University of Massachusetts, Amherst

Department of Music
Music 394MI: History of Music from 1900-Present
Spring Semester

Instructor: Erinn E. Knyt

eknyt@music.umass.edu
Fine Arts Center, Room 366
Teaching Assistants: Allison Smith allisonsmith@umass.edu (breakout sessions with
Allison will be held in FAC 152).
Lidia Chang lachang@umass.edu (breakout sessions with Lidia will be held in FAC 154).
Meeting Times: Mon., Wed., Fri., 9:05-9:55
Location: Fine Arts Center, Bezanson Hall
Office Hours: M/F, 10-11, other times by appointment.
Course Goals and Objectives: The main goal of this course is to provide a broad
overview of developments in Western Classical Music, Jazz, Popular Music, and World
Music from 1900 to the present. The lecture-based course, which is organized
chronologically, will focus on changes in musical style throughout the time period, as
well as on correlations among music and other disciplinesespecially with disciplines
experienced in general education courses outside the department. By the end of the
course, students should be able to aurally and visually distinguish among different styles,
genres, and forms of music, relate them to the context in which they were created, and
identify basic compositional techniques used in representative compositions.
Integrative Experience:
This course serves as an Integrative Experience for Music Majors. According to the
General Education Council:
"The Integrative Experience (IE) requirement at UMass Amherst addresses the challenges
associated with educational fragmentation. Positioned in the upper-division, the IE
provides students with a structured opportunity to look back on their early college
learning experiences, reflect upon and make connections between those earlier
experiences and the more advanced work in their major, and use their integrated learning
to prepare for the demands of the world beyond the University."
MUS 394MI fulfills these requirements in several ways. The course takes an integrative
approach with respect to content matter, demonstrating connections among music, the
social sciences, politics, religion, gender, literature, science, and history. Additionally, the

essay assignments promote reflection upon the course material and General Education
courses, along with opportunities for practice in online communication and consideration
of real world problem solving. Moreover, the in-class presentation provides practice in
oral communication and opportunity for a shared leaning experience.
For further information on the IE, please consult the Gen Ed website:
http://www.umass.edu/gened/teachingAdvising/integrativeExperience/ie.html
Required Textbook: J. Peter Burkholder, Donald J. Grout, and Claude V. Palisca. A
History of Western Music, 9th ed. N.Y.: W.W. Norton and Co., 2010.
Suggested Textbooks/Sound Recordings:
J. Peter Burkholder and Claude V. Palisca, eds. Norton Anthology of Western Music. 7th
ed., Vol. 3 N.Y.: W.W. Norton and Co., 2010.
Norton Recorded Anthology of Western Music. 7th ed. Vol 3. N.Y.: W.W. Norton and Co.,
2010.
Any Additional listening/reading material will be provided via various streaming audio
databases and/or the course website.
Prerequisites:
MUS 101 and MUS 113. Contact the instructor if you have not met the prerequisites and
would still like to take the class.
Assignments:
Complete the reading and listening assignments by the indicated dates in the course
schedule. In addition, there will be:
1. Two Midterms: (short answer, essay, and/or score identification)
2. Four Listening Quizzes: (identify composer, title, movement, and date)
3. One Research Paper: (c. 5-7 pages), or other Creative Project that involves some
research and writing. The topic must also integrate a discussion of music with another
discipline outside the fine arts (such as politics, science, the social sciences, business,
etc.) The format of the project (multi-media website, lesson plans, program notes, etc.)
could also in some way relate to your major (performance, music education, music
history, composition, etc.).
4. One Oral Report: (5 minutes)
5. One Final Exam: (short answer, essay, and score identification).
6. Three Short Essays:
A. Interdisciplinarity/Reflection Essay: Write one c. 500 word essay that examines the
looks back critically at your general education courses and explains how one of those
courses has enriched your current understanding of music. Alternatively, write a brief (c.
500 word essay) explaining how a composition you are studying/composing/performing
(or have studied/composed/performed in the past) has ties to extra-musical elements (i.e.
literature, science, visual art, culture, business (i.e. commissions, performance costs, etc.)

