Welcome to SPACE, our adult continuing education program which offers interactive monthly courses for personal enrichment! Learn more here.
Sarah Monnier
SPACE Preceptor
A Revisionist History of Sarah Monnier: From the Turkish National Opera to raising young musickers, Sarah Monnier has filled her life with joyful sound. She’s a voice performance artist, a composer of modern symphony, and has recently been offered a season as Guest Conductor of the Des Moines Philharmonic. Her publications include a new translation of Gottfried’s NibblyGosshenDarnitalung and Mama’s Guide to Family Harmony, and she recently appeared in Mythgard Miscellany to lead the Pub Night crowd in baking seed cake. Her future ambitions include settling on the moon with her family and establishing the Lunar Collaborative Symphony and Opera.
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All Modules
A Brief Intro to Opera
Mixed Lecture/Discussion • Low intensity
This is a brief introduction to a centuries-old art that has been throughout history vulgar and epic, scandalous and high-brow, cultured and plebeian. Experience the funniest and most ridiculous stories you’ve ever heard, or wallow in the blood and horror of the dark and dramatic. Spend an hour enjoying light entertainment, or have your view of the world changed forever by the deepest human sympathies. If you’ve always wondered about opera, or wanted to try and like it, if you still remember Bugs Bunny in a Valkyrie dress and want to see the source material, come encounter opera in its many forms and journey through this whirlwind of music, lights, glamor, and extravagance.
Music Theory for the Mathematically-Inclined
Lecture-based • Low intensity
Music is often described as mathematical but music theory is rarely taught from this perspective. This course will cover traditional basic music theory but will explore some of the underlying mathematical reasons why music works the way it does. Nothing beyond high school math is required.