2015-2016 Courses
Fall 2015 Undergraduate Courses
MUSI 1010 Introduction to Music
Bonnie Gordon
3.0 credits
Lecture: TR / 11:00-11:50 pm / Maury 104
Class Number: 18563
Discussion Sections:
Section 101 (Stephanie Gunst): F / 12:00-12:50 pm / OCH S008
Class Number: 18564Section 102 (Stephanie Gunst): F / 1:00-1:50 pm / OCH S008
Class Number: 18565Section 103 (Stephanie Gunst): F / 2:00-2:50 pm / OCH S008
Class Number: 18566
Sound / Music / Noise
What is the difference between music and sound? What did it feel like to listen to music in a world before car alarms and amplified sound? What were the technological equivalents of headphones and Spotify in previous centuries? When you hear Opera does it make you cringe or swoon? What does your favorite playlist reveal about your identity, your history? How can you listen more carefully and intentionally to your world? This class is designed to guide you towards answering these questions for yourselves. This class explores primarily Western music in various historical contexts. The class is rooted in the classical music canon. But it also explores the cultural biases implied by the very notion of a canon. We will learn new ways to hear a selection of pieces from the musical canon; listening to composition, improvisation, text-music relations, the representation of dramatic stories, the expression of religious ideas, and performance. We will also read what writers of the time said about music. We will get to know some pieces of music extremely well; the aural experience of reading a book until it’s binding has frayed.
MUSI 1310 Basic Musical Skills
3.0 credits
Lecture / Section 1 (Jeff Decker): MWF / 9:00-9:50 am / OCH 107
Class Number: 11058
Lecture / Section 2 (Justin Mueller): MWF / 10:00-10:50 am / OCH 107
Class Number: 11059
Lecture / Section 3 (Kevin Davis): MWF / 11:00-11:50 am / OCH 107
Class Number: 11060
Study of the rudiments of music and training in the ability to read music. Prerequisite: No previous knowledge of music required.
MUSI 1993 Independent Study
1.0 - 3.0 credits
Instructor permission and instructor number required to enroll.
MUSI 2070 Popular Music
Noel Lobley
3.0 credits
Lecture: MW / 9:00-9:50 am / Minor 125
Class Number: 15335
Discussion Sections:
Section 101 (Courtney Kleftis): M / 1:00-1:50 pm / OCH B012
Class Number: 15336Section 102 (Courtney Kleftis): W / 10:00-10:50 am / OCH 113
Class Number: 15337Section 103 (Courtney Kleftis): W / 1:00-1:50 pm / OCH 113
Class Number: 15338Section 104 (Tanner Greene): M / 10:00-10:50 am / OCH S008
Class Number: 18573Section 105 (Tanner Greene): M / 11:00-11:50 am / OCH S008
Class Number: 18574Section 106 (Tanner Greene): M / 12:00-12:50 pm / OCH S008
Class Number: 18575
Scholarly and critical study of music circulated through mass media. Specific topic for the semester (e.g. world popular music, bluegrass, country music, hip-hop, Elvis Presley) announced in advance. No previous knowledge of music required.
Love, fame and money; heartbreak, obscurity and the rise and fall of immense industries. Popular musics touch, move, drive and become almost everyone on the planet, and yet how do we study the songs and sounds we hear everywhere and everyday. What makes music popular? Why do we like music? What identities, values and messages do we share through popular music?
In this course we will connect a dizzying range of popular music genres –from rock to reggae, from global hip hop to country, from EDM to love ballads – tracing fascinating stories that inevitably link love and temptation, money and crime, dreams and death.
Our special topics will include a close look at global hip hop, global rock, and the rise and fall of the recording industries.
MUSI 2110 Music in Everyday Life
Michelle Kisliuk
3.0 credits
Lecture: TR / 2:00-2:50 pm / OCH 107
Class Number: 18579
Discussion Sections:
Section 101 (Kyle Chattleton): W / 9:00-9:50 am / OCH S008
Class Number: 18580Section 102 (Kyle Chattleton): W / 10:00-10:50 am / OCH S008
Class Number: 18581Section 103 (Kyle Chattleton): W / 11:00-11:50 am / OCH S008
Class Number: 18582
What is the soundscape of our quotidian (everyday) experience? How does it condition our consciousness, and what implicit cultural messages circulate within our ever-changing daily soundtracks? This course focuses our attention not on music highlighted in performance, but on that which we usually take for granted. A close look at how music works in our everyday lives can offer a new awareness of our ongoing experience, open us to choices we never thought we had, and get us wondering about the depths of aesthetic experience.
MUSI 2302 Keyboard Skills (Beginning)
2.0 credits, instructor permission
Lecture / Section 1 (Craig Comen): TR / 11:00 am - 12:15 pm / OCH 113
Class Number: 11062
Lecture / Section 2 (John Mayhood): TR / 12:30-1:45 pm / OCH 113
Class Number: 14276
Introductory keyboard skills; includes sight-reading, improvisation, and accompaniment at the keyboard in a variety of styles. No previous knowledge of music required. Satisfies the performance requirement for music majors.
MUSI 2308 Voice Class
Pam Beasley
2.0 credits, instructor permission
Lecture: MW / 4:00-4:50 pm / OCH 107
Class Number: 14996
An introductory course to basic vocal technique; discussion to include those elements essential for healthy singing in a variety of styles. Will involve group and solo singing to apply these elements. No previous voice training or musical background required.
MUSI 2340 Learn to Groove
Robert Jospe
2.0 credits
Lecture / Section 1: MW / 10:00 am-10:50 am / Hunter Smith Band Building
Class Number: 11772
Lecture / Section 2: MW / 11:00-11:50 am / Hunter Smith Band Building
Class Number: 19726
"Learn to Groove" hand drumming and rhythmic fluency with Robert Jospe. This is a hands on drumming/percussion class using congas, djembes, claves, shakers, etc. This class is designed to enhance ones knowledge of syncopated patterns associated with jazz, rock, African and Latin American music and to improve ones facility in playing these patterns. This course will follow my book "Learn To Groove" and can include music students, non music students and is open to students of all skill levels. The course requires that students have or purchase a hand drum of their own. Congas, bongos, djembes, doumbeks or any other hand drums are appropriate.
