Robert P. Morgan's "Twentieth-Century Music: A History of
Musical Style in Modern Europe and America" (W.W. Norton & Co.)
Colin.
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Customer: (THUMP! Pause.) "No, that didn't help."
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------
Colin Broom, composer
e-mail: colin.broom@Cb7#9strath.ac.uk
(To reply, omit the Cb7#9 chord from the e-mail address)
Invention Ensemble: www.inventionensemble.com
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------
> Best,
Pan
wrote:
>Cope, David.
>New directions in music.
>Dubuque, Iowa, W. C. Brown Co. [1971]
>xii, 140 p. illus., music. 23 cm.
Thanks a lot.
I found it on amazon.com.
The scope is too narrow for my course, as it apparently starts with
the 1940s. As this will be the first music course some of my students
will have ever taken, it will be necessary for me to give a brief
explanation of Romanticism - as a reaction to (neo-)Classicism -
before I can explain Modernism as an extension of, intensification of,
and reaction against Romanticism. I plan on starting the chronological
part of my course with a very brief example of Mozart (probably
something rather non-Romantic like Eine Kleine Nachtmusik) before
explaining Beethoven as the Father of Romanticism. I then figure on
playing some Berlioz, Liszt, Wagner, and probably Brahms, before
introducing Debussy and other Modernists. I'm expecting that plus the
introduction of some basic terms and concepts in music to take the
first couple of weeks at least, and probably at least part of the
third week (this is a 4-hour course, 2 hours twice a week).
I want to thank everyone who's offered suggestions to me. It has
helped.
Best,
Pan
<colin.broom@Cb7#9strath.ac.uk> wrote:
>
>"Pan" <panNO...@musician.org> wrote in message
>news:3d2df628...@news.erols.com...
>> On Thu, 11 Jul 2002 21:20:47 +0100, "Colin Broom"
>
>> >You could do worse than 'Leaving Home: A Conducted tour of Twentieth
>Century
>> >Music", by Michael Hall.
>
>> Is the book out of print? If it is, I'm not going to touch it with a
>> 10-foot pole, as I went through that with an Intro to Opera course I
>> taught a few years ago, and it was a pain in the neck to get used
>> books to the students. Who publishes it? Could you tell me anything
>> about the contents?
>
>It is published by Faber & Faber, 1996. [ISBN 0-571-17877-4]. I am not sure
>whether it is out of print or not (Amazon doesn't list it as being out of
>print, so I would think not), though it's a real shame if it is.
[snip]
I couldn't get it to come up on Faber & Faber's web site yesterday. If
I can't get a desk copy of the text, I have to wonder how easy it
would be to order it, if I chose it as a textbook. I may look for a
copy in the library, though.
What I'm wondering, also, is whether a conducted tour wouldn't focus
on orchestral music only, and whether that would be a good thing for
me to focus on in what's supposed to be a general introduction to
modern music. Still, I'd love to have a look at that book.
[snip]
>Another well-written book is Paul Griffiths' " Modern Music and After"
>[ISBN: 0198165110], which covers music from after the war to the present.
Unfortunately, 1945 is too late for me to pick as a date to start the
course, not to mention it's at variance with the course description.
Though I could get away with it, most likely, if I chose to do so, I
think it would be a lot better for me to give more context to what
came before the avant garde (which I date to Satie), what roots it had
in Romanticism, and what parts of Romanticism some of it was reacting
against.
>His earlier book "Modern Music: A Concise History from Debussy to Boulez"
>was also excellent but alas seems to be out of print.
That really is a shame. Based on a customer's review on amazon.com,
it's probably just the sort of book I'm looking for.
>Also, consider Robert P. Morgan's "Twentieth-Century Music: A History of
>Musical Style in Modern Europe and America" (W.W. Norton & Co.)
I fear that it is too long, detailed, and - as described in its front
flap, which one can view off Amazon's site - comprehensive. Honestly,
I'm not sure what I'd do with it in the context I'd be using it.
Thanks very much for your suggestions, and I'm sorry to be mostly
negative. Even considering and rejecting serious books is helpful in
my preparation to teach this course.
Brice Joly
> will have ever taken, it will be necessary for me to give a brief
> explanation of Romanticism - as a reaction to (neo-)Classicism -
> before I can explain Modernism as an extension of, intensification of,
> and reaction against Romanticism. I plan on starting the chronological
> part of my course with a very brief example of Mozart (probably
> something rather non-Romantic like Eine Kleine Nachtmusik) before
> explaining Beethoven as the Father of Romanticism. I then figure on
> playing some Berlioz, Liszt, Wagner, and probably Brahms, before
> introducing Debussy and other Modernists.
You might consider saying a few words on J.S. Bach (a choral or a prelude, a
fugue if you have more time), there's so many things classical & romantical
composers owe to him (even Schönberg). I couldn't think of a better
introduction.
Colin Broom
> On Sat, 13 Jul 2002 19:17:13 +0100, "Colin Broom"
> <colin.broom@Cb7#9strath.ac.uk> wrote:
> >> >You could do worse than 'Leaving Home: A Conducted tour of Twentieth
> >Century
> >> >Music", by Michael Hall.
