Department of Music

Fall 2022 Undergraduate Courses

MUSI 1310 Basic Musical Skills

Ben Rous
3.0 credits
MWF / 10:00-10:50 am / OCH 107
Class Number: 10691

Study of the rudiments of music and training in the ability to read music. Prerequisite: No previous knowledge of music required.

MUSI 2110 Listening to Everyday Life: Community, Improvisation, Play(ing)

Michelle Kisliuk
3.0 credits
MW / 2:00-3:15 / Maury 115
Class Number: 19594

This course starts with the idea that engaging interactively -- honing our ability to listen (as most broadly defined) sets us up to be involved fully in the life around us. Listening and reflecting on daily experience, then applying that refined sensibility, leads us into interactive communities that can create things together. We will explore listening in daily life from many angles that include everyday field research, reading, writing, and discussion. We will experiment with group performance exploring ideas about improvisation and uniting the aesthetic sphere with the broader sphere of social life and collective engagement.

MUSI 2302 Keyboard Skills (Beginning)

2.0 credits, instructor permission

Section 1 (John Mayhood): TR / 11:00 am - 12:15 pm / OCH 113
Class Number: 10693

Section 2 (Hannah Young): TR / 12:30-1:45 pm/ OCH 113
Class Number: 11674

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 2307 Play Guitar! 1

Mike Rosensky
2.0 credits
MW / 1:00-1:50 pm / OCH B012
Class Number: 13624

Fundamentals of playing guitar, with an emphasis on rhythmic training along with some music theory.  This class will start from scratch and is meant for beginners.  Experienced guitarists are encouraged to enroll in Level 2 which will be offered in the spring.

MUSI 2308 Voice Class

Pamela Beasley
2.0 credits
MW / 4:00-4:50 pm / OCH 107
Class Number: 13627

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

Section 1: MW / 10:00-10:50 am / Hunter Smith Band Building
Class Number: 12959

Section 2: MW / 11:00-11:50 am / Hunter Smith Band Building
Class Number: 12960

"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
MW / 1:00-1:50 pm / Hunter Smith Band Building
Class Number: 12961

"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 2350 Technosonics: Digital Music and Sound Art Composition

Luke Dahl
3.0 credits
Section 100: MW / 11:00-11:50 am
Class Number: 13465

Discussion Sections:

Section 101 (Katie King): M / 9:00-9:50 am / CAB 268
Class Number: 13466

Section 102 (Katie King): M / 10:00-10:50 am / CAB 268
Class Number: 13467

Section 103 (Katie King): M / 1:00-1:50 pm / CAB 268
Class Number: 13468

Section 104 (Becky Brown): T / 11:00-11:50 am / CAB 268
Class Number: 13469

Section 105 (Becky Brown): T / 12:00-12:50 pm / CAB 268
Class Number: 13470

Section 106 (Varun Kishore): T / 1:00-1:50 pm / CAB 268
Class Number: 13471

Section 107 (Becky Brown): W / 9:00-9:50 am / CAB 268
Class Number: 13472

Section 108 (Becky Brown): W / 10:00-10:50 am / CAB 268
Class Number: 13473

Section 109 (Becky Brown): W / 1:00-1:50 pm / CAB 268
Class Number: 13474

Section 113 (Siavash Mohebbi): F / 10:00-10:50 am / MEC 215
Class Number: 18659

Section 114 (Siavash Mohebbi): F / 11:00-11:50 am/ MEC 215
Class Number: 18660

Section 115 (Siavash Mohebbi): F / 12:00-12:50 pm/ MEC 215
Class Number: 18661

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 2559 New Course in Music
Topic: Motown vs Everybody: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

JoVia Armstrong
3.0 credits
MW / 11:00-11:50 / CAB 485
Class Number: 21247

Discussion Sections:

Section 101 (Carlehr Swanson): R / 9:30-10:20 am / OCH S008
Class Number: 21248

Section 102 (Carlehr Swanson): R / 10:30-11:20 am / OCH S008
Class Number: 21249

Section 103 (Carlehr Swanson): R / 11:30 am - 12:20 pm / OCH S008
Class Number: 21250

This course reviews the history of Motown Recording Company beginning with the Great Migration and examines how Motown helped shape today’s record industry. We will explore topics around artist social responsibility, law, mental health, and technology. Students will also compare how black social movements influenced and reflected the music of Motown, Stax Records, and Philadelphia International Records.