MUSI 2350 Technosonics: Digital Music and Sound Art Composition
Matthew Burtner
3.0 credits
Lecture: MW / 12:00-12:50 / Maury Hall 209
Class Number: 14061
Discussion Sections:
Section 101 (Kristina Warren): M / 9:00-9:50 am / New Cabell 268
Class Number: 14062Section 102 (Kristina Warren): M / 10:00-10:50 am / New Cabell 268
Class Number: 14063Section 103 (Kristina Warren): M / 11:00-11:50 am / New Cabell 268
Class Number: 14064Section 104 (Ryan Maguire): T / 9:30-10:20 am / New Cabell 268
Class Number: 14065Section 105 (Ryan Maguire): T / 10:30-11:20 am / New Cabell 268
Class Number: 14066Section 106 (Ryan Maguire): T / 11:30 am - 12:20 pm / New Cabell 268
Class Number: 14067Section 107 (Eli Stine): W / 9:00-9:50 am / New Cabell 268
Class Number: 14068Section 108 (Eli Stine): W / 10:00-10:50 am / New Cabell 268
Class Number: 14069Section 109 (Eli Stine): W / 11:00-11:50 am / New Cabell 268
Class Number: 14070Section 110 (Christopher Luna): R / 9:30-10:20 am / New Cabell 268
Class Number: 14407Section 111 (Christopher Luna): R / 10:30-11:20 am / New Cabell 268
Class Number: 14408Section 112 (Christopher Luna): R / 11:30 am - 12:20 pm / New Cabell 268
Class Number: 14409
This class (www.technosonics.net) explores the history, theory and practice of digital music and sound art. Students learn tools and techniques of music technology that inform many genres and traditions. In addition to historical and theoretical concerns, students will experiment with digital tools for musical creation.
MUSI 2559 Music Among the Arts
Michael Puri
3.0 credits
Lecture: TR / 11:00-11:50 am / OCH 107
Class Number: 19722
Can music ever mean? If so, what are the means by which it means? How does it interact with other arts in multimedia genres such as film, video, opera, ballet, and advertising? At a broader level, how do we understand the relation between hearing and the other senses? This new lecture course will explore these and other questions. No prior musical experience is required or expected.
Discussion Sections:
Section 101 (Aldona Dye): T / 9:30-10:20 am / OCH 107
Class Number: 19723Section 102 (Aldona Dye): T / 12:30-1:20 pm / OCH 107
Class Number: 19724Section 103 (Aldona Dye): R / 12:30-1:20 pm / OCH 107
Class Number: 19725
MUSI 2600 Jazz Improvisation
John D'earth
3.0 credits
Lecture: TR / 3:30-5:00 pm / OCH B012
Class Number: 13320
The Jazz Improvisation Workshop explores the basic techniques and procedures for improvising in jazz and other musical contexts. No previous jazz or improvising experience is required but students must demonstrate a degree of fluency on their main instrument, an ability to read music and some familiarity with the basics of music theory. An individual interview/audition with the instructor is required before registering for this class.
MUSI 2993: Independent Study
1.0 - 3.0 credits
Instructor permission and instructor number required to enroll.
MUSI 3040 Studies in Twentieth and Twenty-First Century Music
Joel Rubin
3.0 credits
Lecture: TR / 11:00 am - 12:15 pm / OCH B012
Class Number: 20277
MUSI 3040, Studies in Twentieth and Twenty-first Century Music, offers insight into understanding the complex developments in Western art music from the turn of the 20th century to the present. We will study numerous compositional movements, composers and their works, looking at aspects such as compositional and performance style and techniques within the broader framework of social, cultural and political movements of the time. We will also read what the composers themselves and other writers from the time said about the music. The goal is to help you form your own opinions and interpretations of the music—not only of the examples that we study in class, but of the many others that you may encounter both during and after this class as performers, composers and/or listeners. While the course materials focus primarily on the Euro-American situation, we will also examine developments more globally, drawing on developments in popular, jazz, folk and world musical traditions.
Fulfills part of the 'Critical and comparative studies in music' requirement for majors. Prerequisite: MUSI 3310
MUSI 3050 Music and Discourse Since 1900
Scott DeVeaux
3.0 credits
Lecture: MWF / 11:00-11:50 am / OCH 113
Class Number: 14411
Studies the range of music that has flourished in the twentieth century, including modernist and post-modern art music, popular music, and world music, through historical, critical, and ethnographic approaches.
MUSI 3070 Intro to Musical Ethnography
Nomita Dave
3.0 credits
Lecture: TR / 3:30-4:45 pm, OCH 107
Class Number: 14410
This course explores ways of examining and representing music and sound as a fundamentally social practice. Such an approach looks beyond the notes to study music as part of human social life and experience. Readings and listenings will focus on a number of genres and traditions from throughout the world, including singers in Nepali nightclubs, dance bands from Central Africa, Islamic pop songs, Moroccan trance, and country music from Texas. We will consider in depth the theories and methods involved in conducting research and writing about music as a social phenomenon, considering the roles and perspectives of musicians, listeners, markets and the media. We will also examine the role of the researcher, considering the ethical issues involved in representing music and culture from elsewhere.Students will have the opportunity to apply the methods we discuss in class in short assignments involving music-making in and around Charlottesville.
MUSI 3310 Theory I
3.0 credits
Lecture / Section 1 (Steven Lewis): MWF / 9:00-9:50 am / OCH B012
Class Number: 11064
Lecture / Section 2 (Scott DeVeaux): MWF / 10:00-10:50 am / OCH B012
Class Number: 11065
Lecture / Section 2 (Jarek Ervin): MWF / 11:00-11:50 am / OCH B012
Class Number: 11066
Studies pitch and formal organization in European concert music of the 18th and 19th centuries. Includes four-part vocal writing, 18th-century style keyboard accompaniment, key relations, and form. Students compose numerous short passages of music and study significant compositions by period composers. (Y)
MUSI 3332 Musicianship I
2.0 credit
Lecture / Section 1 (Adam Carter): MWF / 12:00-12:50 pm / OCH 107
Class Number: 11068
Lecture / Section 2 (Victoria Clark): MWF / 12:00-12:50 pm / OCH 113
Class Number: 11067
These lab courses give practical experience with many aspects of musical perception, performance, and creation. These will include sight-reading and sight-singing; dictation of melody, rhythm, and harmony; aural identification of intervals, chords, and rhythmic patterns; and exercises in musical memory and improvisation. Students entering the sequence take a test to determine the appropriate level of their first course. At the end of each course, students take a placement test to determine whether they may enter a higher level course. Courses may be repeated for credit, but each course may be counted toward the major only once.
MUSI 3334 Musicianship II
2.0 credit
Lecture (Tracey Stewart): MWF / 12:00-12:50 pm / OCH B012
Class Number: 19727
MUSI 3370 Songwriting
Ted Coffey
3.0 credits
Lecture: MW / 2:00-3:15 pm / OCH B012
Class Number: 14412
The goal of this course is to delve into songwriting; to develop your aural, analytic and creative abilities and to join them together in understanding and composing songs. You will learn about rhythm, melodic design, harmonic progression, lyrics and song forms. You will also work on eartraining, so that concepts you learn will be sonically meaningful. We will consider examples from a broad musical spectrum: blues, folk, tin pan alley, musicals, R & B, rock & roll, hip hop. We will also discuss the issues that songwriters encounter. You will have the opportunity to suggest songs for study, and some assignments will be done in groups. In these situations, we will organize groups that have complementary abilities for in-class performances. The Lab is a required part of the class, and you must sign up for a lab section. During the lab you will go over concepts we are covering in class, as well as work on additional eartraining, analysis and creative projects.
