SYLLABUS: SEMIOTIC APPROACHES TO MUSICAL ANALYSIS
MUSI 6308	section 18070	Spring 2019	MonWed 1:00 - 2:30	Moores School of Music, rm 116	University of Houston
Dr. Tim Koozin	office: 148	(713) 743-3318	tkoozin@.uh.edu	http://www.uh.edu/~tkoozin/	Office: Wed 11:00 and by appt.

Course Description: The course will focus on readings and approaches to musical analysis that explore meaning and signification music. A graduate-level music theory elective.

Course objectives and learning outcomes include:

• grounding in writings by theorists, musicologists, and cultural scholars dealing with issues in semiotic approaches to musical understanding
• enhanced knowledge of the historical basis of musical styles in the Classical repertoire
• development of practical tools useful to performers in the interpretation of music
• experiences in analysis, research, and writing dealing with musical signification

Prerequisite: Graduate standing in music.

Textbooks:

Almén, Byron. 2008. A Theory of Musical Narrative. Indiana University Press. (required)
Hatten, Robert. 2004. Interpreting Musical Gestures, Topics, and Tropes: Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert. Indiana University Press. (required)
 
Agawu, Kofi. 2014. Music as Discourse: Semiotic Adventures in Romantic Music. Oxford University Press. (recommended)
Hatten, Robert. 2018. A Theory of Virtual Agency. Indiana University Press. (recommended)
Hatten, Robert. 1994. Musical Meaning in Beethoven: Markedness, Correlation, and Interpretation. Indiana University Press. (recommended)
Tarasti, Eero. 1994. A Theory of Musical Semiotics. Indiana University Press. (recommended)
 
Monelle, Raymond. 2006. The Musical Topic: Hunt, Military and Pastoral. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. (UH e-Book)

For reference: James Hepokoski and Warren Darcy. Elements of Sonata Theory (UH e-Book)
 
Assignments, Study Questions, Scores, and Listening Links
 
UH Blackboard

Grading:  Assignments, class participation, quizzes  40%
              First paper                                             30% (Due Wednesday, March 6)  
              Second paper                                        30% (Due Monday, April 29)

Last day to drop without receiving a grade: January 30           Last day to drop or withdraw: April 4

UH Policies on Academic Honesty: http://www.uh.edu/provost/policies/uhhonesty_policy.html. You are expected to do your own work on all assignments, quizzes, and exams unless instructed differently. Problems with academic dishonesty will be handled according to stated University policy.

Students with disabilities are asked to bring to the instructor’s attention any special accommodations they may require. A disability will be documented with the UH Center for Students with Disabilities; http://www.uh.edu/csd/.
 

First Paper: Write a paper, about 6 pages in length, focusing on topical analysis of a single movement from the Classic/Romantic repertoire. Discuss specific style types and topics that appear in the piece. Explain their characteristic attributes and unique ways they interact with musical structure in the piece. Build upon the framework we have discussed through our readings by Ratner, Hatten, Almén, and Monelle, explaining how the piece can be understood through study of style topics and musical structure.

One-paragraph abstract due: Wednesday, February 6.     Paper due: Wednesday, March 6.
  

The Final Paper, about six pages in length, should include:

• An opening section on methodology, in which you clearly explain the analytical and interpretive tools you will use in exploring a musical work. This should clearly build upon assigned readings and may draw from other source readings as well. (Include citations and bibliography.)
• An interpretive analysis of a piece of music that explores issues of gesture and embodiment, musical narrative, analysis of musical topics, or other ways of conceptualizing musical experience in the work.
• A syntactical analysis that addresses important aspects harmony, form, linear structure, or other compositional techniques in the work. (Include a photocopied score with detailed markings.)
• A conclusion that summarizes and comments thoughtfully on the main ideas you have developed in the paper.
• Be prepared to discuss your work in progress during class.
• Due Monday, April 29

 
Additional readings

E-Books available via UH Library

Almén, Byron and Edward Pearsall, eds. 2006. Approaches to Meaning in Music. UH e-book
Born, Georgina and David Hesmondhalgh, eds. 2000. Western Music and Its Others: Difference, Representation, and Appropriation in Music. UH e-book
Davis, Andrew. 2010. Musical Meaning and Interpretation: Trittico, Turandot, and Puccini's Late Style. UH e-book
Heble, Ajay. 2000. Landing on the Wrong Note: Jazz, Dissonance and Critical Practice. Routledge. UH e-book
Krebs, Harald. 1999. Fantasy Pieces: Metrical Dissonance in the Music of Robert Schumann. UH e-book
McClelland, Ryan. 2010. Brahms and the Scherzo: Studies in Musical Narrative. Ashgate. UH e-book
Monelle, Raymond. 2000. The Sense of Music. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. UH e-book
Smart, Mary Ann. 2004. Mimomania: Music and Gesture in Nineteenth-Century Opera. UH e-book
Tarasti, Eero. 2002. Signs of Music A Guide to Musical Semiotics. Mouton De Gruyter. UH e-book
Zbikowski, Lawrence. 2002. Conceptualizing Music: Cognitive Structure, Theory, and Analysis. Oxford: Oxford University Press. UH e-book

