2018-2019 Courses
Fall 2018 Academic Courses
MUSI 1310 Basic Musical Skills
3.0 credits
Lecture / Section 1 (Kevin Davis): MWF / 9:00-9:50 am / OCH 107
Class Number: 10521
Lecture / Section 2 (Heather Mease): MWF / 10:00-10:50 am / OCH 107
Class Number: 10522
Lecture / Section 3 (Kevin Davis): MWF / 11:00-11:50 am / OCH 107
Class Number: 10523
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 2010 Music, Meaning and the Arts
Michael Puri
3.0 credits
Lecture: TR / 11:00 am - 12:15 pm / OCH 107
Class Number: 18420
What does music signify, and how does it convey meaning? What cultural significance has it assumed in the West, and how has this changed over time? How does its collaboration with other arts inflect both its significance and its ability to signify?
This lecture course seeks to answer these questions in an inquiry that focuses on Western art music from about 1800 to the present. We will examine revolutionary works by artists such as Beethoven, Wagner, and Stravinsky, alongside equally groundbreaking texts by authors such as Nietzsche, Baudelaire, and Schoenberg. By the end of this course, you should be able to speak and write about music and its role in multimedia works with greater knowledge, fluency, and imagination. Further, you should know much more about the history of Western art and art music through a direct encounter with primary sources, both verbal and sonic. No prior musical experience is required or expected.
MUSI 2070 Popular Musics
Nick Rubin
3.0 credits
Lecture: MW / 9:00-9:50 am / Wilson 301
Class Number: 12352
Discussion Sections:
Section 101 (Savanna Morrison): T / 9:30-10:20 am / OCH S008
Class Number: 12353
Section 102 (Savanna Morrison): T / 10:30-11:20 am / OCH S008
Class Number: 12354
Section 103 (Savanna Morrison): T / 11:30 am - 12:20 pm / OCH S008
Class Number: 12355
Section 104 (Kerri Rafferty): R / 9:30-10:20 am / OCH S008
Class Number: 12563
Section 105 (Kerri Rafferty): R / 10:30-11:20 am / OCH S008
Class Number: 12564
Section 106 (Kerri Rafferty): R / 11:30 am - 12:20 pm / OCH S008
Class Number: 12565
Section 107 (Natalia Perez): F / 9:00-9:50 am / OCH S008
Class Number: 13172
Section 108 (Natalia Perez): F / 10:00-10:50 am / OCH S008
Class Number: 13173
Section 109 (Natalia Perez): F / 11:00-11:50 am / OCH S008
Class Number: 13174
MUSI 2302 Keyboard Skills (Beginning)
2.0 credits, instructor permission
Lecture / Section 1 (John Mayhood): TR / 11:00 am - 12:15 pm / OCH 113
Class Number: 10524
Lecture / Section 2 (John Mayhood): TR / 12:30-1:45 pm / OCH 113
Class Number: 11999
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: 12279
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 / 10:00-10:50 am / OCH B018
Class Number: 10973
Lecture / Section 2: MW / 11:00-11:50 am / OCH B018
Class Number: 12695
Lecture / Section 3: MW / 10:00-10:50 am / OCH B018
Class Number: 21958
"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
Michele Zaccagnini
3.0 credits
Lecture: MW / 11:00-11:50 am / Maury 209
Class Number: 11907
Discussion Sections:
Section 101 (Becky Brown): M / 9:00-9:50 am / New Cabell 268
Class Number: 11908
Section 102 (Becky Brown): M / 10:00-10:50 am / New Cabell 268
Class Number: 11909
Section 103 (Becky Brown): M / 1:00-1:50 pm / New Cabell 268
Class Number: 11910
Section 104 (Tim Booth): T / 9:30-10:20 am / New Cabell 268
Class Number: 11911
Section 105 (Tim Booth): T / 10:30-11:20 am / New Cabell 268
Class Number: 11912
Section 106 (Tim Booth): T / 11:30 am - 12:20 pm / New Cabell 268
Class Number: 11913
Section 107 (Tanner Greene): W / 9:00-9:50 am / New Cabell 268
Class Number: 11914
Section 108 (Tanner Greene): W / 10:00-10:50 am / New Cabell 268
Class Number: 11915
Section 109 (Tanner Greene): W / 1:00-1:50 am / New Cabell 268
