Music, the Arts, and Ideas (MUSL 183)
Music, the Arts, and Ideas --let's start by making those words lower case instead: music, art, ideas. Now let's glorify that lowly conjunction: AND. This course is about intersections--not "appreciation." Or, if you insist, it is about the appreciation of intersections. Wagner and Jaws, Batman and Mozart. Our premise will be that nothing in culture exists in isolation --at least not for long. Everything touches something else. And...And...And... Whether at the moment of its origin or at the moment it interacts with the knowledge and experience of its recipient, a cultural artifact is a wonderfully messy affair. Leave your tux at the cleaners and get used to wiping your mouth on your sleeve. Music will, of course, serve as the hub for this course, but we will explore a good amount of film, painting, sculpture, poetry, and literature. We may listen to Mozart for the sound of class warfare, watch cartoons as a way of understanding the soul, hear Debussy's hidden relationship to Captain Kirk, and look to The Scream to clear up some confusion about Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz. For now, however, Toto will remain an enigma. Our experience of culture knows no boundaries: music, art, ideas, and you.
"He's an excellent and brilliant instructor. No one has pulled things together like he did. I see things in a whole different light and connection. There should be more classes like this and more teachers like him."
--former student, on a course evaluation form
Credit?
Arts and Science--CPLE humanities
Engineering--humanities
Peabody--humanities
Return to Music to Go or go to Musical
Nationalisms.