MUSI 3390 Introduction to Music and Computers
Luke Dahl
3.0 credits
Lecture: TR / 9:30-10:45 am / OCH B012
Class Number: 11070
Discussion Sections:
Section 101 (Max Tfirn): F / 11:00-11:50am / B011
Class Number: 11072Section 102 (Max Tfirn): F / 12:00-12:50 pm / OCH B011
Class Number: 11071Section 103 (Max Tfirn): F / 1:00-1:50 pm / OCH B011
Class Number: 11073
Introduction to Music and Computers in an upper-level introductory course in music technology. Students gain theoretical, historical and practical knowledge of electronic and computer music. An emphasis is placed on creative hands-on experience composing computer music.
Theoretical and practical topics include acoustics, recording, editing and mixing, MIDI, sound synthesis, and audio DSP. Programs used will include Audacity, Spear, SoundHack, Pro Tools, Logic, and MaxMSP. Note that you MUST register for the Lab (0 credits) as well as the course.
3390 fulfills the composition requirement of the Music Major. This is a composition class and most assignments are creative in nature.
MUSI 3993 Independent Study
1.0-3.0 credits
Instructor permission and instructor number required to enroll.
MUSI 4331 Theory III
Michael Puri
3.0 credits
Lecture: TR / 2:00-3:15 pm / OCH B012
Class Number: 11075
Studies in 18th-, 19th-, and 20th-century techniques and styles through analysis and composition. Prerequisite: MUSI 3320 or instructor permission; Corequisite: MUSI 3332, 3334, or 3336, except for students who have already passed the exit test for MUSI 3336.
MUSI 4509 Cultural and Historical Studies
Topic: Pragmatist Aesthetics and Experimental Practices
Fred Maus
3.0 credits
Lecture: TR / 9:30-10:45 am / OCH 113
Class Number: 15342
The pragmatist aesthetics of John Dewey and Richard Shusterman; art and the everyday; music improvisation as therapy; the ideas and practices of John Cage, Pauline Oliveros, and the Fluxus artists. Lots of great reading. Class meetings will combine discussion and experiential work.
MUSI 4519 Critical Studies of Music
Topic: Global Electronic Music
Noel Lobley
3.0 credits
Lecture: MWF / 1:00-1:50 pm / OCH S008
Class Number: 19728
The possibilities for electronic music are limitless, connecting scenes, cities and histories for over one hundred years. Whether as mainstream as US EDM, or as underground as Japanoise, electronic music pulses in almost every city and town across the globe. In order to examine the social and cultural influences at play in the composition, circulation and performance of electronic music in global context, we critically engage with multiple musical examples, including: auto-tuned Afropop and pioneering film music, sonic art and distorted r’n’b, dubstep and remixology, as well as the sounds of military experiments, video games and global hip hop.
MUSI 4520 Critical Studies of Music
Topic: Systems for Play
Peter Bussigel
3.0 credits
Lecture: TR / 12:30-1:45 pm / OCH B012
Class Number: 21322
This is a course in experimental and systems-based approaches to art-making and performance. Drawing on concepts from music, intermedia, game design, theater, cybernetics, biology, ritual, and chance processes, we will explore the history of experimental performance and create our own scores, scripts, rules, and other systems for structuring play. Short projects serve both as prompts for art-making and opportunities to think critically and generatively about the systems with/in which we live. This is an intermedia course and students in all disciplines are welcome.
MUSI 4523 Issues in Ethnomusicology
Topic: The Human Voice
Nomi Dave
3.0 credits
Lecture: TR / 11:00-12:15 am / OCH S008
Class Number: 18603
The human voice is arguably the most complex and intimate sound we know. Our voices allow us to express who we are, to participate in society and politics, to speak, and to sing. In this class, we will consider the range, meanings, interpretations and aesthetics of vocal production, from shouts to whispers and growls to glissandos, from the individual voice of a mother to her child, to the collective voices of street protests and massed choirs. Our discussions will include examples of vocal music and sounds from the US and around the world, including various song traditions, expressive techniques, vocal disorders, voice disguisers, and the increasing prevalence of computer voices in our everyday lives.
MUSI 4535 Interactive Media
Topic: Mobile Interactive Computer Ensemble (MICE)
Peter Bussigel
3.0 credits
Lecture: MW / 5:00-6:15 pm / OCH B011
Class Number: 21323
Mobile Interactive Computer Ensemble (MICE) is an advanced seminar in composition, software programming and intermedia performance. The class explores the theoretical and practical aspects of composing and performing real-time interactive multimedia with computers. Emphasis is placed on gaining a deeper and more personal understanding of the possibilities of human-computer interaction in music and the arts. Students in the class form the Mobile Interactive Computer Ensemble (MICE) and create new works for the group to perform. Musicians are encouraged to join MICE, and this class meets a composition requirement for the Music Major. Creative and technology-oriented students from the other Arts Departments and Engineering are also encouraged to join the class as we will focus on intermedia approaches to live performance with technology.
MUSI 4559 Sound Synthesis and Control
Luke Dahl
3.0 credits
Lecture: TR / 3:30-4:45 pm / OCH B011
Class Number: TBA
Discussion Sections:
Section 101 (Turowski): T / 10:00-10:50 am / OCH B011
Class Number: TBASection 102 (Turowski): F / 2:00-2:50 pm / OCH B011
Class Number: TBA
In this course we will learn various techniques for synthesizing sound on a computer, and explore ways to control sound in real-time in order to create new performable musical instruments. Sound synthesis techniques will include subtractive and additive synthesis, amplitude and frequency modulation, granular synthesis, and spectral processing. We will build a number of simple instruments by programming in Max/MSP and using MIDI, touchscreens, and gestural sensing as input. And we will create short musical works using our new instruments.
MUSI 4710 Instrumental Conducting I
Kate Tamarkin
3.0 credits
Lecture: TR / 2:00-3:15 pm / OCH 113
Class Number: 15350
MUSI 4750 Choral Conducting I
Michael Slon
3.0 credits
Lecture: MW / 2:00-3:15 pm / OCH 107
Class Number: 18609
Studies in the basic technique and art of conducting, with weekly experience conducting repertoire with a small choral ensemble and instruments. Instruction will include mastery and understanding of beat patterns, basic hand/baton technique, elements of musical expression, and aural awareness, as well as an introduction to score study, aspects of the voice, and basic rehearsal techniques.
Prerequisite: basic musicianship and theory; sight-reading skills. Previous experience in a choral or instrumental ensemble is preferred. Interested students should consult with the instructor before registering, and instructor permission is required.
MUSI 4993: Independent Study
1.0 - 3.0 credits
Instructor permission and instructor number required to enroll.
Below is a listing of graduate-level classes offered for the Fall 2015 semester.