Class Number: 11916
Section 110 (Omar Fraire): R / 12:00-12:50 pm / New Cabell 268
Class Number: 12055
Section 111 (Omar Fraire): R / 10:00-10:50 am / New Cabell 268
Class Number: 12056
Section 112 (Omar Fraire): R / 11:00 am - 11:50 am / New Cabell 268
Class Number: 12057
Section 113 (Juan Vasquez): F / 9:00-9:50 am / New Cabell 268
Class Number: 12788
Section 114 (Juan Vasquez): F / 10:00-10:50 am / New Cabell 268
Class Number: 12789
Section 115 (Juan Vasquez): F / 1:00-1:50 am / New Cabell 268
Class Number: 12790
This class (www.technosonics.info) 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 2450 Managing Anxiety and Improving Performance with Alexander Technique
Sandra Bain Cushman
1.0 credit
Lecture: R / 5:00-7:00 / OCH 107
Class Number: 20319
This course introduces and offers practical experience with the Alexander Technique. The Technique helps performers, people who suffer from anxiety and people who wish for a more fluid and friendly connection with everyday movement. It helps us to improve our public speaking, our musical and/or athletic performance, and to find a calmer more centered approach to the activities of everyday life.
The Technique has long been taught in universities, conservatories, and drama schools, and has been studied by notable writers, scholars and philosophers for over 100 years. People in all walks of life apply the Technique to improve performance and manage stress.
MUSI 2600 Jazz Improvisation
John D'earth
3.0 credits
Lecture: TR / 3:30-5:00 pm / OCH B012
Class Number: 11684
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 3010 Early Modern Music (1500-1700)
Bonnie Gordon
3.0 credits
Lecture: TR / 2:00-3:15 pm / OCH 113
Class Number: 18439
MUSI 3050 Music and Discourse
3.0 credits
Lecture / Section 1 (Fred Maus): MWF / 1:00-1:50 pm / OCH 113
Class Number: 12058
Lecture / Section 2 (Scott DeVeaux): MWF / 2:00-2:50 pm / OCH B012
Class Number: 18440
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 / 9:30-10:45 1m / OCH 107
Class Number: 18441
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 contexts from throughout the world, including Portuguese fado songs, rainforest soundscapes, and urban street dance in the U.S. We will consider in-depth the theories and methods involved in conducting research and writing about sound and music as social phenomena, 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, both from elsewhere and ‘at home’. Students will apply the methods we discuss in class in a final project on music-making and –listening in and around Charlottesville.
MUSI 3310 Theory I
3.0 credits
Lecture / Section 1 (Scott DeVeaux): MWF / 11:00-11:50 / OCH B012
Class Number: 10525
Lecture / Section 3 (Rami Stucky): MWF / 9:00-9:50 / OCH 113
Class Number: 10526
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 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 / Section 1 (Adam Carter): MWF / 12:00-12:50 pm / OCH 107
Class Number: 10528
Lecture / Section 2 (Aaron Stepp): MWF / 12:00-12:50 pm / OCH 113
Class Number: 10527
MUSI 3334 Musicianship II
Lecture (Sam Golter): MWF / 12:00-12:50 pm / OCH B012
Class Number: 12696
MUSI 3372 Writing Rap
A.D. Carson
3.0 credits
Lecture: TR / 9:30-10:45 / OCH B012
Class Number: 20301
This course focuses on the craft of writing raps. It is not necessary that students have previous experience writing raps to take this course. Students will listen to, attempt to deconstruct, and evaluate a broad range of rap music while learning the basics of composing lyrics. Along with writing raps, students will learn songwriting techniques and some theoretical approaches to composing larger works such as a “mixtape” or “album” through examinations of music, criticism, and literature.