Books (on reserve at UH Music Library)

Agawu, Kofi. 1991. Playing with Signs: A Semiotic Interpretation of Classic Music. Princeton University Press. ML3838.A317 1991
Agawu, Kofi. 2009. Music as Discourse: Semiotic Adventures in Romantic Music. Oxford University Press. MT6 .A286 2009
Allanbrook, Wye Jamison. 1983. Rhythmic gesture in Mozart: Le Nozze di Figaro and Don Giovanni. University of Chicago Press. ML410.M9A73 1983
Hatten, Robert. 1994. Musical Meaning in Beethoven: Markedness, Correlation, and Interpretation. Indiana University Press. ML410.B4H28 1994
Hatten, Robert. 2018. A Theory of Virtual Agency. Indiana University Press.
Larson, Steve. 2012. Musical Forces: Motion, Metaphor, and Meaning in Music. ML3820 .L36 2012
Lidov, David. 2005. Is Language a Music?: Writings on Musical Form and Signification. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. ML3845 .L53 2005
Mirka, Danuta, ed. 2014. The Oxford Handbook of Topic Theory. Oxford University Press. ML196 .O84 2014
Nattiez, Jean-Jacques. 1990. Music and Discourse: Toward a Semiology of Music. Princeton University Press ML3797 N3713
Ratner, Leonard G. 1980. Classic Music: Expression, Form and Style. Schirmer Books. ML195.R38
Tarasti, Eero. 1994. Indiana University Press. A theory of musical semiotics. ML3845.T35 1994

Articles and book chapters (Selections available through UH Blackboard)

Agawu, Kofi. 1996. “Analyzing music under the new musicological regime.” Music Theory Online 2.4. http://mto.societymusictheory.org/issues/mto.96.2.4/mto.96.2.4.agawu.html
Fisher, George and Judy Lochhead. 2002. “Analyzing From the Body.” Theory and Practice 27: 37–67.
Hatten, Robert. 2006. “A Theory of Musical Gesture and its Application to Beethoven and Schubert.” In Music and Gesture, ed. Anthony Gritten and Elaine King, 142–164. Aldershot: Ashgate. ML3838.M9494 2006.
King, Elaine. 2006. “Supporting Gestures: Breathing in Piano Performance.” In Music and Gesture, ed. Anthony Gritten and Elaine King, 142–164. Aldershot: Ashgate. ML3838.M9494 2006.
Koozin, Timothy. 2011. "Guitar Voicing in Pop-Rock Music: A Performance-Based Analytical Approach." Music Theory Online 17.3. http://www.mtosmt.org/issues/mto.11.17.3/mto.11.17.3.koozin.html
Krumhansl, Carol L. 1998. "Language and Music Processing." Music Perception, 16.1: 119-134.
Leydon, Rebecca.2002. "Towards a Typology of Minimalist Tropes." Music Theory Online 8.4. http://www.mtosmt.org/issues/mto.02.8.4/mto.02.8.4.leydon_frames.html
Lidov, David. 2006. "Emotive Gesture in Music and its Contraries." In Music and Gesture, ed. Anthony Gritten and Elaine King. Aldershot: Ashgate, 45–60.
Le Guin, Elisabeth. 1999. “Cello and Bow Thinking: Boccherini’s Cello Sonata in E-flat Major, ‘Fuori Catologo.’” ECHO 1/1. http://www.echo.ucla.edu/volume1-issue1/leguin/leguin-article.html
Mead, Andrew. 1999. “Bodily Hearing: Physiological Metaphors and Musical Understanding.” Journal of Music Theory 43/1: 1–19.
Moore, Allan F. 2001. "The Persona-Environment Relation in Recorded Song." Music Theory Online 11.4. http://www.mtosmt.org/issues/mto.05.11.4/mto.05.11.4.moore.html
Saslaw, Janna. 1996. "Forces, Containers, and Paths: The Role of Body-Derived Image Schemas in the Conceptualization of Music." Journal of Music Theory 40.2: 217–243.
Schutz, Michael and Scott Lipscomb. 2007. “Hearing Gestures. Seeing Music: Vision influences Perceived Tone Duration.” Perception 36: 888–97.
Wanderley, Marcelo M. and Bradley W. Vines. 2006. “Origins and Functions of Clarinetists’ Ancillary Gestures.” In Music and Gesture, ed. Anthony Gritten and Elaine King, 165–191. Aldershot: Ashgate.