Music

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This is an archived copy of the 2013-2014 catalog. To access the most recent version of the catalog, please visit http://catalog.uchicago.edu.

Contacts

Director of Undergraduate Studies
Kaley Mason
Go H 201
773.702.8668
Email

Scheduling & Student Affairs
Katherine Skovira
Go H 303
773.702.2089
Email

Website

http://music.uchicago.edu

Program of Study

The Department of Music aims to broaden the exposure to and enrich the understanding of the various musical traditions of the world. Courses address the materials of tonal music in the Western tradition, the analysis of individual works, the study of composers and genres, non-Western and vernacular repertories, musical composition, critical approaches to music, and the role of music in society. The BA program in music provides a background both for graduate work in music and for study in other fields. The department also sponsors a number of performance organizations and concert series.

Courses for Nonmajors: General Education

Students seeking to meet the general education requirement in dramatic, musical, and visual arts with music courses must choose from among the following:

MUSI 10100	Introduction to Western Art Music	100
MUSI 10200	Introduction to World Music	100
MUSI 10300	Introduction to Music: Materials and Design	100
MUSI 10400	Introduction to Music: Analysis and Criticism	100

Students seeking to meet the general education requirement in civilization studies may select the following two-quarter sequence. These courses are open to all students, regardless of previous musical background.

MUSI 12100-12200 Music in Western Civilization I-II 200

Other Courses for Nonmajors

In addition to the general education courses, the department offers a two-quarter sequence MUSI 14100-14200 Introduction to Music Theory for Nonmajors for students who have had little or no exposure to reading music. Students who can read music comfortably can take the three-quarter sequence MUSI 15100-15200-15300 Harmony and Voice Leading; a placement examination for this series of courses is given during the first week of Autumn Quarter. Courses numbered from 20000 to 24900 are open to students who have passed a course at the 10000 level or who have equivalent musical background. In addition, courses designed for the major (MUSI 25000 to 29900), as well as certain graduate courses, are open to qualified College students who are not majoring in music, with consent of the instructor.

Students in other programs of study may also complete a minor in music. Information follows the description of the major.

Program Requirements

BA Program

The program for the bachelor's degree in music offers a balance of practical, historical, and conceptual approaches to music.

Students are required to take at least twelve music courses and participate in one of the Music Department's major ensembles for at least three quarters.

Students should begin the major by taking the three-quarter sequence MUSI 15100-15200-15300 Harmony and Voice Leading. Students follow this introductory course with the following: (1) a yearlong sequence that takes up topics in the history of Western art music, MUSI 27100-27200-27300 Topics in the History of Western Music, (2) MUSI 23300 Introduction to the Social and Cultural Study of Music, and (3) four additional courses numbered MUSI 20000 or above. MUSI 27100-27200-27300 Topics in the History of Western Music is offered in alternate years. It typically takes three years to complete the introductory and advanced courses. It is thus highly advisable for students to take MUSI 15100-15200-15300 Harmony and Voice Leading during their first or second year.

The required course in musicianship skills is offered each quarter of every year and should be taken after the MUSI 15100-15200-15300 Harmony and Voice Leading sequence. MUSI 28500 Musicianship Skills is a yearlong course. One quarter's credit (100 units) is granted in the final quarter after successful completion of all three quarters. To meet requirements for full-time student status, students must carry at least three additional courses each quarter.

Students must arrange a formal consultation with the director of undergraduate studies before declaring music as their major.

Summary of Requirements

MUSI 15100-15200-15300	Harmony and Voice Leading	300
MUSI 27100-27200-27300	Topics in the History of Western Music	300
MUSI 23300	Introduction to the Social and Cultural Study of Music	100
4 additional courses numbered MUSI 20000 or above		400
MUSI 28500	Musicianship Skills	100
Participation for at least three quarters in one of the Music Department's major ensembles
Total Units		1200

Composition

Students whose interest lies in composition are advised to take MUSI 26100 Introduction to Composition, which is designed for students wishing to learn composition or to improve their compositional technique. Students pursuing composition, particularly those intending to apply to graduate school in music composition, are also advised to take such courses as:

MUSI 26800	Sixteenth-Century Counterpoint	100
MUSI 26900	Eighteenth-Century Counterpoint	100
MUSI 26300-26400	Introduction to Computer Music	200
MUSI 28200	Multiple-Media Composition	100
MUSI 25300	Analysis of Twentieth-Century Music	100

By making special arrangements with a composition instructor, students may also register for composition lessons by using MUSI 29700 Independent Study in Music as an elective.

