Peer Review

The Art of the Fugue

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Reviewed:: Oct 8, 2019 by Music

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Ratings

Overall Rating:

Content Quality:

Effectiveness:

Ease of Use:

Overview:: This is an excellent set of materials that provides an analysis and review of the fugues and canons from “The Art of the Fugue” by J. S. Bach. The materials include sound, interactive musical notation, narratives, hyperlinks to more detailed information and color coded musical phrases.
Type of Material:: Interactive presentation of the analysis of the fugue with detailed audio, graphics, and narrative about the music being played. The student controls the playback of the music and they can listen to it as many times as needed.
Recommended Uses:: To become acquainted with analysis of Bach Fugues. Mainly Die Kunst der Fuge BWV 1080 and its main theme which Bach used to compose 14 other fugues (one was unfinished) and 4 canons based on this single theme. Can be used as a learning activity, as a reinforcement and practice for previous knowledge about the fugue, and a section or two of the activity could be used as part of an assessment for the students.
Technical Requirements:: Java, HTML5, and speakers or headphones for use on a PC or a mobile device.
Identify Major Learning Goals:: Students will be introduced to the various themes and variations in the Fugue. They can experience it through written words, interactive musical notation, and audio. This multi-pronged approach provides for an immersive learning activity. Students will understand through listening and reading music notation, how Bach used a fugal subject and composed many fugues, including similarities of 14 different fugues based on a single, common theme.
Target Student Population:: College level students with some basic music theory background.
Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:: Musical notation, Music Theory, and score reading would be helpful pre-requisites.

Content Quality

Rating:
Strengths:: The combination of the learning tools used--audio, reading, interactive graphics, and color coding--really make this material a very comprehensive package. Concise, easy to read music notation and analysis is displayed. Student may listen to music as it is presented.
Concerns:: Music is 'electronic' and not that of a real keyboard but still provides instruction. Would be more beneficial if notation was highlighted as music is being played

Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool

Rating:
Strengths:: The materials, the links, the audio, and the interactive media were of high quality. The potential effectiveness of this resource is likely to be very high due to the various means used to get the specific points about the material across to the students.
Concerns:: No concerns.

Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty

Rating:
Strengths:: The materials were very easy to use. I had no technical difficulties.
Concerns:: One suggestion would be to highlight the link (at the bottom left of the screen) that takes you back to the landing page. Perhaps just making the font a bit larger would be beneficial for navigation.

Other Issues and Comments:: I found this material to be very comprehensive. I liked the way it used various tools that would appeal to all types of student learning styles. The material was available in both English and Spanish, so it can be used by a wide audience. This material really appealed to me as an instructor because it addressed some complex concepts and broke them down into manageable chunks with excellent examples. However, this site does not allow the student to stop and start the music on specific pitches/measures.
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