MUSI 2600 Jazz Improvisation

John D'earth
3.0 credits
TR / 3:30-5:00 pm / OCH B012
Class Number: 11474

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
TR / 11:00 am - 12:15 pm / OCH B012
Class Number: 14325

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 3050 Music and Discourse

3.0 credits

Section 1: Scott DeVeaux / MWF / 1:00-1:50pm / OCH 113
Class Number: 13049

Section 2: Karl Miller / MWF / 10:00-10:50am / OCH B012
Class Number: 18323

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.

MUSI 3310 Theory I

3.0 credits

Section 1 (Scott DeVeaux): MWF / 11:00-11:50 am / OCH B012
Class Number: 13478

Section 2 (Sam Golter): MWF / 10:00-10:50 am / OCH 113 
Class Number: 13676

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.

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. Lectures, dictations, exercises, and quizzes will be in person on Mondays and Wednesdays. Singing and rhythm practice will be online on Fridays, and most homework assignments will also be completed online. Please contact Prof. Adam Carter with questions or concerns.

MUSI 3332 Musicianship I

Adam Carter
MWF / 12:00-12:50 pm / OCH 107
Class Number: 10694

MUSI 3334 Musicianship II

Dilshan Weerasinghe
MWF / 12:00-12:50 pm / OCH B012
Class Number: 12011

MUSI 3350 Deep Listening

Fred Maus
1.0 credit
W / 11:00-11:50 am / OCH 113
Class Number: 13518

Exploration of collective activities that involve listening and making sound together, and other interactions, at the intersection of music-making and contemplative practices, drawing on the work of Pauline Oliveros, the Fluxus artists, and other musicians and thinkers. Weekly reading assignments for conceptualization in relation to the experiential component; weekly email responses to readings along with several brief reflective papers.

MUSI 3370 Songwriting

Corey Harris
3.0 credits
TR / 2:00-3:15 pm / OCH 113
Class Number: 13479

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.

MUSI 3372 Writing Rap

A.D. Carson
3.0 credits
TR / 8:00-9:15 am / New Cabell 398
Class Number: 13623

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

Michele Zaccagnini
3.0 credits
Lecture: TR / 9:30-10:45 am / OCH 107
Class Number: 18675

Discussion Sections:

Lab 101 (Brian Lindgren): W / 9:00-9:50 am / OCH B011
Class Number: 20078

Lab 102 (Brian Lindgren): W / 10:00-10:50 am / OCH B011
Class Number: 20079

Lab 103 (Brian Lindgren): W / 11:00-11:50 am / OCH B011
Class Number: 20080

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 3390 Introduction to Computers and Music

Michele Zaccagnini
3.0 credits
TR / 11:00-12:15 am / OCH 107
Class Number: 18676

Discussion Sections:

Lab 101 (Matias Vilaplana): M / 9:00-9:50 am / OCH B011
Class Number: 14329

Lab 102 (Matias Vilaplana): M / 10:00-10:50 am / OCH B011
Class Number: 14330

Lab 103 (Matias Vilaplana): M / 11:00-11:50 am / OCH B011
Class Number: 14331

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 topics include acoustics, recording, digital audio, MIDI, sound synthesis, and audio DSP. Students learn skills in sound-file editing, multitrack sound mixing, sound synthesis, and sound processing. This is a composition class and key assignments are creative in nature.

Prerequisite: MUSI 3310. The course can be repeated for credit with approval of instructor.

MUSI 3410 Orchestration I: Anatomy of the Orchestra

Ben Rous
3.0 credits
MWF / 11:00-11:50 am / OCH 107
Class Number: 18669

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 3510 Music and Community Engagement
Topic: Sound Justice as Community Engagement

Bonnie Gordon and Nomi Dave
3.0 credits
TR / 9:30-10:45 am / Wilson 117
Class Number: 18674

This yearlong community engagement class explores connections between sound, listening, and the law. How do legal proceedings play out in sound? What does the law hear – and what does it not? How do artists and ordinary people use voice to respond to legal failures? In exploring these and other questions, student will directly engage with the Sound Justice Lab and its ongoing projects, relating to issues such as reproductive justice, defamation lawsuits against journalists, gender equity and refugees, and the use of rap lyrics as criminal evidence. Students will meet with lawyers, artists, and social justice practitioners in Charlottesville and beyond, and will have the opportunity to produce research and creative work. Course materials will include court cases and transcripts, music, film, novels, and academic articles.  The class can be used to fulfill the music major requirements but musical experience is not necessary.

This is a year-long course through the College’s Civic & Community Engagement Program. Students are not permitted to enroll for just one semester.

