By the end of this course, you will have:
| Week | Date | Topic | Class | HW to do |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13 | Tu 04/24 | Brain correlates of language/music expectations | RQ, notes | work on projects, presentations on 05/01, write-up due 05/08 |
| Th 04/26 | Review | RQ, notes |
| Week | Date | Topic | Class | HW to do |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12 | Tu 04/17 | NO CLASS | ||
| Th 04/19 | Rhythm wrap-up | RQ, notes | Work on take-home exam 3 (on Moodle) due Thurs 04/19, 11:59PM, work on projects, presentations, write-up | |
| 11 | Tu 04/10 | Rhythm music-language connections | RQ, slides | |
| Th 04/12 | RQ in slides, slides | Work on take-home exam 3 (on Moodle) due Thurs 04/19, 11:59PM, work on projects | ||
| 10 | Tu 04/03 | Musical rhythm | RQ, slides | |
| Th 04/05 | Linguistic rhythm | RQ, slides | Final project brainstorming in discussion forum on Moodle: Every group member should make at least one post and respond to at least one other post before class on Tuesday, as you brainstorm about your project. | |
| 09 | Tu 03/27 | Musical rhythm | RQ in slides, slides | |
| Th 03/29 | RQ, slides from last time (updated) | Read Temperley on syncopation in rock. Post at least 3 comments/questions on the Moodle forum "Discussion of Temperley on syncopation in rock" by the end of Monday 04/02 (one post per comment/question). Respond to at least 2 of your classmates' points by class time Tu 04/03. | ||
| 08 | Tu 03/20 | Midterm reflection/review | RQ in slides, slides | Work on take-home exam 2 (on Moodle) due Thurs 03/22, 11:59PM. |
| Th 03/22 | (Musical rhythm) | RQ, slides from last time | Read Levitin pp. 57-69 for Thursday. Post at least 3 comments/questions on the Moodle forum "Discussion of Patel excerpt, timbre" by the end of Monday 03/26 (one post per comment/question). Respond to at least 2 of your classmates' points by class time Tu 03/27. | |
| 07 | Tu 03/06 | Timbre connections | RQ, slides | Finish schwa assignment by class time Th 03/08. Submit EC Qyrq Qyz reflection by 03/08 on Moodle. |
| Th 03/08 | MAP | RQ in slides, slides | Work on take-home exam 2 (on Moodle) due Thurs 03/22, 11:59PM. | |
| 06 | Tu 02/27 | Linguistic timbre | RQ, slides | |
| Th 03/01 | RQ | Due by class time, Tues, 03/06: go through waveform interactive tutorial, submit preliminary version (at least your recorded vowel sound) of vocal tract length calculation files (see slide 65-68 in slides) here (you may need to be signed into your UMass account to access this folder) | ||
| 05 | Tu 02/20 | Musical timbre | RQ, slides | Work on exam due Thursday, bring in musical instrument on Thursday |
| Th 02/22 | RQ, slides | Explore instrument recordings from today in Praat | ||
| 04 | Tu 02/13 | Pitch music-language connections | RQ, slides | |
| Th 02/15 | RQ, slides | Read Patel timbre section (on Moodle). Post at least 2 comments/questions on the Moodle forum "Discussion of Patel excerpt, timbre" by the end of Monday. Respond to at least 1 of your classmates' points by class time Tu 02/13. Work on take-home exam 1 (on Moodle) due Thurs 02/22, 11:59PM. |
||
| 03 | Mo 02/05 | Talking Black 5:30-7:30pm, ILC 151 (optional) | more info | EC: 400-500 word reflection, due by 02/13 |
| Tu 02/06 | Linguistic pitch in depth | RQ, slides | ||
| Th 02/08 | RQ, slides | Read Patel excerpt (on Moodle). Post at least 3 comments/questions on the Moodle forum "Discussion of Patel excerpt, linguistic pitch" by the end of Monday. Respond to at least 2 of your classmates' points by class time Tu 02/13. Do absolute pitch and pitch discrimination tests and reflect on your experiences in the Moodle forum called "Pitch tests discussion" by class time on Tuesday. | ||
| 02 | Tu 01/30 | Musical pitch in depth | RQ, slides | |
| Th 02/01 | Hands-on in Praat | RQ, slides | Perception experiment. See slides: enter perception test responses by class time 02/06 here. Go to Talking Black in America on Monday! | |
| 01 | Tu 01/23 | Intro | RQ, slides | For 01/25: Read syllabus, install Praat, play with hands-on demos from class |
| Th 01/25 | Intro to pitch | RQ, slides, pages: music, ling | Read Levitin Ch. 2. Post at least 3 comments/questions on the Moodle forum by the end of Monday. Respond to at least 2 of your classmates' points by class time Tu 01/30. |
| Week | Date | Topic | Class | HW to do |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14 | Tu 05/01 | Final project presentations |
We will be reading some excerpts from Daniel J. Levitin's This is Your Brain on Music. If it is not a financial hardship, please do get a copy; there are used ones available quite inexpensively. We will be reading about half the book. All other course readings will be entirely available electronically.
If you would like to go in further depth into the material we cover in this course, Aniruddh Patel's Music, Language and the Brain is highly recommended.
If you would like to read another "popular science" discussion on language and music, one that focuses on age effects on learning and that has a different take on the "music instinct", check out Gary Marcus' Guitar Zero.
