Composing with Computers I (Electronic Music Composition), Spring 2008

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Abstract:: A series of progressive composition projects, culminating in a large final projecting, using various types of music hardware and software. Instruction in recording, editing, synthesis, sampling, digital sound processing, sequencing, and interactive systems. Close listening to computer and electronic music from various genres including Varese, Cage, Schaeffer, Xenakis, Lansky, Stockhausen, Tcherepnin, Barlow, Gunter, and Eno. Subject focuses on using the computer as a means of musical creativity and intuition.

Subject:: Arts
Grade Level:: Post-secondary
Collection:: MIT OpenCourseWare

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Cultural and Literary Expression in Modernity

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Abstract:: This course seeks to develop a nuanced understanding of the scope of cultural and literary expression in the late 19th and the first half of the 20th centuries. It attends to broad socio-historical happenings, from the birth of modernism in the late 19th century to the post-modern moment. In addition to literary modernism, the course will also take a brief look at the cultural production of modernism in art, music, architecture, cinema, philosophy, and drama. Upon completion of this course, students will be able to: Define the terms modernism and modernity and explain the similarities and differences between these terms using specific works to illustrate comparison and contrast; List and explain the importance of a variety of social, cultural, and historical developments leading up to and occurring during the modern period; Cite and analyze the meaning of primary works of literature, poetry, art, music, architecture, cinema, philosophy and drama to illustrate the principle characteristics of modernism; Compare and contrast the literatures of both France and England from the start of the modern era (i.e., the turn of the twentieth century); Explain the impact of the Great War upon the development and expression of a variety of literary and artistic forms and especially on poetry in a number of genres; Describe the aftermath of World War I and its variety of effects upon literature and art and especially upon the poetry of T.S. Eliot and the novels of Virginia Woolf and Ernest Hemingway; Define High Modernism and give examples of the tenets, ideals, and even the contradictions and self-contradictions of this movement in history and literature (and especially in both its Irish and British contexts); Define the terms postmodernism and deconstruction as well as the phrase Magical Realism and identify the most important characteristics of the movements, fields, theories, and texts associated with these terms; Explain the premises of postcolonial literature and literary theory and identify, describe, compare, and contrast postcolonial texts from range of national origins. (English Literature 204)

Subject:: Humanities
Grade Level:: Post-secondary
Collection:: Saylor Foundation

History of Media and Technology: Sound, the Minority Report -- Radical Music of the Past 100 Years, Spring 2006

(Complete Item Description)

Abstract:: This course looks at the history of avant-garde and electronic music from the early twentieth century to the present. The class is organized as a theory and production seminar for which students may either produce audio/multimedia projects or a research paper. It engages music scholarship, cultural criticism, studio production, and multi-media development, such as recent software, sound design for film and games, and sound installation. Sound as a media tool for communication and sound as a form of artistic expression are subjects under discussion. The artists' work reviewed in the course includes selections from audio innovators such as the Italian Futurists, Edgard Varèse, John Cage, King Tubby, Brian Eno, Steve Reich, Afrika Bambaataa, Kraftwerk, Merzbow, Aphex Twin, Rza, Björk, and others.

Subject:: Humanities, Science and Technology, Social Sciences
Grade Level:: Post-secondary
Collection:: MIT OpenCourseWare

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Modern Poetry and Poetics

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Abstract:: This course will ask what makes poetry 'modern?' The student will discuss the cultural and political history of the period as well as the major movements that comprise 'modern poetry,' stopping to become acquainted with its noteworthy practitioners and perform close-readings of their works. By the end of this course, the student will have critically explored the concept of modern poetry, identifying its characteristic techniques, concerns, and figures. Upon completion of this course, students will be able to: describe Modernity/Modernism as both a historical period and a movement in art and literature; define and differentiate between the terms modern, modernism, and modernity; define Victorianism and explain its relationship to Modernism; describe the nature of turn-of-the-twentieth-century poetry in both England and France; define Symbolism, Dandyism, Aestheticism, and Decadence; provide accounts of the origins of the Great War, life in Edwardian England, and World War II; list, compare, and contrast the major authors of the early 1900s, of World War I, the Lost Generation, World War II, the Great Depression, the Holocaust, High Modernism, the Harlem Renaissance, and the post-WWII period. (English Literature 408)

Subject:: Humanities
Grade Level:: Post-secondary
Collection:: Saylor Foundation

Music Since 1960, Spring 2006

(Complete Item Description)

Abstract:: Begins with the premise that the 1960s mark a great dividing point in the history of twentieth-century Western musical culture, and explores the ways in which various social and artistic concerns of composers, performers, and listeners have evolved since that decade. Focuses on works by classical composers from around the world. Topics to be explored include: the impact of rock, as it developed during the 1960s-70s; the concurrent emergence of post-serial, neo-tonal, Minimalist, and New Age styles; the globalization of Western musical traditions; the impact of new technologies; and the significance of music video, video games, and other versions of (digital) multimedia. Interweaves discussion of these topics with close study of seminal musical works, evenly distributed across the four decades since 1960. Works by MIT composers included.

Subject:: Arts
Grade Level:: Post-secondary
Collection:: MIT OpenCourseWare

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Twentieth Century Art

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Abstract:: This course explores the history of cultural and artistic developments of the twentieth century in the Western world (Europe and the United States). The student will concentrate on major styles in painting and sculpture, including Cubism, Fauvism, Futurism, Expressionism, Dada, Surrealism, Pop Art, and Op-Art. The student will also discuss Modernism and Post-Modernism in architecture. The student will learn about the aesthetic ideals, systems of belief, as well as political, religious, and social conditions that these styles reflect. Upon successful completion of this course, the student will be able to: Identify the works of art of major contributors to twentieth-century art; Accurately use the visual arts vocabulary presented in this course; Demonstrate an understanding of the relationships between a work of art and its cultural context (i.e. its historical, social, religious, and economic environment); Analyze, interpret, and critique works of art; Identify the basic features of each of the twentieth-century styles and discuss the main contributions that these styles made to the development of visual arts. (Art History 209)

Subject:: Arts, Humanities
Grade Level:: Post-secondary
Collection:: Saylor Foundation

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Composing with Computers I (Electronic Music Composition), Spring 2008

Cultural and Literary Expression in Modernity

History of Media and Technology: Sound, the Minority Report -- Radical Music of the Past 100 Years, Spring 2006

Modern Poetry and Poetics

Music Since 1960, Spring 2006

Twentieth Century Art

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Browse: Keyword: Avant-garde

You searched for:

Refine Your Search

Composing with Computers I (Electronic Music Composition), Spring 2008

Cultural and Literary Expression in Modernity

History of Media and Technology: Sound, the Minority Report -- Radical Music of the Past 100 Years, Spring 2006

Modern Poetry and Poetics

Music Since 1960, Spring 2006

Twentieth Century Art

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