Ontario College of Art & Design

Course Calendar

COURSE DESCRIPTION

HUMN 3B91
Special Topic In Humanities: Sound Objects: Investigating Experimental Music
0.50 Credit(s)
Academic Course
Prerequisite: 7.5 credits, including 1.0 credit of second-year liberal studies (including 0.5 VISC credit).
This course examines "experimental" music traditions as they have unfolded since 1945. Attention will be given to a wide range of practices, including conceptual works, serialism, spectral music, locative works, digital practices and sound installation. Looking at this history of “Western art music," the course hinges on a particular tension: on one hand, we will learn about key musical concepts (such as pitch logic, sound colour, texture, and performance ritual) as they have been developed in contemporary music practices; on the other hand, we will examine ways in which other disciplines and ways of thinking have troubled these ideas. The work of artists and musicians, such as John Cage, Schoenberg, Schafer, Cardiff and Bryne will be explored in the course. In short, students will complete this course having developed a robust musical vocabulary, finely tuned ears...and a deep ambivalence about the claims that music makes about itself!
No prior experience with music is necessary.
Notes: This "Special Topic" course provides more advanced analysis of a topic of general interest or relevance. This course fulfills 0.5 credit toward the Liberal Studies requirements for a BFA or BDes.
Course was last updated June 29, 2010 - 1:41 PM