Fall 2015 Graduate Courses
MUSI 7511 Introduction to Research
Bonnie Gordon
3.0 credits
Lecture: T / 2:00-4:30 pm / OCH S008
Class Number: 11634
MUSI 7519 Current Studies in Research and Criticism
Fred Maus
3.0 credits
Lecture: R / 2:00-4:30 pm / OCH S008
Class Number: 14719
MUSI 7525 Topics in Ethnomusicology
Michelle Kisliuk
3.0 credits
Lecture: W / 2:00-4:30 pm / OCH S008
Class Number: 18612
MUSI 7543 Sound Studio
Ted Coffey
3.0 credits
Lecture: T / 5:00-7:30 pm / OCH B012
Class Number: 18613
MUSI 7559 Sound Syntheseis & Control
Topic: Composing & Intermedia
Peter Bussigel
3.0 credits
Lecture: R / 5:00-7:15 pm / OCH B011
Class Number: 20379
This graduate seminar is organized around questions related to composing and music-making within today’s rapidly changing technoculture. Using the concept of intermedia as a point of departure, we will examine how our field(s) and practices have evolved, explore the media structures within which we currently operate, and speculate about future trajectories in music composition, sound art, and performance.
The course format is designed to provide a weekly space and time for critical discussion about music & technology and to engage perspectives outside of our own practices. The first part of the semester is structured around short readings and participant-led presentations/discussions about other artists. The second half of the semester will bring these conversations to your own work—you will propose a project, present work-in-progress, and participate in constructive discussions and critiques informed by relevant readings/materials.
MUSI 7582 Composition
3.0 credits
MUSI 8820: Advanced Composition
3.0 credits
MUSI 8840: Advanced Composition
3.0 credits
MUSI 8910: Supervised Research
3.0 credits
Reading and/or other work in particular fields under supervision of an instructor. Normally taken by first-year graduate students.
MUSI 8920: Supervised Research
3.0 credits
MUSI 8960: Thesis
3.0 credits
MUSI 8993: Independent Study
1.0-3.0 credits
Independent study dealing with a specific topic. Requirements will place primary emphasis on independent research.
MUSI 8998: Non-topical Research
3.0-12.0 credits
MUSI 8999: Non-topical Research
3.0-12.0 credits
MUSI 9010: Directed Readings
3.0 credits
MUSI 9910: Supervised Research
3.0 credits
Reading and/or other work in particular fields under supervision of an instructor. Normally taken by second year graduate students.
MUSI 9920: Supervised Research
3.0 credits
MUSI 9940: Independent Research
3.0 credits
Research carried out by graduate student in consultation with an instructor.
MUSI 9998: Non-topical Research
3.0-12.0 credits
Preliminary research directed towards a dissertation in consultation with an instructor.
MUSI 9999: Non-topical Research
3.0-12.0 credits
For doctoral dissertation, taken under the supervision of a dissertation director.
Spring 2016 Undergraduate Courses
MUSI 1010 Introduction to Music
Peter D'Elia
3.0 credits
Lecture: TR / 11:00-11:50 pm / Maury 104
Class Number: 14570
Discussion Sections:
Section 101 (Tanner Greene): F / 12:00-12:50 pm / Maury 113
Class Number: 14571Section 102 (Tanner Greene): F / 1:00-1:50 pm / Maury 113
Class Number: 14572Section 103 (Tanner Greene): F / 2:00-2:50 pm / OCH S008
Class Number: 14573
What is the difference between music and sound? What did it feel like to listen to music in a world before car alarms and amplified sound? What were the technological equivalents of headphones and Spotify in previous centuries? When you hear Opera does it make you cringe or swoon? What does your favorite playlist reveal about your identity, your history? How can you listen more carefully and intentionally to your world? This class is designed to guide you towards answering these questions for yourselves. This class explores primarily Western music in various historical contexts. The class is rooted in the classical music canon. But it also explores the cultural biases implied by the very notion of a canon. We will learn new ways to hear a selection of pieces from the musical canon; listening to composition, improvisation, text-music relations, the representation of dramatic stories, the expression of religious ideas, and performance. We will also read what writers of the time said about music. We will get to know some pieces of music extremely well; the aural experience of reading a book until it’s binding has frayed.
MUSI 1310 Basic Musical Skills
3.0 credits
Lecture / Section 1 (Jeff Decker): MWF / 9:00-9:50 am / OCH 107
Class Number: 11576Lecture / Section 2 (Justin Mueller): MWF / 10:00-10:50 am / OCH 107
Class Number: 11576Lecture / Section 3 (Kevin Davis): MWF / 11:00-11:50 am / OCH 107
Class Number: 11574
Study of the rudiments of music and training in the ability to read music. Prerequisite: No previous knowledge of music required.
MUSI 1993 Independent Study
1.0 - 3.0 credits
Instructor permission and instructor number required to enroll.
MUSI 2070 Popular Music
Karl Miller
3.0 credits
Lecture: MW / 12:00-12:50 am / Maury 209
Class Number: 14998
Discussion Sections:
Section 101 (Kyle Chattleton): W / 9:00-10:50 / OCH S008
Class Number: 14999Section 102 (Kyle Chattleton): W / 10:00-10:50 / OCH S008
Class Number: 15000Section 103 (Kyle Chattleton): W / 11:00-11:50 / OCH S008
Class Number: 15001Section 104 (Victoria Clark): T / 9:30-10:20 / OCH S008
Class Number: 15002Section 105 (Victoria Clark): T / 11:00-11:50 / OCH S008
Class Number: 15003Section 106 (Victoria Clark): T / 12:30-1:20 / OCH S008
Class Number: 15004Section 107 (Justin Mueller): R / 9:00-9:50 / OCH B012
Class Number: 16151Section 108 (Justin Mueller): R / 12:30-1:20 / OCH 107
Class Number: 16152Section 109 (Justin Mueller): W / 1:00-1:50 / OCH 107
Class Number: 16153Section 110 (TBA): M / 9:00-9:50 / OCH S008
Class Number: 16365Section 111 (TBA): M / 10:00-10:50 / OCH S008
Class Number: 16366Section 112 (TBA): M / 11:00-11:50 / OCH S008
Class Number: 16367
Scholarly and critical study of music circulated through mass media. Specific topic for the semester (e.g. world popular music, bluegrass, country music, hip-hop, Elvis Presley) announced in advance. No previous knowledge of music required.
Love, fame and money; heartbreak, obscurity and the rise and fall of immense industries. Popular musics touch, move, drive and become almost everyone on the planet, and yet how do we study the songs and sounds we hear everywhere and everyday. What makes music popular? Why do we like music? What identities, values and messages do we share through popular music?
In this course we will connect a dizzying range of popular music genres –from rock to reggae, from global hip hop to country, from EDM to love ballads – tracing fascinating stories that inevitably link love and temptation, money and crime, dreams and death.
Our special topics will include a close look at global hip hop, global rock, and the rise and fall of the recording industries.
