Syllabus

[ General | Biography | Office Hours|Unscheduled Absence|Text|Prerequisites|Grading Components|Grading Scale|Grading Statement]

[Tests|Reserve Materials|Critical Dates|Course Objectives and Course Structure|Interactive Study Guides|Course Policies and Helpful Hints]

[Course Schedule]

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Professor: Dr. Ciro G. Scotto
Office: MRH 3.730
Phone: (512) 343-5500
Home Phone: (512) 343-5500
e-mail: cscotto@mail.utexas.edu

I was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. I completed my undergraduate studies at the University of California, Davis, where I studied composition with Richard Swift. I graduated cum laude and won the Olge Brose Valente Prize for Composition. I completed my graduate studies at the University of Washington where I studied composition with John Rahn and James Beale. While at Washington, I won the Warren Babb Music by People Award. In 1991, I was selected by Gunther Schuller to attend the Sandpoint Music Festival as both composer and conductor. During the festival, my composition, Exchanges, for solo violin, was premiered. I taught at the university of California, Davis, the University of California, Santa Barbara, the Cornish college of the Arts, and the university of Washington. I have composed works for solo instruments, chamber ensembles, and chamber orchestra. My commissions include the Puget Sound Flute Quartet, The East Shore Chamber Players, the Gotham Ensemble, the pianist Robert Taub, and Fear No Music. My compositions were a regular feature on the Seattle Spring New Music Festival. My compositions have also received performances across the united States and in Canada. On November 5th, 1995, The Rainier Chamber Winds premiered my chamber orchestra composition Tetralogy. On February 23, 1996 Fear No Music premiered my work Confessions, for chamber ensemble. On April 23, 1996, the New Music Ensemble at the University of Texas premiered my guitar trio Three Words for Three Guitars. As well as my composing and conducting work, I have written articles on the music of Milton Babbitt, Gunther Schuller, Roger Reynolds, and others. I have also presented several papers at the Society of Music Theory's National Conference.

Office Hours

Monday, Wednesday, Friday 12:00--1:00 PM, additional times by appointment, and always available by e-mail.

Unscheduled Absence

If I cannot be in class due to an emergency (for example, my wife is pregnant and will be giving birth at the end of the semester, so I may have to run to the hospital), I will try to call the office to send someone over with instructions for you. For example, what you should read or analyze. If nobody comes to the classroom by 15 past the hour, you may leave. I will contact everyone by e-mail with instructions.

Form in Tonal Music, An Introduction to Analysis, by Douglass M. Green; Complete Piano Sonatas, Vol. I by Ludwig van Beethoven, edited by Heinrich Schenker; Tonal Harmony by Stefan Kostka & Dorothy Payne; Workbook for Tonal Harmony by Stefan Kostka & Dorothy Payne.

Prerequisites

Freshman theory and the first semester of Sophomore theory.

Grading Components

Homework	40%
Midterm	20%
Final	30%
Class Participation	10%

Grading Scale

The following grading scale will be used: 90+=A; 80-89=B; 70-79=C; 60-69=D. Any average below 60 is failing. Numerical values (0-100) will be assigned to the homework, the midterm, and the final. From these values, your final grade will be calculated. A grade of "incomplete" will be given only in conformance to official university policy (i.e., extreme emergency such as hospitalization, death in the family etc. occurring during the last three weeks of the semester).

Grading Statement

Homework that is one class session late will receive a 5 point deduction. (For example, if a homework assignment is due on Monday and you turn it in on Wednesday, 5 points will automatically be deducted.) Homework that is two class sessions late will not be accepted without prior consent of the instructor. (I will allow late homework that is two class sessions late for illness and family emergencies.) Tests can only be "made-up" with the prior consent of the instructor. Acceptable reasons for not taking a test on the test date are illness and family emergency.

Only one test, the midterm, is scheduled during the course of the semester. It will be given on March 7, 1997 during the regularly scheduled class meeting. It will cover all the material through March 5, 1997. Although we have only one scheduled test, I will give short quizzes from time to time. Some will not be announced in advance.

Reserve Materials

Recordings of the Beethoven Sonatas are on reserve in the Fine Arts Library.

Critical Dates

January 16	Last day of the official add/drop period. Last day undergraduate students may register without the approval of the registrar.
January 22	Last day to apply for a graduate degree.
January 29	Twelfth class day. Last day an undergraduate student may add a course. Last day to drop a course for a possible refund. Last day a graduate student may add a course.
February 10	Last day to drop a course without a possible academic penalty.
March 24	Last Day an undergraduate student may with the Dean's approval, withdraw from the university or drop a course.
Additional important information can be found at the UT Austin registrar's office.
Additional important information can be found at the UT Brownsville registrar's office.

Course Objectives and Course Structure

We will complete our knowledge of Western harmonic practice by studying the use of the Neapolitan and Augmented sixth chords. We will practice writing short exercises that include these chords, and we will analyze several pieces to learn how they function within the context of compositions. After completing our harmonic vocabulary, we will study form. This course is designed to teach you the analytical skills necessary to examine form in Western art music. We will review basic forms, such as binary and ternary forms, but we will spend the majority of our time on sonata, rondo, and fugal forms. The goal of this course is to have you become a critical thinker or critical interpreter of music's structure. Since music rarely follows textbooks models exactly, you must develop analytical skills to understand music's structure and communicate your insights to others. Although the majority of our class meetings will be lectures, there will be ample time for discussion, especially in the latter part of the course. Therefore, I expect you to come to class prepared to talk about the current composition.

Interactive Study Guides

This class is special, because it involves more than one UT campus. I want the class to be one extended classroom rather than two separate classrooms coexisting side by side. I will be implementing several technical aids that will help us achieve this goal. Aside from this goal, these innovations should enhance your learning experience. I see these aids as a way of me giving you the student more personalized attention. Rather than having one teacher for 30 students, I hope the technology helps you to feel that you a have personal teacher. That is, I can gear the learning experience more towards your individual needs than to just a broad perspective. Here are just some of the ways we will accomplish this goal.

e-mail

Course Policies and Helpful Hints

I reserve the right to be flexible with the course schedule. Attendance is essential. Essentially, this class is a seminar of colleagues getting together to discuss a common interest, music. Therefore, you should come to each class meeting ready to participate.

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Page last updated 1/17/97
Send comments cscotto@mail.utexas.edu