Ethnomusicology

Students wishing to specialize in ethnomusicology in the context of a music major are advised to take MUSI 10200 Introduction to World Music in addition to MUSI 23300 Introduction to the Social and Cultural Study of Music; these will provide grounding in musical styles and repertoires, as well as the techniques and methods of study central to ethnomusicology. Other classes can be selected at the 23000 level, allowing students to build up specific areas of expertise in fields such as jazz, popular music, Middle Eastern music, and South Asian music. Students considering graduate studies in ethnomusicology are strongly advised to take the MUSI 29500 Undergraduate Honors Seminar and write an honors thesis with a focus on an ethnomusicological topic.

Grading

Courses used to meet the general education requirement in the dramatic, musical, and visual arts must be taken for a quality grade. Courses taken to meet requirements in the major also must be taken for a quality grade.

Honors

Students may be recommended for honors if they (1) have a GPA of at least 3.0 overall and at least 3.5 in the major, and (2) present an outstanding senior thesis or composition under the approved supervision of a faculty member in the Department of Music. Registration in MUSI 29900 Senior Essay or Composition may be devoted to the preparation of the senior thesis or composition. This research paper or project may not be used to meet the BA paper or project requirement in another major. The optional MUSI 29500 Undergraduate Honors Seminar, typically offered each Autumn Quarter, is designed to prepare students to write an honors essay. Students seeking honors should speak with the director of undergraduate studies no later than Spring Quarter of their third year.

Minor Program in Music

The minor program in music requires the completion of seven courses and the student's participation for at least three quarters in one of the Music Department's major ensembles. Students who elect the minor program in music must meet with the director of undergraduate studies before the end of Spring Quarter of their third year to declare their intention to complete the minor. The director's approval for the minor program should be submitted to a student's College adviser by this deadline on a form obtained from the adviser.

No courses in the minor can be double counted with the student's major(s) or with other minors; nor can they be counted toward general education requirements. They must be taken for quality grades and more than half of the requirements for the minor must be met by registering for courses bearing University of Chicago course numbers.

Summary of Requirements: Minor Program in Music

MUSI 15100-15200-15300	Harmony and Voice Leading	300
4 additional music courses numbered as MUSI 20000 or above		400
Participation for at least three quarters in one of the Music Department's major ensembles
Total Units		700

Performance Organizations

Membership in the Department of Music performance organizations is open to qualified students from all areas of the University through competitive auditions held at the beginning of Autumn Quarter. Most organizations rehearse weekly. For further information, students should see the brochure Performance Opportunities at the University of Chicago or contact Barbara Schubert, director of performing programs.

Symphony Orchestra

The 100-member University Symphony Orchestra presents six concerts per season. Familiar and unusual repertoire from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries is featured, often relating to a particular theme. A major performance with the University Chorus every season, the biennial University Concerto Competition, and regular performances with professional soloists are highlights of the symphony's activities. Wednesday evening rehearsals. B. Schubert. Summer, Autumn, Winter, Spring.

Chamber Orchestra

The University Chamber Orchestra is a string ensemble that specializes in baroque, early classical, and twentieth-century repertoire. Supplemented by wind players for particular pieces, the group presents one concert per quarter and serves as the core orchestra in the annual opera production. Monday evening rehearsals. T. Semanik. Autumn, Winter, Spring.

Wind Ensemble

The University Wind Ensemble performs both symphonic wind ensemble literature and transcriptions of major orchestral repertoire. The group presents one concert per quarter and occasionally performs at informal activities and social events on campus. Monday evening rehearsals. C. De Stefano. Autumn, Winter, Spring.

Chorus

The 100-plus-member University Chorus performs choral literature of the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries, accompanied by keyboard, small instrumental ensembles, or the University Symphony. One major concert per quarter plus supplemental performances on campus and elsewhere in the city make up the season. Monday evening rehearsals. J. Kallembach. Autumn, Winter, Spring.

