Spring 2027 Undergraduate Courses

MUSI 1310 Basic Musical Skills (3 credits)

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

Sasha Semina - MWF / 9:00-9:50 am / OCH 107
Section 1 / Class Number: 11849

Ben Rous - MWF / 10:00-10:50 am / OCH 107
Section 1 / Class Number: 11850

Aliya Ultan - MWF / 11:00-11:50 am / OCH S008
Section 3 / Class Number: 14121

MUSI 1410 Symphonic Listening (3 credits)

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.

Ben Rous
Section 100: MW / 11:00-11:50 am / OCH 107
Class Number: 20413

Discussion Sections:

Qi Shen
Section 101: T / 9:30-10:20 am / OCH 107
Class Number: 20414

Section 102: T / 10:30AM-11:20 am / OCH 107
Class Number: 20415

Section 103: T / 12:30-1:20 pm / OCH 107
Class Number: 20416

MUSI 1620 History of the Wind Band (2 credits)

The class is designed to give an introductory look at wind band music development from the early 20th century to present. The class does not require any previous musical experience. The course provides students with historical facts surrounding the wind band movement while allowing students to experience the music aurally.

Drew Koch - T / 9:30-10:50 am / 101 Hunter Smith Band Building
Class Number: 11896

MUSI 2021 Creative Discovery (3 credits)

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.

Elliott Tackitt - MW / 3:00-4:15 pm / 101 Hunter Smith Band Building
Class Number: 12171

MUSI 2072 Meet the Beatles (3 credits)

Centrally, close study of the Beatles' music, along with biographies, relation to the history of American rock 'n' roll, the breathtaking early years, the devastating new sonic landscapes of their later studio work, and the context of the 1960s--that turbulent decade that shaped, and was shaped by, these four English lads.

Scott DeVeaux & Alonya Castillo - MWF / 11:00-11:50 am / OCH B012
Class Number: 13965

MUSI 2304 Keyboard Skills (Intermediate)  (2 credits)

Intermediate keyboard skills for students with some previous musical experience. Satisfies the performance requirement for music majors. Requirement: Instructor Permission

Shelby Sender - TR / 11:00 am - 12:15 pm / OCH 113
Class Number: 10418

MUSI 2307 Play Guitar! 1 (2 credits)

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. Students must provide their own guitar. Experienced guitarists are encouraged to enroll in MUSI 3307 Play Guitar! 2. 

Mike Rosensky - MW / 1:00-1:50 pm / OCH B012
Class Number: 11848

MUSI 2311 Vocal Performance Class (2 credits)

Vocal Performance requires a broad skillset. This course offers students a toolbox of practical techniques & methodologies including study of diction and language, physical expression, textual analysis, dramatic storytelling/acting, collaboration with a pianist, physical/vocal health, and many other components of stagecraft that can be addressed well in group lessons. A baseline level of music-learning and -preparation ability, as well as some prior experience in any genre of vocal solo performance, is ideal.

Pam Beasley and Bridgid Eversole - T / 3:30-5:00 pm / OCH 107
Class Number: 12846

MUSI 2340 Learn to Groove (2 credits)

"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 one's 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.

Robert Jospe - MW / 10:00-10:50 am / 101 Hunter Smith Band Building
Section 1 / Class Number: 10732

Robert Jospe - MW / 11:00-11:50 am / 101 Hunter Smith Band Building
Section 2 / Class Number: 12481

MUSI 2342 Learn to Groove Intermediate (2 credits)

"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.

Robert Jospe - MW / 1:00-1:50 pm / 101 Hunter Smith Band Building
Class Number: 20806

MUSI 2350 Technosonics: Digital Music (3 credits)

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.

Matthew Burtner
Section 100: MW / 11:00-11:50 am / WNR 209
Class Number: 20593

Discussion Sections:

Chaeryeong Oh
Section 101: T / 9:30-10:20 am / CAB 268
Class Number: 20597

Section 102: T / 10:30-11:20 am / CAB 268
Class Number: 20598

Section 103: T / 11:30 am-12:20 pm / CAB 268
Class Number: 20599

Jennifer Ryu
Section 104: R / 9:30-10:20 am / CAB 268
Class Number: 20600

Section 105: R / 10:30-11:20 am / CAB 268
Class Number: 20601

Section 106: R / 11:30 am-12:20 pm / CAB 268
Class Number: 20602

Ali Davilan
Section 107: F / 9:00-9:50 am / CAB 268
Class Number: 20603

Section 108: F / 10:00-10:50 am / CAB 268
Class Number: 20604

Section 109: F / 11:00-11:50 am / CAB 268
Class Number: 20605

Yiting Wang
Section 110: F / 12:00-12:50 pm / CAB 268
Class Number: 20606

Section 111: F / 1:00-1:50 pm / CAB 268
Class Number: 20607

Section 112: F / 2:00-2:50 pm / CAB 268
Class Number: 20608

MUSI 2600 Jazz Improvisation (3 credits)

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.