B. Relevance Essay: Conduct an interview (in person, phone, or e-mail is fine) with a
musician, composer, arts manager, music scholar, band leader, or educator that you
admire and would consider emulating professionally. Find out about what they do, the
most rewarding part of their job, and the biggest challenges they have encountered in
their career. Turn in a summary or transcript of their comments (c. 500 words).
Alternatively, write a 500-word essay that explains your view of the role or purpose of
music, musicians, music composition, music performance, or music education in the 21st
century, a century in which art music and music education is becoming increasingly
marginalized. Choose one important piece, institution, or person as a launching point for
your essay.
C. Real World Problem Solving Essay: Attend a recital/concert/class/conference that
features music from the 20th or 21st centuries. Write a c. 500 word essay describing what
you heard, the audience, the marketing of the event, the venue, and/or any other elements
related to the production of the event. Mention any ways you could think of to increase
the audience and/or revenue if you had been in charge of the event. Alternatively, design
a personal website or marketing flyer (c. 500 words) that could help launch/promote your
career.
Grading:
Midterms, 30%
Listening Quizzes, 15%
Final Exam, 15 %
Final Paper/Creative Project, 15 %
Oral Report, 5 %
Attendance, 5%
Short Essays,15%
Grading Scale:
A+: 98-100
A: 93-97
A-: 90-92
B+: 88-89
B: 83-87
B-: 80-82
C+: 78-79
C: 73-77
C-: 70-72
D+: 68-69
D: 63-67
D-: 60-62
F: 0-59

Grading Criteria:
More detailed criteria will be provided in class in relation to specific assignments.
However, the following criteria will be used when evaluating assignments:
Clarity
Originality
Accuracy
Organization
Presentation
Style
Interdisciplinarity
Extra Credit:
Extra credit opportunities will be offered throughout the semester for students that wish
to improve their grade.
Late Assignments:
Late assignments will de docked one grade increment (i.e. A to A-) for every class period
(or portion thereof) that they are late. You are responsible for selecting an appropriate oral
presentation time. If you need to change your presentation time, you must notify us at
least two weeks in advance to reschedule. Missed oral presentations cannot be made up.
Missed Drafts:
If you do not bring an assigned draft to class, 10 points will be deducted from the final
assignment grade. If you cannot come to class that day, send a copy to your section leader
by class time.
Missed Exams:
Listening Quizzes cannot be made up. However, only three of the four listening quizzes
will count toward your final grade. I will throw out the lowest grade of the four
quizzes, which, in the case of a missed quiz, will be a 0.
The midterm or final may be made up in the case of a medical emergency or conflict with
another academic event (please provide documentation).
Missed Classes:
Attendance is an important part of the learning process in this course. You may miss up
to three class sessions without penalty. There is no need to notify me in advance. If you
miss additional classes, except under special circumstances (i.e. documented medical
crisis, etc.), your attendance grade will be docked one grade increment (i.e. from A to A-)
for each skipped class session.

Course Schedule
Week 1, Wed. (Jan. 19) Course Introduction
Overview of Syllabus and Course
Introduction to music and culture of the 20th/21st Centuries
Week 1, Fri. (Jan. 21) Maximalization and Modernism: Music, Painting, and
Literature
Anton Bruckner, Hugo Wolf, and Gustav Mahler
Listening: Mahler, Kindertotenlieder: No. 1, Nun will die Sonn so hell aufgehn, 1901
Bruckner, Symphony no. 4, I, 1881 [weblink]
Wolf, Lebe wohl! from Mrike lieder, 1889 [weblink]
Reading: Grout, 734-739, 778-790
Week 2, Mon. (Jan. 25) Nationalism, Music, and Culture in America
Listening: Amy Marcy Beach, Piano Quintet in F-Sharp Minor, Op. 67, 3rd Movement,
1907
John Philip Sousa, The Stars and Stripes Forever, 1897
Scott Joplin, Maple Leaf Rag, 1899
Jelly Roll Mortons rendition of the Maple Leaf Rag
Jack Norworth,Take me out to the Ball Game, 1908 [weblink]
Reading: Grout, 740-777
Week 2, Wed. (Jan. 27) Impressionism, Symbolism, and Gamelan Music
Listening:
Claude Debussy, Nocturnes: Nuages, 1897-1899
Claude Debussy, Pagodes from Estampes, 1903 [weblink]
Claude Debussy, Golliwogs Cakewalk from Childrens Corner Suite, 1906-1908
[weblink]
Gamelan Music, Traditional [weblink]
Koto Music (Traditional) [weblink]
Reading: Grout, 790-799
Week 2, Fri. (Jan. 29) Futurism and Modernism
Listening: Sergei Rachmaninov, Prelude in G Minor, Op. 23 no. 5, 1901
Alexander Scriabin, Vers la flame, Op. 72, 1914
Erik Satie, Embryons desschs (Dried Embryos): No. 3, de Podophtalma, 1913
Reading: Grout, 799-811
Week 3, Mon. (Feb. 1) Expressionism
Listening: Arnold Schoenberg, Pierrot Lunaire, Op. 21: #8 AND #13, 1912
Schoenberg, Piano Suite Op. 25, Mvmts. 1-2, 1921-1923
Reading: Grout, 812-824
Week 3, Wed. (Feb. 3) Expressionism (cont.): Alban Berg and Anton Webern
Listening: Alban Berg, Wozzeck, Op. 7: Act III, Scene 3, 1917-1922
Anton Webern, Symphony, Op. 21: First Movement, 1927-1928
Reading: Grout, 824-830
Week 3, Fri. (Feb. 5) Writing Workshop/Music as an art Science
Reading: Edgard Varese on Music and Art: A Conversation between Varese and

