This text explores the visual and performing arts (art, music, dance, theatre).
Chapter 1: Elements, Vocabulary, and Iconography of Visual Art
Chapter 2: Mediums in Visual Art
Chapter 3: Ancient Arts (Prehistoric, Ancient Near East, Egyptian)
Chapter 4: Classical Period to Middle Ages
Chapter 5: Renaissance to Realism
Chapter 6: Impressionism to Modern
Chapter 7: An Introduction to the Theater and its Elements
Chapter 8: The Greek Origins of Western Theater
Chapter 9: Technical Theater
Chapter 10: The Actor's Craft
Chapter 11: Other Theater Traditions
Chapter 12: Introduction to Music
Chapter 13: Music in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance
Chapter 14: Baroque and Classical Music
Chapter 15: Music of the Romantic Era
Chapter 16: Music of the 20th Century
Chapter 17: Introduction to Dance
Chapter 18: Elements of Dance
Chapter 19: Dance History and Styles

In the sections of Chapter 1, we’ve included interactive learning content to test your knowledge over Theater history and production, with many knowledge checks over Theatrical Worlds, Edited by Charles Mitchell, as well as Playhouse Square theaters and productions, and other theater content. This content can be used by Theater students anywhere in the world, but will be helpful to those reading Theatrical Worlds.

In Chapter 2, there are analyses of local live performance, written by CSU Theater students and Heather Caprette. They serve as examples of exemplary work for the open assignment 2, as well as provide information about performances of interest to the public theater goers. * A Note of Caution: These analyses can not be copied by other Theater students to satisfy the requirement for an assignment in a course, but will give an idea of what a well written analysis paper looks like. Copying of these assignments to turn in as your own assignment constitutes plagiarism and academic misconduct.

Chapter 3, is an example of how a group of students working together on the recreation of a scene or small part of a play can share their ideas. The part should be less than 10% of a play. The example is being produced by Heather Caprette, MFA, but in the assignment, different students would work on various aspects of the theater production. Elements recreated include: dialogue, character design, set design, stage lighting, costume design, and sound design.

At this time, it’s best to view the Pressbook in Chrome browser, due to some display issues caused by a recent upgrade.

Fundamentals, Function, and Form by Andre Mount—with editorial and pedagogical input from Lee Rothfarb—provides its readers with a comprehensive study of the theory and analysis of tonal Western art music. Mount begins by building a strong foundation in the understanding of rhythm, meter, and pitch as well as the notational conventions associated with each. From there, he guides the reader through an exploration of polyphony—the simultaneous sounding of multiple independent melodies—and an increasingly rich array of different sonorites that grow out of this practice. The book culminates with a discussion of musical form, engaging with artistic works in their entirety by considering the interaction of harmonic and thematic elements, but also such other musical dimensions as rhythm, meter, texture, and expression.
Along the way, Mount supplements the text with over eight hundred musical examples which, in the online version of the text, include embedded audio files for immediate aural reinforcement of theoretical concepts. Most of these examples are drawn from the literature, including nearly 200 excerpts by women and other underrepresented groups. The reader is also given the opportunity to check their understanding of the text with interactive exercises at every step of the way. Fundamentals, Function, and Form was written with the undergraduate music student in mind, but self-guided readers would also be rewarded with a deep understanding of this musical tradition.

This open e-book is the result of a project funded by a University of Edinburgh Student Experience Grant, Open e-Textbooks for access to music education. The project was a collaboration between Open Educational Resources Service, and staff and student interns from the Reid School of Music. As a proof-of-concept endeavour, the project aimed to explore how effectively we could convert existing course content into convenient and reusable open formats suitable for use by staff and students both within and beyond the University. The resulting e-book presents open licensed educational materials that deal with the building blocks of musical stave (sometimes known as staff) notation, a language designed to communicate about musical ideas which is in use around the world. The resources in this e-book include video lectures and their transcripts, as well as supporting text explanations, examples and illustrations. The materials introduce topics such as the organisation of discrete pitches into scales and intervals, and temporal organisation of musical sounds as duration, in rhythm and metre. These rudiments are presented through an introduction to the elements of five-line stave notation, and through critical discussion of the advantages and limitations served by notational systems in the representation and analysis of musical sounds. This serves as the basis of further explanations, to illustrate musical concepts including key, time signature, harmonisation, cadence and modulation. We anticipate that subsequent versions of this e-book will update and develop the contents and presentation of the materials, following the success of this student-led collaboration.

