Understanding Music

Don Traut
Spring 2020
Mondays |  
1 PM - 3 PM
Jan. 27, Feb. 3, 10, 17, 24, March 2, 23, 30, April 6, and 13, 2020
Course Format: Hybrid
Location: Main Campus
Tuition: $210

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Music from Haydn and Mozart to Beethoven and Brahms forms a canon of works held dear by performers and concert-goers alike. While each of these composers has his own distinct style, structurally their music derives from a set of principles known as common-practice tonality (CPT). This course seeks to familiarize participants with the concepts and terminology central to CPT. It is designed to deepen your understanding of these principles and provide more meaningful listening. Through lectures, musical demonstrations, and weekly listening and reading assignments, esoteric terms and concepts will be demystified. Topics will include harmonic progressions, cadences, consonance and dissonance, chromaticism, meter and hypermeter, motivic development, sonata form, and much more.

Registration Opens Online: Monday, November 25, 2019 at 8AM (AZ Time)

Required Reading

Aaron Copland, What to Listen for in Music. New York: McGraw Hill Book Company, 1956.

Meet Your Instructor

Associate Professor

Don Traut is a music theory professor at the University of Arizona where he teaches both undergraduate and graduate courses in musical theory, structure, and analysis.  His research focuses primarily on the music of Igor Stravinsky, popular music, and on the patterns that make music work.  He has shared his research with the public and other scholars through numerous publications, presentations, and guest lectures.

Location

POETRY CENTER
Dorothy Rubel Room
1508 E Helen
Tucson, AZ 85721
United States

Located on the SE corner of Helen Street and Vine Avenue, one block north of Speedway and three blocks west of Campbell Ave.

Street map image of Poetry Center

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