Alcopley [Moodle]
Edgard Varese, Music as an Art Science [Moodle]
Assignment: Bring a draft of Essay #1 (hard copy or electronic copy is okay) and be
prepared to discuss it/share it for peer review.
BREAKOUT DISCUSSION SESSION (Meet in your assigned group)
Week 4, Mon. (Feb. 8) Primitivism: Igor Stravinskys Russian Period and Russian
Folk Music plus Igor Stravinskys Neoclassical Period
Listening: Igor Stravinsky, The Rite of Spring: Excerpts, 1911-1913/ Stravinsky,
Symphony of Psalms, 1930
Reading: Grout, 830-840
ESSAY #1, DUE IN CLASS
Week 4, Wed. (Feb. 10) Bla Bartk and Hungarian Folk Music
Listening: Bartk, Mikrokosmos: No. 123, Staccato and Allegro, 1926/1932-1939
Bartk, Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta, Mvmt. 3, 1936
Hungarian Folk Song, Madarka Madarka [weblink]
Reading: Grout, 841-847
Week 4, Fri. (Feb. 12) Charles Ives and Traditional American Music
Listening: Ives, General William Booth Enters Into Heaven, 1914
Ives, Unanswered Question, 1908 [weblink]
James A. Bland, Oh dem golden slippers, 1879 [weblink]
19th-Century American camp meeting tune [possibly composed by Lowell Mason],
There is a Fountain Washed with Blood [weblink]
Reading: Grout, 847-854
Charles Ives, Music and Its Future, [Moodle]
BREAKOUT DISCUSSION SESSION (Meet in your assigned group)
LISTENING QUIZ #1
Week 5, Tues.! (Feb. 16) Jazz and Popular Music Between the World Wars
Listening: George Gershwin, Ive Got Rhythm, from Girl Crazy, 1930
Bessie Smith, Back Water Blues, 1927
Reading: Grout, 855-869
Week 5, Wed. (Feb. 17) Jazz and Film Music
Return of Listening Quiz No. 1
Listening: King Oliver, West End Blues, 1928
Duke Ellington, Cotton Tail, 1940
Max Steiner, King Kong, 1933 [weblink]
Reading: Grout, 869-874
Week 5, Fri. (Feb. 19) MIDTERM ONE
Week 6, Mon. (Feb. 22) The Classical/Jazz Synthesis
Listening: Arthur Honegger, Pacific 231, 1923 [weblink]
Darius Milhaud, Le creation du monde (The Creation of the World), Op. 81a: First
Tableau, 1923
Reading: Grout, 875-880
Week 6, Wed. (Feb. 24) New Objectivity and Degenerate Art
Return and Review of Midterm One
Listening: Paul Hindemith, Symphony Mathis der Mahler, 2nd mvmt, 1933-1934
Ernest Krenek, So hier bin ich from Johnny Spielt auf, 1927 [weblink]

