- MUTH 6680: Phenomenology and Music
- Monday, Wednesday 2:00 to 3:20 (MU 290)
- Instructor: Dr. David Bard-Schwarz
- Office: MU 104
- E-mail: david.schwarz@unt.edu Office Hours: TBA
Phenomenology is literally the study of phenomena, the study not of things, not of essences, but the world as it appears to us through our senses. In this course we will bring readings in phenomenology together with analyses of a wide variety of musical works. We will read classical works in phenomenology, including writings by Edmund Husserl, Martin Heidegger, John-Paul Sartre, and Maurice Merleau Ponty. We will also read more recent works in phenomenology, particularly those that apply its rigor to music including Itzhak Miller, David Lewin, Thomas Clifton, Brian Kane, and others. Each student will write a seminar paper to be submitted for publication and / or presentation at a regional, national, or international venue.
There is one text required for the course (it is expensive): The Routledge Companion to Phenomenology. Edited by Sebastian Luft and Søren Overgaard. London and New York: Routledge, 2012.
Grades will be determined as follows: Daily one-page responses to readings / listenings = 50%; Seminar Paper = 50%
The very short papers will be probing responses to the readings / listenings assigned for that day. I will return these, graded, at the beginning of the next class and reserve the right to post some on-line to generate discussion.
We will speak more of the seminar paper as the course gets underway. For samples of good, graduate writing see the section of this site indicated by "Graduate Students".