MUSI 3559 New Course in Music
Topic: History of US Popular Music

Karl Miller
3.0 credits
MW / 2:00-3:15 pm / OCH B012 
Class Number: 18671

MUSI 3570 Music Cultures
Topic: Curating Sound: Art, Ethnography, and Community Practice

Noel Lobley
3.0 credits
MW / 2:00-3:15 pm / Bond 106
Class Number: 14253

This practical and discovery-driven design course explores the intersections of curatorial practice, sound studies, ethnography, composition, sound art, and community arts practice, through a series of engagements linking archival collections, local and international artists and art and community spaces, and the method and philosophies of embodied and experiential deep listening. Drawing from both the histories and potential affordances of sound curation we engage with practical examples ranging from sub-Saharan Africa to Australia, from Europe to New York, and right back here to the Charlottesville and UVA communities, asking what it means to curate local sound within globalized arts circuits. We will explore multiple and diverse case studies where artists, curators, communities, industries and institutions have both collaborated and clashed, as we ask whether it is desirable or even possible to curate the elusive, invasive and ephemeral object, medium and experience of sound.

Throughout the entire course we will be working closely with professional artists and curators most notably Around HipHop Live Café and the Black Power Station based in Makhanda, South Africa, the Kluge Ruhe Museum of Aboriginal Art, and the UVA Scholars Lab.

Less a lecture format, and more of an interactive workshop, critical and creative content will be explored in an open-pedagogical model where students apprentice as curators and eventually take an active role in curating the class itself. Expect a mix of group project work, individual reflection and portfolio curation, and real-world collaborative work with professional partners.

MUSI 3993 Independent Study

1.0-3.0 credits
Instructor permission and instructor number required to enroll.

MUSI 4065 The "Black Voice"

A.D. Carson
3.0 credits
TR / 9:30-10:45 am / New Cabell 398 
Class Number: 13643

This course focuses on critical analyses of and questions concerning “The Black Voice” as it pertains to hip-hop culture, particularly rap and related popular musics. Students will read, analyze, discuss a wide range of thinkers [artists included] to explore many conceptions and definitions of “Blackness” while examining popular artists and the statements they make in [and about] their art.

MUSI 4509 Cultural & Historical Studies
Topic: Music in Relation to Sexuality and Disability

Fred Maus
3.0 credits
W / 2:00-4:30 pm / OCH 113
Class Number: 13480

MUSI 4533 Advanced Musicianship
Topic: Advanced Musical Skills: Hearing and Understanding

Michael Slon
2.0 credits
MW / 2:00-2:50 pm / OCH 107
Class Number: 18666

The class provides excellent training in practical musical methods and skills, with a small faculty-student ratio, and will focus on further developing:

• the ear for harmonic, melodic, and rhythmic dictation from played excerpts and recordings
• audiation skills (listening mentally - see this website for more info: http://giml.org/mlt/audiation/), and aural error detection
• score reading ability on several lines and in multiple clefs
• advanced rhythmic security and sight-reading
• understanding of form and musical analysis
• basic improvisation/composition skills

Prerequisite: Completion or placement out of Musicianship I or II

MUSI 4545 Computer Applications in Music
Topic: Designing Audio Effect Plugins

Luke Dahl
3.0 credits
MW / 3:00-4:15 pm 
Class Number: 12931

Audio effects are common and useful tools used in the recording, mixing, and mastering of music and sound, as well as in sound design.

This course focuses on understanding, designing and implementing audio effects, and using them for musical projects. We will cover the signal processing involved in effects such as EQ, delay, chorus, flanger, reverb, distortion, and compression, and we will implement these effects as VST or AudioUnit plug-ins by programming in C/C++ and using the JUCE framework. We will emphasize the musical application of our designs, and as a final project students will create a unique new effect that addresses their own musical goals. 

Enrollment is by instructor permission. Students are expected to have experience using digital audio tools, and to have a music-making or sound-based practice. Previous programming experience is _very_ helpful, but not required if you are enthusiastic and able to learn quickly!
.

MUSI 4620 Audio Visual Environments

Michele Zaccagnini
3.0 credits
M / 2:00-4:30 / OCH 113
Class Number: 21362

The course provides a comprehensive understanding of audiovisual composition, its current standards, its present and foreseeable ramifications in the online multimedia culture. Students will create several audiovisual pieces using different techniques that will be explained and demonstrated in class.

Techniques that will explored include but are not limited to: audio-reactive techniques, texture building and mapping, video manipulation, interactive audio-visuals, shaders (graphic programming and code), 3D sound mapping, CPU vs GPU programming.

MUSI 4993 Independent Study

1.0-3.0 credits
Instructor permission and instructor number required to enroll.

