Course Description
This course will teach dancers to understand the language of music and build the necessary vocabulary to analyze, develop, and communicate musical ideas.
Athena Title
Music for Dance
Prerequisite
Permission of department
Semester Course Offered
Offered spring
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
At the end of this course, the successful student will be able to: Dance a 128 count/32 measure popular song, as outlined by a musical score Demonstrate understanding of and ease in using the basic rhythmic elements of music and dance, including duple vs. triple meter, simple vs. compound meter, time-signature, syncopation, polyrhythms Demonstrate knowledge of the relationship between music and dance in a variety of musical styles Demonstrate knowledge of important collaborations between choreographers and composers in ballet, modern dance, jazz- musical, theatre-pop (stage and screen) Demonstrate ability, as a dance teacher and as a choreographer teaching material to dancers, to make enlightened, artistic choices about musical accompaniment for class and for choreographic projects Demonstrate ability, as a dance teacher and as a choreographer teaching material to dancers, to use a hand drum and/or other percussion instruments to assist dancers in the learning and retaining of material Physically demonstrate rhythmic structures (duple and triple meter)
Topical Outline
Assessment and Vocabulary – Music Theory -Where are we in this music thing? -Terminology – giving context -Meters, musical form Music and Dance Genres -Ballet, jazz, and tap explorations Spending time with music -Deconstructing musical selections, what are we hearing, what are we feeling, what are we understanding? -Based on genre, what are some musical tendencies (scale, pitch, tone, tempo, timbre) -Notating parts of select musical works Critical analysis of choreographies that speaks to particular rhythmic exploration -Exploring sound and movement partnerships in notable composers and choreographers -Looking at Ron K.Brown, Trisha Brown, Jiri Kylian, Les Ballets Africaines Theory in practice -Create choreography based on an original score -Create a mapped video based on a preexisting musical score
Syllabus