Special Requirements of this Course:

• WebCT access
• Access to the Internet and an Email account.
• Computer must have the ability to hear audio.
• RealAudio Basic Player or higher.

Course Description: For non-majors and minors only, focusing on listening to music literature of the Western and American musical heritage.

Course Objectives: The students will demonstrate the following knowledge:

• An understanding of the stylistic features of the Middle Ages, Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, Romantic, and Twentieth-Century Western Art Music.
• An understanding of the musical corpus of a representative sample of composers.
• Identify terminology associated with the Western Art music tradition.
• Identify a representative sample of music listening examples from required listening.
• Place unfamiliar listening examples in their proper historical style period.
• Understanding of music's place in the social/historical development of Western Europe and the United States.

Format of Course:  The focus of course will be on listening for understanding of Western Art Music.  The distance learning option is intended for those individuals who like/need more flexibility in their schedules and who have the self-discipline and study skills to learn independently.  You must have an email account.

Textbook:  Machlis, Joseph. The Enjoyment of Music, 9th Edition. WW Norton, 2003 and the accompanying 4 CDs.  The accompanying CDs have many useful multimedia applications to assist students in mastering the material of the course.  In addition, the publisher has a web site that augments and extends the material covered in the text.

Grading: Grading will be based on the following:

• 50% Weekly assignments (10 %), Discussion Board (5%), Final Project (5%) and written exams (25%) .
• 50% Listening examinations (25%) and concert attendance or Projects (25%) .

The grade for this course will be based on twelve (12) grades.  There will be four written assignments (e.g., definition of terms, short biographies on various composers, etc.), four open book essay examinations, and four listening examinations.  For the listening examinations, you will be required to compare selections from the text book's CDs to a selection you have not heard.  By comparing and contrasting these selections, you will be required to identify the style period of the new selection.  Since the course is intended to develop students' abilities to critically listen to music, a major portion of the grade is weighted toward listening (50%).

All assignments and exams will be equally spaced throughout the semester to aid students in pacing their work/study schedule for successful completion of the course.

Concert Attendance:  Students enrolled in MUS 140.501 are required to attend five (5) concerts.  At the beginning of the semester you will need to go to the Music Office and pick up your recital attendance card.  This card will allow you to attend most concerts and recitals free of charge. A recital calendar will be posted on the Department of Music's web site at the beginning of the Fall Semester.  To document attendance, students will be required to submit via email a short 300 word essay about their perceptions and reactions to the concert. Those individuals who do not live in the vicinity of Nacogdoches may be able to substitute other listening experiences for recital attendance at the instructors' discretion.

If you leave near another college or a large city, I will allow any "classical" concert to count towards the concert requirement.

I believe that listening to live music is paramount to understand and appreciate music. Please work hard to try and attend as many live concerts as you can.

Discussion Board:
Once a week I will post a question that you are required to answer.

Final Project:
I require one final project due by the end of the semester. You only have to do one of the projects.

Here is the link to SFASU Policy on Cheating and Plagiarism

Here is the Music Department's Policy on:
Cheating and PlagiarismCheating is dishonesty of any kind with respect to examinations, written assignments, in or out of class, alteration of records, or illegal possession of current examinations or keys to examinations (Policy A-9.1).

Plagiarism, simply put, is offering the work of another as one's own (Policy A-9.1). This could include an act as simple as copying several sentences from a book or the more flagrant use of another's entire project without giving proper credit.

The Cheating and Plagiarism policy for the University, Policy A-9.1, can be found on line at the following address: http://www.sfasu.edu/upp/pap/academic_affairs/cheating_and_plagiarism.html

The Student and Faculty Handbooks also discusses the issue; faculty members are available to answer questions. The student should read Policy A-2, Academic Appeals by Students, on the University web site for instruction regarding the appeals process. It is in the best interest of each student to seek out one or more of these sources for information. It is the responsibility of the student to apprise himself/herself of options if a faculty member makes an accusation of cheating/plagiarism.

If a student is charged with cheating/plagiarism by a faculty member, the instructor making the charge will describe the options for appeal to the accused student. The faculty member will determine a grade or other appropriate action as punishment, subject to appeal. Penalties for conviction can vary from reprimand to expulsion from school. The grade of the student will be withheld by the instructor pending resolution through the appeal procedures, even if the grade must be withheld after final grades are due in the Office of the Registrar.

If a student chooses to withdraw from a course in which he/she is accused of cheating, the student receives a grade of 'W'. [The Faculty Senate has passed a bill requesting that this grade be changed to 'WF', and the issue is before the Academic Affairs Council.] Withdrawal from class may not end the matter for the student, however, as the faculty member may proceed with a charge of cheating against the student, regardless of the student's desire to participate in such a process. The student accused of cheating will be notified in writing of the charge, of the appeals process, and of a hearing date. The charges will be identified before a College Council hearing panel as described in Policy A-2.

Any documents involved in a finding of cheating/plagiarism will become part of a student's permanent record. Repeated convictions will guarantee more severe penalties.

Students are encouraged to seek out the following web sites that will be helpful to avoid falling into the trap of academic dishonesty and plagiarism:

Academic Honesty and Intellectual Ownership. University of Puget Sound.
http://library.ups.edu/research/guides/acadhon.htm
Avoiding Plagiarism: Mastering the Art of Scholarship. Student Judicial Affairs, University of California, Davis.
http://sja.ucdavis.edu/SJA/plagiarism.html
Practice Exercises in in Paraphrasing. Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL).
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/research/r_paraphrEX1.html
What is Plagiarism? Georgetown University Honor Council.
http://www.georgetown.edu/honor/plagiarism.html
Writing a Research Paper. Purdue University Online Writing Lab.
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/workshops/hypertext/ResearchW/plag.html

NOTE: Students with documented disabilities who need course adaptations or accommodations please make an appointment with me as soon as possible.

For more information you may contact:
Mr. Herbert M. Midgley.