SECTION 1 (class # 10827) Class Meetings: Tuesday, 6:00 pm - 8:30 pm
Location: PAC M 263
This web page and its associated links serves as a communications site for MUH 6935 (Spring 2015) at the University of Central Florida. Posted here are various information pages, assignments, study guides, and links to useful web sites. Students in this course are free to print any of these pages for their own use.
Syllabus (Spring 2015) - Overview of the course, grading policies, etc.
Assignments - A complete list of all specific assignments, class announcements, and other reminders in chronological order for Spring 2015
Assignments - Instruction Sheets for MUH 6935 out-of-class projects
A list of all items (Books, Articles, Scores & Recordings) used in the seminar and now in the UCF Library for use in your studying.
Home page of the UCF Library, with full access to the online catalog. On-campus users and those with a UCF ISP may also have access to the online versions of various electronic databases.
Home page of the largest library and largest music library in the world. Search its catalog via the link near the top of the page.
A searchable index of doctoral dissertations written in the fields of musicology, ethnomusicology, and music theory. Although primarily an index of American dissertations, it also includes many of the more recent European dissertations.
Web site of the primary scholarly society devoted to the study of all types of music in the United States. Do note the link (at the left margin under "Resources") to "Libraries & Research Centers."
"Recorded Anthology of American Music, Inc., which records under the label New World Records, was founded in 1975. It is dedicated to the documentation of American music that is largely ignored by the commercial recording companies. . . . The company was founded with a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation with a mandate to produce a 100-disc anthology of American music encompassing the broadest possible spectrum of musical genres. This set of recordings, together with their extensive liner notes, provides a core curriculum in American music and American studies."
The outstanding and extensive scholarship that accompanies each recording is available on-line through a link at the bottom of the menu to the left on the NWR home page.
"American Memory is a gateway to rich primary source materials relating to the history and culture of the United States. The site offers more than 7 million digital items from more than 100 historical collections." Some noteworthy music pages on this site include:
- African-American Sheet Music 1850-1920
- "Now What a Time": Blues, Gospel, and the Fort Valley Music Festivals, 1938-1943
- Band Music from the Civil War Era
- Fiddle Tunes of the Old Frontier: The Henry Reed Collection
- The John and Ruby Lomax 1939 Southern States Recording Trip
- Historic American Sheet Music : 1850-1920 (from Duke University)
- The American Variety Stage 1870-1920
A web site devoted to information on early American hymnody, including scanned images from many early published collections and explanatory essays on hymnody from pre-revolutionary times through the early years of the Unted States.
"This site is a starting point to help you find information related to the tradition of Shape Note or Sacred Harp singing. While most of these materials relate to the largest surviving branch of this tradition, The Sacred Harp, we also include information about New Harp of Columbia, Southern Harmony, Christian Harmony, Harmonia Sacra traditions, as well as the West Gallery tradition from the British Isles."
A streaming audio recording of a superb NPR radio show that describes an Alabama church's shape-note tradition. Note the links to several recorded examples (at the lower left) and to other recorded shows (at the bottom of the page).
Sponsored by the American Antiquarian Society, this database includes over 800 items and 300 brief essays on Broadsides collected primarily in 19th-century Boston.
The Bodleian Library of England's Oxford University holds over 30,000 ballads from the 16th- to the 20th-Century. The Broadside Ballads project makes the digitised copies of the sheets and ballads available to the research community. Although this collection consists primarily of items from the British Isles, there are some American Broadsides, which can best be found by browsing for the names of larger American cities.
Digitised examples of broadside ballads from 19th-century Scotland. The University also has a small collection of broadsides and similar documents related to crime and punishment.
"The Max Hunter Collection is an archive of almost 1600 Ozark Mountain folk songs, recorded between 1956 and 1976." The archive includes numerous sets of variant performances, many with complete texts and sound files.
A Webzine that describes itself as "The Magazine for Traditional Music throughout the World." Its wide range of content includes articles, reviews, and other miscellaneous information. Organization is not very intuitive, but it is possible to search the entire magazine via the link at the top right.
