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Teaching Medieval Lyric with Modern Technology: New Windows on the Medieval World.

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Margaret Switten, director. Robert Eisenstein, production coordinator. South Hadley, MA: Mount Holyoke College, 2001. CD-ROM. [Requires PC Pentium or equivalent with Windows 95, 98, 98SE, or NT, or Macintosh Power PC with OS 7.6 or later; 64 MB RAM; screen resolution 800 x 600 minimum; 71 MB on disk for small install and 500-550 MB for full install, with print files. Complete set (3 anthologies, 5 CDs, commentary volume) available for $50 from Medieval Lyric, Mount Holyoke College, Box 1974 Blanchard Center, South Hadley, MA 01075-6005; instructor's manual (9 CDs), $45.]

Teaching Medieval Lyric with Modern Technology is a package of instructional materials on CD-ROM designed to enhance the study of medieval music and poetry in courses of all levels. Based on a previous project supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities, Teaching Medieval Lyric focuses on three specific repertories: troubadour and trouvere music, Guillaume de Machaut's Remede de Fortune, and the Cantigas de Santa Maria from the court of Alfonso X. These repertories are presented from a variety of interdisciplinary perspectives, bringing together the work of musicologists, art historians, and literary scholars. The result provides the student with a rich, multifaceted view of the music that is lacking in conventional pedagogical materials.

Primary sources form the central focus of Teaching Medieval Lyric. For each musical selection, the user may view manuscript reproductions, transcriptions, and translations, and listen to performances on the audio compact disc. The package also includes essays that explore various aspects of the music, poetry, and artwork of these manuscripts. The repertory and manuscripts were selected to complement this interdisciplinary emphasis. The...

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