Fall 2022 Graduate Courses

MUSI 7519 Current Studies in Research and Criticism
Topic: Audio Justice: Sound, Listening, & the Law

Nomi Dave
3.0 credits
R / 2:00-4:30 pm / OCH S008
Class Number: 18681

What happens when we listen closely to the law? How do justice proceedings rely on hearings? What are the limits of possibilities of audio in the courtroom? This seminar explores the role of sound and listening in legal discourse and practice. Bringing together materials and ideas from legal studies, music & sound studies, anthropology, philosophy, and history, we will consider how formal and informal justice claims are made through sound. We will listen to and consider a range of debates, cases, issues, and creative works. The seminar is connected to the new Sound Justice Lab.

MUSI 7526 Topics in Ethnomusicology
Topic: Composing Ethnographic Stories

Noel Lobley
3.0 credits
T / 2:00-4:30 pm / Wilson 142
Class Number: 12503

MUSI 7547 Materials of Contemporary Music
Topic: Composing Composition Machines

Ted Coffey
3.0 credits
T / 5:00-7:30 pm / OCH S008
Class Number: 18684

MUSI 7559 New Course in Music
Topic: Composing for Improvisers

Nicole Mitchell Gantt
3.0 credits
M / 2:00-4:30 / OCH S008
Class Number: 21187

Students will study, create, and perform new compositional works of their own that incorporate improvisation for a diversity of music instruments and/or electronics. The class will function as a lab to explore and extend one’s sonic aesthetics. Students will practice in the constructive critique of each other’s work.

Fall 2022 Curricular Ensembles

Spring 2023 Undergraduate Courses

MUSI 1310 Basic Musical Skills

3.0 credits

Section 1 (Carlehr Swanson): MWF / 9:00-9:50 am / OCH 107
Class Number: 13487

Section 2 (Ben Rous): MWF / 10:00-10:50 am / OCH 107
Class Number: 13488

Study of the rudiments of music and training in the ability to read music. Prerequisite: No previous knowledge of music required.

MUSI 1410 Symphonic Listening

Ben Rous
3.0 credits
MW / 11:00-11:50 / OCH 107
Class Number: 13543

Discussion Sections:

Section 101 (Molly Joyce): R / 9:30-10:20 am / OCH S008
Class Number: 13544

Section 102 (Molly Joyce): R / 11:00-11:50 am / OCH S008
Class Number: 13545

Section 103 (Molly Joyce): R / 12:30-1:20 pm / OCH S008
Class Number: 13546

Symphonic Listening focuses on the sounds and forms of symphonic music. Listening skills are emphasized, with no prior musical knowledge required. We will learn to recognize orchestral instruments by their timbre, discern levels of consonance and dissonance, identify types of textures, and think critically about how musical content expresses cultural context. Students will gain a framework for understanding symphonic music of any genre.

MUSI 1620 History of the Wind Band

Drew Koch
2.0 credits
TR / 12:30-1:20 pm / Hunter Smith Band Building
Class Number: 13798

MUSI 2021 Creative Discovery

Elliott Tackitt
2.0 credits
TR / 2:00-2:50 pm / Hunter Smith Band Building
Class Number: 20565

Discover your creative potential! We often wonder about an artist’s immense creativity, seemingly harnessed with ease. Each of us has tremendous resources of creativity, often under-explored. In this course, students learn to unlock their own potential.

No previous artistic experience is required. Class activities include readings and discussions; weekly responses collected via a Google Form; two reflective papers; a presentation on a “found” resource; and one creative project in a medium of the student’s choice.

MUSI 2070 Popular Musics

Karl Hagstrom Miller
3.0 credits
MW / 2:00-2:50 pm / WNR 209
Class Number: 18961

Discussion Sections:

