Assignment for January 29

For next Friday, please go to the library and read Professor Nettl's definition of music in the 2001 edition of the New Grove. Also, please read the Introduction and "Three-Part Invention" from Hofstadter's Gödel Escher Bach; I have uploaded a scan of it here, but I think the book is excellent and well worth the cost. Also please pick up a copy of The Musical Offering and Art of the Fugue, and listen to the former; then finally, please start in on Evening at the Palace of Reason, which re-tells the same story as Hofstadter, but in a much darker light. Very interesting! Come to next Friday's session prepared to discuss the two readings.

Finally, I would like you to try composing a canon of your own; the subject can be either an existing or original melody, and you can write it in any style. We'll talk about how to go about doing this.