Assignments for
Music 43509:
Musical Time

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	Week 2
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	Week 4
	Week 5
	Week 6
	Week 7
	Week 8
	Week 9
	Week 10

These are the assignments for Music 43509, Larry Zbikowski’s seminar on musical time at the University of Chicago, Spring term 2009.

March 31
Introduction: Methodologies of Musical Time

Seminar notes

Reading

• Robert P. Morgan, “Musical Time/Musical Space,” Critical Inquiry 6, no. 4 (Spring 1980): 527–538. (pdf available).

Listening

MP3s for two works (both for guitar) are available through the links provided below. You will almost certainly find it easiest to download the files onto your computer, and then listen at your pleasure. To get the most out of this exercise, I would encourage you to disregard the timing information provided by your media player. You may find it helpful to listen with your eyes closed, or to otherwise circumvent the transcript of temporal process provided by the MP3s.

I will eventually provide you with more information about these compositions, but for the present let’s just call them A and B. Your purpose, as you listen to them, is to consider this general question: How does music shape the passage of time? (Now you see why it is important to disregard the timing information provided by your media player.) This question, together with these pieces, sets up a cascade of further questions, which might include the following:

• How does A differ from B in the way it shapes time?
• What happens to your experience of musical time as you become more familiar with the pieces?
• Do your impressions of musical time change if you listen to A first, and then B? What about the reverse?
• Which piece is “longer” (and why)?
• How does your experience of musical time change with the environment within which you listen to A and B?

1. Listening selection A
2. Listening selection B

April 7
Meter, rhythm, and musical time

Seminar notes

Reading

1. William E. Caplin, “Theories of Musical Rhythm in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries,” in The Cambridge History of Western Music Theory, ed. Thomas Christensen, Cambridge History of Music (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002), 657–694. [on reserve]
2. Justin London, Hearing in Time: Psychological Aspects of Musical Meter (New York: Oxford University Press, 2004): Introduction (pp. 3–8); chapter 1 (“Meter as a Kind of Attentional Behavior,” pp. 9–26); chapter 3 (“Meter-Rhythm Interactions I: Ground Rules,” pp. 48–59). [on reserve]
3. Richard L. Cohn, “Transpositional Combination of Beat-Class Sets in Steve Reich’s Phase-Shifting Music,” Perspectives of New Music 30, no. 2 (Summer 1992): 146–177. [pdf available through Chalk site]

Repertoire

1. Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber, Missa Christi resurgentis, Credo. [mp3 available through Chalk site]
2. John Adams, Shaker Loops, Part I: “Shaking and Trembling.” [mp3 available through Chalk site]

Thoroughly optional reading

• Ian Quinn, “Minimal Challenges: Process Music and the Uses of Formalist Analysis,” Contemporary Music Review 25, no. 3 (June 2006): pp. 283–294. [pdf available in Course Documents]

April 14
Musical structure and musical time, part 1

Seminar notes

Reading

1. Jonathan Kramer, The Time of Music: New Meanings, New Temporalities, New Listening Strategies (New York: Schirmer, 1988), chapter 2 (“Linearity and Nonlinearity,” pp. 20–65). On reserve–call no.: ML3850 .K720 1988
2. Karlheinz Stockhausen, “Structure and Experiential Time,” trans. Leo Black, Die Reihe 2 (1959): 64–74. [pdf available through Chalk site]
3. David Epstein, Shaping Time: Music, the Brain, and Performance (New York: Schirmer Books, 1995), chapter 2 (“Thoughts for an Ongoing Dialogue,” pp. 21–57). On reserve–call no.: ML437 .E670 1995

Repertoire

1. Ludwig van Beethoven, String Quartet in F major, Op. 135, II (Vivace). [mp3 available through Chalk site] Score on reserve–call no.: sM452 .B41 Q97 c.10
2. Anton Webern, Streichquartett op. 28. [mp3 available through Chalk site] Score on reserve–call no.: sM452 .W375 S91 cop. 2

Thoroughly optional reading

• Kramer, The Time of Music, chapter 1 (“Music and Time,” pp. 1–19).

April 21

Seminar notes

The seminar will not meet this week.

