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.