Professional Documents
Culture Documents
BEE-3A
MODULE 1
What is music?
Music is an art form and cultural activity whose medium is sound organized
intime.
Why do we study music?
Studying music allows us to understand other cultures and places in an
intimate way. We learn about the complex relationships between composers,
society, music, and ideas. Music lessons teach us the value of consistency and
persistence.
Brief history of music
Music is found in every known culture, past and present, varying widely between
times and places. Since all people of the world, including the most isolated tribal groups,
have a form of music, it may be concluded that music is likely to have been present in
the ancestral population prior to the dispersal of humans around the world.
Consequently, music may have been in existence for at least 55,000 years and the first
music may have been invented in Africa and then evolved to become a fundamental
constituent of human life.
Significance of music
Music continues to inspire spiritual expression as sound reflects and affects faith and
values. Beliefs and perceptions will transcend the very nature of music and lyrics. Our spirituality
is an essential part of who we are, and it forms the framework of our world. Community,
culture, and creed all offer insights into the connection between music and spirituality. Music
cultivates community, as sound creates communication and unity. Cultivation is a constant
process that develops, encourages, and nurtures. Sound creates a spiritual connection between
music-maker and music-lover.
Objectives of Music Education
1.Perform on Instruments
o Perform accurately and independently in a group.
o Perform with expression and technical accuracy on a wide variety of repertoire
at difficulty of Grade 3-5 in a group.
o Demonstrate ability to use ensemble skills of balance, intonation, rhythmic, and
dynamic unity.
2. Improvise
o Improvise a melody on an instrument in a selected style.
o Improvise a melody on an instrument in various tonalities.
o Improvise melodic and rhythmic variations on a given melody.
3.Compose and Arrange
o Compose original music within specified guidelines.
o Compose original melodic or harmonic accompaniment with guidelines.
o Transpose for various instruments.
o Demonstrate ability to use technological resources for composing and arranging
music.
Renaissance music
Classical period
aimed to imitate what were seen as the key elements of the art and philosophy
of Ancient Greece and Rome: the ideals of balance, proportion and disciplined
expression.
Romantic music
from the 19th century had many elements in common with the Romantic styles
in literature and painting of the era. Romanticism was an artistic, literary, and
intellectual movement was characterized by its emphasis on emotion and individualism
as well as glorification of all the past and nature.
Cage, according to his fellow avant-garde composer Morton Feldman, was the
first composer in the history of music who raised the question by implication that
maybe music could be an art form rather than a music form. Recalling the premiere
of his legendary work of silence, 433, Cage said: Theres no such thing as silence.
You could hear the wind stirring outside during the first movement. During the
second, raindrops began pattering the roof, and during the third people themselves
made all kinds of interesting sounds as they talked or walked out. Cage had an
inspiring and insatiable appetite for cultural adventure: he implored us to wake up to
the life we are living. Art is a sort of experimental station, he said, in which one
tries out living.
Musically speaking, Britten was more conservative than many of the other
titans of the century, but his influence and vision is inestimable, particularly in the field
of opera. The landmark Peter Grimes (1945) radically placed an unlovable anti-hero at
its centre, and is a musically breathtaking voyage to the darkest nooks of both
individual and group psychology. Brittens conviction that opera needed to reach parts
of the country beyond fancy metropolitan theatres led to the emergence of chamber
or pocket opera, which continues to transform an often lumbering art form into
something nimble, dynamic and thrilling to this day. His compositional philosophy,
says leading tenor Ian Bostridge, was resolutely workaday and practical, concerned
with usefulness to the community. We owe him much.
The French firebrand composer defines the idea of what music today is, how it
should sound, and how it could yet be. He is in his mid-80s, still unerringly gracious
and dignified in person, and shows no sign of slowing down. He can still be seen
regularly conducting from the podium, he is ferocious in his commitment to educating
younger artists and he still continually pushes boundaries in his own music. A living
legend.
The most imitated composer in the world is also one of the smartest and most
ominovorously curious. A supposedly minimalist composer, his decidedly maximalist
output has seen him compose something like 30 operas; 10 symphonies; chamber
music; concertos for violin, piano, timpani and saxophones; and many award-winning
film soundtracks including The Hours, The Thin Blue Line and The Truman Show. Glass
has collaborated with everyone from Paul Simon to Yo-Yo Ma, Woody Allen to David
Bowie and his music appeals to listeners of all generations and backgrounds;
genuinely bridging a gap between musical worlds which can often seem disconnected.
Beatitudes of Music Teachers
Blessed are the teachers who set a good example before their students in all things:
for this is what Jesus asks of us all.
Blessed are the teachers who strive to update their knowledge and skills:
for their students will also learn the value of seeking truth.
Blessed are the teachers who share with their students their life-wisdom:
for the young are our future.
Blessed are the teachers who strive to include and welcome all students and parents:
for Jesus calls us to look out for each other.
Blessed are the teachers who make provision for differences in individuals:
for their students will learn compassion and consideration for others.
Blessed are the teachers who model peaceful and just ways of relating:
for they shall influence their students to do likewise.
Blessed are the teachers who construct learning tasks that are interesting and relevant:
for they understand what true learning is.
Blessed are you, all teachers and students, when others devalue what you strive to do,
for you seek not only knowledge, but the wisdom to know what to do with it. Your reward will
be great, because you are creating a better world where justice, peace and harmony will
prevail. Rejoice and be glad, for God is on your side!
MODULE 2
What is art?
The history of art is the history of any activity or product made by humans in a
visual form for aesthetical or communicative purposes, expressing ideas,
emotions or, in general, a worldview. Over time visual art has been classified in
diverse ways, from the medieval distinction between liberal arts andmechanical
arts, to the modern distinction between fine arts and applied arts, or to the many
contemporary definitions, which define art as a manifestation of human creativity.
The subsequent expansion of the list of principal arts in the 20th century reached
to nine: architecture, dance, sculpture, music,painting, poetry (described broadly
as a form of literature with aesthetic purpose or function, which also includes the
distinct genres of theatre andnarrative), film, photography and graphic arts. In
addition to the old forms of artistic expression such as fashion and gastronomy,
new modes of expression are being considered as arts such as video, computer
art, performance,advertising, animation, television and videogames.
The visual arts are a critical and dynamic part of a liberal arts education, and
occupy an important role in culture. Fine Arts majors at Hofstra experience
traditional and contemporary perspectives in the approach to art and design.
They acquire knowledge of the fundamentals of art and design, gain
experience with the required tools, materials and techniques for making art
and design, and master specific concepts and skills. A Fine Arts major can lead
to an embrace of visual culture as part of meaningful life and a professional
career in the field of visual arts.