Interdisciplinary approaches to musical time

Lectures: 4 sessions / week, 1.5 hours / session, for four weeks

Three weekend evening concerts with 90 minute pre-concert forums

Three open rehearsals on the day before each concert

This course is an interdisciplinary exploration of three broad themes concerning music in relation to time.

The concerts by the Boston Chamber Music Society (BCMS) commingle works by great composers of the past (e.g., Beethoven and Dvorak) and contemporary composers (e.g., Libby Larsen and MIT professor Peter Child).

The three pre-concert forums bring together experts from various disciplines within MIT and elsewhere, to talk about the concerts in relation to the three themes. The exploration is both multi-media and interdisciplinary across the arts and sciences, using projections of film, painting, sculpture, and poetry. Panelists on each forum will discuss on their own work and the music of the evening. BCMS musicians will be on hand to demonstrate and discuss aspects of the music.

The daily class meetings will be devoted to discussion of these events (before and after), and presentations by various MIT guest speakers about a particular topic of their choosing. The presentations may be related to an artwork (e.g., a novel, a painting, a film, or another piece of music), a cultural object (e.g., a building, a musical instrument, or a specific type of media technology), or to some relevant scientific research project (e.g., in the field of music cognition). Students are also expected to give an informal classroom presentation, which might also include musical performances, to be arranged in consultation with the instructors. For those taking the class for credit, attendance at all three concerts and forums is required, as are short written responses to these events.

Session Key
C = Classroom session
R = Open rehearsal
E = Forum/concert event

Michael Cuthbert (musicology, moderator)

Robert Jaffe (physics)

Libby Larson (composer)

Sara Brown (scenic design)

Andrew Imbrie, serenade for flute, viola, and piano

Libby Larsen, Black Birds, Red Hills

George Crumb, Eleven Echoes of Autumn

Maurice Ravel, Piano Trio in A Minor

Bruce Brubaker (piano/contemporary music)

Peter Child (composition, moderator)

Deborah Stein (music theory)

Ludwig van Beethoven, String Trio in E-flat Major, Op. 5

Peter Child, Skyscraper Symphony

Antonín Dvořák, String Quartet in E-flat Major, Op. 97, "The American"

Deeper into Muybridge: a poet's view

Ellen Harris (musicology, moderator)

Lewis Lockwood (musicology)

Paul Matisse (sculptor)

Stephen Tapscott (poet)

W. A. Mozart, Oboe Quartet in F Major, K. 370

Charles Loeffler, Two Rhapsodies for Oboe, Viola, and Piano

William Grant Still, suite for violin and piano

Lukas Foss, Time Cycle

Charles Shadle

(Senior Lecturer in

Music)

Mark Harvey

(Lecturer in Music)

In the moment: jazz time and improvisation

Student projects & performances

Wrap-Up

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