Sharel Cassity - MW / 3:30-5:00 pm / OCH B012
Class Number: 10628

MUSI 2993: Independent Study (1-3 credits)

Requirement: Instructor Permission

MUSI 3010 Early Modern Music (1500-1700)

When Christopher Columbus arrived in what is now Trinidad in 1498, he attempted to communicate with indigenous people using tambourines. He thought this would be enticing. It didn’t work. “On observing the music and dancing…they dropped their oars, and picked up their bows, and strung them. Each one seized his shield, and they began to shoot arrows at us.”  This class uses sound to explore unexpected encounters in the premodern world. Course materials focus on a selection of exemplary pieces, listening to composition, improvisation, text-music relations, the representation of dramatic stories, the expression of religious ideas, and performance. This is a class about how to do history, how to listen, and how to imagine the sonic past.

The class takes a global perspective and explores the role of sound in the deep histories of white supremacy that form the bricks and mortar of music performance and scholarship in the United States.  The chronological center is the 16th and 17th centuries, but we cover the ancient world and Middle Ages as well as the present. Course work will include reading, writing, listening, visits to special collections, and reflection.

The course is taught at the music major level. Majors and non-majors are welcome. There are no prerequisites, and knowledge of Western music notation is not required.

Bonnie Gordon & Amanda Paruta - TR / 2:00-3:15 pm / OCH 107
Class Number: 20618

MUSI 3050 Music and Discourse (3 credits)

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.

Mary Beth Bauerman - MWF / 9:00-9:50 am / OCH 113
Section 1 / Class Number: 12378

John Walker - MWF / 12:00-12:50 pm / OCH B012
Section 2 / Class Number: 12842

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.

Scott DeVeaux - MWF / 11:00-11:50 am / OCH B012
Section 1 / Class Number: 13104

Alonya Castillo - MWF / 9:00-9:50 am / OCH 113
Section 2 / Class Number: 13851

MUSI 3065 Africanfuturism (3 credits)

Africanfuturism is an international multi-media arts movement that places people of the African diaspora at the center of future imaginings. Africanfuturist artists design alternative mythological worlds to creatively address social and environmental justice and to offer new technological possibilities, while transmitting vital experiences and dreamings of Black people throughout the African diaspora. Through our investigation of Black speculative music, film, science fiction and visual art, we will plunge into the nuances of folklore, cosmology, philosophy and ancestral wisdom embedded with themes of liberation in these works. The course will be a process intended to deepen our understanding of the diversity of Black thought and creativity, and to transform our own ideas of time, space, place and self. Artists will include Janelle Monae, Lee Scratch Perry, Octavia Butler, Wanuri Kahiu, Sun Ra, King Britt, Nnedi Okorafor, Wole Talabi, Sheree Renee Thomas, Melanie Goodreaux, Ras G’s Afrikan Space Program, W.E.B. DuBois, Moor Mother, Alisha Wormsley, Tim Fielder, N.K. Jemison, and more!

Nicole Mitchell Gantt & Kehinde Thurman - TR / 2:00-3:15 pm / OCH B012
Class Number: 13966

MUSI 3095 The Polyphonic Underground (3 credits)

The semester will offer a deep and inspiring dive into the intersections between creative life processes in the fungal realm (e.g. the underground networks of mycorrhizal fungi) and musical practices of structured improvisation, especially the polyphonic singing of BaAka forest people of Central Africa (Prof. Kisliuk’s research specialty). We will develop a dynamic intellectual/creative community that combines close reading of texts, learning to sing and dance, discussing these fertile interconnections, and experimenting with imaginative, embodied ways of understanding. We will emerge with our own musical sounds rooted in what we’ve learned.