This collection uses primary sources to explore the golden age of musical theatre on Broadway. Digital Public Library of America Primary Source Sets are designed to help students develop their critical thinking skills and draw diverse material from libraries, archives, and museums across the United States. Each set includes an overview, ten to fifteen primary sources, links to related resources, and a teaching guide. These sets were created and reviewed by the teachers on the DPLA's Education Advisory Committee.

Introduction to Music Appreciation is about listening, appreciating, understanding, and discussing music. It explores the history, aesthetics, and criticism of Western music for an enhanced understanding of the topic. Chapters include:

Musical Elements, Critical Listening, and Course Overview;
Early Western Art Music;
The Baroque Era;
The Classical Era;
The Romantic Period;
Twentieth-Century Music;
Jazz; and
Music of the World.

An Introduction to Technical Theatre draws on the author’s experience in both the theatre and the classroom over the last 30 years. Intended as a resource for both secondary and post-secondary theatre courses, this text provides a comprehensive overview of technical theatre, including terminology and general practices.

Introduction to Technical Theatre’s accessible format is ideal for students at all levels, including those studying technical theatre as an elective part of their education. The text’s modular format is also intended to assist teachers approach the subject at their own pace and structure, a necessity for those who may regularly rearrange their syllabi around productions and space scheduling.

An Introduction to Technical Theatre draws on the author’s experience in both the theatre and the classroom over the last 30 years. Intended as a resource for both secondary and post-secondary theatre courses, this text provides a comprehensive overview of technical theatre, including terminology and general practices. Introduction to Technical Theatre’s accessible format is ideal for students at all levels, including those studying technical theatre as an elective part of their education.

"The Jazz Republic examines jazz music and the jazz artists who shaped Germany's exposure to this African American art form from 1919 through 1933. Jonathan O. Wipplinger explores the history of jazz in Germany as well as the roles that music, race (especially Blackness), and America played in German culture and follows the debate over jazz through the fourteen years of Germany's first democracy. He explores visiting jazz musicians including the African American Sam Wooding and the white American Paul Whiteman and how their performances were received by German critics and artists. The Jazz Republic also engages with the meaning of jazz in debates over changing gender norms and jazz's status between paradigms of high and low culture. By looking at German translations of Langston Hughes's poetry, as well as Theodor W. Adorno's controversial rejection of jazz in light of racial persecution, Wipplinger examines how jazz came to be part of German cultural production more broadly in both the US and Germany, in the early 1930s.

Using a wide array of sources from newspapers, modernist and popular journals, as well as items from the music press, this work intervenes in the debate over the German encounter with jazz by arguing that the music was no mere "symbol" of Weimar's modernism and modernity. Rather than reflecting intra-German and/or European debates, it suggests that jazz and its practitioners, African American, white American, Afro-European, German and otherwise, shaped Weimar culture in a central way"--Publisher's website.

This collection uses primary sources to explore the cultural impact of swing dancing. Digital Public Library of America Primary Source Sets are designed to help students develop their critical thinking skills and draw diverse material from libraries, archives, and museums across the United States. Each set includes an overview, ten to fifteen primary sources, links to related resources, and a teaching guide. These sets were created and reviewed by the teachers on the DPLA's Education Advisory Committee.