Motet Choir

The 40-member University Motet Choir is a select group that specializes in a cappella choral literature of all periods, plus Renaissance and baroque works accompanied by period instruments. The ensemble presents one major concert per quarter on campus, has frequent performances elsewhere in Chicago, and goes on an annual tour. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday noontime rehearsals. J. Kallembach. Autumn, Winter, Spring.

Jazz X-tet

The Jazz X-tet is an eight- to ten-piece group dedicated to the exploration of small-group improvisation and ensemble performance in traditional jazz styles. The ensemble's repertoire ranges from standards to new compositions written for the group to collaborative works, often inviting noted professional soloists. The group presents one major concert per quarter on campus, as well as supplemental performances on campus and elsewhere in the city. Wednesday evening rehearsals. M. Bowden. Autumn, Winter, Spring.

Middle East Music Ensemble

The Middle East Music Ensemble (MEME) explores a variety of classical, neo-classical, and popular forms originating throughout the Middle East. Participants develop knowledge of Middle Eastern compositional and improvisational techniques through performance, often with accomplished guest artists. The ensemble performs one major concert per quarter and is open to all students and to community members with appropriate musical experience. Thursday evening rehearsals. W. Zarour. Autumn, Winter, Spring.

South Asian Vocal Ensemble

The South Asian Vocal Ensemble explores a variety of classical, vernacular, and popular song repertories from the Indian Subcontinent, with membership open to beginners as well as to more experienced performers with a background in South Asian music. The ensemble will focus on teaching vocal techniques, stylistic features, compositional forms, improvisational practices, and performance conventions specific to India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and South Asian diasporas. Membership is open to students, faculty, and staff of the University, as well as community members interested in South Asian vocal music. Monday late afternoon–evening rehearsals. M. Pasupathi. Autumn, Winter, Spring.

Other Performance Activities

These activities do not satisfy the ensemble requirement for the music major or minor. Many other musical activities are available at the University, including chamber music, the Javanese Gamelan Ensemble, the Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Company, noontime concert series, several residence hall recital series, and several student-run theater groups.

Music Courses

MUSI 10100. Introduction to Western Art Music. 100 Units.

This one-quarter course is designed to enrich the listening experience of students, particularly with respect to the art music of the Western European and American concert tradition. Students are introduced to the basic elements of music and the ways that they are integrated to create works in various styles. Particular emphasis is placed on musical form and on the potential for music to refer to and interact with aspects of the world outside.

Terms Offered: Autumn, Winter, Spring
Note(s): Background in music not required. Students must confirm enrollment by attending one of the first two sessions of class. This course meets the general education requirement in the dramatic, musical, and visual arts.

MUSI 10200. Introduction to World Music. 100 Units.

This course is a selected survey of classical, popular, and folk music traditions from around the world. The goals are not only to expand our skills as listeners but also to redefine what we consider music to be and, in the process, stimulate a fresh approach to our own diverse musical traditions. In addition, the role of music as ritual, aesthetic experience, mode of communication, and artistic expression is explored.

MUSI 10300. Introduction to Music: Materials and Design. 100 Units.

In this variant of the introductory course in music, students explore the language of music through coordinated listening, analysis, and exercises in composition. A study of a wide diversity of musical styles serves as an incentive for student compositions in those styles.

MUSI 10400. Introduction to Music: Analysis and Criticism. 100 Units.

This course aims to develop students' analytical and critical tools by focusing on a select group of works drawn from the Western European and American concert tradition. The texts for the course are recordings. Through listening, written assignments, and class discussion, we explore topics such as compositional strategy, conditions of musical performance, interactions between music and text, and the relationship between music and ideology as they are manifested in complete compositions.

MUSI 12100-12200. Music in Western Civilization I-II.

Prior music course or ability to read music not required. Students must confirm enrollment by attending one of the first two sessions of class. This two-quarter sequence meets the general education requirement in civilization studies; it does not meet the general education requirement in the dramatic, musical, and visual arts. This two-quarter sequence explores musical works of broad cultural significance in Western civilization. We study pieces not only from the standpoint of musical style but also through the lenses of politics, intellectual history, economics, gender, cultural studies, and so on. Readings are taken both from our music textbook and from the writings of a number of figures such as St. Benedict of Nursia and Martin Luther. In addition to lectures, students discuss important issues in the readings and participate in music listening exercises in smaller sections.