MUSI 2120 History of Jazz
Scott DeVeaux
3.0 credits
Lecture: TR / 11:00 am - 12:15 pm / Maury 209
Class Number: 11577
Discussion Sections:
Section 101 (Aldona Dye): M / 12:00-12:50 / Maury 113
Class Number: 11578Section 102 (Aldona Dye): M / 1:00-1:50 / Maury 113
Class Number: 11579Section 103 (Aldona Dye): M / 2:00-2:50 / OCH S008
Class Number: 11580Section 104 (Max Tfirn): T / 9:30-10:20 / OCH B012
Class Number: 11581Section 105 (Max Tfirn): T / 12:30-1:20 / OCH 107
Class Number: 11582Section 106 (Max Tfirn): W / 1:00-1:50 / OCH S008
Class Number: 11583Section 107 (Stephanie Gunst): F / 9:00-9:50 / OCH S008
Class Number: 11584Section 108 (Stephanie Gunst): F / 10:00-10:50 / OCH S008
Class Number: 11585Section 109 (Stephanie Gunst): F / 11:00-11:50 / OCH S008
Class Number: 11586
What is the soundscape of our quotidian (everyday) experience? How does it condition our consciousness, and what implicit cultural messages circulate within our ever-changing daily soundtracks? This course focuses our attention not on music highlighted in performance, but on that which we usually take for granted. A close look at how music works in our everyday lives can offer a new awareness of our ongoing experience, open us to choices we never thought we had, and get us wondering about the depths of aesthetic experience.
MUSI 2302 Keyboard Skills (Beginning)
2.0 credits, instructor permission
Lecture / Section 1 (Craig Comen): TR / 11:00 am - 12:15 pm / OCH 113
Class Number: 12223Lecture / Section 2 (Craig Comen): TR / 9:30-10:45 pm / OCH 113
Class Number: 14323
Introductory keyboard skills; includes sight-reading, improvisation, and accompaniment at the keyboard in a variety of styles. No previous knowledge of music required. Satisfies the performance requirement for music majors.
MUSI 2304 Keyboard Skills (Intermediate)
John Mayhood
2.0 credits, instructor permission
Lecture: TR / 12:30-1:45 am / OCH 113
Class Number: 12224
Intermediate keyboard skills for students with some previous musical experience. Satisfies the performance requirement for music majors. Restricted to: Instructor permission by audition.
MUSI 2306 Fretboard Harmony
Mike Rosensky
2.0 credits, Instructor Permission
Lecture: MWF / 1:00-1:50 / OCH B012
Class Number: 12225
The level of this course will vary, anywhere from beginning to advanced, each semester depending on the guitar experience of students who enroll. Students should contact Mike Rosensky (mlr5q@virginia.edu) during pre-registration letting him know of their interest in the course and of their intent to show up for the first class of the semester when the level and the make-up of the class will be ultimately determined.
In Fretboard Harmony a theory-based approach will be taken to understanding how musical materials (scales, arpeggios, chord voicings) "fit" on the guitar. The majority of class meeting time is spent with guitars in hand "drilling" new material. Practice methods will be explored, with an emphasis on learning how to practice effectively and efficiently.
MUSI 2340 Learn to Groove
Robert Jospe
2.0 credits
Lecture: MW / 10:00-10:50 am / OCH B018
Class Number: 13961
"Learn to Groove" hand drumming and rhythmic fluency with Robert Jospe. This is a hands on drumming/percussion class using congas, djembes, claves, shakers, etc. This class is designed to enhance ones knowledge of syncopated patterns associated with jazz, rock, African and Latin American music and to improve ones facility in playing these patterns. This course will follow my book "Learn To Groove" and can include music students, non music students and is open to students of all skill levels. The course requires that students have or purchase a hand drum of their own. Congas, bongos, djembes, doumbeks or any other hand drums are appropriate.
MUSI 2342 Learn to Groove Intermediate
Robert Jospe
2.0 credits
Lecture: MW / 11:00-11:50 am / OCH B018
Class Number: 15650
MUSI 2370 Making Rock
Ted Coffey
3.0 credits
Lecture: MW / 3:30-4:20 pm / OCH B012
Class Number: 19290
Discussion Sections:
Section 101 (Ryan Maguire): W / 11:00-11:50 / OCH B011
Class Number: 19291Section 102 (Ryan Maguire): W / 12:00-12:50 / OCH B011
Class Number: 19292Section 103 (Ryan Maguire): W / 1:00-1:50 / OCH B011
Class Number: 19293
An introduction to rock from the 1950's to the present, comprising musical, cultural and technological histories and compositional projects, informed by the points of view and poetic processes of their makers. The course is organized around musical and poetic foundations such as the backbeat, affect, control vs. abandon, distortion, production, the solo, and lyric innovation. Creative assignments involve producing musical expressions of rock.
MUSI 2600 Jazz Improvisation
John D'earth
3.0 credits
Lecture: TR / 3:30-5:00 pm / OCH B012
Class Number: 13080
The Jazz Improvisation Workshop explores the basic techniques and procedures for improvising in jazz and other musical contexts. No previous jazz or improvising experience is required but students must demonstrate a degree of fluency on their main instrument, an ability to read music and some familiarity with the basics of music theory. An individual interview/audition with the instructor is required before registering for this class.
MUSI 2700 Music and Politics
Nomi Dave
3.0 credits
Lecture: MW / 11:00-11:50 / Maury 104
Class Number: 19294
Discussion Sections:
Section 101 (Jarek Ervin): R / 9:30-10:20 / OCH S008
Class Number: 19350Section 102 (Jarek Ervin): R / 11:00-11:50 / OCH S008
Class Number: 19351Section 103 (Jarek Ervin): R / 12:30-1:20 / OCH S008
Class Number: 19352
Why do elections need election songs, militaries need marches, and activists need anthems? In this introductory course, we will explore the relationship of music and politics, from state-sponsored propaganda to explicit critique. Our aim is to understand the various ways in which music can be political, and politics can be shaped by music. We will consider examples from the US and around the world, including protest songs to and from South Africa, the marketing of Korean girl bands, and musical exchanges between West Africa and the United States. We will also discuss a number of key musical concepts across the course of the semester. No prior musical experience is necessary.
MUSI 2993: Independent Study
1.0 - 3.0 credits
Instructor permission and instructor number required to enroll.
MUSI 3030 Studies in Nineteenth-Century Music
Michael Puri
3.0 credits
Lecture: MW / 2:00-3:15 / OCH 113
Class Number: 19355
MUSI 3050 Music and Discourse
3.0 credits
Lecture / Section 1 (Karl Miller): MWF / 10:00-10:50 / OCH B012
Class Number: 11587Lecture / Section 2 (Fred Maus): MWF / 1:00-1:50 / OCH 113
Class Number: 15005
Studies the range of music that has flourished in the twentieth century, including modernist and post-modern art music, popular music, and world music, through historical, critical, and ethnographic approaches.
