MHST 513T Creativity and Manuscripts I
Creativity and Manuscripts I is a course designed to lead NEC students to prepare a convincingly expressive performance of a work of Beethoven (works Op. 30 to Op. 95) or Haydn, with particular concentration on taking clues from expressive marks as they have been worked on by the composer in the manuscript of the work. The actual works chosen for coaching and recording will have multiple layers of primary sources available, including most importantly a manuscript, which allows insight into the creative process close to the completion of the work. Using revisions that are apparent in the manuscript, students will learn to think creatively about the transfer of ideas from the composer’s imagination to manuscript and then to print. Students will develop a deeper understanding of the complexity of the creative process, the challenges of creating musical notation that reflects the creative content of the work in its fullest form shown by expressive markings, and the students will apply this understanding directly to performance and recording of the works studied. The students will also learn about the influences of changes in musical instruments over the last 250 years with a particular focus on different keyboard instruments. Further, these insights will be discussed encouraging evaluation by the class of possible techniques to create more refined editions that show more of the composer’s detailed expressive markings. The objective for students are 1) to create a successfully expressive interpretation of the piece worked on and recorded by the student (recording techniques are also taught during the course) and 2) to articulate the richness of the experience of learning from the mixture of primary sources including the manuscript and 3) to develop an understanding of parameters that have changed over time related to music printing and the instruments that are used for playing. The student’s insights will be articulated in writing and in spoken form.
Notes
Undergraduates earn 1 credit of chamber music (or free elective if they do not need chamber music) and 3 credits of Music History (GE-eligible). Graduates earn 1 credit of free elective, 1 credit of chamber (or 2 credits of free elective if they do not need chamber), and 2 credits of Music History.