> What I'm wondering, also, is whether a conducted tour wouldn't focus
> on orchestral music only, and whether that would be a good thing for
> me to focus on in what's supposed to be a general introduction to
> modern music. Still, I'd love to have a look at that book.
Actually, it surprisingly doesn't concentrate just on orchestral music,
touching on things such as the player piano studies of Nancarrow, chamber
works of Reich, Carter's string quartets, Bartok's 'Mikrokosmos' to name a
few. As I said, if it's out of print, it's a real shame.
> >His earlier book "Modern Music: A Concise History from Debussy to Boulez"
> >was also excellent but alas seems to be out of print.
>
> That really is a shame. Based on a customer's review on amazon.com,
> it's probably just the sort of book I'm looking for.
Afraid I've ran out of ideas at the moment. The Griffiths and the Hall were
the two books that really did it for me.
Pan
<brice...@wanadoo.fr> wrote:
>You might consider saying a few words on J.S. Bach (a choral or a prelude, a
>fugue if you have more time), there's so many things classical & romantical
>composers owe to him (even Schönberg). I couldn't think of a better
>introduction.
I take your point, but one could also talk about how much Debussy owes
to Medieval music. Every introductory course has to leave more out
than it includes. For a "Modern Music" course, I'd rather include some
radical music by Mussorgsky and Scriabin at the expense of Bach.
But I do thank you for your thoughts, and please don't feel
discouraged about sharing any other thoughts you'd like to share with
me.
D.G. Porter
>
>
> Thanks very much for your suggestions, and I'm sorry to be mostly
> negative. Even considering and rejecting serious books is helpful in
> my preparation to teach this course.
I don't know if you can do this, but at the local CSU they allow
professors to xerox chapters from different books and assemble a
customized "textbook" for the students' use. So if you wanted to pick
and choose from several o.p. texts you could go that way.
David Cleary
: Pan wrote:
My understanding is that this may be copyright violation unless it's
one copy being placed on reserve for a course at a library. It's an
especially bad idea if it's a "course packet" sold to the students. Of
course, if the material is in the public domain, there's no problem.
But alas, not everything that's out of print is public domain.
Dave
Pan
wrote:
>D.G. Porter <dgpo...@nospammerspacbell.naught> wrote:
>: I don't know if you can do this, but at the local CSU they allow
>: professors to xerox chapters from different books and assemble a
>: customized "textbook" for the students' use. So if you wanted to pick
>: and choose from several o.p. texts you could go that way.
>
>My understanding is that this may be copyright violation unless it's
>one copy being placed on reserve for a course at a library. It's an
>especially bad idea if it's a "course packet" sold to the students. Of
>course, if the material is in the public domain, there's no problem.
>But alas, not everything that's out of print is public domain.
You're right, Dave.
Many of you are probably familiar with "Out of Print Books on Demand,"
a service that prints out-of-print books. Yes, they're under
copyright.
D.G. Porter
I think it falls under Fair Use in that no completed work is copied,
just parts, and for classroom use.
However, I can also see why a publisher would condone this. If a
student becomes familiar with a part, he/she may want to search out the
whole.
D.G. Porter
Well, this is precisely what I plan to do with parts of a book by Ives
if my course proposal is approved.
(Or maybe just have them buy the book -- it was only $9 last time I
checked. But it may not be easy to get it stocked, so I'd reserve the
option to photocopy selected chapters out of one of my copies.)
When I was reading for the Disabled Students Center I was given such
"course packets" to read from. I know it's done.
D.G. Porter
>
> On 16 Jul 2002 17:37:35 GMT, David Cleary <dcl...@fas.harvard.edu>
> wrote:
>
> >My understanding is that this may be copyright violation unless it's
> >one copy being placed on reserve for a course at a library. It's an
> >especially bad idea if it's a "course packet" sold to the students. Of
> >course, if the material is in the public domain, there's no problem.
> >But alas, not everything that's out of print is public domain.
>
> You're right, Dave.
I just spoke with my wife who is the local CSU's Department Secretary,
and she says their bookstore is licensed to make those "course packets,"
and almost every university bookstore is too. So it's not a violation.
David Cleary
: David Cleary wrote:
:>
:> D.G. Porter <dgpo...@nospammerspacbell.naught> wrote:
:> : Pan wrote:
:>
:> :> Thanks very much for your suggestions, and I'm sorry to be mostly
:> :> negative. Even considering and rejecting serious books is helpful in
:> :> my preparation to teach this course.
:>
:> : I don't know if you can do this, but at the local CSU they allow
:> : professors to xerox chapters from different books and assemble a
:> : customized "textbook" for the students' use. So if you wanted to pick
:> : and choose from several o.p. texts you could go that way.
:>
:> My understanding is that this may be copyright violation unless it's
:> one copy being placed on reserve for a course at a library. It's an
:> especially bad idea if it's a "course packet" sold to the students. Of
:> course, if the material is in the public domain, there's no problem.
:> But alas, not everything that's out of print is public domain.
: I think it falls under Fair Use in that no completed work is copied,
: just parts, and for classroom use.
