Fall 2000 Wednesday 7:00-10:00pm TC-141 Instructor: Serge Lacasse
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Fall 2000 Wednesday
7:00-10:00pm TC-141 Instructor: Serge
Lacasse
Home
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| Faculty
of Music Department of Music History |
(13 December 2000). Final marks are posted here! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!
(27 November 2000) The Web site that I originally chose for the Civil Rights Movement which was down last week has just been restored. It's a very good overview with interesting photographs. Check it out!!!
(15 November 2000) The Final Exam is scheduled on Monday, December 11 at 9:00am in TC 141. For more information regarding exams, follow this link.
(13 November 2000) Exam 2 Marks are now online! First, choose the appropriate table (167a or 267a). Marks are sorted by Student Numbers. Please, contact me if you don't find your Student Number.
(7 November 2000) There seems to be some confusion about Exam 2. As I said at the beginning of last class, the material covered in Exam 2 is Origins of Jazz, Early Jazz, Swing AND Bebop.
(25 October 2000) Real Audio Files Online. But it might take some time before students can use them (copyright issues...). More about it during class.
(17 October 2000) Exam 1 Marks are now online! First, choose the appropriate table (167a or 267a). Marks are sorted by Student Numbers. Please, contact me if you don't find your Student Number.
(5 October 2000) THE DEMONSTRATION CD IS NOW AVAILABLE AT THE BOOK STORE!
(25 September 2000) Bad News: Apparently, the Demonstration CD should be in on Tuesday October 3, at the latest. HOWEVER,...
Good News: By Wednesday, September 27, there will be many copies of the Demonstration CD on reserve at the Music library. Please, use these copies until the CDs are available at the Book Store. These copies will be available for you for two hours (you're allowed to take them out during these two hours).
(18 September 2000) The Demonstration Compact Disc will be available at the Book Store by the end of this week! Sorry for the delay!
In the meantime there are a few copies of the Demonstration Compact Disc on reserve at the Music Library (you can take them out for two hours).
(17 September 2000) For your information, here is a link about Copyright and Private Copying. See also the table in page 6 of this guide (page 11 of 26 through Acrobat Reader Browser).
(16 September 2000) There is a mistake in the Course Outline I gave you last week: exam dates in the Schedule Chart and in the following page are not the same. So, Please note: Exam dates are as follows:
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Exam 1 (11/10/2000) |
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Exam 2 (08/11/2000 |
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Final Exam (TBA) |
Sorry for inconveniences this mistake might have caused. If any problem, please contact me. Note also that the mistake has been corrected on this website. Cheers.
Summary
Objectives
Teaching Approach
Summary
This introductory course is for anyone (musician or nonmusician) who has had little or no exposure to jazz and who would be interested in learning more about jazz . The course is primarily designed to help students discover and enjoy jazz. Accordingly, the topics covered in the course are as follows:
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By the end of the course, students should be able to:
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Although classes will mainly consist of traditional lectures, a significant portion of the time will be devoted to listening and viewing audiovisual material. Again, the idea is to help students appreciate jazz. Consequently, emphasis will be placed on recognizing stylistic characteristics by ear.
Textbook
Recordings
Online Recorded MaterialTextbook
Every student is required to purchase the following book, which is available at the UWO Bookstore (University Community Centre):
Mark C. Gridley. Jazz Styles: History and Analysis, 7th edition. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2000. ISBN 0-13-021227-X (book alone). Price: 62,95$ REQUIRED |
The following recordings will be used in the course:
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A number of tracks from the Smithsonian Collection of Classic Jazz CDs should be soon available online in Real Audio Format. Although the sound quality of Real Audio files is not as good as the original, students will still benefit from listening to them. Furthermore, access to recordings from home or from computers on campus will prevent congestion in the Music Library.
Students will be given a User Name and a Password to access these Real Audio Files. It is strongly recommended
that you keep your User Name and
Password secret so that the server is not overloaded. If too many people
access the server at the same time, files may take a long time to download.
So, please, once you'll have them, keep your User Name and Password to yourself!
Note: Click on the links (dates) to access an outline for each lecture
| Date | Content | Exams |
| 13/09/2000 | Presentation | |
| What Is Jazz? | ||
| 20/09/2000 | Rhythm | |
| Instrumentation (1) | ||
| 27/09/2000 | Instrumentation (2) | |
| Chords/Forms (1) | ||
| 04/10/2000 | Chords/Forms (2) | |
| Roles of Instruments/Impro. | ||
| 11/10/2000 | Exam 1 | Exam 1 (25%) Basic Jazz listening skills |
| Exam Discussion | ||
| 18/10/2000 | Origins of Jazz | |
| Early Jazz | ||
| 25/10/2000 | Swing | |
| Ellington/Basie | ||
| 01/11/2000 | Bop | |
| 08/11/2000 | Exam 2 | Exam 2 (35%) 1900s-1950s |
| 15/11/2000 | Cool Jazz | |
| Hard Bop | ||
| 22/11/2000 | Coltrane | |
| Free Jazz | ||
| 29/11/2000 | Course Evaluation | |
| Influential Keyboard Players | ||
| 06/12/2000 | Fusion | |
| 11/12/2000 9:00am |
Final Exam (Talbot College, Room 141) | Final Exam (40%) 1950s-1990s |
This course is about both the history of jazz and its aesthetics. In other words, students should not only learn basic facts about jazz and its musicians, but they are also expected to develop basic listening skills.
Accordingly, a large portion of this course is a perceptual learning experience. However, there is no way to measure more than a fraction of the new auditory skills you will acquire. Since grades must be assigned anyway (because this is a credit course in a university), here is the proposed grading scheme:
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All exams are multiple choice |
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All exams contain a section devoted to listening skills |
Here is a more detailed description of the three exams
Exam 1: Basic Jazz Listening Skills
(11/10/2000) [25%]
The main purpose of this exam is to assess students' skills in
identifying:
- Jazz Instrumentation
- Jazz Forms/Chords
- Basic Elements of Jazz Performance Practice, etc.
The acquisition of these skills will provide a better
understanding of the jazz styles covered in the remainder of the course.
Furthermore, there will be some questions related to some theoretical aspects of
jazz (for example: definitions)
Exam 2: 1900-1940 (08/11/2000) [35%]
The second exam will be devoted to jazz from its origins to the end of
Bebop, and will contain a listening section
(see Notes on Listening Sections).
Final Exam: 1940-2000 (TBA)
[40%]
The final exam does not cover all of the material seen in the
course. Rather, it will be very similar to Exam 2, except that it will cover the
period ranging from Cool Jazz (1950s) to Acid Jazz (1990s). However, the final
exam will count for 40%, reflecting the amount of covered material. This
exam will also contain a listening section.
Notes on Listening Sections
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All exams begin with a Listening Section |
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Sound excerpts are played twice |
| The remainder of the time will be devoted to the other questions |
The best way to ask questions is through email.
It is also the best way to make an appointment.
You can also phone me at 661-2111 ext. 84331.
Office (TC-226): Because of the large number of students, I would please ask students not to pop in without having previously made an appointment (email or phone). Thank You!
A good idea would be make an appointment, prepare questions and come in small groups (two or three).
It is also possible to email Andrew Schmitt for technical questions.
©2000 Serge Lacasse
University of Western Ontario
Updated 13 December, 2000
