|
to
MUSIC APPRECIATION
taught by Larry Ferrara
COURSE
DESCRIPTION
http://insight.ccsf.edu
City College of San
Francisco
LarryFerrara27A@gmail.com Office
A129, ph: (415) 239-3856
Music Appreciation is an exploration in the materials and
masterworks of great music, from Medieval Chant to Contemporary Popular
styles. Students begin by studying the elements of music (pitch,
melody, rhythm, harmony, form, etc.) then learn about the instruments
of the orchestra and build a comprehensive vocabulary with which to
understand and evaluate musical expression. From there, they survey the
continuum of musical history in Western Civilization, from the Middle
Ages through the present time. Along the way the student will become
aware of musical form, the great works and composers of Classical music
and in ultimately by the end become a better music listener.
The 22 web lectures are embedded with
over 90 audio examples. There are reading
assignments, and links to other resources on the Web. Music
Appreciation also features a Bulletin Board, and weekly quizzes that
the student can use to test him or herself and prepare for exams.
TEXT
BOOK—
There is one item which
must be purchased for this course:
1.)
The textbook: Listen, Brief Fifth or Sixth Edition by
Joseph Kerman, published by, Bedford St. Martin, which comes with an
optional CD set.
How to obtain the text book-
The best place to obtain the book is at the City College of
San Francisco bookstore. But if you run into problems, you can contact
the publisher, Bedford St. Martin, directly by calling: 1-617-399-4000.
If you prefer online
ordering you can try Amazon.
This site carries new as well as "gently used" books, which will save
you some money.
WEB REQUIREMENTS—
You can use Internet Explorer, Safari,
Firefox, or Netscape for this course. Your computer must have an mp3 player,
which many computers already have installed in their operating system.
If you don't have one, you can download it using the WinAmp website.
You must also have the latest version of Flash Player
installed. You can download the Flash Player here: 
There will by weekly Assignments for you to fulfill with
corresponding web lectures, reading homework and listening files. To
access the Assignments page and log into this course and select
Assignments from the menu. View the tasks to
complete.
There will by a scheduled weekly Quiz with questions that will
help you better understand the concepts you will be learning and
understand the music you will be listening to. To access the Quizzes
page, log into this course and select Quizzes from the menu.
Take the 1 quiz for each week of work and then submit it for
self-evaluation.
There will by a weekly Bulletin Board
postings with questions and discussions for you to answer and
participate in. To access the Bulletin Board page, log into
this course and select Bulletin Board from the menu. Find the
weekly question(s) or discussion thread(s) and participate.
There will by a scheduled Live
Discussion on certain occasions and especially before exams. To access
the Discussion page, log into this course and select Chat
from the menu. Enter the Review Session Room.
ASSIGNMENTS—
The Assignment Page of the website coordinates the
web lectures, the textbook reading and the listening portion of the
class. Each weekly assignment will list the work you will need to
complete for every week. All the Web Lectures are dated with the
corresponding week they are due. Once you've visited (read and listened
to) a week’s worth of web lectures and listening components, completed
the weekly text book readings and have done the web lectures for the
week you will then proceed to the Quiz section of the course and take
the corresponding quiz.
QUIZZES—
The assignments corresponding quizzes and bulletin board
bulletin board postings are specifically designed to help you prepare
for the midterm and final exams. The more you do them (they are
required), the better you'll fare on the exams. You will need to take a
quiz at the end of each week’s assignment. The weekly quizzes are
required for they are a way for you (and me) to make sure that you are
keeping up with the material in the text and on the web. The midterm
and the final exam will be taken in person at City College of San
Francisco’s Phelan Campus.
LISTENING—
Most of the genres, terms and instrument explanations are
embedded with sound files or mp3’s. You can either down load these
files to your computer and then open them, or open the files directly
from the server location. If you download them, you will have them for
future reference and can hear them “off line.” It is recommended that
you download them (for future review) as well as listen to them as you
are reading the corresponding information. If you have a fast internet
connection (T1, DSL or cable) then opening them from their current
location will be a quicker way for you to hear the examples. It is
still possible to download the sound files with a dial up connection it
will just take longer. To download any of the sound files from the
course right click the file and [Save Target As].