Reading: Grout, 880-885

Week 6, Fri. (Feb. 26) Writing Workshop/Politics and Music
Reading: Joseph Goebbels, Speech for the Dsseldorf Music Festival [Moodle]
Pravda, Chaos Instead of Music [Moodle]
Prokofiev, Three Commentaries [Moodle]
Shostakovich, From Testimony [Moodle]
Listening: Prokofiev, Alexander Nevsky, Op.78, IV: Arise, ye Russian People, 1938-1939
Bring a Draft of Essay #2 for Peer Review (electronic or hard copy)
BREAKOUT DISCUSSION SESSION (Meet in your assigned group)
Week 7, Mon. (Feb. 29) Shostakovich and Soviet Socialist Realism
Listening: Shostakovich, Symphony no. 5, Op. 47, II (1937)/ Sergey Prokofiev,
Reading: Grout, 885-889
Essay #2 Due in Class
Week 7, Wed. (Mar. 2) The Americas: Mexican Traditional and Classical Music
Listening: Silvestre Revueltas, Sensemay, 1937-1938
Heitor Villa-Lobos, Choro no. 1, 1920 [weblink]
Villa-Lobos, Bacchianas brasileiras no. 9, II (1945) [weblink]
Traditional Mariachi music [weblink]
Reading: Grout, 890-892
Week 7, Fri. (Mar. 4) The Americas: New Musical Experiments
Listening: Edgar Varse, Hyperprism, 1922-1923
Henry Cowell, The Banshee, 1925
Ruth Crawford Seeger, String Quartet 1931: Fourth Mvmt., 1931
Reading: Grout, 892-897
BREAKOUT DISCUSSION SESSION (Meet in your assigned group)
Week 8, Mon. (Mar. 7) Fusion of Jazz and the Classical Tradition
Listening: Gershwin, Rhapsody in Blue, 1924 [weblink]
Gershwin, Man I Love, 1924 [weblink]
William Grant Still, Afro-American Symphony, mvmt. I, 1930
Reading: Grout, 897-898, 900-902
Week 8 Wed. (Mar. 9) North American Folk and Classical Traditions
Listening: Elder Joseph Brackett, Simple Gifts, 1848
Aaron Copland, Appalachian Spring, 1943-1944
Reading: Grout, 898-899
Week 8, Fri. (Mar. 11) Post World War II Jazz and the Civil Rights Movement
Listening: Charlie Parker and Dizzie Gillespie, Anthropology, 1945
Reading: Grout, 903-910, Olly Wilson, The Black American Composer, William Grant
Still, from Horizons Unlimited [Moodle]
LISTENING QUIZ NO. 2
BREAKOUT DISCUSSION SESSION (Meet in your assigned group)
Week 9, Mon. (Mar. 21) Politics and Music: Postwar Currents in North America
and the Civil Rights Movement
Willie Mae Big Mama Thornton (performer), Hound Dog, r. 1952 [weblink]
Elvis Presley (performer), Hound Dog, 1956, r. 1956 [weblink]
Pete Seeger (arranger and performer), We Shall Overcome, c. 1947 [weblink]
James Brown (1933-2006) Say it LoudI am Black and I am Proud, 1968 [weblink]

