Theory 402a: Theory and Analysis of Contemporary Music
Paris, June 4–22, 2012
A summer study-abroad course offered by the Eastman School of Music
Theory 402a is a three-week graduate-level course on contemporary music taught by Eastman professor Robert Hasegawa. The course is designed in parallel with the Agora Festival organized by IRCAM (Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/Musique). In 2012, the festival features composers including Luciano Berio, Brian Ferneyhough, Philippe Manoury, and Karlheinz Stockhausen, with concerts by the Ensemble Intercontemporain, the Arditti Quartet, and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France. The Agora Festival also presents a wide range of installations, lectures, and films on contemporary music.
The course will focus on developing a theoretical understanding of musical developments of the last thirty years, with special emphasis on the composers featured in the festival. The course is repertoire-based, and will include readings by composers and theorists and close study of scores and recordings. Course topics will include spectralism, electronic music, microtonality, computer-aided composition, extended serialism, “new complexity,” transformational theory, and stochastic techniques.
Classes will be offered in English, and no knowledge of French is required. The course will meet for two to three hours each weekday from June 4 to June 21. Class meetings will be supplemented by concerts, lectures, and field trips; students will also have free time to explore other Parisian musical and cultural resources. Student housing and support services will be provided by IES Abroad, a non-profit study-abroad consortium with facilities in Paris.
Faculty
Music theorist and composer Robert Hasegawa joined the Eastman School of Music faculty in 2009, after completing a Ph.D. at Harvard University. His interests include microtonality and just intonation, the French “spectralist” composers Gérard Grisey and Tristan Murail, transformational theory, and the history of music theory. His dissertation, “Just Intervals and Tone Representation in Contemporary Music,” explores how research on the psychology of aural perception can inform the analysis of music by composers ranging from Debussy to La Monte Young. Robert’s article “Gérard Grisey and the ‘Nature’ of Harmony” received the Music Analysis 25th-Anniversary Competition Award, and was published by that journal in 2011. Other recent projects include editing a special issue of Contemporary Music Review on American composer James Tenney, articles on Hans Zender’s recent microtonal music (forthcoming in Perspectives of New Music) and atonal theory (for the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians), a chapter on extended just intonation for the book Théorie et composition musicales au vingtième siècle, and translations of essays by Tristan Murail.
Eligibility and Requirements
The course is designed for graduate students and advanced undergraduates. Students applying for Theory 402a should have completed at least four semesters of collegiate-level music theory or the equivalent; previous study of post-tonal theory is recommended, but not required. The course will be taught in English, and knowledge of French is not necessary.
Credit for Theory 402a can be transferred to many other colleges and universities—contact your registrar for details. For Eastman students, this course fulfills the DMA Theory 402 degree requirement. Eastman students in other degree programs may apply the course as an elective toward the BM, MM, MA, and PhD degrees.
Costs and Financial Aid
The program fee of $5,500 includes tuition (three credits), double-occupancy lodging from June 4 to 22 including internet access and breakfast, concert tickets, all course materials, local transportation passes, and health/repatriation insurance. Students will be responsible for all other expenses, including meals, airfare, and a mobile phone (required by IES Abroad for safety purposes). Students accepted into the program must submit a deposit by February 22, 2012 to register for the class. The balance of the program fee will be due on May 25, 2012.
Student loans may be available for students enrolled for at least six summer session credits—additional credits can be arranged by enrolling in a course or independent study through Eastman’s Summer Session (www.esm.rochester.edu/summer). Contact Eastman’s financial aid office (financialaid@esm.rochester.edu) for details.
Contact
For more information, email Robert Hasegawa (rhasegawa@esm.rochester.edu).
Applying
To apply for the program, fill out the online form at the bottom of this page. The application requires a brief statement of interest in the program and an emailed letter of recommendation. The application deadline is February 1, 2012. Students will be notified of admission decisions by mid-February. Students accepted into the program must complete a medical information form, as required by IES Abroad.
Photo of Place Igor Stravinsky by Jim Linwood, Creative Commons Attribution License 2.0
