Professional Documents
Culture Documents
001
A History of Recorded Music
Course Syllabus - Fall 2010
Course Information:
Classroom: JO 2.604 (Jonsson Performance Hall)
Monday and Wednesday 11:30am-12:45pm
* For email communication with Instructor and/or Teaching Assistant you must
use UTD email
Course Pre-requisites:
None
Course Description:
It was Spring in Paris in 1860 when the inventor of the phonautograph, Edouard-
Leon Scott de Martinville, a typesetter, used voice, a cone, and a stylus to etch
scribblings on a sheet of paper covered with a smoky carbon residue. Scott's idea
was to record the human voice graphically so that its patterns could be deciphered,
and it was never made with the intent of play-back. In 2008 those recordings were
discovered in a Paris vault, and, with the help of technology, those etchings were
translated into sound to reveal "Au clair de la lune, Pierrot repondit," the famous
French folk song still sung by children today. It would be seven years later that
Thomas Edison would patent his wax cylinder recording device and several decades
before disc records were introduced. The quest for fidelity in recording went
through many technological changes over the past 150 years including magnetic
reel-to-reel tape, cassettes, eight-tracks, DATs, compact discs, MP3s, and current
emerging technologies. This course will focus on the history of recorded music with
an emphasis on the relationships that formed between the creative process in music
and the technological advances that shaped, augmented, and, at times, limited this
process. In addition to readings from the texts and other sources, landmark
recordings will be studied in detail.
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Students will be able to identify the unique relationship between the various
technological advances and challenges in recorded music and the creative
process of composing and performing.
Final Project:
Students will complete a presentation project relating recordings of
significant works, movements and/or artists to contemporary and historical
life and culture, and/or other artists and artistic movements. Students are
encouraged to include an original recording for this comparison.
MUSI 2311.001
A History of Recorded Music
Assignments & Academic Calendar*:
***Reading assignments are to be completed by class time on the “Due Dates” below***
Week 1: Mon: Entry Exam, Syllabus, the Question of recordings, Acoustics Aug 23
Wed: Terms: musical and technical Aug 25
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Week 7: Mon: Morton: Chapter 9 Oct 4
Wed: Morton: Chapter 10 Oct 6
Week 12: Mon: Composing Tools and Notation Programs (Sibelius and Finale) Nov 8
Wed: Recording Software Nov 10
FINAL EXAM SCHEDULE: The Final Project Presentation and Paper will serve as the
final exam.
GRADING:
Your grade will be determined from the following:
Five (5) Quizzes 25 points (5 points for each quiz)
Recording Project 1 10 points
Exam #1 20 points
Exam #2 20 points
Final Project Presentation 15 points
Final Project Presentation Paper 10 points
TOTAL 100 Points
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Grading Policy:
98 – 100 A+
93 – 97 A
90 – 92 A-
88 – 89 B+
83 – 87 B
80 – 82 B-
78 – 79 C+
73 – 77 C
70 – 72 C-
68 – 69 D+
63 – 67 D
60 – 62 D-
Below 60 F
***Quizzes***
There will be seven (7) unannounced quizzes, each worth five (5) points. You may not make up
a quiz. These quizzes will be based on the reading assignments and given in class during various
times during the semester. Of these, only the top five quiz scores will count towards your final
grade (5x5=25). At times, your quiz may also be a record of your Attendance; if you arrive late
or leave early and miss the quiz, you may be marked absent that day. (25 points)
***Exams***
The two exams will each consisting of 40 multiple choice questions based on the readings,
lectures, and class discussions. (20x2, or 40 points)
The accompanying 5-7 page paper should be a thorough analysis of these elements and include
any conclusions discerned from your research. The paper should also express how these
recordings might be related to movements and/or artists and to contemporary and
historical life and culture, and/or other artists and artistic movements. (10 points)
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Course & Instructor Policies:
2. Excessive/Negligible Absences: Your final grade will reflect excessive absences, lateness, as
well as exemplary attendance. More than three absences will be considered excessive. All
excused absences must be documented. Bring documentation to me before the start of the class
session following your absence. Absences from UT Dallas approved events must be documented
in advance in writing by your faculty member of record.