Miles Davis So What from Kind of Blue, 1959

Reading: Grout, 911-922
Week 9, Wed. (Mar. 23) Postwar Currents in France, England, and the U.S.
Listening: Olivier Messiaen, Quartet for the End of Time: mvmt. 1, 1940-1941
Benjamin Britten, Peter Grimes: Act III, Scene 2, 1944-1945
Samuel Barber, Hermit Songs, Op. 29 no. 8: The Monk and his Cat, 1952-1953
Reading: Grout, 923-933
Return of Listening Quiz no. 2
Week 9, Fri. (Mar. 25) MIDTERM NO. 2
Week 10, Mon. (March 28) Math and Music: Indeterminacy and the Fluxus Group
Return of Midterm no. 2
Listening: John Cage, Sonatas and Interludes: Sonata V, 1946-1948
Cage, Music of Changes, Book I, 1951
Morton Feldman, Projection I, 1950
Witold Lutoslawski, String Quartet, 1964 [weblink]
Reading: Grout, 939-945
Week 10, Wed. (March 30) Total Serialism and Darmstadt
Listening: Karlheinz Stockhausen, Kreuzspiel, part I, 1951
Pierre Boulez, Le marteau sans matre: mvmt. 6, bourreaux de solitude, 1953-1955
Reading: Grout, 933-939
Week 10, Fri. (April 1)
Reading: Theodor W. Adorno, from A Social Critique of Radio Music [Moodle]
Milton Babbit, Who Cares if you Listen [Moodle]
Listening: Milton Babbit, Philomel, 1964
Assignment:
Bring a draft of your Essay #3 (hard copy or electronic copy) for peer review.
BREAKOUT DISCUSSION SECTIONS (Meet in your assigned group)
Week 11, Mon. (April 4) Postwar Responses: New Virtuosity
Listening: Luciano Berio, Sequenza III, 1965-1966
Cathy Berberian, Stripsody, 1966 [weblink]
George Crumb, Black Angels: Thirteen Images from the Dark Land, Images 4 and 5,
1970
Elliott Carter, String Quartet no. 2, 1959 [weblink]
Reading: Grout, 945-947
ESSAY #3 DUE IN CLASS
Week 11, Wed. (April 6) Science and Music: Electronic Music and Textural Music
Listening:
Karlheinz Stockhausen, Gesang der Jnglinge, 1957-1958 [weblink]
Krzysztof Penderecki, Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima, 1960
Reading: Grout, 947-953
Week 11, Fri. (April 8) Media, Music, and Society: A Broadening of the Concept of
Art Music
Listening: Karel Husa, Music for Prague 1968
Laurie Anderson, O Superman from United States, 1981 [weblink]
Reading: Grout, 953-957, 969-974
LISTENING QUIZ # 3

ASSIGNMENT: Bring a short description of your final paper for peer review (hard copy
or electronic)
BREAKOUT DISCUSSION SESSION (Meet in your assigned group)
Week 12, Mon. (April 11) Minimalism and Postminimalism in Art and Music
Listening: Steve Reich, Tehillim: Part IV, 1981
La Monte Young, Composition 1960 no. 7, 1960 [weblink]
Steve Reich, Piano Phase, 1967 [weblink]
John Adams, Short Ride in a Fast Machine, 1986
Reading: Grout, 975-981
Week 12, Wed. (April 13) New Accessibility: Radical Simplification/ Extra-Musical
Imagery and Polystylism
Listening: Gyrgy Ligeti, Etude no. 9, Vertige, 1990
Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, Symphony no. 1, mvmt. 1, 19
Arvo Prt, Seven Magnificat Antiphons, excerpts, 1988 (rev. 1991
fia Gubaidulina, Rejoice! Sonata for Violin and Violincello, mvmt. 5, Listen to the Still
Small Voice Within, 1981
Alfred Schnittke, Concerto Grosso, no. 1)
Reading: Grout, 981-989
Return of Listening Quiz no. 3
Week 12, Fri. (April 15) STUDENT PRESENTATIONS
BREAKOUT DISCUSSION SESSIONS (Meet in your assigned group)
Week 13, Wed. (April 20) New Accessibility: Neo-Romanticism and the Evocation of
Popular Music
Listening: Michael Daugherty, Dead Elvis, 1993
Astor Piazzolla, Libertango, 1974 [weblink]
David del Tredici, Final Alice, 1975 [weblink]
Reading: Grout, 989-992, NAWM III, 890-927
Week 13, Fri. (April 22) STUDENT PRESENTATIONS
BREAKOUT DISCUSSION SESSION (Meet in your assigned group)
Course Evaluations for Section Leaders
Week 13, Mon. (April 25) Interactions with Non-Western Musics/World
Beat/Brazilian Samba
Listening: Bright Sheng, Seven Tunes Heard in China: No. 1, Seasons, 1995
Tori Tekemitsu, November Steps, 1967 [weblink]
Paul Simon, Graceland, Diamonds on the Souls of Her Shoes, 1986 [weblink]
Reading: Grout, 958-969, 985-986
FINAL PROJECTS DUE BY 11:59 P.M.Upload to Moodle
Week 14, Wed. (April 27) The Twenty-first Century
Reading: Grout, 993-1009
Listening: Osvaldo Golijov, La Pasin segn San Marcos: Nos. 24-26, 2000
Kaija Saariaho, Lamour de loin, Act IV, Scene 3 (storm), 2000
Jennifer Higdon, Blue Cathedral: Opening Excerpt, 2000
Listening Quiz no. 4
Course Evaluations
Week 15, FINAL EXAMINATION (Time TBD)