"The Sheet Music Consortium provides tools and services that promote access to and use of online sheet music collections by scholars, students, and the general public."
"The Lester S. Levy Collection of Sheet Music is part of Special Collections at the Milton S. Eisenhower Library of The Johns Hopkins University. It contains over 29,000 pieces of music and focuses on popular American music spanning the period 1780 to 1960."
"Provides access to digital images for over 3,000 pieces from the collection, published in the United States between 1850 and 1920."
The PBS website for the film, Stephen Foster, in The American Experience Series. Includes background information on Foster, images, sound files, and a transcription of the film's entire narration.
"Consists of over 15,000 pieces of sheet music registered for copyright during the years 1820 to 1860."
"The Civil War Sheet Music Collection at the Library of Congress consists of over 2500 pieces culled from the Library's collections. This collection is unique in that it offers a contemporary perspective from both sides of the conflict, unfiltered by generations of historical interpretation."
"Consists of over 47,000 pieces of sheet music registered for copyright during the years 1870 to 1885. Included are popular songs, piano music, sacred and secular choral music, solo instrumental music, method books and instructional materials, and music for band and orchestra."
"Patriotic Melodies tells the stories behind many of the songs that have now become part of the American national heritage. A combination of hymns, national songs, music of the theater, radio and television, military themes, and poetry, all of this music demonstrates that while over history many things have changed, this expression of pride and hope remain a constant part of the American experience."
An excellent web site devoted to the teaching of West African drumming styles. Includes excellent links to the use of music in Anlo-Ewe Culture, an explanation of the traditional rhythms used in Ewe drumming (click on the individual instruments to hear examples), and a "virtual drum museum" (choose an instrument and then click on the command to the left for an explanation of its playing technique and function in the ensemble).
A general reference website devoted to African music (with an emphasis on current popular styles).
A website devoted to the West African stringed instrument used by Mali Griots (storytellers) and others.
Published in The Century (Vol. 31, Nr. 4 [February 1886] pp. 517-532), one of America's most widely read, general circulation publications in the nineteenth century.
Cable's article is one of the most important descriptions of pre-Civil War slave music-making and dancing in New Orleans' "Place Congo." The original article has been digitized and is available at this link through Cornell University's "Making of America", a "digital library of primary sources in American social history from the antebellum period through reconstruction." Simply click on the page numbers to view the scanned article.
Published in the Atlantic Monthly (Vol. 19, Nr. 116 [June 1867] pp. 685-694), another widely read American periodical of the nineteenth century.
One of the first descriptions of spirituals published after the Civil War. Higginson was a colonel and commander of the First South Carolina Volunteers, the first regiment of freed blacks who fought for the Union in the Civil War. This version of the Higginson's article is part of the University of Virginia's American Studies' Hypertexts. Another copy of this article is also available (without the soundfiles and other supporting documents) in Cornell University's "Making of America" digital library.
An electronic edition of the first publication of black spirituals in the post-Civil War era. The site, established and maintained by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Documenting the American South project includes the entire text, along with scanned facsimiles of the music texts from the original volume.
Home page of the Original "Jubilee Singers" at Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee, one of the very first of the "Freedman's Schools. Use the menu at the left to access additional information about the singers and their history, and some sound files of their recordings.
The PBS website for the film, Jubilee Singers, Sacrifice and Glory, in The American Experience Series. Includes background information on the principle characters, and a transcription of the narration.
A web site with general information and background on sprituals.
A web site maintained at the University of Virginia that includes a Gallery of Images, sound files of Minstrel Songs, Minstrel Texts, Contemporary Notices & Reviews, Contemporary Articles & Essays, Newspaper Advertisements, and more.
A series of three pages with images of minstrelsy and supporting text. [Click the red title near the top of the page to move to the next page.]
A web site that includes "two typical 'Ethiopian dialogues,' both taken from a 19th-century text called Minstrel Gags and End Men's Hand-Book (New York: n.d., Dick & Fitzgerald, Publishers)"
A reproduction of an advertisement for a minstrel show and a review of another minstrel show.
