To learn about private instruction, click here.
To browse the full list of courses available by academic department, visit Courses of Instruction.
To browse the most up-to-date faculty listing, click here.
To browse the 2010-2012 catalogue online as a PDF, click here.
To browse the 2008-2010 catalogue online as a PDF, click here.
The 2006-2008 catalogue is still available online as a PDF. To browse it, click here.
If you have questions or comments about the new online catalogue, please send us your feedback.
The music department seeks to develop the musical understanding of students who desire to broaden their cultural perspective through study of the arts, as well as to prepare students wishing to pursue a professional career in music. Music courses are open to all students who have fulfilled the necessary prerequisites or gained permission of the appropriate individual instructors. Admission to choral and instrumental ensembles is by audition only. Private instruction in applied music is available to all students for a fee of $280 per semester for a total of 14 half hour sessions (fee established as of 2009-10). The music department offers a disciplinary major and both a disciplinary and interdisciplinary minor. To be counted toward the major or minor, all course work must be passed with a grade of C- or better.
REQUIREMENTS FOR THE MAJOR (B.A.)
disciplinary, 12 courses
MUS 120, 121, 202, 203, 204, 231, 232, 401, 460; one additional course from MUS 130 or above; and two course credits earned through participation in a major choral or instrumental ensemble for four semesters, or by taking private instruction for four semesters, or by taking two semesters of ensemble and two of private instruction.
REQUIREMENTS FOR THE MINOR
disciplinary, 6 courses
MUS 120, 121; two courses from the group MUS 202, 203, or 204; one additional course from MUS 130 or above; and one course credit earned through participation in a major choral or instrumental ensemble for two semesters, or by private applied instruction for two semesters.
REQUIREMENTS FOR THE MINOR
interdisciplinary, 7 courses
MUS 120, 121; two from the group MUS 202, 203 and 204; one non-music elective course from art, history, education, philosophy, religious studies, anthropology, languages, dance, or another department, chosen in consultation with the adviser; two course credits earned through participation in a major choral or instrumental ensemble, or by private applied instruction, for four semesters.
COURSE DESCRIPTIONS
100 Introduction to Music Literature This course is intended to deepen the meaning of experiencing music as a living language from listening to Beethoven's Fifth Symphony performed in the concert hall to hearing the soulful strains of blues in a Chicago club, or the "exotic" timbres and tunings of a Balinese gamelan. Each repertory is unique in its materials and methods of organization; each elicits a unique set of values and feelings in response. Each is described and assigned meaning through the cultural filters of our own individual backgrounds. Music utilized in the American tradition based on European models is surveyed, as are representative models from contrasting cultures. (Berta, Staff, offered each semester)
110 Introduction to Music Theory Fundamentals and basic principles of Western music theory and their application are presented in this course. Specific areas include the study of clefs, major minor scales, key signatures, intervals, and triads. Music notation and terminology are discussed. The final half of the course covers an introduction to four-part harmonic writing, use of chords in root position, and inversions. Basic ear training techniques are employed. (Staff, offered each semester)
120 Tonal Theory and Aural Skills I This course strives to produce a listener/performer who can perceive sound in meaningful patterns—developing a hearing mind from the Western classical tradition, including diatonic scales; intervals; keys and triads; introduction to principles of voice leading; Roman numeral analysis; functional harmony; and non-chordal melodic elements. The approach is an integrated one, providing both the theoretical knowledge necessary for analysis and composition and the aural skills necessary for perception and performance. Prerequisite: MUS 110 or permission of the instructor. (Cowles, offered annually)
121 Tonal Theory and Aural Skills II This course continues goals outlined for MUS 120. It explores further techniques of part writing, including tonicization and modulation to closely related keys, and the use of seventh chords. (Cowles, offered annually)
130 Beethoven: The Man and His Music This course deals specifically with the music of Beethoven. Among the compositions carefully examined and listened to are his nine symphonies; his opera Fidelio; concertos such as The Emperor; piano sonatas such as The Pathetique, Appassionata, and Moonlight; selected string quartets; and his Missa Solemnis. Beethoven's place in history, his personality, his leading the way to individualism and subjective feeling in music, and his vision of human freedom and dignity are also explored. (Berta, offered alternate years)
