Course Name

Course Name:Honors 2000 level series classes: Exploring Key Concepts in the Creative Arts
Course Prefix: HNRS
Course Number: 2020
Submitted by (Name & E-Mail): Erik Stern, estern@weber.edu

Current Date: 10/23/2012
College: Honors
Department: Honors
From Term: Summer 2014

Substantive

new	Current Course Subject N/A Current Course Number

New/Revised Course Information:

Course Title: Music in Society, Science & Psyche

Abbreviated Course Title: Music in Society

Course Type:

LEC

Credit Hours: 3 or if variable hours: to

Contact Hours: Lecture 3 Lab Other

Repeat Information: Limit 1 Max Hrs 6

Grading Mode: standard

This course is/will be:

a required course in a major program
a required course in a minor program
a required course in a 1- or 2- year program
elective

Prerequisites/Co-requisites:

There are no formal prerequisites or co-requisites, however students will be advised to take the following courses as preparation.
• HNRS 1110: Introduction to Honors: Construction of Knowledge
• HNRS 1000 level "Perspectives" Gen Ed course in the appropriate discipline

Course description (exactly as it will appear in the catalog, including prerequisites):

This course will explore music as seen through the lenses of Plato’s “Big Three”: The Good, The True and The Beautiful. The perspective of the Good will be taken to look at music in society (its role), that of the True for its scientific side (its nature), and that of the Beautiful to investigate the interior, personal experience of music (its meaning).

The course will take two approaches in exploring these areas: the Theory and the Lab. In the theory part of the course we will discuss how music appears in the Big Three, and also how it relates to the other arts; for the Lab part of the course students will have creative projects. In a sense, the Lab is the core of the class and will involve students producing two original works involving the creative use of music. For example, they might write a song, produce and score for a short film using original or existing music, or devise and conduct a creative experiment on the effects of music on health.

Students will learn through the "primary texts" of reading and listening selections, and will reflect, discuss and write on the different methods of thinking about music.

Justification for the new course or for changes to an existing course. (Note: Justification should emphasize academic rationale for the change or new course. This is particularly important for courses requesting upper-division status.)

The proposal for the "Exploring Key Concepts" Honors series was begun in 2009 as the result of a white paper on Honors assessment written by Judy Elsley. The paper evaluated Honors courses and found that the 1000 level "Perspectives" classes and 3000 level seminar effectively met Honors and university mission statements. However, the 2000 level "Intellectual Traditions" did not provide a clear enough framework for cross-disciplinary study. Moreover, "Intellectual Traditions" tended to restrict disciplines to classical cultures.

In contrast, the new set of "Key Concepts" courses allows faculty to explore a wider range of subjects, thus opening up contemporary and emerging areas of study, and freeing faculty and students to investigate valuable issues that:
• cross disciplinary boundaries
• explore new kinds of knowledge and frameworks
• allow courses to view primary texts in all their diversity
• encourage reflection on how disciplines inter-relate and on what points they differ

These new courses help to broaden students' understanding of an increasingly inter-related world, preparing them for careers we can hardly imagine today.

"Key Concepts" will create a more cohesive set of Honors courses. Beginning with "Introduction to Honors," which focuses on the different kinds of knowledge to be found in an academic setting, our students will move from "Perspectives" to "Key Concepts." "Perspectives" gives students their first study of open-ended and communal inquiry that is the hallmark of our courses; "Key Concepts" will increase the rigor and depth of this approach by demanding primary texts, epistemological reflection and a richer look at the inter-relation of disciplines.

The courses that fulfill "Key Concepts" are more closely aligned with General Education learning outcomes and Honors learning outcomes. A range of faculty are well qualified to teach these types of classes.

Our "Key Concepts" courses have already been approved in two General Education areas:
• Life Sciences. HNRS LS 2040, Exploring Key Concepts in the Life Sciences: Secrets of the Sisterhood: A Bee-centered Perspective on Biology, will be taught by John Mull spring 2013
• Humanities. HNRS HU 2010, Exploring Key Concepts in the Humanities: U.S. Immigration in the Twentieth Century, will be taught by Becky Jo McShane summer 2013.

Included with this proposal is the syllabus for the third course in the series:

Honors 2020: Exploring Key Concepts in the Creative Arts
Music in Society, Science & Psyche

This course is an engaging and well-framed investigation of the scientific method, encapsulated in a single, age-old question.

Mark Henderson, Department of Performing Arts
Office: BC 355
Phone: X6448
Email: mhenderson@weber.edu

INFORMATION PAGE
for substantive proposals only

1. Did this course receive unanimous approval within the Department?

true

If not, what are the major concerns raised by the opponents?

2. If this is a new course proposal, could you achieve the desired results by revising an existing course within your department or by requiring an existing course in another department?

The Honors Program has a long-standing course, also taught by Mark Henderson, Enhancing Creativity (HNRS CA 1530). Enhancing Creativity covers the general creative process, as opposed to Music in Society, Science & Psyche, which delves into music specifically and the creative process of music. HNRS 2020 is a more rigorous study of the elements of a single form, music, and of methods of creating and using this form. While both courses require a creative project, the 1000 level course the project can be an any genre of art, whereas the 2000 level course involves music. Lastly, the 2000 course focuses on primary texts - a focus of the Key Concepts series - and cross-disciplinary thinking in a more concerted way, also a fundamental part of Key Concepts classes.

3. How will the proposed course differ from similar offerings by other departments? Comment on any subject overlap between this course and topics generally taught by other departments, even if no similar courses are currently offered by the other departments. Explain any effects that this proposal will have on program requirements or enrollments in other department. Please forward letters (email communication is sufficient) from all departments that you have identified above stating their support or opposition to the proposed course.

The only course that is similar is the Music Gen Ed offering of Music 1043, Music, the Arts & Civilizations. That course is a general survey of mostly Western music as it relates to the other arts. One of the major differences is that Music 1043 is a Humanities credit whereas the Honors course Music in Society, Science & Psyche is a Creative Arts credit. Honors CA 2020 requires of the students that they produce two creative projects during the semester, thus entering the rich, challenging and creative aspect of music. Music 1043 has no such requirement.

The structure and content of the two classes are quite different as well. The Honors course is built around the Platonic idea of the value spheres of The Good (Culture), The True (Nature) and The Beautiful (Experience). The Music 1043 course only spends about one week on these ideas, and is more of a chronological survey.

There are Philosophy courses that teach Plato, and another course on Aesthetics. After sharing with Philosophy Professor Robert Fudge the hands-on creative and academic content of this course, he wrote: "From the description, this doesn't sound at all like there's much overlap with our courses and I would certainly have no problem with it being approved."

4. Is this course required for certification/accreditation of a program?

If so, a statement to that effect should appear in the justification and supporting documents should accompany this form.

5. For course proposals, e-mail a syllabus to Faculty Senate which should be sufficiently detailed that the committees can determine that the course is at the appropriate level and matches the description. There should be an indication of the amount and type of outside activity required in the course (projects, research papers, homework, etc.).