Shattering the Rules of Romanticism: From Romanticism to Impressionism

Section role: supports the first section of the lesson, 'Shattering the Rules of Romanticism', while the teacher uses sensory prompts to introduce the aesthetic shift from late Romanticism to Musical Impressionism. Slides: (1) Title — 'Shattering the Rules of Romanticism: Claude Debussy's Voiles'; (2) Sensory Prompt — visual comparison featuring Claude Monet's Impression, Sunrise alongside the question: 'If this painting was a sound, would it have sharp edges or blurred lines?'; (3) The 1889 Paris World's Fair — historical context highlighting the Javanese Gamelan pavilion and its exposure of Western composers to non-European tonal structures; (4) Key Vocabulary: Timbre — definition of sound color and its departure from standard Romantic orchestration; (5) Key Vocabulary: Non-functional harmony — explanation of chords that exist independently without following traditional rules of tension and resolution; (6) Case Study Brief — introduction to the musicologist investigation framing, establishing that students will investigate Debussy's prelude 'Voiles' in upcoming sections. Closing slide: 'You are now musicologists. What musical evidence will you uncover in Voiles?' — hands control back to the teacher to transition into the group investigation section.

Lara from Teachy