MUSI 12100. Music in Western Civilization I: To 1750. 100 Units.

Instructor(s): A. Robertson Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): HIST 12700,SOSC 21100

MUSI 12200. Music in Western Civilization II: 1750 to the Present. 100 Units.

Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): HIST 12800,SOSC 21200

MUSI 14100-14200. Introduction to Music Theory for Nonmajors.

This two-quarter sequence covers the basic elements of music theory, including music reading, intervals, chords, meter, and rhythm. The emphasis is on practical and analytical skills, leading to simple melodic and contrapuntal composition as well as a more profound appreciation of music. These courses do not meet the general education requirement in the dramatic, musical, and visual arts.

MUSI 14100. Introduction to Music Theory for Nonmajors. 100 Units.

Terms Offered: Autumn

MUSI 14200. Introduction to Music Theory for Nonmajors. 100 Units.

Terms Offered: Winter

MUSI 14300. Music Theory Fundamentals. 100 Units.

MUSI 14300 is an introductory course to the fundamental concepts and skills of music theory. Through practice, drills, and group participation, students will develop: an understanding of basic musical theoretical concepts including notation, scales, keys, intervals and chords; aural skills including listening and basic vocalization skills; and fundamental keyboard skills. Prior music performance or music theory knowledge is not required. This course prepares students for courses on harmony, voice-leading, and analysis (beginning with MUSI 15100).

Instructor(s): P. Smucker Terms Offered: Spring

MUSI 15100-15200-15300. Harmony and Voice Leading.

This three-quarter sequence serves as an introduction to the materials and structure of Western tonal music. The first quarter focuses on fundamentals: scale types, keys, basic harmonic structures, voice-leading and two-voice counterpoint. The second quarter explores extensions of harmonic syntax, the basics of classical form, further work with counterpoint, and nondiatonic seventh chords. The third quarter undertakes the study of modulation, sequences, and additional analysis of classical forms. Musicianship labs in ear training and keyboard skills required.

MUSI 15100. Harmony and Voice Leading. 100 Units.

Instructor(s): S. Love Terms Offered: Autumn
Prerequisite(s): Ability to read music.

MUSI 15200. Harmony and Voice Leading. 100 Units.

Instructor(s): S. Love Terms Offered: Winter
Prerequisite(s): Ability to read music.

MUSI 15300. Harmony and Voice Leading. 100 Units.

Instructor(s): S. Love Terms Offered: Spring
Prerequisite(s): Ability to read music.

MUSI 20900. Issues in Film Music. 100 Units.

This course explores the role of film music in the history of cinema. What role does music play as part of the narrative (source music) and as nondiegetic music (underscoring)? How does music of different styles and provenance contribute to the semiotic universe of film? And how did film music assume a central voice in twentieth-century culture? We study music composed for films (original scores) as well as pre-existent music (such as popular and classical music). The twenty films covered in the course may include classical Hollywood cinema, documentaries, foreign (including non-Western) films, experimental films, musicals, and cartoons.

Instructor(s): B. Hoeckner Terms Offered: Autumn
Note(s): This course typically is offered in alternate years.

MUSI 23300. Introduction to the Social and Cultural Study of Music. 100 Units.

This course provides an introduction to ethnomusicology and related disciplines with an emphasis on the methods and contemporary practice of social and cultural analysis. The course reviews a broad selection of writing on non-Western, popular, vernacular, and "world-music" genres from a historical and theoretical perspective, clarifying key analytical terms (i.e., "culture," "subculture," "style," "ritual," "globalization") and methods (i.e., ethnography, semiotics, psychoanalysis, Marxism). In the last part of the course, students learn and develop component skills of fieldwork documentation and ethnographic writing.

Terms Offered: Autumn
Note(s): Prior music course and ability to read music notation not required.
Equivalent Course(s): MUSI 33300

MUSI 23700. Music of South Asia. 100 Units.

