Course Designing

I'm designing a class for the fall for the upperclass music majors.  The class has a generic title and the course description basically says (I'm paraphrasing): "The class will address music history, music theory, or music performance.  The Instructor chooses the topic."

So, the course is going to be focused on women composers, women's place in music throughout history, and performance practice.  It sounds broad- because it is.  I will be teaching students who play a variety of instruments and want to do a variety of things after they graduate, so my goal is to allow them to get started exploring a topic they are interested in pursuing.

The textbook we are using is a book full of essays that are written about women composers and performers as well as the reception of women musicians throughout history.  I will supplement with other readings, but I have already decided to not ask them to read the chapter about feminist aesthetics.  While I find it interesting, it would take much longer than we have available to us and much more historical and methodological knowledge than my students will have, and thus it wouldn't be as meaningful as I would like it to be.

Still, I am incredibly excited about this class.  And I am learning, and will learn, quite a bit in the process.