MUTH 361 - The Visible in Music

FC CNDP DDHU

4 credits
Sound and image are commonly assumed to be discrete concepts, reflecting a fundamental separation of the eye and the ear. Yet visual images play a significant role in musical experience: visual methods of transcription, recording, and analysis have been a feature of musical practice since the invention of notation; musicians frequently collaborate with practitioners in the visual arts in multimedia, opera, film, and theater; and even in “purely musical” works, visual imagery plays a fundamental role in the perception of musical meaning. This course surveys some of the ways that music and visuality interact. The course is divided into three main segments: In the first segment we will evaluate the reputed abstractness of musical sound in light of theories of hybridity and purity. In the second segment we will analyze selected musical works, ranging from C.P.E. Bach to Stravinsky; here our analyses will be informed by a combination of music theories and relevant documents from visual culture. The third segment of the course focuses on some hybrid forms of “eye music” in the 20th century. Students will complete weekly reading, listening, and analysis assignments; three short model-composition exercises; and an individual research project.

Prerequisites: two courses in MUTH 250-299.