135 Music in America: 1750-2000 Investigating the panorama of American Music to reveal its infinite variety and vitality, origins of American music are traced from the Native Americans, to the psalm singing colonials, to the African slaves. Eighteenth century works by Billings and Mason are examined. Emphasis is placed on 19th- and 20th-century music. Compositions include works by Ives, Copland, Gershwin, Crumb, Antheil, and Bernstein. (Berta, offered alternate years)
150 In a Russian Voice: Music from Glinka to Stravinsky Borodin, Balakirev, Cui, Mussorgsky, and Rimsky Korsakov—who inherited a passion for creating “Russian” works from Glinka and Dargomizhsky and passed this passion on in elements of melody, harmony, and rhythm to Stravinsky—consciously and successfully incorporated folk and traditional elements into the traditional genres of art music. This course considers these composers and their “Russianness” to discover what is “Russian” about their music and what impact Russian Orthodox Church music and folk song and dance have had in the development of musical language and style in the 20th century. (Myers, offered alternate years)
160 The Symphony The concert symphony is the type of music most performed by orchestras today. Students in this course study the evolution and ever-changing nuances of symphony. They explore the various periods and work their way through the classical period, the romantic period, and the 20th century. (Berta, offered alternate years)
202 History of Western Art Music: Medieval and Renaissance (600-1600) From Gregorian chant and the songs of the troubadours, the beginnings of polyphony, the "new secular style" of the 14th century, and the "sweet" harmonies of the 15th century Burgundian school, through the humanistic currents of the late 15th and 16th centuries, composers created new styles, techniques, and forms, responding to the demand for greater expressivity and more variety. The course surveys tradition and change in music from 600 to 1600 and is based on selected readings, recordings, and scores. (Myers, offered every third semester)
203 History of Western Art Music: Baroque and Classical (1600-1800) From the early operas of Monteverdi to the oratorios of Handel and the cantatas of Bach, the Baroque composer aimed to "affect" his listener through powerful musical contrasts and rhetorical passions. Haydn, Mozart, and the young Beethoven, on the other hand, were more interested in projecting formal logic and proportional design in their sonatas, string quartets, symphonies, and other instrumental works. The course surveys tradition and change in Baroque and classical music and is based on selected readings, recordings, and scores. (Berta, offered every third semester)
204 History of Western Art Music: Romantic and Modern (1800-1950) Most 19th century composers pushed the expressive power of chromatic harmony and thematic unity to the musical extreme. By 1910, most of the musical avant garde no longer found it possible to work within the constraints of the three century old tonal system. New systems and searches for novel sonorities led to the use of natural and electronically generated sounds. Chance happenings were advocated by composers who objected to older music's predictability. The course surveys tradition and change in romantic and modern music and is based on selected readings, recordings, and scores. (Myers, offered every third semester)
206 Opera as Drama "That opera is properly a musical form of drama, with its own individual dignity and force," informs the content and structure of this course. The central issue of the relationship of words to music and form to meaning and their continuing reinterpretations is examined with respect to solutions offered by Monteverdi, Pergolesi, Gluck, Mozart, Verdi, Wagner, and Berg. Music moves the psyche on several levels simultaneously; it is more holistic than the linearity of verbal syntax can ever be. The ability to follow a score in a rudimentary manner is desirable. (Myers, offered alternate years)
207 Music in American Culture: Jazz and Popular This course studies the development of contemporary styles and techniques in jazz and American popular music of the Western hemisphere since 1900. (D’Angelo, offered annually)
210 American Musical Theater A survey of the development, as an art form, of American musical theater from the European forms in early America to the present Broadway musical, including minstrels, vaudeville, burlesque, revue, comic opera, operetta, and blacks in the theatre. The course culminates with a class production of a musical in concert form. (D’Angelo, offered periodically)
