Course Schedule and Catalog
Course Schedule - Fall Semester 2021
Meeting location information can now be found on student schedules in ESTHER (for students) or on the Course Roster in ESTHER (for faculty and instructors).Additional information available here.
Meeting location information can now be found on student schedules in ESTHER (for students) or on the Course Roster in ESTHER (for faculty and instructors).Additional information available here.
MUSI 221 001 (CRN: 13800)
MUSIC, MAGIC, AND SCIENCE
Long Title: MUSIC, MAGIC, AND SCIENCE IN THE MODERN WORLD
Department: Music
Instructor: Kieffer, Allie
Meeting: 10:50AM - 12:05PM TR (23-AUG-2021 - 3-DEC-2021)
Part of Term: Full Term
Grade Mode: Standard Letter
Course Type: Seminar
Language of Instruction: Taught in English
Distribution Group: Distribution Group I
Method of Instruction: Face to Face
Credit Hours: 3
Course Syllabus:
Course Materials: Rice Campus Store
Restrictions:
Must be enrolled in one of the following Level(s):
Undergraduate Professional
Visiting Undergraduate
Undergraduate
Section Max Enrollment: 14
Section Enrolled: 10
Enrollment data as of: 25-JAN-2025 1:12AM
Final Exam: No Final Exam
Final Exam Time:
9-DEC-2021
9:00AM - 12:00PM R
Description: Modern science, as a privileged domain of knowledge of the world and of ourselves, has profoundly affected almost every aspect of our lives. This class will take a historical perspective on the relationship between science and modernity with a particular focus on music—a topic which has puzzled philosophers for millennia, and one which poses special problems for the modes of knowledge that characterize scientific modernity. Is music a “universal language”? Why does music so powerfully affect our emotions? Why are some sounds pleasing and others are not? Our goal in this class is to explore what scientific approaches to these questions can tell us about the place of science in the modern world—as well as how and why science has become so important to our imagining of ourselves as thinking, feeling, and willing beings. Armed with this historical knowledge, we will also read recent examples of popular science writing on sound and music a way to think about how we can we become better consumers of scientific knowledge as it is disseminated in the public sphere.