Credits: One.

Level: undergraduate (100)

Instructor: Stefan Hakenberg (composer; Ph.D. candidate, Harvard University; guest instructor, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa)

Course Description: The course will develop the students' capacities to speak and write about their experiences with new music. They will learn to reflect upon what they hear in an involved and informed way, avoiding prejudices and preconceptions. First, by considering more deeply the new works commissioned by CrossSound last year, the students will come to appreciate the variety of ways in which these works can be understood through presentations by the instructor and guest musicians Jocelyn Clark (CrossSound director, koto player, ethnomusicologist, and Ph.D. candidate at Harvard University) and Sally Schlichting (CrossSound Juneau coordinator, principal flutist with the Juneau Symphony and the ensemble "Nimbus"). Inspired by these presentations, the students will engage in discussions about criteria with which to approach challenging pieces of new music. Individually guided by the instructor and Jocelyn Clark, the students will begin to work on their final projects -- presentations about the artists and works of this year's CrossSound concerts. The students will have an opportunity to discuss their findings and interpretations with the guest artists themselves who, during their time in Southeast Alaska, will be available for the students: Martin Brody (composer; Chair of the Music Department at Wellesley College), Brigitte Geller (soprano at the Komische Oper, Berlin), Liu Jing (erhu player at the National Opera Company, Nanjing), Bernard Rands (composer; professor for composition, Harvard University). All artists will join the class for discussions of their work and comment on the ideas the students will have developed. Eventually the students will write program texts reflecting their presentations and take an active roll during the public pre-concert discussions by interviewing some of the musicians involved.

Schedule: 6 class meetings at 2 hours each plus at least one individual meeting with each student to work on final projects.

Dates of the class meetings: Tuesdays five o'clock on August 1, 8, 15, 22, 29, and September 5 (flexible). (For the August meetings the instructor will be in Juneau and for the September meeting in Sitka.)

Syllabus:
Aug 1: Introduction to the Course Lecture: Old Music, New Music -- works by Elliott Gyger and Oliver Schneller
Aug 8: Lecture given by Jocelyn Clark: Historical Instruments, Non-Western Instruments, Folk Instruments -- works by Cord Meijering, Stefan Hakenberg, Byung-ki Hwang
Aug 15: Amateur Musicians, Professional Musicians - an interview with Sally Schlichting. Discussion.
Between Aug 15 and 22: Individual meetings with students to assign topics for final projects
Aug 22: Seminar: Criteria for Approaching New Music
Aug 29: Presentations moderated by Jocelyn Clark: Composers, Players, and Music on CrossSound's 2000 Juneau Program guests: composer Martin Brody, erhu player Liu Jing.
Sep 1: CrossSound's 2000 Juneau Program in Juneau
Sep 3: CrossSound's 2000 Juneau Program in Sitka
Sep 5: Presentations: Composers, Players, and Music on CrossSound's 2000 Sitka Program
guests: soprano Brigitte Geller, composer Bernard Rands.
Sep 8: CrossSound's 2000 Sitka Program in Sitka
Sep 10: CrossSound's 2000 Sitka Program in Juneau

Grading: Pass/Fail.

Requirements: After the lecture and seminar parts of the course, students will give presentations about the composers and players of the CrossSound 2000 programs. The instructor and Jocelyn Clark respectively will provide the students with recordings and texts to study for these presentations. Eventually the students turn in program book texts that have grown out of their presentations.

Pre-requisites: - time to listen to new music - serious interest in communicating about new music

Contact CrossSound at 586-9601 or by e-mail at directors@crosssound.com.