All of the recorded
examples are also available in the Media Center. If you prefer you can
listen to them from the Media Center located on the 4th
floor of Rosenberg library, City College Phelan campus. When you enter
the Media Center ask for the any of the Supplemental CDs (CD’s 1-7) for
Music Appreciation taught by Larry Ferrara. The content of the CD will
be found in a three ring binder in the front of the media center and
will coordinate with the sequence of web lectures. If you opt to use
the Media Center on the Phelan campus of City College of San Francisco
be sure to keep track of the time you spend there. This is done by
filling out (with the stamped date and time) a blue time card supplied
by the Media Center. Going to the Media Center to do the listening is
NOT a requirement but an option for you to fulfill the listening
requirement.
You need to do the equivalent of one hour of music listening
a week in this course. The way you fulfill that requirement is by
either downloading the files from the Music Appreciation website, by
listen to streaming audio example available to you from the weekly web
lecture, or optionally visiting the Media Center (see above) to do your
listening. Your listening hours will be kept track of by your
instructor tracking the amount of files you down load from the Music
Appreciation pages and the amount of time you are actually listening to
the streaming sound files from the web lectures.
BULLETIN BOARD—
Each week during the semester there will be a question posed
to you on the class Bulletin Board. This question will formulate a
discussion thread in the class. In addition to the weekly readings, web
viewing and listening, these weekly questions will contain musical
issues for you to consider. Afterward you will post your answer on the
course bulletin board. You are expected to keep up with these questions
by answering them and responding to other class members.
To keep up these questions you must contribute each week (a
semester minimum of 18 postings staggered throughout the semester):
Your bulletin board posts can be either answering a question that I
pose or comments on another class member’s response to a question
regarding a previous post. Your participation will be graded and you
will be asked similar questions during the midterm and later final exam.
CONCERT REVIEWS—
During the semester each student is assigned the writing of
three music reviews; two live music reviews and one video review, or
three live reviews (three total reviews). These reviews are based on
two attended live performances and/or one rented video. Your video
choice will be from one of the following: Immortal Beloved
(BEETHOVEN), Impromptu (CHOPIN) or Amadeus (MOZART). These
concert reviews and one video review are due by the by the end of the
semester and should be typed and handed in to me before or at the final
exam. You must include a program or ticket stub along with your live
concert review and when you rent a video include the rental receipt. An
outline for how and what to write can be found at the bottom of the
Assignment page of the course.
ATTENDANCE—
Attendance in the class will be followed by how often you log
on to the course to do the work and experience the listening. You are
expected to log on, read the web lectures, do the listening, take the
quiz and post to the bulletin board each week. Each week you will have
a new reading assignment, a new quiz and a new bulletin board question.
You will have only one week to complete the readings, do the listening,
take the two quiz and answer or respond to the bulletin board
questions. If you do not log onto the course frequently and do the work
each week you will lose points and it will affect your grade. If you do
not log onto the class for one week, your grade will be lowered by one
mark. If you miss two continuous weeks of absence (not logging on for
two weeks), you will be dropped from the class.
The weekly quizzes will be recorded and graded. They will be
open book and/or open computer. The weekly quizzes are in multiple
choices, matching or true and false format. The midterm and final will
be closed book and multiple choice, matching, true false or fill
in/short essay format. In addition to preparing you for the midterm and
final the weekly quizzes will indicate how you are keeping up with the
class, website viewing, listening and textbook reading.
STUDENT/TEACHER
INTERACTION—
As far as interaction is concerned-- the more the better!
There are three different ways to communicate:
1) DIRECT E-MAIL (for private
communications to Mr. Ferrara.) Best used for “private” questions about
registration, grades, problems, etc.
2) BULLETIN BOARD (answering questions that
are placed each week ALL students can see; (not private)
3) LIVE CHAT: Before exams the discussion room will be utilized and
material will be reviewed. To access the discussion room, log into this
course, scroll down to the chat link, click on it and enter the Review
Session room.
The WELCOME PAGE
contains information on how to use the course and other pertinent
course information.
The SYLLABUS PAGE
contains an overview of the entire course and will give you a list of
the topics covered in the semester.
The ASSIGNMENT PAGE
contains links to the weekly web lectures, listening files and the
corresponding readings from the text as well as content for
successfully taking the quizzes.
The QUIZ PAGE has
each week’s quiz. You will have one week to complete each one and
then it will be replaced with a newer quiz based on later course
content. In other words you will have a new quiz each week and you have
one week to take that quiz. Remember the quiz questions will help you
greatly on the midterm and final.
The GLOSSARY PAGE
gives you quick access to definitions to musical terms and words.
The LINKS PAGE
takes you to other recommended music sites on the World Wide Web.
|
