Goal:

Undergraduate survey courses in the history of music include concepts in musical form and development that are typically entirely new to most students. This is particularly true for sections dealing with the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, and the early Baroque. Students are faced with understanding concepts such as the evolution of the use of a cantus firmus in the construction of a mass setting, with the complexity of medieval modes which function entirely differently from the tonal system they are used to, and with understanding the use of secular forms in instrumental and vocal music that are equally foreign.

The goal of this project is to produce a series of engaging animations that illustrate these remote concepts in a compelling and memorable way. Another goal is to introduce students to the possibility of designing and creating their own animations as part of class activity. In order to create an effective animation, students will have to thoroughly understand the concept they are trying to depict. This dissection and analysis may proof to be an unusually effective teaching tool. It can also have the fortunate side effect of making music students more technologically proficient.

Proposal:
In July 1999, the ACS sponsored a multimedia workshop that focused in part on animation software. Participants explored the functions of Macromedia's Flash 4.0. It has the advantage of producing Web-based animations that are not platform specific. It also has the capability of creating animations illustrating difficult concepts in musical form and analysis as well as creating animated timelines and other historical illustrations.

This proposal allows for the creation of a series of animations to illustrate forms, music composition techniques, and historically significant events in the history of music in the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, and the early Baroque. A partial list of animations includes:

1. the position of an original Gregorian chant in the various types of organum, clausulae, and motets
2. the musical and poetic structures of the most common forms used by the troubadours and trouvères
3. the various uses of Lutheran chorales in the chorale preludes for the organ
4. the most common dance rhythms used in the Baroque keyboard suites
5. the internal structure of the da capo aria

Fortunately, the music history survey at Rhodes is scheduled to be taught in a smart classroom beginning in January, 2000. In this environment the use of these animations, and indeed the process by which they are created, will be readily available to students. Ideally, this proposal will result in students have a new depth of understanding of material that heretofore has seemed somewhat remote to them.

Application at Other Institutions
Dr. James Cook, professor of music at Birmingham Southern College, and Dr. John Krebs, chair of the music department at Hendrix College, have expressed a willingness to promote the use of these animations in their departments. However, they can be used by any survey of music history course with Internet access because they are Web-based and only require the installation of a Flash plug-in to the web browser.

They will be available to the public from two Rhodes College sites:
Music in the Music 320: Middle Ages and Renaissance
Music 227: European Musical Heritage
They will also be linked to the resources page at the ACS site.



Schedule:
The project will be completed by August 2000 so it will be available for use during the 2000-2001 academic year.

Budget:
The only expense is the $2500 stipend to the author.

Patricia Gray
gray@rhodes.edu