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Courses

Humanities (HUMN) 310

Western Music: Beginnings to Baroque (Revision 1)

HUMN 310 course cover

Delivery Mode: Individualized study online  with an audio component*.
*Overseas students, please contact the University Library before registering in a course that has an audio/visual component.

Credits: 3

Area of Study: Humanities

Prerequisite: None. MUSI 267 is strongly recommended.

Precluded Course: HUMN 310 is a cross-listed course—a course listed under 2 different disciplines—with MUSI 310. HUMN 310 may not be taken for credit by students who have obtained credit for MUSI 310.

Faculty: Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences

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HUMN 310 is not available for challenge.

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Overview

HUMN 310 surveys the development of Western music from its beginnings in Mesopotamia and Ancient Greece through the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, and the Baroque era. Major composers studied include Hildegard of Bingen, Pérotin, Guillaume de Machaut, Guillaume Dufay, Josquin des Prez, Claudio Monteverdi, Jean-Baptiste Lully, Henry Purcell, George Frideric Handel, and Johann Sebastian Bach.

Outline

HUMN 310 is divided into thirteen units:

Introduction

Unit 1: The Ancient World

Unit 2: The Early Middle Ages

Unit 3: The Central Middle Ages

Unit 4: The Late Middle Ages

Unit 5: The Early Renaissance

Unit 6: The Later Renaissance

Unit 7: The Reformation and the Counter-Reformation

Unit 8: Tudor England & Late Renaissance Italy

Unit 9: The Early Baroque

Unit 10: The Baroque in Italy

Unit 11: The Baroque in Germany and France

Unit 12: The Baroque in England

Unit 13: Johann Sebastian Bach

Evaluation

To receive credit for HUMN 310, you must achieve a course composite grade of at least “D” (50 percent) and a grade of at least “D” (50 percent) on the final examination. The composite final grade is based on the marks obtained on four oral assignments (reports), two written assignments (essays), and a final examination. The weighting of the composite grade is as follows:

Oral assignments (reports) Written Assignment 1 (essay) Written Assignment 2 (essay) Exam Total
20% 20% 25% 35% 100%

To learn more about assignments and examinations, please refer to Athabasca University's online Calendar.

Course Materials

Textbook

This is a new course available online with supplementary printed materials. Early registrations will receive texts and CD recordings by mail, but might not receive printed versions of the Study Guide and Student Manual at the beginning of the course. The entire Study Guide and Student Manual will be available for all students online at the course website. Later registrations will receive a printed Study Guide and Student Manual with their textbook and CD package.

Craig Wright and Bryan Simms, Music in Western Civilization, Vol. 1: Antiquity to Baroque. Belmont, CA: Thomson Schirmer, 2006.

Other Materials

Recordings:  CD set to accompany Wright and Simms, Music in Western Civilization, Vol. 1: Antiquity to Baroque. Belmont, CA: Thomson Schirmer, 2006.

Scores: Timothy Roden, Craig Wright and Bryan Simms, eds., Anthology for Music in Western Civilization, Vol. 1: Antiquity through the Baroque. Belmont, CA: Thomson Schirmer, 2006.

Study Guide and Student Manual.

Athabasca University reserves the right to amend course outlines occasionally and without notice. Courses offered by other delivery methods may vary from their individualized-study counterparts.

Opened in Revision 1, April 3, 2008.

Last updated by SAS  02/14/2013 08:26:11