INDEX

Course #: MHM 408 (undergraduate) and 508 (graduate)
Time: Mondays and Wednesdays from 3:10 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Location: Burton Memorial Tower (Central Campus), room #506
Email List: usclassical@umich.edu

Instructor: Mark Clague
Office: Burton Memorial Tower, room #606
Phone: (734) 647-4580 (voice mail) / email: claguem@umich.edu
Office hours: after class each day in BMT606 or by appointment
Website: http://www.umich.edu/~claguem/

To gain fluency with the events and issues concerning classical music in the United States in order to be able to develop and execute a research study on the issues of and challenges to classical music in contemporary American society.

CLASSICAL MUSIC IN THE UNITED STATES will explore the history of the Western European classical tradition in the New World through discussion, listening, role playing, and a class research project, culminating in an afternoon symposium. Material covered will balance the history of American composers and their works with the sometimes awkward, sometimes apparently natural, position of classical music in American culture. Issues of American identity, gender, race, and social class will be addressed in depth.

Although the ability to perform is not required, participants will be encouraged to share their musical skills in class and during an evening recital that will introduce music of the colonial and experimental traditions. Students will be able to substitute a performance with commentary for a formal written paper.

Research teams of three to four students will address a topic area within a class-wide symposium titled, "The Future of Classical Music in America?" Each team will design, execute, and present a study of classical music in contemporary American society, focusing on a core issue, such as audience, performance, composition, education, presentation, technology, or economics. Each project will be made part of the class Web site and presented to the class along with invited guests in an afternoon symposium, organized by the class.

Collaborative teaching technology will be used extensively in the course. All participants should have a University of Michigan email and IFS account, a web browser with Real Audio, and word-processing software, preferrably MSWord. All of this software is available at University computing sites across campus. Students will be asked to participate in a voluntary and anonymous assessment study to measure the effect of technology on the learning experience. Participation in this assessment is not a requirement of the course.

Required Texts: (should be available at two locations in downtown Ann Arbor)

@ After Words (219 S Main at Liberty / 996-2808)

@ Shaman Drum Bookstore in (313 S. State, 2nd Fl. / 662-7407)

Streaming audio for all course listening is available through the course website. CD copies are available at School of Music Listening Lab (see below for hours and location). When available scores for each listening example have been put on reserve at the School of Music library and/or included in the coursepack.

Two movies (Amadeus and Fantasia) will be screened as part of this course. Most likely these presentations will take place in the evening, but details have not been set.

New York Times Sunday Edition Arts Section(www.newyorktimes.com)

Reading

Reading assignments are made on a class by class basis in the syllabus. Readings listed under a specific class date are to be completed prior to that class and discussion questions will be posted in the discussion area of the course Web site. Readings will support our discussions in class and online and serve as the primary basis for your exams.

Listening

Several works will be assigned for each class, focusing on a particular style or period and its composers. When possible, scores will be put on reserve at the School of Music library.

LISTENING CDs:

Room: 2231 SM Room: 2018 MLB (next to Burton Tower)

Hours: Mon.-Thr. 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Hours: Mon.-Thr. 8:30 a.m. -9:30 p.m.

Fri. & Sat. noon-5 p.m. Fri. 8:30 a.m. -5 p.m.

Sun. 2 p.m.-7 p.m. Sat. Closed

Sun. 12:30 p.m.-9:30 p.m.

From Central, take any north campus bus to the first stop and walk north-west. The School of Music is just over the hill with the tree trunk sculpture at its crest. There is a pond in front of the school. Enter the doors at the end of the walkway and go past the message board. Take the door on your left and ascend one flight of stairs to the second floor. The Listening Lab is located in the south-west corner of the second floor in Room 2231. From the top of the stairs exit through the left door and turn right. Head down the hall past the information office and the lounge until you reach the last door on the left. If the door is closed, swipe your U of M ID card to get into the lab. You will need your syllabus and ID to check out a CD or you may listen to the recordings online using the high-speed computers. At the north campus lab, CDs may be checked out overnight within 60 minutes of closing, but must be returned early the next morning within 90 minutes of when the lab opens.

