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Listening Assignments

LA #4 Due on April 3

Listen to the following pieces from your text.  The CDs are available on reserve in the Library. Answer the questions about each piece.  FOR THE LISTENING QUIZ ON APR 3, you will be asked several questions based on the listening assignment - those pieces with an asterisk (*), you should be able to identify by title and composer.

*Prokofiev: Classical Symphony, Op. 25, Mvt. 3 (CD 13 Track 30 - 32)

  • What is neo-classicism?
  • What musical term(s) would you use to describe the harmonic language of this piece?

Weill: Aufsteig und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny, "Alabama Song," (CD 13 Track 33 - 35)

  • What is unusual about this song?
  • What effect does that have?

*Bartok: Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celesta, Mvt. 3 (CD 13 Track 36 - 41)

  • Is this music programmatic?
  • What is the form of this movement?

Prokofiev: Alexander Nevsky, Op. 78, no. 4, "Arise, People of Russia," (CD 13 Track 42 - 44)

  • In what form did this piece begin life? 
  • As part of what genre did it end up?
  • What technical term can be applied to the style of this piece?

*Copland: Appalachian Spring (excerpt) (CD 13 Track 45 - 54)

  • What famous tune does Copland quote in this piece?
  • This piece was written for what genre?

*Messiaen: Quartet for the End of Time, Mvt. 1 (CD 13 Track 55 - 56)

  • What instruments is this piece scored for?  Why?
  • What does end of time refer to?
  • What is non-retrogradable rhythm?

Shostakovich, String Quartet No. 8, Mvt. 3 (CD 14 Track 1 - 5)

  • What is important about the central theme of this movement?
  • Whose music does he quote in this piece?
  • Why is this piece often referred to as his "suicide note?"

*Leonard Bernstein, West Side Story, "Tonight" (CD 14 Track 11 - 14)

  • What primary compositional technique does Bernstein use in this piece?

 

 

LA #3 Due on March 6

Listen to the following pieces from your text.  The CDs are available on reserve in the Library. Answer the questions about each piece.  FOR THE LISTENING QUIZ ON MAR 6, you will be asked several questions based on the listening assignment - those pieces with an asterisk (*), you should be able to identify by title and composer.

*Schoenberg: Pierrot Lunaire (CD 13 Tr 5 - 9)  You do NOT have to identify an individual song by its name.

PLEASE NOTE: Windows Media Player does NOT read the track info correctly.  See correct track information below:

  • Track 5 = Song #7 Der kranke Mond
  • Track 6 - 7 = Song #14 Die Kreuze
  • Track 8 - 9 = Song #21 O alter Duft

 

  • How word would you use to describe the harmonic vocabulary of these songs?
  • What unique style of singing is used with great effect in these songs?
  • What musical style do these songs reflect?

*Webern: Five Pieces for String Quartet, Op. 5, no. 4 (CD 13 Tr 10)

  • What compositional traits of Webern are present in this piece?

 

Berg: Wozzeck, Act I, sc. 1, part 1-7 (note only 7 parts NOT 9) (CD 13 Tr 11 - 17)

  • How does Berg structure his opera?
  • What compositional technique or procedure does Berg use in this opera?

*Schoenberg: Piano Suite, Op. 25, Praeludium and Minuet (CD 13 Tr 18 - 23)

  • How many forms of the 12-tone row does Schoenberg use in this piece?

Berg: Lyric Suite, mvt. III, part 1

  • What is the secret program for this piece?

 

LA #2 Due on Feb 21

Listen to the following pieces from your text.  The CDs are available on reserve in the Library. Answer the questions about each piece.  Those pieces with an asterisk (*), you should be able to identify by title and composer.

*Debussy: Prélude à l'Après-midi d'un faune (CD 12 Track 32 - 39)

  • What term would you use to describe this piece?

  • What musical element is Debussy experimenting with more than any other?

Debussy: Voiles (CD 12 Track 40 - 41)

  • What is the form of this piece?

  • What scales does this piece use?

Bartok: Diminished Fifth (CD12 Track 43)

  • What 19th century genre does this piece resemble? (hint: Chopin)

  • What interval and what scale play an important role in this piece?

Ives: "The Cage" (CD 12 Track 44)

  • Is there a time signature for this piece?

  • How would you describe the harmony of this piece (based upon what interval)?

  • What is the form of this piece?
     

Ives: "The Things our Fathers Loved" (CD 12 Track 45)

  • How does the term sonic collage relate to this piece?

  • How would you describe the harmony of this piece?

  • Where did Ives get his musical material?

*Ives: The Unanswered Question (CD 12 Track 46 - 48)

  • What is the instrumentation for this piece?

  • Which group plays the slow measured hymn-like chords?

  • What role does dissonance play in this piece?

*Stravinsky: Le Sacre du printemps (The Rite of Spring) (CD 12 Track 49 - 52)

  • What term would you use to describe this piece?

  • What instruction does Stravinsky give to the violins to make them rhythmically exciting?

  • What musical element does Stravinsky change the most in this piece?

Joplin: The Maple Leaf Rag (CD 12 Track 53 - 54)

  • Is improvisation a feature of this type of music?

  • What is the most prominent feature of Ragtime music?

*Ellington: "It Don’t mean a thing if it ain't got that swing" (CD 12 Track 58)

  • What style of jazz does this piece represent?

  • What is the style of vocal improvisation used in this piece called?

Bartok: Six Dances in Bulgarian Rhythm (CD 12 Track 60ff)

  • Where did Bartok get his source material for this piece?

Milhaud: Saudades de Brasil (CD 13 Track 1 - 3)

  • How would you describe the harmony of this piece?

  • Does Milhaud expect improvisation in this piece?

  • Like Bartok, how does Milhaud create the style for this piece?

*Cowell: The Banshee (Cd 13 Track 4)

  • What musical element is most open to the performer’s interpretation?

  • How many performers are required for this piece?

  • What term best suits this style of composition?

 

 

 

LA #1 Due on Jan 31

Follow the link to the BBC 3 Discovering Music Radio Archive

Scroll down until you get to the link for the program on Harmony. Listen to the program and answer the following questions:

  1. In Beethoven’s Eroica Symphony what two chords form the basis for the two themes?
  2. What key is the new third theme in ? Is this related to the home key?
  3. Are there unusual keys in the Recapitulation? in the Coda?
  4. What is the turning point for harmony in the 19th century beginning with Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde?
  5. What scale does Debussy create harmony out of in order to expand its range?
  6. How does Stravinsky do it in 1926? (hint: think about timbre)
  7. Do you know the name of the re-harmonized tune? (around 20:00)
  8. How does Respighi start his piece? a static web of sound

The next set of questions applies to Respighi’s The Pines of Rome.

  1. What do you call several chords played simultaneously?
  2. What older genres does he combine to create new sounds?
  3. How does he use open tuning to great harmonic effect? (hint: the notes of the open violin strings are G – D – A – E)
  4. At about 30:30 the narrator discusses Respighi’s combining of rather ordinary elements to make new sounds. What 3 does he combine?
  5. At about 32:00 the narrator describes how Respighi is able to obscure the harmony with melody. How does he do this?