Section 101 (Siavash Mohebbi): T / 9:30-10:20 am / OCH 107
Class Number: 18962 

Section 102 (Siavash Mohebbi): T / 11:00-11:50 am / OCH 107
Class Number: 18963

Section 103 (Siavash Mohebbi): T / 12:30-1:20 pm / OCH 107
Class Number: 18964

Section 104 (Katie King): R / 9:30-10:20 am / OCH 107
Class Number: 18965

Section 105 (Katie King): R / 11:00-11:50 am / OCH 107
Class Number: 18966

Section 106 (Katie King): R / 12:30-1:20 pm / OCH 107
Class Number: 18967

Section 107 (Corey Harris): T / 9:30-10:20 am / OCH S008
Class Number: 18968

Section 108 (Corey Harris): T / 11:00-11:50 am / OCH S008
Class Number: 18969

Section 109 (Corey Harris): T / 12:30-1:20 am / OCH S008
Class Number: 18970

MUSI 2090 Sound Studies: The Art and Experience of Listening

Noel Lobley
3.0 credits
MW / 2:00-3:15 pm / Wilson 142
Class Number: 12571

When we think about knowing the world through the senses, we are likely to think first of the visible world. But sound, hearing and listening are crucial too and often take precedence in many communities. Recently scholars in history, anthropology, geography, literary studies, acoustics, music, ecology, environmental science,  and art have come together in the field of Sound Studies, reflecting on the role of sounds as forces that flow in and beyond human life. How do sound art, technology, and design create the world we inhabit and our everyday social and political experience? How can vibrations both heal and destroy? What does it mean to experience immersive and embodied sound? We will ponder these and other questions, moving between theoretical, experiential, and creative explorations. 

Please note: this course is an introduction to Sound Studies, there is no pre-requisite, and students from all backgrounds, levels and experiences are welcome to come and explore myriad ways to engage with sound.

MUSI 2302 Keyboard Skills (Beginning)

2.0 credits, instructor permission

Section 1 (Hannah Young): TR / 11:00 am - 12:15 pm / OCH 113
Class Number: 10558

Section 2 (Hannah Young): TR / 12:30-1:45 pm / OCH 113
Class Number: 18955

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
TR / 9:30-10:45 am / OCH 113
Class Number: 10559

Intermediate keyboard skills for students with some previous musical experience. Satisfies the performance requirement for music majors. Restricted to: Instructor permission by audition.

MUSI 2307 Play Guitar! 1

Mike Rosensky
2.0 credits
MW / 1:00-1:50 pm / OCH B012
Class Number: 13483

Fundamentals of playing guitar, with an emphasis on rhythmic training along with some music theory.  This class will start from scratch and is meant for beginners.

MUSI 2340 Learn to Groove

Robert Jospe
2.0 credits
MW / 10:00-10:50 am / Hunter Smith Band Building
Class Number: 11132

"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
MW / 11:00-11:50 am / Hunter Smith Band Building
Class Number: 11461

"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 2559 New Course in Music
Topic: Popular Music Group Voice Class

Stephanie Nakasian
2.0 credits
TR / 11:00-11:50 / OCH B012
Class Number: 19806

A fun, no pressure singing experience in popular music (pop, rock, jazz, theater, r&b, gospel, singer-songwriter, folk...). Exercises to help you improve tone, intonation, range, breath, power, and flexibility. Ways to develop your repertoire – the right keys, tempos, and arrangements for songs of your choosing. Tips on phrasing, rhythm and improvisation; easy basics of sight reading, piano and theory; tips on performance and marketing.

MUSI 2600 Jazz Improvisation

John D'earth
3.0 credits
TR / 3:30-5:00 pm / OCH B012
Class Number: 10880

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 3030 Studies in 19th-Century Music

Elizabeth Ozment
3.0 credits
TR / 3:30-4:45 / WNR 110
Class Number: 12572

How does one define 19thCE music? Can you imagine attending the premiere of a Beethoven symphony or Rossini opera? Why were so many people taking piano lessons? How did music intensify feelings of community and difference? What is the purpose of music?

In this seminar, we will begin to answer the above questions by overviewing the creative, cultural, social, intellectual, musical history of Europe during the long nineteenth century, the period in-between the French Revolution and the outbreak of the First World War. This era saw the dissolution of previous ways of understanding the world and the development of new ideologies and artistic movements. Nineteenth-century music intersected with the rise of historicism, nationalism, romanticism, liberalism, socialism, feminism, industrialization, and secularization; reflecting and informing European experiences and worldviews.

In this seminar we will strengthen our critical listening skills, place compositions in historical context, and relate these sounds to broader cultural trends. Our study of historical documents will highlight some common themes that distinguish this period of European music from eighteenth- and twentieth-century trends. We will also acknowledge that this music frequently articulated contradictory aesthetics, thereby illuminating period struggles over the purpose and value of artistic expression.

MUSI 3050 Music and Discourse

Brian Lindgren
3.0 credits
MWF / 1:00-1:50pm / OCH 113
Class Number: 12573

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.

MUSI 3307 Play Guitar! 2

2.0 credits
Mike Rosensky
MW / 2:00-2:50 pm / OCH B012
Class Number: 13865

The course will have flexibility from semester to semester depending on the makeup of the class.  Topics may include: Bar Chord/Power Chord Refresher, (Advanced) Syncopated Strumming, Blues Form, Three-Note Major and Minor Triads up and down the fretboard, Pentatonic Scale Positions, Major Scale Positions, Scale Patterns, Song Analysis, Composition, Improvisation, Seventh Chords, Chords of Higher Tension, Funk Grooves, Introduction to Jazz Guitar.