MUSI 3380 Introduction to Composition
Leah Reid
3.0 credits
Lecture: TR / 12:30-1:45 / OCH 107
Class Number: 14333
Discussion Sections:
Section 101 (Alex Christie): M / 9:00-9:50 am / OCH B11
Class Number: 21871
Section 102 (Alex Christie): M / 10:00-10:50 am / OCH B11
Class Number: 21872
Section 103 (Alex Christie): M / 11:00-11:50 am / OCH B11
Class Number: 21873
This course explores compositional techniques in Western concert music of the 20th and 21st centuries. Students will explore and experiment with innovative approaches to harmony, rhythm, timbre, texture, and compositional form. We will improvise, listen to, analyze, and discuss new music and compositional techniques. The goal of this course is to expose you to multiple compositional techniques and let you experiment! Coursework will primarily focus on creative and composition exercises, as well as readings, listening, analyses, and short writing assignments. Students will learn to compose in varying styles and will apply their knowledge towards a final composition project.
Prerequisite: MUSI 3310. The course can be repeated for credit with approval of instructor.
MUSI 3410 Orchestration I: Orchestral Anatomy
Ben Rous
3.0 credits
Lecture: MW / 2:00-3:15 pm / OCH 113
Class Number: 20302
This course will examine the symphony orchestra in detail, equipping students with all necessary skills to arrange or compose for any ensemble. We will learn the capabilities of every orchestral instrument, and study how they are combined by master composers. Students will create arrangements for string quartet, woodwind quintet, and full orchestra. The majority of these projects will receive readings by ensembles.
Projects may be completed with notation software or may be handwritten. No previous composition or arranging experience is necessary, but fluency in musical notation and familiarity with the basics of music theory are required.
MUSI 3559 New Course in Music
3.0 credits
Lecture / Section 1 (Fred Maus): MW / 10:00-10:50 am / OCH 113
Class Number: 18442
Lecture / Section 2 (Fred Maus): W / 11:00-11:50 am / OCH 113
Class Number: 21662
Lecture / Section 1 (Michele Zaccagnini): R / 2:00-3:15 pm / New Cabell 268
Class Number: 18442
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: 10534
Studies in 18th-, 19th-, and 20th-century techniques and styles through analysis and composition. Prerequisite: MUSI 3320 or instructor permission.
MUSI 4509 Cultural and Historical Studies of Music
Peter D'Elia
3.0 credits
Lecture: TR / 3:30-4:45 pm / OCH 107
Class Number: 18460
MUSI 4519 Critical Studies of Music
Anna Nisnevich
3.0 credits
Lecture: T / 4:00-6:30 pm / OCH S008
Class Number: 12697
MUSI 4525 Topics in Ethnomusicology
Joel Rubin
3.0 credits
Lecture: TR / 11:00 am - 12:15 pm / OCH B012
Class Number: 18461
MUSI 4533 Advanced Musicianship
Michael Slon
3.0 credits
Lecture: MW / 2:00-2:50 pm / OCH 107
Class Number: 18462
MUSI 4540 Computer Sound Generation and Spatial Processing
Michele Zaccagnini
3.0 credits
Lecture: TR / 5:00-6:15 pm / OCH B011
Class Number: 18463
MUSI 4581 Composition I
Leah Reid
3.0 credits
Lecture: TR / 9:30-10:45 am / OCH B011
Class Number: 14329
An advanced undergraduate music composition course. Students will receive a combination of weekly individual lessons intermixed with monthly group sessions. The course will provide a forum for students to listen, discuss, workshop, develop, and explore inspirations, compositions, and ideas. Over the course of the semester, students are expected to compose a large-scale work or a series of smaller works for the instrumentation and in the style of their choosing (including electronics). Students are expected to make significant progress on their projects between lessons.