MUSI 3090 Performance in Africa
Michelle Kisliuk
4.0 credits
Seminar: T / 3:30-5:10 pm / OCH 107
Class Number: 14325
Lab Section:
Section 101 (Tracey Stewart): TR / 5:30-7:15 pm / OCH 107
Class Number: 14471
Explores performance in Africa through reading, discussion, audio and video examples, and hands-on practice. Tuesday afternoon (4:00-5:10) is the seminar meeting, then the course meets together on Tu/Thu the evening with African Music and Dance Ensemble.* Students in Music 3090 are automatically part of the current semester's UVA African Music and Dance Ensemble. Your role in the Ensemble as learner and performer is crucial to your overall work in the course (also see description for MUEN 3690).
We will explore African music/dance styles, their sociomusical circumstances and processes, as well as performed resistances and responses to the colonial and post/neo-colonial encounter. In addition, we will address the politics and processes involved in translating performance practices from one cultural context to another. Each student's personal relationship to the material/experience will be integrated into study.
Readings, discussions, and written work will focus heavily on topics and issues related to the main music/dance traditions that we are learning to perform this semester, though we may venture beyond those areas from time to time. The course will explore both "traditional" and "popular" styles, leading us to question those categories. As we near the end of the semester, our discussions will focus in part on issues and planning around our ensemble concert in April.
MUSI 3310 Theory I
3.0 credits
Lecture / Section 1 (Aaron Stepp): MWF / 11:00-11:50 / OCH B012
Class Number: 14574Lecture / Section 2 (Steven Lewis): MWF / 9:00-9:50 / OCH B012
Class Number: 15661
Studies pitch and formal organization in European concert music of the 18th and 19th centuries. Includes four-part vocal writing, 18th-century style keyboard accompaniment, key relations, and form. Students compose numerous short passages of music and study significant compositions by period composers.
MUSI 3320 Theory II
Fred Maus
3.0 credits
Lecture: MWF / 11:00-11:50 / OCH 113
Class Number: 11588
Studies pitch and formal organization in European concert music of the 18th and 19th centuries. Includes four-part vocal writing, 18th-century style keyboard accompaniment, key relations, and form. Students compose numerous short passages of music and study significan compositions by period composers.
MUSI 3332 and 3334 Musicianship I and II
2.0 credit
These lab courses give practical experience with many aspects of musical perception, performance, and creation. These will include sight-reading and sight-singing; dictation of melody, rhythm, and harmony; aural identification of intervals, chords, and rhythmic patterns; and exercises in musical memory and improvisation. Students entering the sequence take a test to determine the appropriate level of their first course. At the end of each course, students take a placement test to determine whether they may enter a higher level course. Courses may be repeated for credit, but each course may be counted toward the major only once.
MUSI 3332 Musicianship I
Lecture (Adam Carter): MWF / 12:00-12:50 pm / OCH 107
Class Number: 11590
MUSI 3334 Musicianship II
Lecture (Kristina Warren): MWF / 12:00-12:50 pm / OCH 113
Class Number: 11591
MUSI 3336 Musicianship III
Lecture (Christopher Luna): MWF / 12:00-12:50 pm / OCH B012
Class Number: 19295
MUSI 3380 Introduction to Composition
Judith Shatin
3.0 credits
Lecture: MW / 2:00-3:15 / OCH 107
Class Number: 19296
MUSI 3400 Ecoacoustics
Matthew Burtner
3.0 credits
Lecture: TR / 2:00-3:15 / OCH 107
Class Number: 14724
This course surveys the music and culture of Third Republic France (1870-1940). We will pay particular attention to the life and work of Debussy and Ravel, not only because of the sheer quality and historical influence of their music, but also because of its deep entanglement with the important trends of this period: Wagnerism, exoticism, symbolism, decadence, neoclassicism, the "guerre des chapelles" between rival musical factions, and jazz, among others.
Prerequisite: MUSI 3320 (Theory 2) or instructor permission.
MUSI 3559 Digital Arts & Crafts (New Course in Music)
Peter Bussigel
3.0 credits
Lecture: TR / 3:30-6:00 / B011
Class Number: 20958
Computer controlled laser cutters, desktop milling machines, micro-controllers, and DIY design tools have brought industrial production techniques to individuals. This is a course in experimenting with the possibilities that these tools afford artists and craftspeople, and exploring the thinking that emerges from these modes of making. Tuesday workshops will introduce topics like physical computing, digital fabrication, and basic electronics for working with light, sound, motion, and physical materials. Thursdays are reserved as open studio time where you can expand on workshop projects, experiment with your own designs, and collaborate with other students. There are no prerequisites and this course is open to everyone.
MUSI 3559 Cultural History of Recorded Muisc (New Course in Music)
Victor Szabo
3.0 credits
Lecture: TR / 11:00-12:15 / OCH B012
Class Number: 20962
This class explores how developments in sound reproduction technology have impacted musical culture in the Western world. Through a survey of historical literature, key recordings, and critical media theory, we will investigate the role of recorded music in history and everyday listening practices from the early 20th century to today. Some central questions include: How have music recordings and consumer audio electronics changed the ways people create and listen to music? What genres of musical practice have developed from these technologies? And what have been the cultural, social, and political effects of these changes? In addition to surveying relevant scholarship, students will learn the basics of digital music production, and undertake small individual research projects. No musical experience is required.
MUSI 3993 Independent Study
1.0-3.0 credits
Instructor permission and instructor number required to enroll.
MUSI 4510 Cultural and Historical Studies
Topic: American Jewish Popular Music
Joel Rubin
3.0 credits
Lecture: MW / 3:30-4:45 / OCH 107
Class Number: 19299
From klezmer and Yiddish theater to Yinglish comedy, Radical Jewish Culture, Orthodox popular music and Jewish hip hop, we will examine the emergence and development of dynamic popular musical forms among America’s Jewish communities over the past 125 years. Because of the increasingly global nature of a number of these musical styles, we will also reach beyond the American to the global over the course of the semester.
Dynamic changes since the late 1960s have brought forth a number of flourishing music genres which reflect and have impacted the direction of American Jews and beyond at the turn of the 21st century. Much of these represent the legacy of the popular American Jewish entertainment music and culture which began to emerge in the last quarter of the 19th century. The most visible of these genres is perhaps klezmer, which is arguably the most dynamic phenomenon in secular American Jewish music today, reaching far beyond its roots in medieval minstrelsy and Jewish ritual and into the sphere of both popular and art music and culture. In this course we will investigate why this seemingly archaic musical tradition is so appealing to post-war Americans and how its meaning and forms have been and continue to be transformed in the 21st century. Beyond klezmer, a number of other secular music movements have emerged in recent decades, most notably the Radical Jewish Culture Movement of New York’s Downtown music scene led by John Zorn since the early 90s. Religious Jewish popular music, too, has flourished since the 60s. All of these will be seen to be different ways of establishing an American Jewish identity via music. They have also had a profound effect on mainstream American popular culture, influencing popular television shows such as “Sex and the City,” and “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” films like “Dummy,” and musicians as diverse as Carlos Santana, Ray Charles, Madonna and Mare Winningham. In order to understand these contemporary developments, we will first look at the emergence of Jewish popular culture – especially the culture of Yiddish speakers – beginning in the mid-19th century, a movement which reached its zenith in the 1920s. We will concentrate on expressions of popular culture within the Jewish communities, but also look at intersections between the music and culture of the Jewish “subculture” and and that of the dominant American “superculture” (e.g. Al Jolson’s The Jazz Singer in the late 1920s, contemporary manifestations of Jewishness in mainstream popular music and culture).