3. Email: All official student email will be sent to the students UT Dallas email address. UT
Dallas provides each student with a free email account. The Department of Information
Resources at UT Dallas provides a method for students to forward email from other accounts to
their UT Dallas address. Students may go to the following URL to establish or maintain their
official UT Dallas computer account https://netid.utdallas.edu/
4. Academic integrity is an expectation in this course. For official UTD policies, go to:
http://www.utd.edu/judicialaffairs/ and read policy below.
5. We work closely with Disability Services. If you have a disability, let us know now so that we
can accommodate you.
6. Incompletes in this course are strongly discouraged. Please note the drop dates below
carefully. Incompletes can only be granted when 70% of the class work has been completed.
8. Laptops and cell phones: In order to promote academic interaction, our class is a computer-
free and cell phone-free zone (Except for class sanctioned use). If your electronic device
interrupts the class, you will be asked to leave and may be considered absent.
Technical Support:
If you experience any problems with your UTD account, email account, elearning you may send
an email to: assist@utdallas.edu or call the UTD Computer Helpdesk at 972-883-2911.
Decorum, Classroom Citizenship, and Extra-curricular matters: All written work and class
discussion for this course must employ gender-neutral, nonsexist language, and rhetorical
constructions. Such practice is part of a classroom environment according full respect and
opportunity to all participants by all others.
The University of Texas at Dallas administers student discipline within the procedures of
recognized and established due process. Procedures are defined and described in the Rules and
Regulations, Series 50000, Board of Regents, The University of Texas System, and in Title V,
Rules on Student Services and Activities of the university’s Handbook of Operating Procedures.
Copies of these rules and regulations are available to students in the Office of the Dean of
Students, where staff members are available to assist students in interpreting the rules and
regulations (SU 1.602, 972/883-6391) and online at
http://www.utdallas.edu/judicialaffairs/UTDJudicialAffairs-HOPV.html
A student at the university neither loses the rights nor escapes the responsibilities of citizenship.
He or she is expected to obey federal, state, and local laws as well as the Regents’ Rules,
university regulations, and administrative rules. Students are subject to discipline for violating
the standards of conduct whether such conduct takes place on or off campus, or whether civil or
criminal penalties are also imposed for such conduct.
Academic Integrity:
The faculty expects from its students a high level of responsibility and academic honesty.
Because the value of an academic degree depends upon the absolute integrity of the work done by
the student for that degree, it is imperative that a student demonstrate a high standard of
individual honor in his or her scholastic work.
Scholastic Dishonesty: any student who commits an act of scholastic dishonesty is subject to
discipline. Scholastic dishonesty includes but is not limited to cheating, plagiarism, collusion, the
submission for credit of any work or materials that are attributable in whole or in part to another
person, taking an examination for another person, any act designed to give unfair advantage to a
student or the attempt to commit such acts.
Plagiarism, especially from the web, from portions of papers for other classes, and from any other
source is unacceptable and will be dealt with under the university’s policy on plagiarism (see
general catalog for details). This course will use the resources of turnitin.com, which searches the
web for possible plagiarism and is over 90% effective.
Copyright Notice:
The copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of
photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted materials, including music and software.
Copying, displaying, reproducing, or distributing copyrighted works may infringe the copyright
owner’s rights and such infringement is subject to appropriate disciplinary action as well as
criminal penalties provided by federal law. Usage of such material is only appropriate when that
usage constitutes “fair use” under the Copyright Act. As a UT Dallas student, you are required to
follow the institution’s copyright policy (Policy Memorandum 84-I.3-46). For more information
about the fair use exemption, see http://www.utsystem.edu/ogc/intellectualproperty/copypol2.htm
Email Use:
The University of Texas at Dallas recognizes the value and efficiency of communication between
faculty/staff and students through electronic mail. At the same time, email raises some issues
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concerning security and the identity of each individual in an email exchange. The university
encourages all official student email correspondence be sent only to a student’s U.T. Dallas email
address and that faculty and staff consider email from students official only if it originates from a
UTD student account. This allows the university to maintain a high degree of confidence in the
identity of all individual corresponding and the security of the transmitted information. UTD
furnishes each student with a free email account that is to be used in all communication with
university personnel. The Department of Information Resources at U.T. Dallas provides a method
for students to have their U.T. Dallas mail forwarded to other accounts.
Disability Services:
The goal of Disability Services is to provide students with disabilities educational opportunities
equal to those of their non-disabled peers. Disability Services is located in room 1.610 in the
Student Union. Office hours are Monday and Thursday, 8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.; Tuesday and
Wednesday, 8:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.; and Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.