MUSI 3310 Theory I

3.0 credits

Section 1 (Sam Golter): MWF / 10:00-10:50 am / OCH B012
Class Number: 11465

Section 2 (Kristin Hauge): MWF / 11:00-11:50 am / OCH B012  
Class Number: 19810

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.

MUSI 3320 Theory II

Fred Maus
3.0 credits
MWF / 12:00-12:50 pm / OCH 113
Class Number: 11746

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. Lectures, dictations, exercises, and quizzes will be in person on Mondays and Wednesdays. Singing and rhythm practice will be online on Fridays, and most homework assignments will also be completed online. Please contact Prof. Adam Carter with questions or concerns.

MUSI 3332 Musicianship I

Section 1 (Adam Carter): MWF / 12:00-12:50 pm / OCH 107
Class Number: 10292

Section 2 (Dilshan Weerasinghe): MWF / 12:00-12:50 pm / OCH B012
Class Number: 18957

MUSI 3334 Musicianship II

Matias VilaplanaStark
MWF / 12:00-12:50 pm / OCH S008
Class Number: 10293

MUSI 3342 Learn to Groove Advanced

Robert Jospe
2.0 credits
MW / 1:00-1:50 pm / OCH B018
Class Number: 12810

Advanced- Learn To Groove is offered to students who are majoring in music and/or currently playing in percussion ensembles, the orchestra, the marching band and/or have taken and done well in Learn To Groove MUSI 2342. This course is designed for students to gain a broad understanding and facility through hand drumming of the rhythmic language associated with West and Central African, Caribbean, Brazilian, and contemporary styles of jazz, rock and funk from the United States. Students who take this course will be able articulate rhythmic patterns that form the foundation of dance music played throughout the Americas as well as how West and Central African rhythms have influenced the dance music and rhythms of the Americas.

This course builds on the material from Learn To Groove 2340 and 2342 and will focus on six alternative hand patterns in 4/4 and 6/8 for the clave rhythms in the Learn To Groove course book as well as extended polyrhythms, soloing and playing in odd meters. Indian rhythms and a piece written for the Mridangam from India will also be included in the live performance. Drum circle leadership skills will also be included. This class includes a recital performance of "Groove Passage-LTG" an original composition written for the class. The performance will feature the full ensemble as well as individual solos.

The course requires that students have a hand drum of their own as well as the course book Learn To Groove. 8"-12" Djembes are recommended.

MUSI 3350 Deep Listening

Fred Maus
1.0 credit
Online Asyncronous
Class Number: 12753

Exploration of collective activities that involve listening and making sound together, and other interactions, at the intersection of music-making and contemplative practices, drawing on the work of Pauline Oliveros, the Fluxus artists, and other musicians and thinkers. Weekly reading assignments for conceptualization in relation to the experiential component; weekly email responses to readings along with several brief reflective papers.

MUSI 3374 Composing Mixtapes

A.D. Carson
3.0 credit
TR / 9:30-10:45 am / NCH 398
Class Number: 12574

Discussion Sections:

Lab 101 (Basile Koechlin): M / 9:00-9:50 am / NCH 398
Class Number: 12310 

Lab 102 (Basile Koechlin): M / 10:00-10:50 am / NCH 398
Class Number: 12575

Lab 103 (Basile Koechlin): M / 11:00-11:50 am / NCH 398
Class Number: 12576

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 3380 Introduction to Composition

Michele Zaccagnini
3.0 credits
Lecture: TR / 9:30-10:45 am / OCH B012
Class Number: 20637

Discussion Sections:

Lab 101 (Becky Brown): W / 9:00-9:50 am / OCH B011
Class Number: 20638

Lab 102 (Becky Brown): W / 10:00-10:50 am / OCH B011
Class Number: 20639

Lab 103 (Becky Brown): W / 11:00-11:50 am / OCH B011
Class Number: 20640

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 3390 Introduction to Computers and Music

Michele Zaccagnini
3.0 credits, instructor permission
TR / 12:30-1:45 pm / OCH B012
Class Number: 13768

Discussion Sections:

Lab 101 (Varun Kapoor Kishore): M / 9:00-9:50 am / OCH B011
Class Number: 13769

Lab 102 (Varun Kapoor Kishore): M / 10:00-10:50 am / OCH B011
Class Number: 13770

Lab 103 (Varun Kapoor Kishore): M / 11:00-11:50 am / OCH B011
Class Number: 13771

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 topics include acoustics, recording, digital audio, MIDI, sound synthesis, and audio DSP. Students learn skills in sound-file editing, multitrack sound mixing, sound synthesis, and sound processing. This is a composition class and key assignments are creative in nature.