This course counts towards the Music Major, the Jewish Studies major and minor, and fulfills the Second Writing Requirement. No prerequisites or musical literacy required.
MUSI 4520 Critical Studies of Music
Topic: Sound and Community
Bonnie Gordon
3.0 credits
Lecture: MW / 11:00-12:15 / OCH 113
Class Number: 15006
This service learning class is about the arts, Community engagement, and race relations in Charlottesville. It is designed for students participating in the Arts Mentors program or other community engagement programs. This course combines community engagement experiences with rigorous reading and writing assignments that will help students develop a deeper understanding of the troubled and often surprising relationship between the University and the wider Charlottesville community, from the history of Vinegar Hill, to Massive Resistance to school integration, to the complexity of venerating Thomas Jefferson for his tremendous accomplishments while fostering skepticism and criticism of his dangerous viewpoints. Students will engage with the overlapping themes of social justice, racial inequality and creative expression. The class will begin by reading Jefferson’s Notes on the State of Virginia and progressed through other texts in critical race theory, community engagement, ethnography, sound studies and Political Theory. Students will reflect each week on their community engagement work and will write a research paper designed to give context to their experience. Please note that the class is listed as MUSIC 4520—a music seminar. You do not have to be a music major to take this.
MUSI 4525 Topics in Ethnomusicology
Topic:Global Beats: from Talking Drums to Digital Turntables
Noel Lobley
3.0 credits
Lecture: TR / 9:30-10:45 / OCH 107
Class Number: 19301
Water drums, donkey jawbones, and digital slicing; Braindance, work songs and Javanese percussion orchestras. The organization, articulation and sharing of beats in communities can bring transcendence, ancestral communion, and political revolution.
Operating in the intersections between ethnomusicology, sound studies, and deep beat listening, in this course we seek to feel and understand what is communicated when an artist or community composes and moves rhythmically.
How do we listen to, feel, and appreciate the value of, for example, dubstep, Congotronics, and Brazilian samba? To find out, we trace the stories, rhythms and dances that link major global artists with ethnographic sounds, remixes and productions. We consider how, why and where beats evolve, slice, change and resonate through time, among people, and across continents.
No prior musical experience is required.
MUSI 4535 Interactive Media
Topic: Mobile Interactive Computer Ensemble (MICE)
Peter Bussigel
3.0 credits
Lecture: TR / 3:30-4:45 / OCH B011
Class Number: 19304
Mobile Interactive Computer Ensemble (MICE) is an advanced seminar in composition, software programming and intermedia performance. The class explores the theoretical and practical aspects of composing and performing real-time interactive multimedia with computers. Emphasis is placed on gaining a deeper and more personal understanding of the possibilities of human-computer interaction in music and the arts. Students in the class form the Mobile Interactive Computer Ensemble (MICE) and create new works for the group to perform. Musicians are encouraged to join MICE, and this class meets a composition requirement for the Music Major. Creative and technology-oriented students from the other Arts Departments and Engineering are also encouraged to join the class as we will focus on intermedia approaches to live performance with technology.
MUSI 4543 Sound Studio
Ted Coffey
3.0 credits
Lecture: MW / 5:00-5:50 / OCH B011
Class Number: 19305
Discussion Sections:
Section 101 (Eli Stine): T / 9:30-10:20 / OCH B011
Class Number: 19310Section 102 (Eli Stine): T / 11:00-11:50 / OCH B011
Class Number: 19311Section 103 (Eli Stine): T / 12:30-1:20 / OCH B011
Class Number: 19313
MUSI 4545 Computer Applications in Music - Making Audio Effects
Luke Dahl
3.0 credits
Lecture: TR / 5:00-6:15 / B011
Class Number: 16008
This course focuses on understanding and implementing audio effects and using them for musical projects. We will cover the signal processing involved in audio effects such as delay, reverb, chorus, flanger, distortion and compression, and we will implement these effects as Audio Unit plugins by programming in C/C++. We will emphasize the musical application of our designs, and as a final project students will have the opportunity to create a unique new effect that addresses their own musical goals. Previous programming experience is helpful but not required, as we will cover the necessary fundamentals.
MUSI 4559 Audiovisual Composition
Peter Bussigel
3.0 credits
Lecture: TR / 5:00-6:15 / B011
Class Number: 16008
MUSI 4720 Instrumental Conducting II
Kate Tamarkin
3.0 credits
Lecture: TR / 2:00-3:15 / OCH 113
Class Number: 15701
MUSI 4760 Choral Conducting II
Michael Slon
3.0 credits
Lecture: MW / 2:00-3:15 / OCH B012
Class Number: 19332
Continued studies in the art of conducting, with weekly experience conducting a small choral ensemble. Areas of study include further mastery of rehearsal technique, baton/hand technique, elements of expression (including facial expression and gestural variation), left hand facility, and aural awareness – and in conjunction, emphasis on a more advanced understanding of score study and analysis, score reading, and aspects of performance practice related to choral works selected from different genres and historical contexts. Instructor permission required. This class satisfies elective and/or performance credits for the music major.
MUSI 4993: Independent Study
1.0 - 3.0 credits
Instructor permission and instructor number required to enroll
Spring 2016 Graduate Courses
MUSI 7519 Current Studies in Research and Criticism
Bonnie Gordon
3.0 credits
Lecture: T / 2:00-4:30 pm / OCH S008
Class Number: TBA
MUSI 7525 Topics in Ethnomusicology: Applying Music, Art, and Practice
Noel Lobley
3.0 credits
Lecture: R / 2:00-4:30 pm / OCH S008
Class Number: TBA
What could music change, do and heal? By combining approaches from applied musicology, political music-making and medical ethnomusicology, we will trace the stories and intersections linking music, civil liberties, land ownership, health programmes, cultural entrepreneurship and global migration. Drawing on a wide range of applied global and local case studies, ranging from El Sistema to aboriginal songlines, and from Apple Music to Ugandan choirs combatting AIDS, we attempt to understand the active place and force of music and sound in the practical world today.
MUSI 7526 Topics in Ethnomusicology: Music & Pleasure
Nomi Dave
3.0 credits
Lecture: W / 2:00-4:30 pm / OCH S008
Class Number: 14329
Why do humans derive so much pleasure from music? What is the nature of musical emotion? Where does pleasure meet the political? This seminar explores anthropological and aesthetic approaches to these and other questions to understand the role of pleasure and the emotions in our musical and social lives. Using case-studies from the US and around the world, our discussions will include issues of work and play, morality and taboos, religious ecstasy, love and intimacy, the pleasures of sadness, and music as pain, as well as insights from music cognition and psychology in understanding how music affects us.