Note: individual lesson times may be scheduled outside the listed course times. Lesson times will be scheduled the first day of class.
Prerequisite: MUSI 3380 or permission from the instructor. The course can be repeated for credit with approval of the instructor. Students must be proficient with standard music notation software and have some prior experience composing.
MUSI 4600 Performance with Computers
Matthew Burtner
3.0 credits
Lecture: TR / 2:00-3:15 pm / OCH B011
Class Number: 13511
Lab: Ben Robertson / T / 3:30-4:30 pm / OCH B011
Class Number: 13512
The course teaches a blended approach to performance, composition and computer programming through the context of a computer music ensemble. Students from various backgrounds work collaboratively in a technological ensemble context while building skills in interactive media programming, sound art design and human-computer interaction. They explore a new way of making ensemble music in collaboration with interactive and networked computer systems.
MUSI 4620 Audio Visual Environments
Michele Zaccagnini
3.0 credits
Lecture: MW / 5:00-6:15 pm / OCH B011
Class Number: 22262
MUSI 4710 Instrumental Conducting I
Ben Rous
3.0 credits
Lecture: M / 3:15-5:45 pm / OCH 113
Class Number: 21525
Studies the theory and practice of conducting, score analysis, and rehearsal technique. Prerequisite: MUSI 3320 and instructor permission.
MUSI 4950 Performance Concentration Seminar
Daniel Sender
1.0 credit
Class Number: 20515
MUSI 4993: Independent Study
1.0 - 3.0 credits
Instructor permission and instructor number required to enroll
MUSI 7511 Introduction to Research in Music
Bonnie Gordon
3.0 credits
Lecture: W / 2:00-4:30 pm / OCH S008
Class Number: 10884
MUSI 7519 Current Studies in Research and Criticism
A.D. Carson
3.0 credits
Lecture: T / 2:00-4:30 pm / New Cabell 398
Class Number: 13513
MUSI 7526 Topics in Ethnomusicology
Nomi Dave
3.0 credits
Lecture: R / 2:00-4:30 pm / OCH S008
Class Number: 18477
MUSI 7540 Computer Sound Generation and Spatial Processing
Heather Frasch
3.0 credits
Lecture: R / 5:00-7:30 pm / OCH B011
Class Number: 20262
MUSI 7547 Materials of Contemporary Music
Leah Reid
3.0 credits
Lecture: W / 2:00-4:30 /OCH B011
Class Number: 14330
Spring 2019 Academic Courses
MUSI 1310 Basic Musical Skills
3.0 credits
Lecture / Section 1 (Sam Golter): MWF / 9:00-9:50 am / OCH 107
Class Number: 10699
Lecture / Section 2 (Kevin Davis): MWF / 10:00-10:50 am / OCH 107
Class Number: 10698
Lecture / Section 3 (Beck Brown): MWF / 11:00-11:50 am / OCH 107
Class Number: 10700
Study of the rudiments of music and training in the ability to read music. Prerequisite: No previous knowledge of music required.