That depends on how the material's used. If memory serves, one
criterion is "spontaneity." In other words, if you feel on the
spur of the moment (or relatively so) that the students need to see
something as a handout in class and you don't have the time to get
permission to distribute it, that falls under fair use. Putting
together a packet with excerpts of chapters that are to be used
during the course of a year might or might not be the same thing,
and thus might not be seen as "fair use" by a publisher--especially
if you sell them the packet without getting some kind of permission
from the copyright holder. If you reuse the packet over and over
again without getting the appropriate permissions, that definitely
gets to be a problem.
Here at the library where I work, we've been told to contact
the University General Council's office if there's any question on
matters of this kind. Feel free to do what you want, of course. :)
: However, I can also see why a publisher would condone this. If a
: student becomes familiar with a part, he/she may want to search out the
: whole.
They might not, though, particularly if there's money changing
hands without getting the appropriate permissions. There's of
course no guarantee the students will purchase the book if
they're given part of it.
Dave
David Cleary
In that case, the bookstore must have gotten permission from the
publishers of all the articles that aren't public domain, paid
the publishers a fee to do this, or something similar. There
apparently was a successful lawsuit brought by various publishers
against (I think it was) Kinko's a few years ago, who was selling
course packets without doing this.
Dave
Pan
Thanks, D.G.
But how much material can be copied from what?
Best,
Michael
P.S. I don't disagree with the opinion you expressed about music
today.
D.G. Porter
Well as I understood it, the bookstore has paid something like a
broadcast music fee to the publishing houses. I don't know how they
cove evey one, unless there is some kind of overall organization such as
BMI for publishers of books. This must be why they charge what they do
for these packets.
Kinko's is not affiliated with any university or college.
And Staples is better.
D.G. Porter
>
> On Tue, 16 Jul 2002 20:17:10 GMT, "D.G. Porter"
> <dgpo...@NOSPAMMERSpacbell.naught> wrote:
>
> >Pan wrote:
> >>
> >> On 16 Jul 2002 17:37:35 GMT, David Cleary <dcl...@fas.harvard.edu>
> >> wrote:
> >>
> >> >My understanding is that this may be copyright violation unless it's
> >> >one copy being placed on reserve for a course at a library. It's an
> >> >especially bad idea if it's a "course packet" sold to the students. Of
> >> >course, if the material is in the public domain, there's no problem.
> >> >But alas, not everything that's out of print is public domain.
> >>
> >> You're right, Dave.
> >
> >I just spoke with my wife who is the local CSU's Department Secretary,
> >and she says their bookstore is licensed to make those "course packets,"
> >and almost every university bookstore is too. So it's not a violation.
>
> Thanks, D.G.
>
> But how much material can be copied from what?
Well, when I was reading for the Disabled Students Center, what I had
was something like a notebook, 3-ringer, with maybe a dozen articles in
it on the subject (I think it was Psychology). They were all pulled
from various books and the look of each piece was different.
Mell Csicsila
Has Glenn Watkins' "Soundings: Music in the Twentieth Century" been
mentioned yet? Schirmer.
--
Mell D. Csicsila
email: mcsicsil (AT) kent (DOT) edu
web: http://home.sprintmail.com/~mdcsicsila
Pan
wrote:
>Has Glenn Watkins' "Soundings: Music in the Twentieth Century" been
>mentioned yet? Schirmer.
I don't know if it was mentioned in this thread or not, but a
musicologist friend of mine mentioned it. I requested a desk copy, but
the rep thought it might be inappropriate for an intro-level course.
I'm waiting for a response to my email back.
Best,
Mell Csicsila
(Pan) wrote:
> On Thu, 18 Jul 2002 07:06:56 GMT, Mell Csicsila <mcsi...@kent.edu>
> wrote:
>
> >Has Glenn Watkins' "Soundings: Music in the Twentieth Century" been
> >mentioned yet? Schirmer.
>
> I don't know if it was mentioned in this thread or not, but a
> musicologist friend of mine mentioned it. I requested a desk copy, but
> the rep thought it might be inappropriate for an intro-level course.
> I'm waiting for a response to my email back.
It is a little "thick," but if these are really smart engineering majors
instead of business or elementary education majors (ducking) they should
be able to deal with it.
Pan
wrote:
>In article <3d37980e...@news.erols.com>, panNO...@musician.org
>(Pan) wrote:
>
>> On Thu, 18 Jul 2002 07:06:56 GMT, Mell Csicsila <mcsi...@kent.edu>
>> wrote:
>>
>> >Has Glenn Watkins' "Soundings: Music in the Twentieth Century" been
>> >mentioned yet? Schirmer.
>>
>> I don't know if it was mentioned in this thread or not, but a
>> musicologist friend of mine mentioned it. I requested a desk copy, but
>> the rep thought it might be inappropriate for an intro-level course.
>> I'm waiting for a response to my email back.
>
>It is a little "thick," but if these are really smart engineering majors
>instead of business or elementary education majors (ducking) they should
>be able to deal with it.
If the enlargement of the student body as a result of the construction
of new dormitories (where there used to be none) doesn't dilute its
quality, they figure to be smart engineering and computer science
majors.