Prerequisite: MUSI 3310. The course can be repeated for credit with approval of instructor.

MUSI 3510 Music and Community Engagement
Topic: Sound Justice as Community Engagement

Bonnie Gordon and Nomi Dave
3.0 credits
TR / 9:30-10:45 am / Wilson 117
Class Number: 13773

This class explores connections between sound, listening, and the law. How do legal proceedings play out in sound? What does the law hear – and what does it not? What happens when legal systems fail?  In exploring these and other questions and engaging in creative advocacy, student will directly engage with the Sound Justice Lab and its ongoing projects, relating to issues such as reproductive justice, defamation lawsuits against journalists, gender equity and refugees, and the use of rap lyrics as criminal evidence. Course materials include court cases and transcripts, music, film, novels, and academic articles. The class has a civic engagement component that offers students opportunities to work with lawyers, artists, and social justice practitioners in Charlottesville and beyond to produce research and creative work. It also provides a space to respond to and engage current events through individual and collective art making. The class can be used to fulfill the music major requirements, but musical or other artistic experience is not necessary.

MUSI 3993 Independent Study

1.0-3.0 credits
Instructor permission required to enroll.

MUSI 4090 Concepts of Performance in Africa

Michelle Kisliuk
3.0 credits
TR / 5:10-5:40 / OCH 107
Class Number: 20751

Lab: TR / 5:45-7:05 / OCH 107
Class Number: 20752

A once-a-week seminar-style class (open to Music majors as well as others interested in the topic).

This course explores the ethnographic, stylistic, political, and personal issues associated with the hands-on material we learn in the dependent (lab) which meets together twice a week with the African Music and Dance Ensemble (MUEN 2690/3690 or 4690 -- do not register for both as the "lab" component is automatic).  Through discussion, reading, writing, viewing/listening, we explore the area of African performance theory associated especially with Ewe (Ghana) and BaAka (Central African rainforest) music/dance we are learning to perform, experimenting with abstracting concepts and remaking them in the immediate context of the course. No experience is required, but dedication to interactive, interdependent intellectual and creative community expected. African guest artists!

MUSI 4507 Composers
Topic: Lenard Bernstein

Michael Slon
3.0 credits
T / 4:00-6:30 pm / OCH S008
Class Number: 18971

Leonard Bernstein is one of the most influential and extraordinary figures to emerge in 20th century American music, and his impact extended – and remains – around the musical world.  This class will focus on the man and musician from a number of angles, offering multiple perspectives on Bernstein's life and career.  Music covered will include theatre music such as Candide, West Side Story, and Mass, and concert works including the Symphonies and Chichester Psalms.  We'll review his interpretive and creative impact as a conductor, influence as a nationally televised teacher, and religious and political interests.  And as Bernstein was also a prolific writer, class readings will consider several of his published works including The Joy of Music, The Unanswered Question: Six Talks at Harvard, and Findings.  The semester will also likely include Zoom sessions with several people closely connected to the Bernstein legacy.

4523 Issues in Ethnomusicology
Topic: Electronic Music in Africa

Noel Lobley
3.0 credits
MW / 9:30-10:45 am / Wilson 142
Class Number: 11869

In 2018, the renowned British music journal Fact boldly claimed that “the world’s best electronic music festival is in Uganda.” Indeed, African cities have long been places for some of the most futuristic music, sounds that reverberate between local identities and international avant-garde scenes. Explosive, hypnotic and ultra-modern electronic sounds meld stunning dance forms with musical theatre and fashion, articulating the urban youth experience in cities as diverse and vibrant as Johannesburg, Nairobi, Kinshasa, Lagos, Dar es Salaam, and Kampala.

In this course, we will engage multiplex genres of electronic music from the African continent, including Congolese congotronics, Ugandan acholitronix, Tanzanian singeli, and South African shangaan electro and gqom apocalyptic bass music, paying close attention to innovations in artistic practice, remix culture and Afrofuturism. Blending critical and contextual work with exciting opportunities for real world outputs, we will be engaging with professional artists from different electronic scenes, such as the boiling Nyege Nyege collective and The Black Power Station, alongside other professional partners in music production, radio and written journalism, as well as exhibition and museum curation. As a way to open professional avenues for students, coursework will be driven towards the organization of an end of the semester multi-modal event representing in Charlottesville the electronic music bursting from the African continent. Building on each other’s interests and skills, students will all be working to imagine, design and curate this event.