MUSI 7540 Computer Sound Generation and Spatial Processing
Luke Dahl
3.0 credits
Lecture: W / 5:00-7:30 /OCH S008
Class Number: 16154
MUSI 7559 Audiovisual Composition
Peter Bussigel
3.0 Credits
Lecture: TR / 3:30-6:00 / Makers Lab (Wilson Hall)
Class Number: TBA
MUSI 7583 Proseminar in Computer Music Composition
Judith Shatin
3.0 Credits
Lecture: M / 3:30-6:00 / OCH S008
Class Number: 19333
MUSI 7582 Composition
3.0 credits
MUSI 8820: Advanced Composition
3.0 credits
MUSI 8840: Advanced Composition
3.0 credits
MUSI 8910: Supervised Research
3.0 credits
Reading and/or other work in particular fields under supervision of an instructor. Normally taken by first-year graduate students.
MUSI 8920: Supervised Research
3.0 credits
MUSI 8960: Thesis
3.0 credits
MUSI 8993: Independent Study
1.0-3.0 credits
Independent study dealing with a specific topic. Requirements will place primary emphasis on independent research.
MUSI 8998: Non-topical Research
3.0-12.0 credits
MUSI 8999: Non-topical Research
3.0-12.0 credits
MUSI 9010: Directed Readings
3.0 credits
MUSI 9910: Supervised Research
3.0 credits
Reading and/or other work in particular fields under supervision of an instructor. Normally taken by second year graduate students.
MUSI 9920: Supervised Research
3.0 credits
MUSI 9940: Independent Research
3.0 credits
Research carried out by graduate student in consultation with an instructor.
MUSI 9998: Non-topical Research
3.0-12.0 credits
Preliminary research directed towards a dissertation in consultation with an instructor.
MUSI 9999: Non-Topical Research
3.0-12.0 credits
Preliminary research directed towards a dissertation in consultation with an instructor.
Summer 2016 Undergraduate Courses
Summer Session I
May 16 - June 11
MUSI 2559 / 3370 Song Writing
Ted Coffey
3.0 credits
Lecture: MTWRF / 1:00-3:15 pm / OCH B012
Class Number for MUSI 2559: 12285
Class Number for MUSI 3370: 12287
The goal of this course is to delve into songwriting; to develop your aural, analytic and creative abilities and to join them together in understanding and composing songs. You will learn about rhythm, melodic design, harmonic progression, lyrics and song forms. You will also work on eartraining, so that concepts you learn will be sonically meaningful. We will consider examples from a broad musical spectrum: blues, folk, tin pan alley, musicals, R & B, rock & roll, hip hop. We will also discuss the issues that songwriters encounter. You will have the opportunity to suggest songs for study, and some assignments will be done in groups. In these situations, we will organize groups that have complementary abilities for in-class performances. The Lab is a required part of the class, and you must sign up for a lab section. During the lab you will go over concepts we are covering in class, as well as work on additional eartraining, analysis and creative projects.
Summer Session II
June 13 - July 09
MUSI 2120 / 3120 History of Jazz
Topic: Hearing as Jazz Musicians Hear
John D'earth
3.0 credits
Lecture: MTWRF / 1:00-3:15 pm / OCH B012
Class Number for MUSI 2110: 10880
Class Number for MUSI 2110: 10881
An in-depth look at the way jazz musicians listen to music. What do they listen for? How do they use great jazz recordings to grow as musicians and improvisers? What skills are required to develop timing, phrasing, and musical creativity? The course will examine the recorded work of major jazz artists, explore the “inner hearing” of musicians with participatory exercises in rhythm, melody and movement, and demonstrate the processes by which jazz musicians master theory, musical structure, and their instruments. No previous jazz or musical experience necessary. Taught by jazz trumpeter and composer John D’earth (Buddy Rich, Lionel Hampton, Bruce Hornsby, Miles Davis/Quincy Jones, The Kronos String Quartet, Dave Matthews; D’earth’s career is documented in Oxford’s Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz by Leonard Feather and Ira Gitler).
MUSI 2350 / 4543 Technosonics: Digital Music & Sound Art Composition
Kristina Warren
3.0 credits
Lecture: MTWRF / 10:30-12:45 pm / OCH B012
Class Number for MUSI 2350: 12289
Class Number for MUSI 4543: 12290
What is computer music? How do we listen to this music? What does it mean to be a performer of computer music? This class will explore creation and performance of computer music, examining compositions by musicians such as Autechre, Delia Derbyshire, Paul Lansky, and Pamela Z. In addition, we will use software such as Finale, Reaper, and Max/MSP to create digital musical compositions using techniques of notation, synthesis, and mixing. Prerequisite: none.
Summer Session III
July 11 - August 5
MUSI 2070 / 4508 Popular Musics
Amy Coddington
3.0 credits
Lecture: MTWRF / 1:00-3:15 pm / OCH 113
Class Number for MUSI 2070: 12283
Class Number for MUSI 4508: 12284
This class explores the social and cultural significance of American popular music, focusing on the development of rock, pop, soul and hip-hop from 1955 to present. No previous musical knowledge is required. Topics for Summer 2016 include: popular music’s connection to race and class identity, the development of rock and soul in the 1960s and 1970s, how technology affects mainstream music, hip-hop and its questionable political promise, and the rise of EDM. Students at the 4000 level will complete projects appropriate to a major-level seminar.
MUSI 2559 / 4519 Contemplation, Sound and Music
Fred Maus
3.0 credits
Lecture: MTWRF / 10:30-12:45 pm / OCH 113
Class Number for MUSI 2559: 12286
Class Number for MUSI 4519: 12288
We will explore relations among contemplation, sound, and music, through topics such as soundscapes, mindfulness meditation, embodied responses to music, walking meditation and soundwalks, music therapy, trance states, and clubbing. Class meetings will include experiential work as well as discussion. For a detailed description of a related course taught in Fall 2014, visit http://opengrounds.virginia.edu/books.php and download the book Changing Views, which includes Fred Maus’s comments on the course and two student papers.
MUSI 2340 Learn to Groove
Robert Jospe
3.0 credits
Lecture: MTWRF / 1:00-3:15 pm / OCH B018
Class Number: 11007
Study of rhythmic patterns associated with rhythms from West Africa, the Caribbean, Brazil, and the United States, through hand drumming and theory. This is a hand drumming class open to all students including music majors. The course requires that students have a hand drum of their own as well as the course book Learn To Groove. Congas, djembes, doumbeks are recommended. The class will focus on simple hand drumming technique and time keeping along with understanding and playing syncopated patterns. The history, geography and artists associated with the rhythms presented in the course will be discussed.