With registration upon us, I thought I'd share some interesting classes the music department is offering next semester. These are not all the classes available (there are all the additional applied music lessons and other classes for serious musicians), but rather a small snippet of what I picked out. Check out the catalog for more details, and course counts to see who's teaching them/times/etc.
104. MUSIC OF AFRICA AND THE MIDDLE EAST
This course surveys the musical styles and genres of the African continent and the Middle Eastern world. Within an ethno-historical framework established at the beginning of the course, emphasis is placed on 1) the region's important musical genres, their social function and musical characteristics, and 2) the instruments used in performing these musical genres. While knowledge of music theory and performance skills are not necessary, it is essential that students be prepared for intensive music listening in and out of class.
CORE REQUIREMENT MET: AFRICA AND THE MIDDLE EAST • FINE ARTS
114. TOPICS IN INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC
An examination of the cultural significance and historical context of major genres of instrumental music of the Western art music tradition, with particular emphasis on the adaptation of folk or popular music into "concert music" genres. The course will cover "national" styles as well as styles which feature the transformation of stylistic elements from one musical/cultural area into another. Extensive music listening assignments will be supplemented by readings.
CORE REQUIREMENT MET: INTERCULTURAL • FINE ARTS
119. WHY MUSIC MATTERS
This course provides a general introduction to the elements and history of Western music over the last three centuries. Students will focus on learning how to listen to music, with an emphasis of identifying musical forms, genres, and styles. This focus will serve the larger goal of the course, which is to show how understanding music can not only lead to our greater enjoyment of it but also help us to better understand history and culture. Students with no musical experience are especially welcome.
CORE REQUIREMENT MET: FINE ARTS
151. THEORY AND PRACTICE OF MUSIC I
This course presents the basic principles of musical form and analysis, including modal counterpoint and harmonic practice through tonicization. Students will engage in analytic and compositional projects in consultation with Music History faculty. Prerequisite: Music 150/150A, or AP Music Theory score of 4 or higher. Requires concurrent enrollment in Music 151A.
CORE REQUIREMENT MET: FINE ARTS
151A. MUSICIANSHIP I
Training in tonal sight singing and listening; major and minor keys, triads, chord progressions and rhythmic studies. Requires concurrent enrollment in MUSC 151.
263. WESTERN MUSIC & CULTURE IN THE 20TH CENTURY
This course will survey Western musical practice of the 20th century, commencing with the wide-ranging artistic responses to the music and writings of Richard Wagner, in Europe and in the United States, and the emergence of a "musical modernism," as new forms and new pitch systems take hold. Themes of the course will include the following: new technologies, war, politics, gender and sex, class, race, world musical practices in Western practice (and vice versa), and the shifting status of "art" music vis-à-vis "popular" music. The deep study of music scores and performances will be supplemented with attendance at relevant recitals and concerts. Prerequisite: Music 153.
385. ADVANCED TOPICS IN THE CRITICAL STUDY OF MUSIC: MUSIC AND FOOD
This interdisciplinary course will examine the relationship between music and food, and thus hearing and taste, in Europe and the United States, beginning with the 16th-century category of musical composition called "table music" and culminating in the present-day gastropub. Along the way we will explore topics such as the 18th-century emergence of aesthetics as a branch of philosophy, the rise of the restaurant and gastronomy, Dandyism and Decadent literature, and "fine dining" in the United States. We will read scholarly literature from the fields of philosophy, history, cognitive science, sociology, literature, and music, and classes will include visits from scholars in these fields. Short writing assignments and class reports will lead to a final argument-driven research paper and presentation. Prerequisite: Music 150 or permission of instructor.
Bach's Cycles: Bach, Musical Systems, and the Enlightenment. This seminar will explore stylistic and structural issues in several monumental works of Bach. Two points of view will be taken: analytic, and musico-sociological. Works to be studied include the Goldberg Variations, the unaccompanied sonatas and partitas for violin, the unaccompanied suites for cello, the Well-Tempered Clavier, the Art of Fugue, and the Musical Offering. Prerequisite: Music 251 or permission of instructor. Topics for papers and presentations will be developed with attention to seminar participants' particular interests. Prerequisite: MUSC 251. A course grade of B- or better, and satisfactory completion of a minimum of 15 pages of written work will satisfy the College's third-year writing requirement.
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