WCore Fine Arts and Humanities (WCFAH) Courses
WCFAH - WCore Fine Arts and Humanities (WCFAH) Courses
WCFAH-127: Infinite Variety (Credits: 3)
An introductory course to the art of acting and communication through performance. It covers the study of basic acting techniques, the value of storytelling, modes of communication (verbal, physical, text and subtext), and improvisation. Students will learn a lexicon of terms and techniques related to rehearsing, performing, and critiquing live performance and storytelling. Students will be challenged to access and deliver the physical, emotional, and psychological aspects of their character(s). (WCore: WCFAH)
WCFAH-132: Sound, Music, and Technology (Credits: 3)
"The history of the music industry is inevitably also the story of the development of technology. From the player piano to the vinyl disc, from reel-to-reel tape to the cassette, from the CD to the digital download, these formats and devices changed not only the way music was consumed, but the very way artists created it." Edgar Bronfman, Jr. former CEO of Warner Music Group Using this quote as a guide, but expanding it to include music and sound as a whole, not just the music industry, this course will broadly examine the effect that technology has had on music and sound after WWII. It will cover music and sound in popular music, art music, film and interactive media, music of other cultures, and sound art and sound installations. The class format is based on a cycle of listening, reading, and creating. Students will first listen to and discuss works that employ, are made possible, or were fundamentally changed because of a paradigm shift brought about due to a technological innovation. Students will then read and learn about one particular innovation and finally demonstrate their knowledge of this innovation by creating short musical or sound works of their own and writing about the relationship between technology and their own work or by composing short, focused essays about the relationship between a technological shift and works listened to in class. This class is open to all majors, regardless of prior musical knowledge; however, basic computer skills are required. (WCore: WCFAH)
WCFAH-207: Humor and Philosophy (Credits: 4)
Most people love to laugh-but why? And what makes something funny? Is there a secret to someone or something being comical? And what's the purpose of humor and laughter, anyway? Finally-can anything be funny? Are some forms of humor actually immoral, and are we bad people for laughing at some jokes? Or is humor a fictional holiday from everyday life, where anything and everything is allowed? In this course we'll philosophically explore these questions and others about the nature, purpose, value, and possible limits of humor in everyday life. (WCore: WCFAH)
WCFAH-219: The Music of Two Ring Cycles (Credits: 4)
In this course students will examine music composed for two of the greatest fantasy epics ever created, Richard Wagner's 4-opera Der Ring des Niebelungen and Howard Shore's soundtracks to the 3-film version of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. Comparisons between the literary content of the cycles are inevitable, from the subject matter to parallel plot developments and even the fantasy creatures that inhabit each world, and these will be studied in the course. In addition to these correspondences, the composers of each cycle used very similar compositional devices to organize the musical content, providing continuity over 10+ hours of music while simultaneously clearly delineating characters, objects, emotional states and more abstract ideas. Students will present their own specialized research on diverse topics relating to the two cycles to their classmates. (WCore: WCFAH and RE)