This course is a survey of the world's music with attention to musical styles and cultural contexts. Included are the musical and cultural histories of Ociania, Indonesia, Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

Course Outcomes:
1. Demonstrate an understanding of diverse peoples, cultural communities, and traditions while reflecting upon and challenging individual and societal ethnocentrism.
2. Describe and discuss music using appropriate terminology relevant for the field of ethnomusicology.
3. Analyze and identify music from a global intercultural perspective using analytical and critical listening skills.
4. Explain artistic, social, historical, and cultural contexts of world music.

"The purpose of this course is to help students further enhance their appreciation for music as a creative tool of the imagination, as entertainment, and as a window into who we are as social beings. Part of the course also helps students to advance their listening skills, which leads to a better understand of what music actually contains. For this purpose, the course explores western classical music; American folk, popular and religious music; along with a sampling of music from non-western cultures.
Course content is divided into modules. Each module includes text readings, listening examples, videos, and study/review questions. Thought-provoking discussion board topics, written assignments, Power Point presentations, and group projects are also included in some of the modules"--Open Course Library.

Authors' Description:

"The author of this text has intentionally kept it general in nature in order to create a platform for those who want to expand content into more in depth studies of the mentioned concepts and traditions. I believe that appreciation of any subject comes from open-minded exposure to that topic. With the arts this generally must happen at a moment when the message and meaning of the work resonates naturally with the appreciator.

Each instructor of music appreciation brings a unique expertise in differing genres. I encourage you to utilize this text along with musical examples of your choice. The music appreciation specific goals (found in the syllabus) vary between individual classes as the instructors see fit. These goals will be achieved by those who have competently met all of the requirements of the course. For the course that this text accompanies the goals for each student are:

To gain basic exposure to the elements of music and their treatment in music
To learn historical and cultural signifiers in a diverse body of music • To approach listening to music actively/analytically and to reflect on the experience
To understand the factors that contribute to musical style in their own music and music presented in the course
To gain knowledge about differing musical aesthetics and trends
To become more knowledgeable and sensitive to varied human expression through music
If we endeavor together to reach these course goals the successful student will be able to:

Describe elements of music that s/he hears, employing correct musical terminology
Place music into an appropriate historical and cultural context
Listen critically and discuss a wide variety of musical styles
Analyze the stylistic features of a diverse group of musical styles
Identify nationalistic tendencies in musical expression
Identify musical diversity and aspects of our global society"--Galileo Open Learning Materials.

This text covers basic elements and vocabulary of music; appreciation and understanding of diverse styles of music past and present; developing listening skills. Includes opportunities for experiencing music (recorded and/or live).
I. Music Fundamentals
II. History of Western Music before 1600
III. History of Western Music after 1600
IV. Music of the 20th and 21st Centuries
V. Listening to Genres
VI. Music of Louisiana, the Americas, and the World

This course is divided into three sections: 1 - the personal experience with music; 2 - the logical, historical, mathematical aspects of music; 3 - the abstract power of music.

This collection is the first of five dealing with the rudiments of music.

This module addresses the following music fundamentals topics:
1 Introduction to Pitch Notation in Music
2 Clef
3 Introduction to the Piano Keyboard
4 Pitch: Sharp, Flat, and Natural Notes
5 Chromatic and Diatonic Half Steps
6 Octave Designations in Music
7 Key Signature
8 Major Keys and Scales
9 Scale Degrees of the Diatonic Scale
10 Enharmonic Spelling
11 The Circle of Fifths

This collection is the second of five dealing with the rudiments of music.

This module addresses the following music fundamentals topics:
1 Duration: Note Lengths in Written Music
2 Duration: Rest Length
3 Dots, Ties, and Borrowed Divisions
4 Rhythm
5 Time Signature
6 Introduction to Subdivisions in Simple Meters
7 Simple and Compound Time Signatures
8 Meter in Music
9 Introduction to Subdivisions in Compound Meters
10 Pickup Notes and Measures
11 Tempo

This module addresses the following music fundamentals topics:
1 Minor Keys and Scales
2 Learning Major and Minor Scales
3 Ear Training