Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion of the course, students should have:
• adapt the basic knowledge of organology concerning the classification, the history, the construction, range and the tuning of the musical instruments (with emphasis on those of the symphonic orchestra)
• been familiarised with the timbre of the musical instruments and understand this is inextricably interwind with the construction of the musical instruments and the way the sound is produced
• been familiarised with particular notational conventions of several instruments and their use in the orchestra
• understand the function of the musical score and also to be able to read it
Course Content (Syllabus)
With examining the history, consruction and technique of the symphonic orchestra instruments as central axis, and with reference to instruments of folk or non-european civilizations, the course provides introductory knowledge on basic matters of organology such as description and function of musical instruments, classification and its criteria etc. Furthermore, they are examined the particular notational conventions of several instruments as well as other things necessary for score understanding and reading.
Syllabus topics:
• Introduction: study of musical instruments vs. study about musical instruments
• Some basic acoustical phenomena
• Classification of the musical instruments
• Temperament
• Presentation of the musical instruments (according to systematic classification) with descriptions and commented listening: Chordophones / Aerophones / Idiophones / Membranophones / Electrophones
• The history of the score as a graphic representation of music and the various types of scores
• The orchestra
Additional bibliography for study
• Δ. Γιάννου: Πνεπιστημιακές Σημειώσεις: Α. Στοιχεία οργανογνωσίας - Σημειώσεις B' έκδ. 1992 / Eπανεκτύπωση με συμπλήρωμα 2001 – Β. Σύνοψη και συμπληρώσεις των Σημειώσεων – Γ. Συμπλήρωμα 2008: Η παρτιτούρα.
• A. Baines (επιμ.): The Oxford Companion to Musical Instruments. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992.
• W. Ruf & C. Ahrens (επιμ.): Lexikon der Musikinstrumente. Mannheim: Meyers Lexikon-Verlag, 1991.
• M. Campbell, C. Greated & A. Myers: Musical Instruments - History, Technology, and Performance of Instruments of Western Music. Oxford: Oxford University Press, [2004].
• M.J. Kartomi, On Concepts and Classifications of Musical Instruments. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1990.