THYU 421T Understanding Microtonal Music

To understand the various roads that can lead musicians into the use of microtones we will explore the microtonal music and writings of five important twentieth- and twenty first-century composers and how each underlying premise is manifested in the music itself. These roads include just intonation and spectralism (math and acoustics), “ultra-chromaticism,” expressive inflection, speech contours, beating/clusters, non-Western and folk tunings and techniques, and even philosophy and spirituality. Students gain clarity on questions of intent and end result, and apply this clear thinking to their final analysis or composition projects.

Credits

2

Cross Listed Courses

THYG 521T

Prerequisite

((THYU 208/Lecture or THYU 208/Department) and (THYU 202/Lecture or THYU 202/Department or CI 283T/Lecture or CI 283T/Department))