Henson MUS 1 Music Appreciation 1

MUS 1
MUSIC APPRECIATION
Dr Karen Henson
Aaron Copland School of Music, Queens College, CUNY

Fall 2017
Mondays, 5-7.50pm, Music Building 264

Contact information: Music Building 311, (718) 997-3856, karen.henson@qc.cuny.edu,

drkarenhenson on Spotify
Office hours: Mondays 3-4pm and Wednesdays 11-12pm

The aim of this course is to introduce you to, invite you to appreciate, and encourage you to think
critically about music, in particular music of the Western classical tradition. The course is
organized around a series of works from the Middle Ages to the present, with supplementary
examples from popular and non-Western musical repertories. As well as learning the skills for
thinking and writing about this music, you will be exploring it in terms of its historical context and
its place in the world today.
Along with preparing the listening and the reading for each class, students are required to
attend a performance at the New York Philharmonic, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln
Center, the Metropolitan Opera, the New York City Ballet, OR the Brooklyn Academy of Music,
and write about it in a three-page concert report. Students are also required to visit and write a
three-page report about the Queens College-associated Louis Armstrong House Museum. This is a
general education course that allows students to fulfill the Pathways “Creative Expression”
requirement.

Course Requirements and Grading

Class preparation, attendance, and participation (including 30%
concert and Louis Armstrong visit)
Midterm 20%
Reports (2 x three pages) 25%
Final 25%

Please note: Attendance at all classes is expected; you will be penalized if you are absent from class
without prior permission. Computer and cell phone use in class is strictly prohibited
 Henson MUS 1 Music Appreciation 2

LISTENING AND READING

Required
the course playlist on Spotify, at drkarenhenson
Joseph KERMAN and Gary TOMLINSON, Listen (New York: W.W. Norton, 2015), Eighth
Edition, on order—available from the bookstore, on www.amazon.com, and on reserve
in the Music Library (packages from $17 to $100); as an alternative, you may use the
Seventh Edition, which is not as up-to-date but is available for a more reasonable price
(page numbers for both are given on the Weekly Schedule)
IMPORTANT: please bring the textbook with you to all classes—you will be
penalized if you appear in class without it; and you will also penalize yourself,
since it includes helpful listening guides that we will be using regularly in
class

Recommended
all on reserve in the Music Library or available online via the library catalogue
6-CD set of recordings to accompany Listen, Eighth Edition, on order—available from the
bookstore, on www.amazon.com, and on reserve in the Music Library
Nicholas COOK, Music: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000),
MT6.C66 M89 2000
Richard TARUSKIN, The Oxford History of Western Music (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005),
ML160.T18 2005—available online via the library catalogue
Grove Music Online

New York City! see especially nyphil.org, www.chambermusicsociety.org, www.metopera.org,

www.nycballet.org, and www.bam.org
www.wqxr.com, 105.9FM, New York’s classical music station
the Louis Armstrong House Museum, www.louisarmstronghouse.org