This website has been made to support and facilitate students within the course Contextual Studies, a course I am teaching at the Prins Claus Conservatorium in Groningen.
In the course contextual studies we study (musical) topics from several perspectives: musical and cultural history, general history, analysis, harmony and counterpoint. The topics can be general but also very specific. They can refer to a person, a work, an oeuvre, a period, a style, and so on.
As a basic textbook and work of reference we use A History of Western Music by Burkholder, Grout & Palisca. Purchase of the book gives access to many digital resources on the website of the publisher. In addition to that references are made to, and students make use of, digital resources available at the National Library of The Nethetherlands.
When exploring a topic contextual questions are asked. The results of the exploration are presented in Mindmaps or Conceptmaps. This a process of arranging, structuring and connecting. The approach of Joseph D. Novak is used as described in Learning, Creating and Using Knowledge.
Every student picks a topic of his or her own choice, and writes a contextual essay about it. This essay reflects the approach of the lessons during the course. This means that the topic of choice is musically relevant, and that the different perspectives and knowledgedomains are dealt with.
For an overview take a look at a concept map made with the free program CMapTools available at this link.