Instructor Interview
Below, Dr. Teresa Neff and Dr. Michael Goetjen describe various aspects of how they teach 21M.011 Introduction to Western Music.
OCW: What role does each of you play in the teaching of the course?
Teresa Neff: As lecture coordinator, I create the syllabus, paper assignments, and exams. I also teach the weekly lecture which all of the students attend in addition to the recitation meetings. We often invite guest musicians to the weekly lecture, and I coordinate that as well. I also teach one recitation, and for that I create assignments and lead the twice-weekly meeting.
Michael Goetjen: I’m the instructor for usually one or two of the three recitation sections, which are smaller discussion-based groups capped at 18 which break out from the main lecture. In the fall 2024 semester, I led two recitation sections while Teresa led the lecture and the third recitation section. In other semesters, the division may be different. For instance, I’ve sometimes taught only one recitation and we’ve had three instructors. Another semester, I taught all three recitations while one of our colleagues led the lecture. So that varies, but generally I’ve only been responsible for one or more recitations. As such, I don’t really design much of the course structure or assessment types and evaluation. And the lecture instructor will usually decide what topics are covered in each recitation meeting. However, the recitations are all autonomous, meaning each one can focus on different works or examples of the overall topic of that day. How this works in practice is that Teresa and I develop our own materials for each recitation meeting, covering the same concepts and ideas, but often choosing different repertoire as examples for the students to listen to and discuss.
OCW: Do you find that some of the styles of music you present to your students are a much harder sell than others?
Teresa Neff: The earlier repertoire (Medieval and Renaissance) is often the most unfamiliar to our students. That said, once they hear this music, particularly through live performance, some find it compelling and will study it further.
Michael Goetjen: Yes, the earliest music is definitely a hard sell for them, but only at first. It really comes down to unfamiliarity with those styles and not particular features of those styles. Once students gain an understanding of what to expect from that music, they find a way to connect to it. At the end of the semester, I often ask them to reflect on the course repertoire as a whole and choose their favorite and least favorite pieces. But importantly, I also ask them to choose a “sleeper hit”—a piece which they were surprised to find they enjoyed. Frequently, early music examples fall into this category. It is true, however, that students often come in with a predisposition to Common Practice Period music (from about 1600 to 1900).
OCW: You require students in 21M.011 to attend and submit written reflections on three actual concerts over the course of the semester. What does this assignment tell you about student learning? What do students typically report as the most striking aspects of their concert experiences?
Teresa Neff: The concert reflections are designed with two goals in mind: 1. To have students experience live music (and for some this may be their first concert ever!) and 2. to help students write about music. Students are also permitted to attend one streamed or online concert, and they often compare the live and virtual performances. With only one or two exceptions over the semesters, they find the live performances preferable. I believe that hearing a concert live gives students the opportunity to hear the music differently. One cannot “rewind” a live concert, and so they’re invested in the music in a different way. Experiencing music in this way, one in which the listener is no longer passive, is a revelation to many students.
Michael Goetjen: As for what students find striking about their concert experiences, I would say two things. 1) the visual aspect of seeing the performers in person can give students a way to listen to the music that is very different from a recording (even if that recording is a video of a performance), and 2) the reactions of the audience around them can also influence their experience in a profound way.
OCW: For the presentation, the instructions for students in Dr. Neff’s recitation are different from the instructions for those in Dr. Goetjen’s. What are the merits of this approach, as opposed to giving a single, unified assignment?
Teresa Neff: The recitations in 21M.011 are autonomous, and the team presentations reflect that. I also think it re-enforces the idea that there is no one way to talk about music.
Michael Goetjen: As with the regular recitation reading and listening assignments, the presentations are similarly differentiated in terms of repertoire choices for the two of us. And in that case it mostly comes down to personal preference. For my recitations, I chose pieces that I thought were representative of the variety of styles in the period from about 1950 to the present, but also ones that I particularly like, especially the operas. I also tried to be as representative chronologically of that period as possible, featuring at least one piece from each decade between the 1950s and the 2000s.
OCW: What would each of you like to share about teaching 21M.011 that we haven’t yet addressed?
Teresa Neff: 21M.011 is one of my favorite classes to teach. I tell the students this at the start of each semester that I teach it. They’re discovering new music—no matter what their prior experience—and are challenged to write about their experiences with this repertoire. Every student has a different experience, and I see part of my job (and a really wonderful part of my job) as helping them to discover new music and ideas and become confident in expressing their ideas about what they’re hearing.
Michael Goetjen: An important thing to note about this course design is that because we eliminated the textbook and instead created our own materials, anyone who might make use of this course through OCW shouldn’t take it as the only way to teach this class. The lecture and recitation assignments are modular by nature, and any of them could be swapped out with a substitute that focuses on different repertoire as examples of the same concepts or perhaps places the focus on a different aspect of the same style period. The design is intentionally open-ended, especially for the recitations, allowing us to explore different music or concepts in different semesters.
Assessment
Grade Breakdown
The students’ grades were based on the following activities:
- 18% Lecture attendance and participation
- 20% Recitation attendance and participation
- 9% Three quizzes (3% each)
- 3% Presentation
- 10% “First Impressions” assignment
- 20% Paper (10% first version, 10% revision)
- 20% Concert reflections (5% each for first two; 10% for third)
Curriculum Information
Prerequisites
None
Requirements Satisfied
- General Institute Requirement: HASS-A
- Communications-Intensive in the Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences (CI-H)
Offered
Every semester
Student Information
Enrollment
49 students
Breakdown by Year
Mostly first- and second-year undergraduates, along with a few third- and fourth-year students.
Breakdown by Major
About half the students had not yet declared a major; of those who had, the most common majors were electrical engineering and computer science (38%), mathematics (9%), management (9%), aeronautics and astronautics (9%), and mechanical engineering (9%); a total of 26% were majoring in other fields of science and engineering.
Typical Student Background
Most of the students had some background in music through playing an instrument.
How Student Time Was Spent
During an average week, students were expected to spend 12 hours on the course, roughly divided as follows:
Lectures
Met 2 times per week for 1.5 hour per session; 26 sessions total; mandatory attendance
Recitations
Met 2 times per week for 1 hour per session; 26 sessions total; mandatory attendance
Out of Class
Outside of class, students completed listening and writing assignments, developed presentations, prepared for listening quizzes, and attended concerts.