MUSI 2070 Popular Music
Nick Rubin
3.0 credits
Lecture: MW / 12:00-12:50 pm / Maury 209
Class Number: 12285
Discussion Sections:
Section 101 (Tim Booth): T / 9:30-10:20 am / OCH S008
Class Number: 12286
Section 102 (Tim Booth): T / 11:00-11:25 am / OCH S008
Class Number: 12287
Section 103 (Tim Booth): T / 12:30-1:20 pm / OCH S008
Class Number: 12288
Section 104 (Natalia Perez): R / 9:30-10:20 am / OCH S008
Class Number: 12289
Section 105 (Natalia Perez): R / 11:00-11:50 am / OCH S008
Class Number: 12290
Section 106 (Natalia Perez): R / 12:30-1:20 pm / OCH S008
Class Number: 12291
Section 107 (Ben Robertson): T / 9:30-10:20 am / OCH B012
Class Number: 12596
Section 108 (Ben Robertson): T / 2:00-2:50 pm / OCH B012
Class Number: 12597
Section 109 (Ben Robertson): F / 12:30-1:20 pm / OCH 107
Class Number: 12598
MUSI 2080 American Music
Nick Rubin
3.0 credits
Lecture: MW / 12:00-12:50 pm / Wilson 301
Class Number: 19570
Discussion Sections:
Section 101 (Savanna Morrison): M / 9:00-9:50 am / OCH S008
Class Number: 19572
Section 102 (Savanna Morrison): M / 10:00-10:50 am / OCH S008
Class Number: 19573
Section 103 (Savanna Morrison): M / 11:00-11:50 am / OCH S008
Class Number: 19574
Section 104 (Kerri Rafferty): W / 9:00-9:50 am / OCH S008
Class Number: 19575
Section 105 (Kerri Rafferty): W / 10:00-10:50 am / OCH S008
Class Number: 19576
Section 106 (Kerri Rafferty): W / 11:00-11:50 am / OCH S008
Class Number: 19577
MUSI 2302 Keyboard Skills (Beginning)
2.0 credits, instructor permission
Lecture / Section 1 (Hanna Young): TR / 11:00 am - 12:15 pm / OCH 113
Class Number: 11074
Lecture / Section 2 (Hanna Young): TR / 9:30-10:45 am / OCH 113
Class Number: 12027
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 pm / OCH 113
Class Number: 11075
Intermediate keyboard skills for students with some previous musical experience. Satisfies the performance requirement for music majors. Restricted to: Instructor permission by audition.
MUSI 2340 Learn to Groove
Robert Jospe
2.0 credits
Lecture: MW / 10:00-10:50 am / OCH B018
Class Number: 11889
"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: 12490
"Learn to Groove" hand drumming and rhythmic fluency with Robert Jospe. This is the intermediate level of the class. It 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.
MUSI 2450 Managing Anxiety and Improving Performance with Alexander Technique
Sandra Bain Cushman
1.0 credit
Lecture: T / 3:30-5:30 / OCH 107
Class Number: 14524
This course introduces and offers practical experience with the Alexander Technique. The Technique helps performers, people who suffer from anxiety and people who wish for a more fluid and friendly connection with everyday movement. It helps us to improve our public speaking, our musical and/or athletic performance, and to find a calmer more centered approach to the activities of everyday life.
The Technique has long been taught in universities, conservatories, and drama schools, and has been studied by notable writers, scholars and philosophers for over 100 years. People in all walks of life apply the Technique to improve performance and manage stress.
MUSI 2600 Jazz Improvisation
John D'earth
3.0 credits
Lecture: TR / 3:30-5:00 pm / OCH B012
Class Number: 11511
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 3020 Studies in 17th- & 18th-Century Music
Richard Will
3.0 credits
Lecture: TR / 11:00 am - 12:15 pm / OCH 107
Class Number: 13063
This class imparts essential tools for understanding music from the years 1680-1800. We will study numerous musical examples, ranging from symphony and opera to folk song and free improv for keyboard, by composers including but not limited to Handel, Haydn, Vivaldi, De la Guerre, Mozart, Gluck, and J.S. Bach (and his kids). We will examine composition, improvisation, text-setting, dramatic staging, the religious expression, and performance, and we will also read what writers of the time said about music. The goal is to help you form your own opinions and interpretations of 18th-century music—not just the examples on the syllabus, but the many others you may encounter as a performer, composer, or listener.
