Monday
Mar242008
Upcoming Graham School Classes: Some Suggested Preparation
John GibbonsBy April 1, syllabi will be available for Tuesday’s Baroque, Wednesday’s Beethoven, and Thursday’s Dvorak class, on this site. I regret that I do not get these syllabi up earlier, but I prepare up to the very last minute and things don’t come fully into focus until the 11th hour…partially because I never use old syllabi, formats, or readings, but re-think every class I give, even standard “Life and Works” classes that I’ve taught many times. For some, my lack of rigid adherence to a given syllabus is problematical, but others prefer spontaneity and flexibility; probably it is best to steer something like a middle course.
The Wall Street Journal’s Greg Sandow “misses” the excitement he’s read about when Beethovn’s symphonies were first being played. Do we know these works too well to hear (quoting E. M. Forster) the third movement of Beethoven’s Fifth as “full of goblins?”
