Adult Education 103: Encountering Music beyond the Concert Hall

Encountering Music beyond the Concert Hall

We hear music in many situations outside of the concert hall, but often in ways that enhance and are enhanced by our experience with live performances. This series of conversations will develop some observations about our encounters with music and bring them back to our experience of the Jackson Symphony Orchestra.

1: Music in the Church

Western art music has its roots in the Church and has continued through much of its history to deal with religious issues. This lecture explores some of the more familiar examples of music in the Church, but brings in some surprises as well.

2: Music in the Home

Much of our experience of music is remarkably private, in our homes, in our cars, or even, with the advent of portable personal music systems, in our heads. We’ll question how this way of experiencing music changes our sense of music as a social act, and we’ll contrast it with earlier home music experiences, which have traditionally involved shared experiences in intimate surroundings.

3: Music in the Community

Organizations like the Jackson Chorale or Community Strings provide us with a kind of musical experience quite different from that found with professional ensembles. Members of the audience are often related to members of the ensemble, and the border between ensemble and audience is often blurred. Being able to identify with the makers of music can change our perspective on our experience of hearing them play or sing.

4. Music in the Theater

Whether we are listening to an opera or watching a movie, when we encounter music in a theatrical context, we understand it as a way of enhancing our insights into a group of characters interacting in a story. And things can get even more complex if those characters themselves are listening to music!

5. Revisiting the Concert Hall

With the insights we develop in our first four conversations, we will return to the concert hall, in the hope that what had seemed familiar and well understood can be heard anew as fresh and strange.

Monday evenings, May 9, 16, 23, June 6 and 13
JSO Board Room - 215 W. Michigan
7 to 8:30 PM
$50 per person for entire series (includes materials)
Anyone can attend - you do not need to have attended previous classes.
Register 517.782.3221 ext. 118 or sign up online http://www.jacksonsymphony.org/tickets_events/tickets.html
Taught/lead by Dr. Andrew Mead, professor of Music Theory, University of Mchigan. He is also an active composer, church organizst, member of the JSO Board of Directors and resident of Brooklyn.