Topic
Impressionism and the piano preludes of Claude Debussy.  Musical Sources: The piano Preludes, Book I (1910) and Book II (1913).

Overview
Claude  Debussy (1862-1918) brought French impressionism to full fruition.  His new approach to scale, harmony, and tonality represents one of the most significant contributions to early Twentieth-century music.  The piano preludes exemplify that style.

Stylistic Traits
* General - "character" pieces; focus on programmatic elements; poetic evocation of moods, impressions, atmospheric landscapes--"an emotional interpretation of what is visible in nature;"  nuance of dynamics.

* Melody - free ornamental melody of natural curves or "arabesque;" a collection of brief motivic particles that are interconnected variations of each other; influence of chant and modality; use of exotic scales; consistent use of whole-tone scale.

* Harmonic language - a rejection of tonal conventions for innovative modal combinations; harmony becomes a static means for producing atmospheric and coloristic effects of sonority; color over function; exotic harmonies.

* Timbre - growing concern for texture and timbral development; interest in the sonic possibilities of instruments; imported ideas from Javanese gamalan music.

* Form - "additive" structures in place of large scale Classical and Romantic designs, in which musical segments of varying degrees follow one another in a nondevelopmental linear order; subtle variations of repeated musical units held together by a tight network of melodic, rhythmic, and harmonic associations; a concept of "open" form.

Activity - choose ONE of the following:
* Composition.  Using the style of a Debussy prelude for piano as a guide,  compose an original work for an ensemble of instruments or voices performable by members of the class. Turn in the assignment as a printout of the score and parts. It is suggested to use "Finale" or some other music notation software to typeset the example.  Be prepared to discuss the harmonic language and compositional techniques in class. Suggested length: 16 to 32 measures, 1 or 2 minutes. 

* Orchestration.  Score one of the Debussy piano preludes for an ensemble of instruments playable by members of the class.  Turn in the assignment as a printout of the score and parts. It is suggested to use "Finale" or some other music notation software to typeset the example.  Be prepared to discuss the harmonic language and compositional techniques in class. Suggested length: 16 to 32 measures, 1 or 2 minutes. 

  AND, EITHERÖ 
* Prepare a performance of one of the above activities as a conductor or as a participating instrumentalist or vocalist. It is suggested to distribute copies of the music to the performers and rehearse the piece prior to class presentation. 

  ORÖ 
* Using "Performer" or some other MIDI sequencing software, prepare a MIDI performance file of one of the above activities.  Turn in the assignment as a standard MIDI file (.smf) on a diskette.  Be prepared to play the sequence in class.