MUTH 373 - Experimental Music and the Avant Garde

Semester Offered: Second Semester
Credits (Range): 3
The course explores musical practices that have been understood as “avant garde” from the late 19th century to the present. Specific musical techniques and the broader aesthetic projects of a variety of innovatiive musical styles are investigated through close study of recordings, scores and readings. Some topics include: late works of Beethoven and Liszt (explored in terms of their latent modernity), music of Satie and his circle, works based on unusual tuning and temperament systems (including Harry Partch and LaMonte Young), selected works by Cage, Varese, Nancarrow, Ligeti, Crumb, Gubaidulina, Saariaho, as well as post-war serialism, minimalism, acoustic ecology (including music by Pauline Oliveros and R. Murray Schafer), and “avant-pop”.
Instructor: R. Leydon
Prerequisites & Notes
Prerequisites: MUTH 232 and MUTH 202.
Enrollment Limit: 20
Consent of instructor required.