MUSI 3040 Studies in 20th-Century Music
Joel Rubin
3.0 credits
Lecture: TR / 11:00 am - 12:15 pm / OCH B012
Class Number: 13459
Want to learn why people were beating each other up in the aisles at the premiere of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring? Why Schoenberg’s music is still avant-garde over a century after it’s creation? How the Jazz Age influenced classical music and vice versa? How folk and world musical traditions influenced classical music? What happened to the music under totalitarian regimes? How art movements like Dadaism and Minimalism influenced the direction of music? Why Boulez declared Schoenberg to be dead, and why he and his colleagues were later termed “fascists”? How did post-war music and electronic influence the Beatles and other pop musicians, and how did pop music and jazz feed into the development of minimalism? What is the place of women, and African-American and other minority composers in contemporary music? How did improvisation and Zen Buddhism influence John Cage and other post-war composers? Is John Zorn’s music classical, jazz or something else? And how on earth did Cage land a spot on “I’ve Got a Secret” or the US Navy band end up performing arrangements of Zorn? We cover that and more!
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
3050 Music and Discourse
Tanner Greene
3.0 credits
Lecture: MWF / 10:00-10:50 am / OCH B012
Class Number: 10701
Studies the range of music that has flourished since the end of the 19th century including modernist and post-modern art music, popular music, and world music, through historical, critical, and ethnographic approaches. Prerequisite: The ability to read music, or any three-credit course in music, or instructor permission.
3070 Introduction to Musical Ethnography
Nomi Dave
3.0 credits
Lecture: TR / 9:30-10:45 am / Rotunda Room 150
Class Number: 18444
3120 Jazz Studies
Scott DeVeaux
3.0 credits
Lecture: MWF / 11:00-11:50 am / OCH B012
Class Number: 13460
MUSI 3310 Theory I
Heather Mease
3.0 credits
Lecture: MWF / 9:00-9:50 am / OCH B012
Class Number: 12494
Studies the pitch and rhythmic aspects of several musical styles, including European art music, blues, African drumming, and popular music. Focuses on concepts and notation related to scales and modes, harmony, meter, form, counterpoint, and style. Prerequisite: Ability to read music, and familiarity with basic concepts of pitch intervals and scales.
MUSI 3320 Theory II
Aaron Stepp
3.0 credits
Lecture: MWF / 11:00-11:50 am / OCH 113
Class Number: 13064
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.
Prerequisite: MUSI 3310 or instructor permission.
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 meet with the instructor during the first class period of the semester to determine the appropriate level of their first course. Courses may be repeated for credit, but each course may be counted toward the major only once.
MUSI 3332 Musicianship I
Adam Carter
Lecture: MWF / 12:00-12:50 pm / OCH 107
Class Number: 10702
MUSI 3334 Musicianship II
Rebecca Brown
Lecture: MWF / 12:00-12:50 pm / OCH S008
Class Number: 10703
MUSI 3374 Composing Mixtapes
A.D. Carson
3.0 credits
Lecture: TR / 11:00 am - 12:15 pm / New Cabell 398
Class Number: 20450
Lab (Rami Stucky): TR / 12:30-1:20 / New Cabell 398
Course Number: 20451
This course focuses on the craft of writing rap songs as well as the collection, selection, and integration of other media to collaborate toward the composition of a class mixtape. Experience writing raps or producing beats will be helpful, but it is not necessary that students have previous experience to take this course. Students will listen to, attempt to deconstruct, create, and evaluate a broad range of music and literature while collaborating on the mixtape. Along with composing the mixtape, students will learn songwriting techniques and some alternate theoretical approaches to composing other hip-hop works.
MUSI 3390 Introduction to Music and Computers
Leah Reid
3.0 credits
Lecture: TR / 12:30-1:45 pm / OCH B012
Class Number: 14038
Discussion Sections:
Section 101 (Alex Christie): W / 9:00-9:50 am / OCH B011
Class Number: 19914
Section 102 (Alex Christie): W / 10:00-10:50 am / OCH B011
Class Number: 19915
Section 103 (Alex Christie): W / 11:00-11:50 am / OCH B011
Class Number: 19916
Introduction to Music and Computers is 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 music via digital technologies. Theoretical and practical topics include acoustics, recording, editing and mixing, MIDI, sound synthesis, and audio DSP. Students learn a host of skills and technologies useful for working with digital audio.
