3.0

credits

Average Course Rating

This course explores the construction of the idea of “experimental” music since around 1950. We will consider the work of numerous individuals, groups, and movements including John Cage and the New York School, the Chicago-based AACM, the Darmstadt circle, the Lower East Side loft jazz scene, Cornelius Cardew and the Scratch Orchestra, and Fluxus. Through the study of recordings (commercial and archival), scores, artists’ writings, and scholarly literature, we will develop historical and aesthetic understanding of the varied practices that helped create the notion of musical experimentalism. Finally, we will study more recent experimental work including that being done in Baltimore at venues such as the Red Room and at festivals such as High Zero.