This course is open to all majors (a scientific or musical background is not required, though previous experience is invited). Curiosity and an adventurous spirit will be cultivated. We will be singing together -- a “good voice” is not required, but your voice will be crucial to the mix -- foraging, cooking, reading and discussing throughout the semester, weaving together our particular class community into an embodied understanding of how polyphonic musicality and mycelial life mutually inform each other.

Co-taught with mushroom expert and composer: graduate TA Gabrielle Cerberville!

Michelle Kisliuk & Gabrielle Cerberville - Thursdays / 3:30-6:00 / OCH 107
Class Number: 20994

MUSI 3307 Play Guitar! 2 (2 credits)

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.

Mike Rosensky - MW / 2:00-2:50 pm / OCH B012
Class Number: 11904

MUSI 3310 Theory I (3 credits)

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.

Jade Conlee & Ella Jackson - MWF / 10:00-10:50 pm / OCH B012
Section 1 / Class Number: 10961

Fred Maus - MWF / 11:00-11:50 am / OCH 113
Section 2 / Class Number: 12458

MUSI 3332 and 3334 Musicianship I and II (2 credits)

These lab courses give practical experience with many aspects of musical perception, performance, and creation; this includes sight-reading/singing; dictation of melody, rhythm, and harmony; and aural identification of intervals, chords, and rhythmic patterns. Students are welcome to take Musicianship more than once, whether by moving to a higher level or repeating the same level. Musicianship I and II may be taken for a grade or CR/NC. To satisfy the Musicianship requirement in the Music Major though, students must take Musicianship once as a graded course.

MUSI 3332 Musicianship I (2 credits)

Rah Hite - MWF / 12:00-12:50 pm / OCH B012
Class Number: 10220

MUSI 3334 Musicianship II (2 credits)

Adam Carter - MWF / 12:00-12:50 pm / OCH 107
Class Number: 10221

MUSI 3373 Creative Strategies for Indie Artists (3 credits)

This course provides a platform for students to develop successful strategies for advancing their careers in music. Students will gain knowledge about multiple aspects of being an independent musician, including the songwriting process, copyrights, PROs, marketing, booking shows, live production, tour management, and more. Additionally, the course will feature several guest speakers, such as entertainment lawyers, artist managers, and publicists, who will provide valuable insights into the world of DIY music.

JoVia Armstrong & Adai Song - TR / 10:30-11:20 am / OCH B012
Class Number: 20417

MUSI 3374 Composing Mixtapes (3 credits)

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.

A.D. Carson - TR / 9:30-10:45 am / NCH 398
Class Number: 12847

Labs:

Dilshan Weerasinghe

Lab 101: M / 9:00-9:50 am / NCH 398
Class Number: 12848

Lab 102: M / 10:00-10:50 am / NCH 398
Class Number: 12849

Lab 103: M / 11:00-11:50 am / NCH 398
Class Number: 12850

MUSI 3376 Make Beats (3 credits)

JoVia Armstrong & Kehinde Thurman - R / 3:00-5:30 pm / OCH B011
Class Number: 21011

MUSI 3380 Introduction to Composition

MUSI 3380 explores compositional techniques in Western concert music of the 20th and 21st centuries. Students will learn to compose in a variety of styles, and will explore 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 apply their knowledge towards a final composition project. 

Prerequisite: Permission from the instructor. It is recommended that students will have taken MUSI 3310, a prior theory class, or be proficient with scales, intervals, and basic harmony.

Nicole Mitchell Gantt - TR / 11:00-12:15 / OCH 107
Class Number: 13356

MUSI 3390 Introduction to Music & Computers (3 credits)

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.

Lawton Hall
Section 100: TR / 12:30-1:45 pm / OCH 113
Class Number: 20421

Lab Sections:

Andrea Gutierrez
Section 101: M / 9:00-9:50 am / OCH B011
Class Number: 20422

Section 102: M / 10:00-10:50 am / OCH B011
Class Number: 20423

Section 103: M / 11:00-11:50 am / OCH B011
Class Number: 20424

MUSI 3510 Music & Community Engagement I (3 credits)

This course explores creative practice, sound, and listening through hands-on community engagement. Students will examine how creative practice can create connection, belonging, and cross-cultural understanding while developing skills in collaboration, attentive listening, and developing community partnerships. Students willl gain practical experience designing, supporting, and sustaining meaningful community-engaged arts initiatives.