3390 fulfills the composition requirement of the Music Major. This is a composition class and key assignments are creative in nature. Note that you MUST register for the Lab (0 credits) as well as the course.
MUSI 3395 Sonic Arts and Crafts
Heather Frasch
3.0 credits
Lecture: TR / 2:00-3:15 pm / Wilson Hall Makers Space
Class Number: 20435
MUSI 3559 Learn to Groove Advanced
Robert Jospe
3.0 credits
Lecture: MW / 1:00-1:50 / OCH B018
Class Number: 20082
MUSI 3993 Independent Study
1.0-3.0 credits
Instructor permission and instructor number required to enroll.
MUSI 4060 Women & Music
Elizabeth Ozment
3.0 credits
Lecture: MW / 2:00-3:15 pm / OCH B012
Class Number: 20449
4410 Orchestration II
Ben Rous
3.0 credits
Lecture: MW / 2:00-3:15 pm / OCH 113
Class Number: 20448
This course examines the evolution of orchestral music through the lens of tone color and its increasing primacy in musical aesthetics. We will study the evolving styles of orchestration, from the Classical era through present-day Spectralism. In the process we will familiarize ourselves with a series of orchestral masterworks spanning these eras. Styles will be studied through emulation: students will create short orchestrations in the style of composers such as Beethoven, Brahms, Ravel, and Saariaho. Close students will be able to select orchestral works, and composers, they are interested in studying in detail. Students may be asked to bring instruments to class for demonstration purposes.
Prerequisite: Orchestration I, or instructor permission. It is expected that students will have some composition or arranging experience, or some knowledge of orchestral repertoire.
Prerequisite: Orchestration I or instructor permission.
4507 Composers
Michael Puri
3.0 credits
Lecture: TR / 11:00-12:15 pm
Class Number: 19909
4509 Cultural and Historical Studies of Music
Anna Nisnevich
3.0 credits
Lecture: MW / 3:30-4:45 pm / OCH B012
Class Number: 18445
4523 Issues in Ethnomusicology
Noel Lobley
3.0 credits
Lecture: MW / 2:00-3:15 pm
Class Number: 13465
4526 Topics in Ethnomusicology
Nomi Dave
3.0 credits
Lecture: TR / 2:00-3:15 pm / New Cabell 283
Class Number: 18447
MUSI 4547 Materials of Contemporary Music: Undergraduate Seminar on Timbre
Leah Reid
3.0 credits
Lecture: TR / 9:30-10:45 am / OCH B011
Class Number: 14039
Materials of Contemporary Music: Undergraduate Seminar on Timbre, is a composer oriented course which focuses on the analysis and application of techniques primarily concerned with timbre or tone color. We will examine music of the last century and observe how composers and researchers have approached timbre. An emphasis is placed on creative hands-on experience. Students will learn skills in analyzing, orchestrating, resynthesizing, and composing with timbre. Timbre will be used as a catalyst to explore pitch, time, space, perception, and color. Assignments will be creative in nature and will apply concepts explored in the course.
MUSI 4559 New Course in Music
Michele Zaccagnini
3.0 credits
Lecture: MW / 3:30-4:45 pm / OCH 107
Class Number: 18448
4582 Composition II
Leah Reid
3.0 credits
Lecture: W / 2:00-4:30 pm / OCH B011
Class Number: 14040
Composition 2 is an advanced undergraduate music composition course. Students will receive a combination of weekly individual lessons intermixed with monthly group sessions. The course will provide a forum for students to listen, discuss, workshop, develop, and explore inspirations, compositions, and ideas. Over the course of the semester, students are expected to compose a large-scale work or a series of smaller works for the instrumentation and in the style of their choosing (including electronics).