Online LISTENING, REading, and Discussion Questions

A question will be posted in the online discussion board for each reading and listening assignment. Each student is required to do the assignment and to reply to the companion questions in preparation for class. I recommend that you keep a handwritten journal with you as your listen and read, submitting your best observations to the online discussion. I recommend that you have both the listening page and the discussion page open in your browser simultaneously. Listening and reading assignments for each class should be completed prior to the class under which the assignment is listed.

The goal here is to make listening and reading an active experience and to give me a way to give you credit for the work you do. Your responses should not necessarily be academic and can be quite subjective: "This piece stinks" is an appropriate comment as long as it continues: "because..." The journal will greatly aid your preparation for exams if you take notes on the distinctive elements of each work, composer, and performance.

PAPERS

Papers should be two-three pages in length as specified, no more – no less. Papers longer than assigned will be graded down one-third grade. You will be graded on clarity of presentation and especially on quality of ideas. Papers should be word-processed, spell-checked, and proofread. Please submit your paper to your peer reader and to the professor as an email attachment or as a printout. We will go over how to send an attachment in class, but you can also ask at the help desk at campus computing sites. If your electronic submission fails, you may submit your paper in hardcopy, but be sure to bring two copies to class. In some cases, your peer reader and the professor will receive your paper at the same time. I suggest that you share your paper before the due date to get suggestions before the final submission.

REWRITES

Rewrites are optional. Each paper may be rewritten once, incorporating suggestions and comments from the professor and peers and/or any changes the author deems advantageous. The final grade for the paper will be the average between the original and the rewrite. Rewrites must be turned in prior to the date on which the next paper is due. For example, any rewrites for paper #1 must be submitted on or before Sept. 18, the date paper #2 is due. I cannot accept any rewrites after its respective deadline.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

To avoid inadvertent plagiarism, please cite the sources of the ideas discussed in your papers when they have been suggested or influenced by others. This might include mentioning a comment made during class or group discussion as well as traditional footnotes of printed sources. You will not be penalized in any way for building upon the ideas of others. In fact, this shared discourse is the key to the intellectual project. University policy prohibits plagiarism.

PEER Comments

For each paper, a student colleague will offer comments and suggestions. You, in turn, will offer comments about his or her paper. You should use the Peer Comment Form provided on the web and can make comments on the paper directly using the annotation feature in MSWord. Remember to 1) make at least two positive comments and 2) to make constructive, as opposed to destructive, suggestions. Honest evaluation is not an invitation to cruelty. At the same time, however, it’s a waste of your time to offer vacuous praise. Your goal is to help your colleague improve his or her paper while learning about editing.

Team Projects / COLLABORATIVE LEARNING

Educational research indicates that students asked to do group work learn more and are more successful than students taught in the more traditional manner that emphasizes only individual accomplishment. Working together allows us to leverage our collective skills and time to accomplish an original project. Furthermore, employers today are requesting that college graduates possess the skills needed to be successful in the workplace. Many companies emphasize the importance of team building and group skills. For these reasons, we will be working together frequently in groups.

TEAM PROBLEMS / POLICIES

I will assign individuals to teams using information taken from a project group registration form because research shows that instructor-formed groups are twice as successful as self-selected ensembles. If your team has difficulty working together, you should address the problem within the group. If this negotiation fails, bring the problem to the attention of the instructor and schedule a meeting to discuss it. In extreme cases a member may be fired from a group after 2 warnings. Likewise a member may resign after two warnings. (Please inform the professor of each warning.) A student who resigns or is fired from his/her team, must find another group willing to add him/her to their roster. Please do not use these options lightly. They are meant only as a last resort.

Exams

If you complete your listening and reading assignments (especially the Struble textbook) and participate in class, you should have little difficulty with the midterm and final exams. You will be given a review sheet for each and a practice test before the midterm. There will be short answer and essay questions in each exam. Listening examples may be drawn from the online listening list or from "unknown" works not discussed in the course, but that are similar enough to works discussed in the course to evaluate your ability to extend your knowledge to new musical experience.

• MIDTERM EXAM, Monday, October 9

Grades will be assigned based on total points earned over the course of the semester based on a 1000-point scale:

You receive points for all course-related activities and can gain them in any way you choose.