216 Musics of Asia Interest in the performing arts of Asian cultures—music, theatre, and dance—on the part of Europeans can be traced back to 18th century notions of enlightenment and universality and to increased contacts with Asia through trade and colonization. The Exhibition of 1889 introduced European audiences to Indonesian percussion orchestras, melodic intricacies of Indian raga, and the stylized movement of "Siamese" dance. Asian performing arts have unique, valid approaches to the organization of sound and time. Among the repertories studied are the classical music and dance of India, Indonesian gamelan, Chinese Opera, and the theatrical traditions of Japan. (Myers, offered alternate years)
217 Folk and Traditional Music of Africa and the Americas The ethnic, folk, and traditional musics of the Western continents fall into two groups: music found in cultures and regions having an urban, professional, cultivated "art" tradition, or music of non literate, "primitive" peoples affected marginally by literate cultures. The first helped develop popular styles in the 20th century. The second provides richness in understanding the role music and the other performing arts play in shaping a culture's view of itself and the surrounding world. Among the repertories studied are Navajo ceremonial music, ritual music from the Guinea Coastal area of Africa, Afro American blues and work songs, ballad traditions of Appalachia, Andean music, Caribbean Carnival, and Afro Brazilian dances. (Myers, offered alternate years)
231 Tonal and Chromatic Theory This course focuses on chromatic harmony of 19th century Western art music, including modulation to chromatically related and non diatonic keys and altered chords. There is a strong emphasis on all aspects of part writing, and on aural comprehension of theoretical concepts and the performance of more complex melodic, rhythmic, and harmonic materials. Prerequisite: MUS 121 or permission of the instructor. (Staff, offered annually)
232 Advanced Chromatic Theory and Counterpoint This course focuses on chromatic harmony of 19th century Western art music, including modulation to chromatically related and non diatonic keys and altered chords. There is continued emphasis on aural comprehension of theoretical concepts, part writing, and the performance of more complex melodic, rhythmic, and harmonic materials, including counterpoint of the 18th and 19th centuries. Prerequisite: MUS 231, or permission of the instructor. (Staff, offered annually)
400 Orchestration In this study of the ranges and timbres of orchestral instruments with reference to symphonic scoring, students arrange for small ensembles and full orchestra. Prerequisite: permission of instructor. (D’Angelo, offered periodically)
401 Form and Analysis This course offers a survey of selected methods of musical analysis, including the traditional approaches to studying form developed by Leon Stein and Douglas Greene, La Rue's style analysis, Schenker's system for tracing the underlying tonal structure of pieces, and Perle's handling of serial procedures and atonality. Each of the analytical systems is applied to representative works drawn from the six major style periods of Western art music. Prerequisite: MUS 231 or permission of the instructor. (Myers, offered alternate years)
450 Independent Study
460 Seminar in Music History This seminar provides in depth study of selected areas within the history of Western music. Subjects vary from year to year. Topics may focus on the works of a single composer (i.e., Mozart's operas, Stravinsky's ballets, Bach's cantatas) or specific themes (i.e., text/music relationships). Stylistic and formal analysis of music is integrated with European social and cultural history. Requirements include active participation in discussion and research projects. Students are expected to write two substantive papers. Prerequisite: permission of instructor. (Myers, offered alternate years)
495 Honors
Course Offered as Needed:
BIDS 298 The Ballet Russes: Modernism and the Arts
PRIVATE INSTRUCTION COURSES
MUS 907 Jazz Saxophone (Mandel)
MUS 908 Violin/Viola (Zaplatynsky)
MUS 909 Flute (Oberbrunner)
MUS 910 Piano (Christiansen, Heaton, Ralston, or Slocum)
MUS 911 Voice (Calabrese, Murphy, or W. Trowbridge)
MUS 912 Double Bass (D'Angelo)
MUS 913 Brass (Stempien)
MUS 914 Woodwinds (Berta)
MUS 916 Organ (Hamilton)
MUS 917 Guitar (Meyer or Wachala)
MUS 918 Drums (Curry)
MUS 919 Jazz Piano (Barbuto)
ENSEMBLES
MUS 920 Colleges Jazz Ensemble (Barbuto)
MUS 922 Colleges Guitar Ensemble (Meyer)
MUS 926 Colleges Woodwind Ensemble (Oberbrunner)
MUS 930 Colleges Chorale* (Cowles)
MUS 935 Colleges Community Chorus (Staff)
MUS 940 Colleges Brass Ensemble (J. Trowbridge)
MUS 945 Colleges String Ensemble (Zaplatynsky)
*Members of the Colleges Chorale may be considered for membership additionally in the Colleges Cantori, a chamber vocal ensemble. Cantori is a not-for-credit ensemble.
Note: Students who take private lessons receive one half course credit per semester. Likewise, students who participate in the Colleges Chorale, Colleges Community Chorus, or Guitar, String, Woodwind, Brass, and Jazz Ensembles receive one half course credit per semester.