This course examines the music of South Asia as an aesthetic domain with both unity and particularity in the region. The unity of the North and South Indian classical traditions is treated historically and analytically, with special emphasis placed on correlating their musical and mythological aspects. The classical traditions are contrasted with regional, tribal, and folk music with respect to fundamental conceptualizations of music and the roles it plays in society. In addition, the repertories of Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Sri Lanka, as well as states and nations bordering the region, are covered. Music is also considered as a component of myth, religion, popular culture, and the confrontation with modernity.

Terms Offered: Variable
Prerequisite(s): Any 10000-level music course or consent of instructor
Note(s): This course typically is offered in alternate years.
Equivalent Course(s): SALC 20800,SALC 30800

MUSI 23900. Rock. 100 Units.

This course considers some critical accounts of the music industry, of subcultures, and of mass media aesthetics; some historical dimensions of rock (e.g., circum-Atlantic, global circulation of blues-derived popular forms); and some analytical approaches deriving from the main theoretical traditions of Western art music, psychoanalysis, semiotics, and ethnography—as applied to, for example, rhythm and meter, repetition, tonality, and voice. Students are also encouraged, through readings and listening, to contextualize rock within a broad field of popular/vernacular music making in the twentieth century.

Instructor(s): T. Jackson Terms Offered: Autumn
Prerequisite(s): Any 10000-level music course or consent of instructor
Note(s): This course typically is offered in alternate years.

MUSI 23911-33911. Jewish Music.

MUSI 23911. Jewish Music. 100 Units.

Few questions in ethnomusicology and music history remain as enigmatic and yet ideologically charged as, What is Jewish music? With responses ranging from claims that Jewishness defies representation with music to those that argue for a plurality possible only when Jewish culture appropriates the musics of constantly shifting historical contexts, Jewish music has acquired remarkably important resonance in the history of religions and in the meaning of modernity. In this proseminar we approach the richness and diversity of Jewish music as givens and as starting points for understanding of both the sacred and the secular in Jewish culture. The cultural contexts and soundscapes of Jewish music, thus, are not isolated, restricted, for example, to the synagogue or ritual practice, but rather they cross the boundaries between traditions, genres, and even religions. The sound materials and structures of Jewish music, say, the modal ordering of Arabic classical music that is standard for biblical cantillation in Israel, will be treated as complex phenomena that both influence and are influenced by the worlds around Jewish communities. Genres and musical practices will be examined in their full diversity, and we shall move across the repertories of liturgical, folk, art, and popular music.

Instructor(s): P. Bohlman Terms Offered: Variable
Equivalent Course(s): MUSI 33911

MUSI 33911. Jewish Music. 100 Units.

Instructor(s): P. Bohlman Terms Offered: Variable
Equivalent Course(s): MUSI 23911

MUSI 23914. Music and Social Justice; Emerging Approaches in Applied Music Research. 100 Units.

This course will address emerging experiments in the way academics and non-academic subjects collaborate in joint music research initiatives to produce knowledge and actions which may be relevant to the reversal of patterns of social injustice, violence, exclusion and domination present in so many contemporary societies.

Instructor(s): S. Araujo Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): LACS 23914,LACS 33914,MUSI 33914

MUSI 24000. Composition Lessons. 100 Units.

This course consists of individual weekly composition lessons.

Instructor(s): K. Suzuki Terms Offered: Autumn, Winter, Spring
Prerequisite(s): MUSI 26100 and consent of instructor
Note(s): Students may enroll in this course more than once as an elective, but it may be counted only once toward requirements for the music major or minor.

MUSI 24509. Mozart's Comic Opera. 100 Units.

Concentration on Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Le nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni, Cosí fan tutte, Die Zauberflöt.

Instructor(s): Buch Terms Offered: Spring
Prerequisite(s): Acquaintance with musical scores and the Italian and German librettos of Mozart.
Equivalent Course(s): TAPS 29102,SCTH 29102

MUSI 25100. Analysis of Music of the Classical Period. 100 Units.

This course focuses on the analysis of music by composers associated with the Viennese classical period, including Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven. Topics include classical phrase structure, standard tonal forms such as sonata-allegro, and basic chromatic harmony. Participants present model compositions and write analytical papers.

Instructor(s): S. Rings Terms Offered: Winter
Prerequisite(s): MUSI 15300 or equivalent
Note(s): This course is typically offered in alternate years.