April 28
Musical structure and musical time, part 2

Seminar notes

Reading

1. Jonathan Kramer, The Time of Music: New Meanings, New Temporalities, New Listening Strategies (New York: Schirmer, 1988), chapter 8 (“Discontinuity and the Moment,” pp. 201-220). On reserve–call no.: ML3850 .K720 1988
2. Karlheinz Stockhausen, “ . . . . . how time passes . . . . .,” trans. Cornelius Cardew, Die Reihe 3 (1959): 10-40. [pdf available through Chalk site]
3. Iannis Xenakis, “Concerning Time,” Perspectives of New Music 27, no. 1 (Winter 1989): 84-92. [pdf available through Chalk site]

Repertoire

1. Igor Stravinsky, Symphonies of Wind Instruments. Score on reserve—call no.: sM957 .S911 c.1 Gen
2. Karlheinz Stockhausen, Zeitmaße. Score on reserve—call no.: M557 .S864Z4

Thoroughly optional reading

• Kramer, The Time of Music, chapter 9 (“Analytic Interlude: Linearity, Nonlinearity, and Moment time in Stravinsky’s Symphonies of Wind Instruments,” pp. 221-285).

May 5
Ethnographic perspectives on musical time

Seminar notes

Reading

1. Simha Arom, “Time Structure in the Music of Central Africa: Periodicity, Meter, Rhythm and Polyrhythmics,” Leonardo 22, no. 1 (1989): 91–99. [pdf available through Chalk site]
2. Martin Clayton, Time in Indian Music: Rhythm, Metre, and Form in North Indian Rag Performance, Oxford Monographs on Music (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000), chapter 2 (“Theoretical perspectives I: musical time in Indian cultural perspective,” pp. 10–26); chapter 4 (“Tal theory as a model of rhythmic organization,” pp. 43–56); chapter 5 (“Tal in practice: quantitative, qualitative, and cyclic functions,” pp. 57–74). On reserve–call no.: ML338 .C593 2000
3. Andrew Clay McGraw, “The Perception and Cognition of Time in Balinese Music,” Empirical Musicology Review 3, no. 2 (April 2008): 38–54. [pdf available through Chalk site]

Repertoire

1. “Jaunpuri, from The Raga Guide, performed by Buddhadev DasGupta, sarod. Call no.: AudCD Nimbus 38 [mp3 available through Chalk site]
2. “Alujo” (part of the Bata Repertoire for Egungun in Pobè), from Yoruba Drums from Benin, West Africa. Call no.: AudCD Smithsn 123 [mp3 available through Chalk site]
3. “Sekar Gendot,” from Bali Gamelan, performed by Gong Geladag (a.k.a. Jay Kusuma). Call no.: AudCD Voyager 15 [mp3 available through Chalk site]

Thoroughly optional reading

• Kofi Agawu, African Rhythm: A Northern Ewe Perspective (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995), chapter 1 (“Rhythms of society,” pp. 8–30). On reserve–call no.: ML3760.7 .G4A30 1995
• Lewis Rowell, Music and Musical Thought in Early India (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992), chapter 8 (“Time,” pp. 180–224). On reserve–call no.: MT6 .R87M90 1992
• Ian Cross, et al., “Commentary on ‘The Perception and Cognition of Time in Balinese Music’ by Andrew Clay McGraw,” Empirical Musicology Review 3, no. 2 (April 2008): 55–58. [pdf available through Chalk site]

May 12
Musical time and patterned movement (including dance)

Seminar notes

Reading

1. Tellef Kvifte, “Categories and Timing: On the Perception of Meter,” Ethnomusicology 51, no. 1 (Winter 2007): 64–84. [pdf available through Chalk site]
2. Zbikowski, By Crystal Fountains: Music, Language, and Grammar [a working title]: chapter 2 (“Analogy”). [pdf available through Chalk site]
3. Zbikowski, “Dance Topoi, Sonic Analogues, and Musical Grammar: Communicating with Music in the Eighteenth Century,” in Communication in Eighteenth Century Music, V. Kofi Agawu and Danuta Mirka (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2008), 283–309. [pdf available through Chalk site]

Repertoire

• Telespringar Dance, a video from the July 2003 Amerikappeleik of the Hardanger Fiddle Association of America.