Possible Presentation and/or Research TopicsREMEMBER THAT YOU NEED

TO APPROACH EACH TOPIC FROM AN INTERDISCIPLINARY
PERSPECTIVE (IN RELATION TO A DISCIPLINE OUTSIDE THE FINE ARTS).
STRATEGIES WILL BE DISCUSSED IN BREAKOUT SESSIONS. Examples
include: Math and music in public schools today, Religion and the music of W. C.
Handy, Manufacturing and the development of instruments/music literature, World
Music in cultural context, Jazz in the clubs of America, Sociological studies of
audience makeup and the opera diva, The impact of the economy on band music
programs in U.S. high schools today, New technology and new film music techniques,
Musical style and politics/censorship, Mental illness and music creation
Jazz:
Miles Davis
Thelonius Monk
Jelly Roll Morton
Fats Navarro
Dave Brubeck
John Coltrane
Ella Fitzgerald
Sarah Vaughan
Duke Ellington
Chick Corea
Keith Jarrett
Herbie Hancock
Latin Jazz
Crossover Jazz
W.C. Handy
Bessie Smith
King Oliver Creole
Jazz Improvisation
Paul Whiteman
Benny Goodman
Popular Music Artists:
Frank Sinatra
Beatles
Lady Gaga
Madonna
Name your Favorite Artist
Other:
Boogie Woogie
Gospel
Recording Technology

Development of instruments/literature for your instrument or specific chamber

ensembles:
World:
Indian Raga
Japanese Koto
Tibetan Chants
Gamelan Music
Salsa
Clave
Calypso
Arabic Music
Other Music of the Orient, Europe, South America or Africa
Klezmer
Performers/Conductors:
Yo-Yo Ma
Itzhak Perlman
Rene Fleming
Maria Callas
Sergei Rachmaninov
Vladimir Horowitz
Pablo Casals
James Galway
Glenn Gould
Wanda Landowska
Ralph Kirkpatrick
Arturo Toscanini
Leonard Bernstein
Choose your favorite performer
Classical:
Ferruccio Busoni
Heinrich Schenker
Terry Riley
Giacomo Puccini
Carmina Burana
Music and Fascism
Band Music
Music Censorship
Music at Terezin
History of Recording
Performance Practice
Film Music
Cinematic Representations of Composers
Commedia dellarte and 20th century music

Segei Diaghilev
Martha Graham
Jean Cocteau
Education:
Music Education in elementary school, middle school, high school, universities, or
conservatories (choose your favorite one in the US or abroad)
Zoltn Kodly Method
Carl Orff Method
Other Music Education Methods
Famous Music Teachers (name your favorite)
Methods of Playing/Interpretation on or Treatises About Your Instrument
George Parks

Accommodation Policy Statement:

The University of Massachusetts Amherst is committed to providing an equal
educational opportunity for all students. If you have a documented physical,
psychological, or learning disability on file with Disability Services (DS), Learning
Disabilities Support Services (LDSS), or Psychological Disabilities Services (PDS), you
may be eligible for reasonable academic accommodations to help you succeed in this
course. If you have a documented disability that requires an accommodation, please
notify me within the first two weeks of the semester so that we may make appropriate
arrangements.

Academic Honesty:
Intellectual honesty requires that students demonstrate their own learning during
examinations and other academic exercises, and that other sources of information or
knowledge be appropriately credited. Scholarship depends upon the reliability of
information and reference in the work of others. Student work at the University may be
analyzed for originality of content. Such analysis may be done electronically or by other
means. Student work may also be included in a database for the purpose of checking for
possible plagiarized content in future student submissions. No form of cheating,
plagiarism, fabrication, or facilitating of dishonesty will be condoned in the University
community.
PLEASE NOTE: It is against the Academic Honesty Code of the University to turn in
the same or similar work to different instructors to satisfy two (or more) different course
requirements without the explicit consent of the instructors.