Music In London

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

Open to students in any major (including those with no musical background but interested in learning about it) and meeting once-weekly in a double-session class, this course examines pathways of thought and influences that have shaped music in Britain from the introduction of plainsong from Italy in AD 597 to present day. Students will learn about classical and popular musics and how they relate to socio-political, cultural and global contexts. The course is chronological, and treats several tangential themes along the way. For example the unit on Music and Drama incorporates opera, music for dance and oratorio, and the unit Folk and Traditional Music, explores the fertile cultural roots of popular music making in Britain, its influence on the classical music renaissance in the early twentieth century and its modern day fusion with other world musics. Throughout, an important emphasis is the experience of live musical performance in London. Students will attend six events in a variety of venues, from opera at the Royal Opera House, Sung Evensong at Westminster Abbey to jazz at Ronnie Scott's Club and orchestral music at the Royal Festival Hall. A key element of approach is the making of connections between seemingly disparate musical forms and expressions, and encouraging students, through assignments and class discussion, to find contrasts and links themselves as they attain the necessary tools for the critical evaluation of the music they hear, both during the course, and beyond.