Thoroughly optional reading

• Jan–Pettar Blom, “The Dancing Fiddle: On the Expression of Rhythm in Hardingfele Slatter,” in Slattar for the Harding Fiddle, vol. 7 Springar in 3/4 Time, ed. Jan–Pettar Blom, Sven Nyhus, and Reidar Sevag, Norwegian Folk Music, Series I (Oslo: Universitetsforlaget, 1981), 305–312. [pdf available through Chalk site]

May 19
Musical time and gesture

Seminar notes

Reading

1. Robert Adlington, “Moving Beyond Motion: Metaphors for Changing Sound,” Journal of the Royal Music Association 128, no. 2 (2003): 297–318. [pdf available through Chalk site]
2. Nicholas Brown, “The Flux Between Sounding and Sound: Towards a Relational Understanding of Music as Embodied Action,” Contemporary Music Review 25, no. 1 (2006): 37–46. [pdf available through Chalk site]
3. Zbikowski, “Musical Gesture and Musical Grammar: A Cognitive Approach,” in New Perspectives on Music and Gesture, ed. Anthony Gritten and Elaine King (Ashgate Publishing Ltd) [under review]. [pdf available through Chalk site]

Repertoire

1. Elliott Carter, Three occasions for orchestra, “A celebration of some 100 x 150 notes.” Score on reserve—call no.: M1003. C324O16 [mp3 available through Chalk site]
2. Claude Debussy, Nocturnes, “Nuages.” Score on reserve—call no.: M1003 .D28N75 [mp3 available through Chalk site]
3. György Ligeti, Atmosphères. Score on reserve—call no.: M1045 .L72A81 1979 [mp3 available through Chalk site]

Thoroughly optional reading

• Robert Adlington, “Temporality in post–tonal music,” Ph.D. diss. (University of Sussex, 1996). [pdf available through Chalk site, where you’ll also find the table of contents for this work]
• Danae Stefanou and Pavlos Antoniadis, “Inter–Structures: Rethinking Continuity in Post–1945 Piano Repertoire,” Journal of Interdisciplinary Music Studies 3, no. 1&2 (Spring/Fall 2009): 77–93. [pdf available through Chalk site]

May 26
Musical organization, memory function, and constructions of temporal experience

Seminar notes

Reading

1. David C. Rubin, “The Basic–Systems Model of Episodic Memory,” Perspectives on Psychological Science 1, no. 4 (2006): 277–311. [pdf available through Chalk site]
2. Jeff Pressing, “Black Atlantic Rhythm: Its Computational and Transcultural Foundations,” Music Perception 19, no. 3 (Spring 2002): 285–310. [pdf available through Chalk site]

Repertoire

• Franz Schubert, Schwanengesang (D. 957): no. 11, “Die Stadt”; no. 13, “Der Doppelgänger.” [Scores and mp3s available through Chalk site]

Thoroughly optional reading

• Adam Ockelford, Review of David Huron’s Sweet Anticipation: Music and the Psychology of Expression (MIT 2006), Psychology of Music 36, no. 3 (July): 367–382. [pdf available through Chalk site]
• Giorgio Biancorosso, “Whose Phenomenology of Music: David Huron’s Theory of Expectation,” Music & Letters 89, no. 3: 396–404. [pdf available through Chalk site]

June 2
The phenomenology of musical time; Musical time and musical grammar

Seminar notes

Reading

1. Thomas Clifton, Music as Heard: A Study in Applied Phenomenology (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1983), chapter 4 (“Time in Motion,” pp. 81–136). [pdf available through Chalk site] This volume is also on reserve–call no.: ML3877 .C63.
2. Lawrence M. Zbikowski, Conceptualizing Music: Cognitive Structure, Theory, and Analysis (New York: Oxford University Press, 2002), chapter 1 (“Categorization,” pp. 23–25, 49–62) [pdf available through Chalk site]. This portion of my book focuses on themes from the Prelude to Richard Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde, and makes reference both to aspects of musical syntax and to the function of memory in understanding music.