Old Towne Brass is a modern ensemble, based in Huntsville, Alabama, that performs nineteenth-century band music, primarily of the Civil War era. Note especialy the links at the left of their page to photographs of both original and reproduction brass instruments, and drums, and also pictures of the band in performance.
A web page devoted to Felix Vinatieri (1834-1891), an Italian immigrant trumpet player who served as bandmaster for George Armstrong Custer's 7th Cavalry Regiment in the Dakota Territory. Vinatieri's music manuscripts and other documents form the basis of an important collection of post-Civil War brass band music, which is now held by the University of South Dakota.
A web site devoted to the most famous and influential band composer and conductor in American History. Includes many photographs of Sousa's band and sound clips of his marches.
A web site that includes a general history of the blues, biographical information on important blues performers, and information on current blues performers, recordings, etc.
The web site of Living Blues, a magzaine published by the University of Mississippi. Use the "Blues Online" link to access other web resources on the blues.
A practical guide for anyone who wants to be a Blues singer.
The official website of a foundation devoted to the most famous Ragtime composer.
A set of parallel timelines that shows the various sub-genres of jazz and their interelationships. Many of the indicated sub-genres have active links to web pages with additional information.
The Red Hot Jazz Archive is an outstanding web site devoted to the early history of jazz and related styles, and contains biographical and historical information about numerous major and minor figures from the years 1895-1930. There are many sound files of complete recordings by legendary jazz figures, whose recordings are not always easily available elsewhere.
Web site of the Nashville museum devoted to country music. Click on "Hall of Famers" to access biographies and other information about the genre's greatest performers. There are links to many other sorts of pages, also.
Home page of country music's weekly radio program (and the longest continuously running radio program in the world), with links to broadcast information, the history of the Opry, and much more.
A well-made fan's page with extensive information about the performer considered to be country music's greatest female singer.
The home page of the leading professional association for contemporary Christian music (both White and Black). There are links to a variety of resources, including the GMA Hall of Fame.
Home web page of the Cleveland, Ohio, museum devoted to Rock 'n Roll. Lots of information on the history of the most popular form of American music in the last fifty years.
As Central Florida's local professional symphony orchestra, the OPO performs a variety of concert series in and around Orlando. Follow the “Events” link on the home page to view the various concert series they present.The Winter Park Bach Festival
The Winter Park Bach Festival is internationally known as the fourth oldest Bach Festival in the United States, having been founded in 1935 to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the birth of Johann Sebastian Bach. This organization hosts a series of classical concerts throughout the year, as well as an extended Bach Festival in the early spring, on the campus of Rollins College in Winter Park.
The web site of the University of Central Florida's own non-commercial radio station. Its programming is primariliy jazz, but WUCF also carries some NPR programming, including Saturday broadcasts of The Metropolitan Opera. WUCF-FM is available to you through the Internet to anyone with a Real Player Plug-in.WMFE-FM (90.7)
Orlando's public radio station broadcasts primarily classical music, news, and other NPR programming 24-hours a day. Click on "Listen Live" on the tool bar at the top of the home page to reach the web link for listening to WMFE's broadcast.WUFT-FM (89.1)
The University of Florida's public radio station in Gainesville broadcasts a mix of classical, jazz, folk, and world music, as well as news and NPR programming 24-hours a day. WUFT-FM can be heard through the web link on their home page.
Web site of "Real Player," one of the standard plug-ins that you might need to listen to web broadcasts and streaming audio, or to play CDs through your computer. The basic player can be downloaded at now cost from this site.Windows Media
Web site of "Windows Media Player," another plug-in the is used for listening to web broadcasts, streaming audio and CDs.Sibelius
Web site of one of the most widely used software packages for writing and printing music with computers. Various demo versions and upgrades are available for downloading, as is a help center for users.Finale
The Web site of Coda Music, makers of the widely used Finale program for writing and printing music. A basic form of the program is available as a free download.