5 Papers with rewrites (80 each) 400

Peer Comment forms (20 each) 100

Recital performance 100

Role Playing 25

Composition assignments (50 each) 100

Symposium Project (400)

• web site 50

• interview 50

• test questionnaire 25

• questionnaire study & write-up 100

• class presentation & write-up 75

• symposium participation 25

• peer evaluation 75

Symposium Planning Committee Work (half by peer evaluation) 50

2 Exams (Midterm = 100, Final = 125) 225

Online Discussion Participation (150)

• listening and reading 75

• discussion 50

• course management and other 25

2-page course evaluation paper or letter 25

Reading or listening commentaries (10 each) 100

Music resume 25

grade on scale of 1000, max. submitted. 1250, poss. 1725

1. Paper one (no penalty)
2. Peer comments must be done if you write a paper (-10 each if it is not completed)
3. Symposium project (drop one letter grade on final grade if not completed)

all other assignments are optional.

I love this grading system because it allows students to customize their work in the course to fit their own interests and time constraints. The danger of this process is that it demands that each student plan and follow through. It can be difficult if a student falls behind so I urge you to plan carefully. Use the worksheet at the end of this document to plan and track your grades. I will also give you grade reports after the midterm and a few weeks before the end of the course. You have complete control of your grade in this course through the quality and quantity of your work. Come talk to me if you have further questions or concerns.

Late Work and Make-Up Policy

Late papers will be accepted only on the first class after the original due date and will be marked down ten percent. Papers arriving after that date will not be accepted. No make up quizzes will be offered. To balance the inflexibility of this policy, I have set up the grading scale to allow students to miss assignments without penalty. You do not need to ask for permission to skip a test or paper. Just don’t turn it in--there is no penalty, with the exception of the three required assignments. The only exceptions are in cases of serious illness or a death in the family. Because of abuses in the past, such exceptions must be documented with a doctor’s note or obituary–I apologize for this inconvenience. You will be given writing assignments in lieu of missed work. Please do not ask for other exceptions to this policy. Remember that you can always turn work in early if you will be out-of-town on a due date.

Extra Credit

In effect extra credit is built into the grading structure because you can always complete more assignments to earn more points. 1250 points are available and grades are determined out of 1000 points. This allows you to skip assignments if your workload makes a due date untenable or if you leave town or are ill and are forced to miss class.

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY

Cheating and plagiarism are not acceptable. The University has very clear, published policies on this matter, and they will be followed in this class. It is your responsibility to make yourself aware of them. Your signature on each test or assignment will be taken to be your pledge that you have read, understood, and followed these policies; you will therefore be held responsible for the originality of your work. If you have questions, at any time, do not hesitate to speak with me. The minimum penalty for cheating will be a zero on the assignment and may include a grade penalty of -5% against your final grade.

Summary

If you do the work, come to class, and participate, you will do well in this course. If you give your work your best effort, you will do very well in this course. If you don’t do the work . . .

Diversity Statement: At the core of this discussion-based class is a mutual respect for the ideas, beliefs, and experience of others different from ourselves. I will expect and demand that courtesy be extended to all voices in the class. If an individual threatens to dominate a discussion and thereby silence others, I reserve the right to interrupt the discussion. Please be considerate of and respect this interruption. Everyone will have a chance to be heard. If class time expires and a discussion is still going, the discussion will move online.

Discussion and the importance of good Questions: Many students are intimidated by class discussion. My goal is to make classroom discussion a mutually rewarding and fun experience. (This is one reason that the class participation grade does not include a speaking component.) Part of the problem with speaking in public is the fear that one may be wrong. Since this course deals with interpretation more than facts, opinions rather than any supposed truths, judgments of absolute right and wrong do not enter into our discussions. In my opinion, the key to great discussions is not having good answers so much as having good questions. If you feel left out of class discussions, please spend some time thinking of questions on the material prior to class. (You are always welcome to ask questions during class.) Please approach the process of reading and listening in preparation for class as a means of generating such questions.

Due Date Assignment Do Done Possible Total Actual Total