Note: individual lesson times may be scheduled outside the listed course times. Lesson times will be scheduled the first day of class.
Prerequisite: MUSI 3380, 3390, or permission from the instructor. Students are expected to have some prior composition experience and must be proficient with standard music notation. The course can be repeated for credit.
4610 Sound Synthesis and Control: Designing New Musical Instruments
Luke Dahl
3.0 credits
Lecture: MW / 2:00-3:15 / Wilon Hall Makers Space
Class Number: 13466
New Interfaces for Musical Expression (NIME) is a field that explores new ways of performing music with technology. NIME is interdisciplinary, incorporating perspectives from music, sculpture, engineering, human-computer interaction (HCI), and design. In this class we will learn the basic skills needed to design and build new musical instruments. We will implement real-time digital sound synthesis algorithms using the PureData visual programming language, which will run on the Bela embedded audio system. And we will use electronics sensors to measure user’s gestures as input data. The class is primarily project based, and we will prototype a number of new musical instruments and interactions. Students are expected to have experience using computers for music-making, such as MUSI 3390 or MUSI 2350, and experience with PureData or Max is highly desirable.
MUSI 4620 Audio Visual Environments
Michele Zaccagnini
3.0 credits
Lecture: TR / 11:00 am - 12:15 pm / OCH B011
Class Number: 18449
This is a course in audiovisual composition and time-based new media. Over the course of the semester, you will create fixed video pieces, learn interactive & real-time audiovisual techniques, and explore sculptural & networked approaches to combining sound and light.
4720 Instrumental Conducting II
Ben Rous
3.0 credits
Lecture: MW / 12:00-1:15 pm / OCH 113
Class Number: 12499
This course is designed to continue the progress of students on the path toward mastering all requisite skills necessary to be an effective instrumental conductor. Score study and preparation will form the backbone of the course. The physical technique of conducting will be analyzed and practiced. Students will continue to develop their own voice as concert programmers, and will hone their inner ear and musical ideation.
Prerequisite: Instrumental Conducting I, or instructor permission
MUSI 4950 Performance Concentration Seminar
Daniel Sender
1.0 credit
Class Number: 14427
MUSI 4993: Independent Study
1.0 - 3.0 credits
Instructor permission and instructor number required to enroll
MUSI 7510 Cultural and Historical Studies of Music
Scott DeVeaux
3.0 credits
Lecture: M / 2:00-4:30 pm / OCH S008
Class Number: 13469
MUSI 7520 Current Studies in Research and Criticism
Michael Puri
3.0 credits
Lecture: R / 2:00-4:30 pm / OCH S008
Class Number: 13469
MUSI 7524 Fiend Research and Ethnography of Performance
Michelle Kisliuk
3.0 credits
Lecture: W / 2:00-4:30 pm / OCH S008
Class Number: 18451
MUSI 7540 Computer Sound Generation and Spatial Processing
Topic: Digital Signal Processing for Musicians
Luke Dahl
3.0 credits
Lecture: M / 5:00-7:30 /OCH B011
Class Number: 14692
As musicians and composers we frequently use software tools to modify digital sound. Our ability to effectively deploy these techniques can be improved by understanding what digital sound is, how sounds are changed by these processes, and how they work “under the hood.” Audio Digital Signal Processing (DSP) may seem like technical wizardry, but in this class we will begin to demystify the processes and terms. What is the frequency domain and why is it important? How does a Fourier Transform work? What is a filter, how is one built, and why do some of them have poles? Etc. The class will be both hands-on (we will be analyzing and modifying sounds by writing code in Matlab), and theoretical (which may require re-acquainting yourself with some math).
MUSI 7584 Proseminar in Computer Music Compostion
Michele Zaccagnini
3.0 credits
Lecture: T / 2:00-4:30 pm / OCH S008
Class Number: 18451