Science of Music

THE SCIENCE OF MUSIC HOME PAGE (HSI2013)

Semester 2, Academic Year 2024/2025

Two video lectures a week (BOTH to be viewed) to be viewed on YouTube

Lecturer: Prof Bernard Tan, email: phytanb@nus.edu.sg
Tutor: Ms Lydia Lam, email: phylampf@nus.edu.sg

Class tutorials will be scheduled for each tutorial group as shown in the Canvas timetable.

WELCOME TO THE SCIENCE OF MUSIC!

This module will be presented as video lectures instead of live lectures in a lecture theatre. Hence no lecture theatre has been allocated for the module. However, you are to keep the lecture slot on Wednesdays from 10 am to 12 noon reserved for class tests.

Video lectures

All lectures will be presented in the form of video lectures. There will be a total of 22 video lectures. In general there will be two video lectures a week with a break for the mid-term test.

The video lectures will be viewed on YouTube, and the URL for each lecture will be released on the module webpage together with the corresponding PowerPoint slide. Each video will remain available on YouTube for the duration of the semester until the final examination.

Tutorials

The tutorials will be conducted during even weeks as shown in the Canvas timetable. The class will be divided into groups of about 30 students. Each tutorial group will attend one tutorial session every two weeks. There will be five tutorial sessions for each group over ten weeks.

If you are unable to register for the tutorial time-slot of your choice, please email Ms Lydia Lam (stating your matriculation number) about your desired tutorial time slot after the tutorial registration has ended.

The questions for each two-week tutorial cycle (which starts in week 4) will be made available on the module webpage a few days before each cycle begins.

The questions are for discussion during tutorials. Answers need not be handed up as no marks are allocated for tutorial answers. Tutorial attendance is not compulsory.

TUTORIALS

Tutorial set no. 1 and the answers.

Tutorial set no. 2 and the answers.

CLASS TESTS

There will be a Mid-Term Test during Week 8. The details are as follows:

HSI2013 The Science of Music Mid-Term Test

Date: Wednesday, 12 March 2025 (Week 8)
Time: (10:10 -- 11:10) am
Duration: 1 hour
Venue: Multi-purpose Sports Hall 2B
Format: 25 Multiple Choice Questions (Open Book)
Scope: Lectures 1 to 12 (including open and closed pipes but excluding beats)

Submission: Answers are to be shaded using a 2B PENCIL on a computer-readable answer sheet provided. Make sure a full dark shade is made for both your matriculation number (including the ending letter) and each answer choice you select. PLEASE DO NOT USE PEN FOR SHADING as it will not be detectable by the grading machine.

Please bring along your matriculation card, a 2B pencil, an eraser and a calculator. Report at the venue and arrive at the venue at the usual electure time (10 am). Refer to the lists of seat numbers and venue seating plans available in Canvas Files.

Open Book here means you could access your course materials (only lecture notes, tutorials and/or any personal notes on same subject) stored on any electronic device (such as your laptop or ipad) or on hard copy. There will not be any formula sheet given. Make sure you can easily have access to information such as keyboard arrangement, scale chart, etc. since memorisation is not necessary.

Take note that browsing of the Internet, he use of chatGPT or any AI tools and any form of communication using any of your mobile or electronic device(s) are STRICTLY PROHIBITED. Any violation will be reported directly to the University Disciplinary Board and no grade will be issued.

Both the Mid-Term and End-of-Term Tests are within scheduled lecture slots.

Make-up tests for students who have valid reasons for missing the tests, i.e. either a valid MC or official leave of absence granted by the University, will be scheduled in the week following each test.

MCs must be submitted within 24 hours of a Test to the Lecturer, Tutor or to Mdm Pang at the 1st year Physics Laboratory, S12, level 4.

ESSAY FOR SCIENCE OF MUSIC

Every student is required to submit an essay as an individual project.

The essay should be on the following topic:

Attend a musical concert or any live musical performance, which could be an SSO concert, a musical or an opera, a pop/rock concert, a jazz concert, a Chinese orchestra concert or any concert, performance or event in which the live performance of music is the main focus (this excludes plays or ballet/dance performances). Say in your own words how and why you have enjoyed (or not enjoyed) the performance. You should include some comments on how and why science and/or technology may have had an effect (positive or otherwise) on your musical experience and why, but the main focus of the essay should be on your personal views of the concert performance. The essay should be written from the point of view of a member of the audience, and NOT as one of the performers.

You may also write about a concert you have recently attended (within the last 3 months). This will include concerts during the months of October, November and December 2024. The concert should be a formal performance by live performers for an audience lasting at least 45 minutes. The concert may be either in an indoor or outdoor venue, and need not be a ticketed fee-paying performance.

You need not confine your essay to the content of the lectures. The essay should express your own opinions, and will be graded on content and writing ability.

The essay should have a word count of at least 200 words but not exceeding 800 words and should be written in English. If other languages are used in, for example, titles of musical pieces, an English translation should be provided. The essay should consist only of text and should NOT include any photographs or illustrations. Any references or bibliography should be included in the word count.

Please mention the name of the performer or group performing and the venue and date of the concert. Your essay MUST be entirely your own unaided work.

The essay should be submitted as a Microsoft Word file with the name:
exxxxxxxxx.docx
where xxxxxxxxx is your matriculation number. Please put the number of words and your matric number at the end of your essay but do NOT include your name.

The submission deadline is at the end of week 10 of the semester, at the midnight of Saturday 29 March 2025, i.e. the midnight between Saturday 29 March and Sunday 30 March.

The Canvas workbin for the submission of the Essay project files will be opened a few days before the deadline.
Please do NOT email your essay files to me.

LECTURE VIDEOS AND SLIDES

Beethoven's Symphony No. 5, 1st Movement. Watch in conjunction with slide 11 of lecture 5 to see how the conductor starts off the first bar which has a rest, using an extra up beat before the first down beat to establish the tempo. Otherwise with only the first downbeat, it would be impossible for the players to know the speed of the first three quavers.
Performance by BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Daniel Barenboim.

Example of 3/4 time signature: Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 5, 3rd Movement.
Performed by Amsterdam Symphony Orchestra conducted by Peter Santa.

Example of 5/4 time signature: Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 6, 2nd Movement. Note how 5/4 time is conducted as a 3+2 pattern.
Performed by State Symphony Orchestra of Tatarstan conducted by Feodor Gluschenko.
Performed by Orchestra del Teatro alLa Scala Milan Tatarstan conducted by Yuri Temirkanov.

Example of 5/4 time signature in jazz: Take Five.
Dave Brubeck Quartet (1961).

Example of melody with several notes of the same pitch: One Note Samba by Antonio Carlos Jobim.
Performed by Sharon Clark Quintet.

Example of choral piece demonstrating harmonic and contrapuntal aspects of music: Hallelujah Chorus from Handel's Messiah
Performance showing musical score.
Performance by Choir of King's College Cambridge.
Performance by Kampong Kapor Methodist Church Chancel Choir.

Example of how music is built from notes of a scale:
Do Re Mi from Rodger's and Hammerstein's The Sound of Music sung by Julie Andrews.