MUSI 25200. Analysis of Nineteenth-Century Music. 100 Units.

This course focuses on the tonal language of nineteenth-century European composers, including Schubert, Chopin, Brahms, and Wagner. Students confront analytical problems posed by these composers’ increasing uses of chromaticism and extended forms through both traditional (classical) models of tonal harmony and form, as well as alternative approaches specifically tailored to this repertory. Students present model compositions and write analytical papers.

Instructor(s): P. Steinbeck Terms Offered: Spring
Prerequisite(s): MUSI 15300 or equivalent

MUSI 25300. Analysis of Twentieth-Century Music. 100 Units.

This course introduces theoretical and analytical approaches to twentieth-century music. The core of the course involves learning a new theoretical apparatus—often called "set theory"—and exploring how best to apply that apparatus analytically to pieces by composers such as Schoenberg, Bartók, and Stravinsky. We also explore the relevance of the theoretical models to music outside of the high-modernist canon, including some jazz. The course provides an opportunity to confront some foundational questions regarding what it means to "theorize about music."

Instructor(s): S. Rings Terms Offered: Spring
Prerequisite(s): MUSI 15300 or equivalent
Note(s): This course typically is offered in alternate years.

MUSI 25600. Jazz Theory and Improvisation. 100 Units.

This course focuses on the knowledge necessary to improvise over the chord changes of standard jazz tunes. We cover basic terminology and chord symbols, scale-to-chord relationships, connection devices, and turn-around patterns. For the more experienced improviser, we explore alternate chord changes, tritone substitutions, and ornamentations. Using techniques gained in class, students write their own solos on a jazz tune and transcribe solos from recordings.

Instructor(s): M. Bowden Terms Offered: Spring
Prerequisite(s): MUSI 15300 or equivalent
Note(s): This course typically is offered in alternate years.

MUSI 25701. Introduction to Cognitive Musicology. 100 Units.

This course surveys recent research in music cognition and cognitive psychology and explores how it can be applied to music scholarship. We begin with a general review of research on categorization, analogy, and inferential systems. This review is paired with close readings of empirical literature drawn from cognitive science, neuroscience, and music psychology, as well as theoretical work in cognitive linguistics and cognitive anthropology. Student projects focus on applications of research in cognitive science to historical musicology, ethnomusicology, music theory, or music analysis. Weekly lab meetings required.

Instructor(s): L. Zbikowski Terms Offered: Variable
Prerequisite(s): MUSI 15300 or equivalent. Open to nonmajors with consent of instructor.
Note(s): This course typically is offered in alternate years.
Equivalent Course(s): MUSI 31901

MUSI 25800. Tuning Theory. 100 Units.

This course begins with a description of the logarithmic perception of pitch increments. We then cover the historically important tunings of the diatonic scale-just intonation, Pythagorean and meantone tunings, and twelve-note equal tuning. A parametric representation is described that reveals that the historic tunings are particular members of a general family of diatonic tunings. We also discuss the individual chromatic properties of certain equal tunings, focusing on the tunings of 12, 15, 17, 19, and 31 notes.

Instructor(s): E. Blackwood Terms Offered: Spring
Prerequisite(s): Ability to read music
Note(s): This course typically is offered in alternate years.
Equivalent Course(s): MUSI 35800

MUSI 25801. The Analysis of Song. 100 Units.

This course focuses on the art song of the nineteenth century, with special attention to the relationship between tonal structure and song text. Both individual songs and song cycles are considered, with the main emphasis on works by Schubert, Schumann, and Brahms. Student projects include comparative analyses of settings of the same text by different composers, analyses of a song and its later arrangement as an instrumental work, or the analysis and performance of a song.

Instructor(s): L. Zbikowski Terms Offered: Autumn 2013
Prerequisite(s): MUSI 15300 or equivalent
Note(s): This course typically is offered in alternate years.

MUSI 26100. Introduction to Composition. 100 Units.

This course introduces some of the basic problems in musical composition through a series of simple exercises.

Terms Offered: Spring
Prerequisite(s): MUSI 14200 or 15300, or equivalent

MUSI 26113. UG Seminar in Composition. 100 Units.

This course allows undergraduates focusing on composition to expand their musical ideas and compositions in seminar.