The course draws on five years of work with Cville Tulips and the network of schools, service agencies, clinics, and community leaders who work alongside it. It gives students already involved with Cville Tulips a space to reflect on and deepen their work, while welcoming students who are new to the program. It also introduces students to the public health, English-language learning, and creative-practice research associated with Tulips.

The class will tackle questions like: What does it mean to welcome someone, and who gets to define belonging? What role can music, art, and play have in building community across language and culture? How can the arts suppot English learners? How can visual art, sound, storytelling, and multimedia communicate vital health and community information to people with limited English and varying levels of literacy? And what does ethical, sustainable volunteering look like?

Creative practice is at the center of the class. Students will develop arts-based programming for Tulips families and explore creative approaches to English-language learning. They will also translate information about health, community needs, and available services into stories, images, sound, and multimedia formats. Students will use creative practice to reflect on their own work.

The class also builds practical leadership and nonprofit skills, including program design, grant writing and fundraising, budgeting, advocacy, and working effectively with community partners. Course materials include oral histories, music, poetry, visual materials, and academic articles. Students will have opportunities to experiment with photovoice, audio storytelling, intentional playlists, visual and multimedia communication, and other forms of accessible public-facing work. Group projects will allow students to take on real responsibilities with Cville Tulips and its partners.

The course can be used to fulfill music major requirements, but no prior musical or artistic experience is necessary.

Bonnie Gordon - T / 4:30-6:00 / WNR 113
Class Number: 20620

MUSI 3559 / Topic: Keyboard Skills 4 (2 credits)

Fourth semester of a sequence designed to develop keyboard technique and musicianship skills to an intermediate level. Skills covered include the playing of intermediate-level piano pieces in a variety of styles, the continuing development of piano technique, sight reading, harmonization, score reading, and improvisation.

Prerequisite: MUSI 3559: Keyboard Skills 3; or placement by audition together with MUSI 3310: Theory 1 or equivalent background.

John Mayhood - TR / 9:30-10:45 am / OCH 113
Class Number: 20420

MUSI 3723 Music of Hawai'i & Puerto Rico (3 credits)

This course explores the workings of U.S. colonialism, the tourism industry, environmental policy, diasporic identity formation, and decolonial activist movements in Hawai‘i and Puerto Rico through the lens of musical performance. We will ask, how are music, the environment, and sovereignty connected? How does climate relate to musical tradition? What does music offer to decolonial activist movements?

Jade Conlee - MW / 2:00-3:15 pm / OCH 107
Class Number: 20419

MUSI 3993 Independent Study (1-3 credits)

Requirement: Instructor Permission

MUSI 4065 The Black Voice (3 credits)

A.D. Carson - TR / 11:00 am-12:15 pm / NCH 398
Class Number: 20609

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 4507 Composers (3 credits)
Topic: Lenard Bernstein

Leonard Bernstein is one of the most influential and extraordinary figures to emerge in 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, including: the music (such as Candide, West Side Story, and Chichester Psalms); the conducting career and influence as a nationally televised teacher; his religious and political interests; and his work as a prolific author–all of which continue to resonate.

Michael Slon - R / 3:00-5:30 pm / OCH S008
Class Number: 20412

MUSI 4532 Musical Analysis (3 credits)

Fred Maus - M / 2:00-4:30 pm / OCH S008 (Combined with MUSI 7532)
Class Number: 21363

MUSI 4582 Composition II (3 credits)

Composition II 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.

Leah Reid & Neda Nadim - T / 3:00-5:30 pm / OCH B011
Class Number: 12843

MUSI 4610 Sound Synthesis and Control: Designing New Musical Instruments

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.

Luke Dahl - TR / 11:00 am - 12:15 pm / Wilson Makers Space
Class Number: 13604

4950 Performance Concentration Seminar (3 credits)

Provides intensive instruction in voice or on an instrument, broadens and deepens repertory knowledge, and provides experience in public performance as well as the evaluation of performance. Students perform at least one solo recital per semester. Students write self-evaluations of their performance and receive feedback from instructor.

Prerequisite: 1 semester of MUPF and audition. Must simultaneously register for MUPF 3950, 3960, 4950 or 4960.

Requirement: Instructor Permission

Daniel Sender - TBA
Class Number: 11281

MUSI 4993 Independent Study (1-3 credits)

Requirement: Instructor Permission