20th and 21st Century Analysis: Timbre, Orchestration, and Genre Since 1920
Teaching and Learning | Syllabi
Jennifer Beavers
20th and 21st Century Analysis:
Timbre, Orchestration, and Genre Since 1920
University of Texas at San Antonio College of Liberal and Fine Arts
Course Description:
Music analysis traditionally prioritizes melody, harmony, and form as primary metrics for uncovering musical structure and meaning. However, one of the most compelling, and often times, the most immediate reactions one has towards a musical composition is how it sounds— that is, the sound of a singer, instrument, ensemble, or sound object; the feeling of textural and/or rhythmic changes; the flow of a musical line, form, improvisation, rap, or soundtrack. This course surveys methods for analyzing various types of twentieth- and twenty-first-century music, with a focus on sound organization, orchestration analysis, and the study of genre. The twentieth century features some of the most exciting and diverse music, sounds, and composers. By prioritizing sound advancements of this period alongside traditional analytical techniques, which traditionally teach students how to label melodic and harmonic events, we can develop a deeper understanding of how to discuss and analyze the most captivating, yet somewhat neglected parameters of sound. Our questions will be directed specifically at music since 1920, but many can be addressed to all periods of music. Some preliminary questions include: How does one describe musical sound? What attributes inform our perception and experience of the way music sounds? How do sound layers function in various types of compositions? In what ways does orchestration and sound engineering influence its sound? What are the signifiers and influences of musical genre? This course will uncover various techniques to analyze these sorts of questions in twentieth- and twenty-first-century music with an overarching inquiry: how do these “secondary” parameters interact within and across various genres of art and popular musics? We will combine sound-based analyses with score study (when relevant) alongside critical readings to investigate these questions.
As a class, we will uncover relevant techniques and skills needed to address a body of art that is essentially uncategorizable as a whole, but diversely idiosyncratic. The richness of the literature will require an open mind and flexibility needed to discover such approaches. After successfully completing this course, students will have a working knowledge of the general style characteristics of important twentieth and twenty-first-century sound developments and an understanding of the theoretical methods and tools used to analyze this music.
Course Objectives:
At the end of the course, the student should be able to perform the following skills
Identify major trends of 20th and 21st century art and popular music genres
Utilize terminology to describe sound parameters
Analyze written and performed music in terms of its basic structure, pitch- content, timbre, rhythm, and genre
Connect soundtrack with audio-visual events
Discuss genre and cross-genre characteristics
Explain and perform dominant referential scale collections
Employ lead-sheet/pop symbols in music analysis
Relate sound developments to cultural shifts
Complete PDF of Syllabus with Weekly Topics here.