Instructor(s): A. Cheung Terms Offered: Spring

MUSI 26114. Improvisational Dramaturgy. 100 Units.

Team-taught by Catherine Sullivan and visiting composers Sean Griffin and George Lewis, Improvisational Dramaturgy explores interdisciplinary and improvisational strategies for performance. Course work will be integrated with the development of a staging of an operatic composition by Lewis. Tentatively titled "Afterword," the piece explores the ecology of Lewis's 2008 award-winning book, A Power Stronger Than Itself: The A.A.C.M. and American Experimental Music. Issues of public assembly, spatial language, music as social text, documentation, collaboration, and the dynamics of improvisation will be explored in theory, history, and practice. The class will work as an ensemble, contributing original material and working with various groups both on and off campus. Students working in all disciplines are welcome. This course is sponsored by a Mellon Fellowship for Arts Practice and Scholarship at the Gray Center for Arts and Inquiry.

Instructor(s): C. Sullivan, S. Griffin, G. Lewis Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): ARTV 23833,ARTV 33833,CRES 23833,CRES 38333,MUSI 38214,TAPS 28429

MUSI 26300-26400. Introduction to Computer Music.

This two-quarter course of study gives students in any discipline the opportunity to explore the techniques and aesthetics of computer-generated/assisted music production. During the first quarter, students learn the basics of digital synthesis, the Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI), and programming. These concepts and skills are acquired through lecture, demonstration, reading, and a series of production and programming exercises. Weekly lab tutorials and individual lab time in the department’s computer music studio are in addition to scheduled class time.

MUSI 26300. Introduction to Computer Music. 100 Units.

Instructor(s): H. Sandroff Terms Offered: Autumn
Prerequisite(s): Consent of instructor. Rudimentary musical skills (but not technical knowledge) required.
Note(s): Basic Macintosh skills helpful. This course is offered in alternate years.
Equivalent Course(s): MUSI 34700

MUSI 26400. Introduction to Computer Music. 100 Units.

Instructor(s): H. Sandroff Terms Offered: Winter
Prerequisite(s): Consent of instructor. Rudimentary musical skills (but not technical knowledge) required.
Note(s): Basic Macintosh skills helpful. This course is offered in alternate years.
Equivalent Course(s): MUSI 34800

MUSI 26513. Music and Mysticism. 100 Units.

In this course, we will examine music and mysticism in relation to a broad spectrum of religious expression. Our discussion will center on the myriad ways in which mysticism is articulated, e.g., nirvana, Shambhala, mystical union, alchemical marriage, Buddhahood, mushin, shekinah, and the common goals of other teachings. With attention to music and mysticism as a vast area of scholarship, we will ask: through what means does mysticism "sound"?

Instructor(s): A. Jones Terms Offered: Spring

MUSI 26800. Sixteenth-Century Counterpoint. 100 Units.

This course is an introduction to the theory, analysis, and composition of modal counterpoint using texts that uses examples by sixteenth-century theorists (i.e., Zarlino) and composers (i.e., Josquin, Lassus, Palestrina). Techniques include cantus firmus, canon, and modal mixture. Students read sources, analyze passages, and compose (and improvise) counterpoint in two to four parts.

Terms Offered: Autumn
Prerequisite(s): MUSI 15300 or equivalent
Note(s): This course typically is offered in alternate years.

MUSI 26900. Eighteenth-Century Counterpoint. 100 Units.

This is a practical course for learning the art of fugue writing that concentrates on writing different types of fugues and on short pieces involving different types of imitation. The material is based on Bach's The Well-Tempered Clavier, Goldberg Variations, Das Musikalische Opfer, and Die Kunst der Fuge.

Terms Offered: Winter
Prerequisite(s): MUSI 15300 or equivalent
Note(s): This course typically is offered in alternate years.

MUSI 26914. Computer/Electronic Music: Aesthetics, Theory and Repertoire. 100 Units.

This course explores the aesthetics and body of work in computer-generated and electronic music genres.

Instructor(s): H. Sandroff Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): MUSI 36914

MUSI 27100-27200-27300. Topics in the History of Western Music.

This sequence is a three-quarter investigation into Western art music, with primary emphasis on the vocal and instrumental repertories of Western Europe and the United States.

