MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS HISTORY

As part of the degree course in Conservazione e gestione dei beni e delle attività culturali, this course aims to focus on the definition, classification and description of Western traditional musical instruments.

The student will acquire skills on Western musical instruments and their history, their classification, morphology and practice in different contexts. At the end of the course the student will have learned the main notions on the specific literature dedicated to each instrument with particular reference to the orchestral formations of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

No prerequisites or basic knowledge in music are required. Interest in the subject matter and motivation in learning are the fundamental prerequisite to attend the course.

The course will be divided into two parts. In the first, the teacher will offer a general overview of Western traditional musical instruments (their classification, morphology and social function) and a historical contextualization of their evolution. In the second part, of a seminar nature, the specificities of orchestral formations in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries will be explored through readings, discussions and group work.

Curt Sachs, Storia degli strumenti musicali (I ed. 1940), edizione italiana a cura di Paolo Isotta e Maurizio Papini, Arnoldo Mondadori Editore, Milano 1980.
Campbell, Murray, Greated, Clive e Myers, Arnold, Musical Instruments: History, Technology, and Performance of Instruments of Western Music, Oxford, Oxford University Press 2004.

Montagu, Jeremy. The World of Medieval and Renaissance Musical Instruments.
————. The World of Baroque and Classical Musical Instruments.
————. The World of Romantic and Modern Musical Instruments. London-Vancouver 1976-1981.

A specific bibliography will be provided during the course.

The exam will consist of an oral interview on the topics discussed in the course. During the lessons, the topics will be explored through the active participation of those attending. Ausilio will be the multimedia instrumentation. Non-attending students are requested to contact the teacher in due advance.

Frontal lessons integrated with readings, musical examples and guided listening. In the last week of the course, the intervention of an expert on specific topics of the course is expected.

Italian

oral