A Century of Change:

Art and Music from 1912-2012

Art/History

Spring 2013

Susan Brown and Adele Dinerstein

Ext. 4311

Ext. 4461

CofC is a class about looking and listening. We expect you to delve into artistic areas that are of interest and inspire you. We want you to come away from this semester with a greater appreciation, understanding, and critical eye/ear when looking at and listening to works of art.

·  That you become comfortable using the language of the visual and performing arts

·  That you recognize the importance of different points of view

·  That you keep an open mind (eye and ear)

·  That you’re not afraid to express your opinions

·  That you enjoy yourself!

To achieve these objectives we will be...

·  confronting and exploring issues and questions faced by visual and performing artists who worked and continue to work on the cutting edge

·  thinking about

o  Who creates change?

o  Why does one artistic form take hold over another?

o  What effect does technology play?

o  How do the historical environment and the prevailing cultural, societal and political structures affect artists and performers?

·  learning to look and listen carefully and critically

·  acquiring an artistic/music/art historical vocabulary that will help you express your ideas

·  dealing with the elements and principles that artists and performers use to create a work of art

Historical Dates: Some dates are a important and others not. We’ll let you know! That said, this class is not about memorizing names, dates or artistic periods, but rather HOW artists/performers and their works fit into a larger historical framework. We’ll work within decades , which should help frame all explorations.

Texts: …Isms, Understanding Art, Stephen Little, 2004

An Illustrated History of Music for Young Musicians (The Twentieth Century), Gilles Comeau and Rosemary Covert, 2000

Class Structure (what you can expect from us)

·  Looking/listening to works of art

·  Discussions pertaining to the point above, readings, field trips

·  Journal entries

·  PowerPoint presentations

·  Musical performances

·  Studio tie-ins, recording studio, keyboard lab

·  In-class activities and assignments

·  Museum trips: BMA—Contemporary wing, Hirschhorn and Smithsonian American Art Museum (Washington, DC—all day trip, mid-Feb), MoMA (NYC—all day trip, early April)

·  Musical performances: (tentative) BSO “From Africa to America”, Feb 27, midday concert, BSO John Adams and Prokofiev (?)

Class work and homework (what we expect from you)

·  Keeping a journal

·  Homework and readings: SHORT ASSIGNMENTS. Examples: a 1-2 page reflection in your journal, a one page description of a work of art or a musical piece, readings in your texts, readings from handouts or Web sites

·  In Class work: can take on many forms, such as short papers or journal entries, Podcasts, or PPTs. Often you will have a choice or formats

·  Final Assignment: will be a longer assignment that you will have both in class time and time outside of class to complete. This assignment can take any number of forms

·  Those taking the course for history credit must deal with the larger historical environment in most assignments (handout to follow)

Grades (in the ideal world…)

·  Class participation—25%

·  In-class and homework assignments—50%

·  Final assignment—25%