本課程為全學年必修課程，旨在協助研究生養成學術研究的能力，教師依照個別研究性向與狀況給予適當指導。具體教學內容包括訓練學生蒐集資料、整理分析能力，協助研究計畫設計，形成明確清晰的問題意識、架構論文綱要，並解決論文寫作問題。
學習西方巴洛克時期至廿世紀管絃樂曲不同風格與編制之配器手法，熟識絃樂、管樂、擊樂等各種樂器於合奏音樂中的角色、功能與運用之技術，增進編寫管絃樂曲之經驗，並具備創作管絃樂曲之能力。
當代人的音樂經驗在相當大的程度上是一種現代性的後果，例如：我們最初的音樂教育通常來自現代化的學校教育，我們每天接觸的音樂通常來自現代化的大眾傳播媒體。雖然，民族音樂學研究中，「傳統」是學者最關切的焦點之一，民族音樂學中討論的「傳統」也脫離不了「現代性」的思考。民族音樂學論述中的「現代」或者被視為「傳統」的對立面，或者被視為「傳統」的延續，「傳統」與「現代」之間相互衝突與依存的面向成為民族音樂學長久以來關切的議題。本課程試圖透過有關「現代性」之社會學與音樂學論著之研讀，帶領學生思考音樂與現代性的關係。
COURSE DESCRIPTION AND GOALS
The United States is a ‘melting pot’ of cultures and races. This has been both its strength and its challenge. It took many years for composers in the United States to have the confidence to find their own cultural voice, apart from Europe. In 1892, Antonin Dvořak moved to the United States for three years, encouraging composers to use their country’s indigenous music in their compositions. His “New World” Symphony and “American” string quartet served as examples.
What is “American” music? Have composers taken Dvořak’s advice? Can we recognize “American” when we hear it? How do we define it? In this course, we will try to understand the forces that helped shape “American” music, from early composers who studied in Europe in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, to cutting-edge composers who are active today. We will do this not only through background lectures and readings, but also through the close study of individual scores, with each of you participating.
COURSE GOAL
To help you learn to interpret scores and perform music from various style periods with authority, supported by evidence from the scholarly literature and primary sources.
FRAMING QUESTIONS Since the advent of music notation in the Middle Ages, performers have struggled with the challenges of translating visual symbols into sound and meaning. What does a score tell us? What does it not tell us? What is expected of the performer? How has that changed over time in music history? Do some style periods emphasize technical execution over expressive language? Can we distinguish between the two? For most of us, our ‘default’ mode of interpretation is something inherited from 19th century Romanticism and our instrumental teachers. We cannot avoid the fact that we have inherited certain ways of hearing and playing. But is it possible to play music “as Mozart heard it” (or even “as Chopin heard it”)? Or, put another way, would Mozart RECOGNIZE his music as we perform it? Is that important? Does it matter? What should be our goal as performers? Does the work exist apart from its performance? How does an individual performance shape our impression of the piece? This year, the course will focus on two centuries, the 18th and the 20th (which may include recent music in the 21st). The unstated assumption is that we are already quite familiar with most Romantic performance practices (although that, too, will be examined briefly in a survey of old recordings and other primary and secondary sources).