MUSI 27100. Topics in the History of Western Music. 100 Units.

MUSI 27100 begins with the earliest notated music and considers monophonic liturgical chant and the development of sacred and secular vocal polyphony through the sixteenth century.

Terms Offered: Autumn
Prerequisite(s): MUSI 14200 or 15300. Open to nonmajors with consent of instructor.

MUSI 27200. Topics in the History of Western Music. 100 Units.

MUSI 27200 addresses topics in music from 1600 to 1800, including opera, sacred music, the emergence of instrumental genres, the codification of tonality, and the Viennese classicism of Haydn and Mozart.

Terms Offered: Winter
Prerequisite(s): MUSI 14200 or 15300. Open to nonmajors with consent of instructor.

MUSI 27300. Topics in the History of Western Music. 100 Units.

MUSI 27300 treats music since 1800. Topics include the music of Beethoven and his influence on later composers; the rise of public concerts, German opera, programmatic instrumental music, and nationalist trends; the confrontation with modernism; and the impact of technology on the expansion of musical boundaries.

Terms Offered: Spring
Prerequisite(s): MUSI 14200 or 15300. Open to nonmajors with consent of instructor.

MUSI 27413. Music Videos. 100 Units.

This course will explore and develop historical, critical, and analytical perspectives on the music video, which we will consider from its prehistory in the late nineteenth century, through early cartoons, the film musical number, Soundies, and MTV in the twentieth, and up to YouTube, vevo, and a recent “visual album."

Instructor(s): D. Callahan Terms Offered: Spring

MUSI 28014. Introduction to Conducting. 100 Units.

The course offers students in music conducting instruction on movement and gesture, rhythm and score study at an introductory level.

Instructor(s): J. Kallembach Terms Offered: Spring

MUSI 28500. Musicianship Skills. 100 Units.

This is a yearlong course in ear training, keyboard progressions, realization of figured basses at the keyboard, and reading of chamber and orchestral scores. Classes each week consist of one dictation lab (sixty minutes long) and one keyboard lab (thirty minutes long).

Instructor(s): A. Briggs Terms Offered: Autumn, Winter, Spring
Prerequisite(s): MUSI 15300. Open only to students who are majoring in music.
Note(s): 100 units credit is granted only after successful completion of the year's work.

MUSI 29500. Undergraduate Honors Seminar. 100 Units.

The seminar guides students through the preliminary stages of selecting and refining a topic, and provides an interactive forum for presenting and discussing the early stages of research, conceptualization, and writing. The course culminates in the presentation of a paper that serves as the foundation of the honors thesis. The instructors work closely with honors project supervisors, who may be drawn from the entire music faculty.

Terms Offered: Autumn
Prerequisite(s): Consent of instructor. Open only to fourth-year students who are majoring in music and wish to develop a research project and prepare it for submission for departmental honors.

MUSI 29614. Absorption/Distanciation: Wagner, Brecht, Kluge. 100 Units.

Explores Richard Wagner's music-dramas, Bertolt Brecht's plays, and Alexander Kluge's films as a forum for the formulation, circulation, and contestation of absorption and distanciation. While a conventional historical account would map the tensions between absorption and distanciation as a one-way trip, moving from absorption (in Wagner) to distanciation (as coined by Brecht) to distraction (as deployed by Kluge), we will explore how each artist deploys each term to varying effects. Works to be considered include Wagner's The Flying Dutchman and Parsifal, Brecht's Man Is Man and The Measures Taken, and Kluge's Yesterday Girl and The Power of Emotions. Readings by each artist, as well as by Theodor Adorno, Walter Benjamin, Michael Fried, Miriam Hansen, Andreas Huyssen, and Gertrud Koch. In English.

Instructor(s): D. Levin Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): GRMN 33914,CMST 28304,CMST 38304,TAPS 28439,MUSI 33914,GRMN 29614

MUSI 29700. Independent Study in Music. 100 Units.

This course is intended for students who wish to pursue specialized readings in music or to do advanced work in composition.

Terms Offered: Autumn, Winter, Spring
Prerequisite(s): Consent of instructor and director of undergraduate studies
Note(s): Students are required to submit the College Reading and Research Consent Form.

MUSI 29900. Senior Essay or Composition. 100 Units.