No prior musical experience is required

4543 Sound Studio

Ted Coffey
3.0 credits
T / 5:00-7:30 / OCH B011
Class Number: 20677

MUSI 4559 New Course in Music
Topic: TBA

Karl Hagstrom Miller
3.0 credits
W / 2:00-4:30 pm / OCH 107
Class Number: 20675

4610 Sound Synthesis and Control: Designing New Musical Instruments

Luke Dahl
3.0 credits
MW / 11:00 am - 12:15 pm / Wilson Hall Makers Space
Class Number: 19807

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
M / 2:00-4:30 / OCH B011
Class Number: 20651

The course provides a comprehensive understanding of audiovisual composition, its current standards, its present and foreseeable ramifications in the online multimedia culture. Students will create several audiovisual pieces using different techniques that will be explained and demonstrated in class.

Techniques that will explored include but are not limited to: audio-reactive techniques, texture building and mapping, video manipulation, interactive audio-visuals, shaders (graphic programming and code), 3D sound mapping, CPU vs GPU programming.

MUSI 4993 Independent Study

1.0-3.0 credits
Instructor permission required to enroll.

Spring 2023 Graduate Courses

MUSI 7509 Cultural and Historical Studies of Music
Topic: Syncopated Histories

Bonnie Gordon
3.0 credits
R / 2:00-4:30 pm / OCH S008
Class Number: 20691

This interdisciplinary graduate seminar in the Music Department considers history as a practice of entangled temporalities, inviting students from across departments to excavate the debris of the past and listen to the resonances between pre-modern and contemporary moments. What is the historical relationship between fiction and dis-information?  How do scholars and artists create and transform originary myths?  How do emotional and sensory responses effect the doing of history? How do we sound the past in our lives and work?  How do different fields like legal history, cultural history, music history tell stories. The class begins by asking what it meant when the United States Supreme court overturned Roe v. Wade based in part on medical knowledge from a time when it was thought, for example, that listening to a string instrument made of the wrong animal products might cause miscarriage. We then will investigate the case study of the Italian castrato phenomenon that prefigures questions around gender, identity and body that are increasingly urgent today. We will look at ancient and medieval roots of the setter colonialism of Jamestown from the perspective of sound. Theoretical readings include Sylvia Wynter’s Unsettling, Kara Keiling’s Queer time/Black Temporalities, Jacques Derrida’s Archive Fever, and Elizabeth Freeman’s Time Binds. Students need not be in the Music Department or read music for this class. There will be ample time for students to pursue their own interests. Coursework centers on reading, writing, archival work in Special Collections, and listening. Students can create final projects that are relevant to their research or can explore other media.

MUSI 7519 Current Studies in Research and Criticism
Topic: The "Black" Voice

A.D. Carson
3.0 credits
T / 2:00-4:30 pm / NCH 398
Class Number: 12900

MUSI 7540 Computer Sound Generation
Topic: Composing for Music & Movement

Luke Dahl
3.0 credits
W / 2:00-4:30 pm / OCH B011
Class Number: 19819

There are many interesting connections between music and movement. Music and dance occur together in every human culture. When we listen to music we experience an abstract sense of movement, and we use movement metaphors to describe music and its movement. Musical instruments can be thought of as devices for transducing human movement into sound.

In this class we will examine these relationships, we will study various technologies for measuring movement, and we will use these technologies to make music from movement and movement-based data. In particular we will explore how motion sensors and motion-capture can be used to generate musical sound in real-time, and we will work with ourselves, dancers, and other movers and performers to develop new artistic works.

This class is a seminar for graduate composers in the CCT program of the music department. However advanced undergraduates or other interested students may contact the instructor to discuss joining the class.

MUSI 7559 New Course in Music
Topic: Scoring Human Existence

JoVia Armstrong
3.0 credits
T / 2:00-4:30 / OCH B011
Class Number: 20698

Scoring Human Existence is an ensemble course for composers and improvisers. This course explores the question, "What does it mean to feel music?" Composers and improvisers will create compositions based on various themes and imagery (film, photography, dance, architecture, corporate identity, politics, war, etc.), human emotions, nature, current events, and narratives. Students will create through-composed music as well as improvise live scores to these various mediums which will also be conducted by students. There will be a small concert at the conclusion of the course as well as 360° videos of our favorite musical explorations. All vocalists and instrumentalists (including computer musicians) are welcomed to enroll. Students may submit their works on Bandcamp and YouTube if they choose.

Spring 2023 Curricular Ensembles