Music

Note: "Art History and Music" is a single academic department at Fordham, but the academic information for each subject is listed on a separate web page. Information about art history programs is listed under art history.

The music major offers students the opportunity to study music historically as a force in the shaping of culture and technically as a practical skill, craft, and art. Emphasizing music as a humanistic pursuit integrated into the liberal arts curriculum, it covers a range of courses that include music history, theory, composition, and performance. While the program offers ample opportunities to take private lessons and to participate in campus performance ensembles, it leads to an academic B.A. degree rather than a performance-oriented one. Students are prepared to go on to graduate school, seek careers in music education, and pursue professions that combine music with other fields of study.

No course in which the student earns a grade of D or F may be used toward a departmental major or minor.

Double Majors

The music major can be combined with other courses of study, including a double major. A music major interested in a career in the music industry or in arts management, for example, might consider taking economics or business courses related to the arts. Fordham's Gabelli School of Business offers a minor in business that can be combined with the music major.

Program Activities

Internships

Music majors can receive credit for a music internship with a recording company or concert agency in New York City during their junior or senior years. With the approval and supervision of the department, majors may receive elective credit for one internship graded on a pass/fail basis.

For more information

Visit the music department web page.

The music program offers MUSC 1100 Introduction to Music History, which fulfills the fine arts core requirement. This course has sections that focus on different geographical areas and traditions. It is also available as an Eloquentia Perfecta 1 Seminar. In addition, the department offers American pluralism and global studies courses each year as well as a variety of EP3, EP4, and ICC courses.

Our Courses

MUSC 1050. Music Focus: Rock and Pop Issues and Debates. (3 Credits)

Rock and Pop music have generated controversies from their first appearance, whether the issues surrounded the words, the rhythms, the marketing, or other aspects. This seminar will focus on a combination of recordings, primary source readings, and recent scholarship on rock and pop to evaluate critically some of the most important debates about race, gender, class, age, authorship and copyright, commercialism and individuality, identity and general musical quality. Consistent with the goals of EP seminars, the emphasis will be on critical thinking through class participation, presentations and writing.

Attribute: FRTE.

MUSC 1051. Who Cares If You Listen?! Music, Culture, and the Critical Ear. (3 Credits)

This course both introduces students to the technical language of music (to understand how music “works”) and asks them to hear music as embedded in culture and history (to understand how it “means” for individuals, societies, and epochs). Close analysis of individual works and styles is paired with critical interventions that speak to broad social and intellectual questions. Repertoire will be drawn from Western traditions (canonical and noncanonical) as well as non-Western traditions. This course may include attendance at live performances. This course does not assume any background in music. Students at all levels of musical literacy—including none at all—are welcome.

Attributes: FACC, MANR.

MUSC 1100. Introduction to Music History. (3 Credits)

This course presents a survey of music history, with a focus on developing the skills of thinking and writing critically about music. Students will learn to listen in a focused way and relate what they hear to issues of musical “meaning” and general culture. Students will learn some technical vocabulary that will help them describe or advocate for any music they encounter, and they will apply this vocabulary to examples throughout the semester, for instance a Beethoven Symphony or a Duke Ellington jazz arrangement. Sections may have different focuses in terms of geography or chronology.

Attributes: ACUP, ASAM, ASHS, FACC, FRFA.

MUSC 1210. Music for Dancers I. (3 Credits)

This two-course sequence develops general knowledge of the major historical periods, styles and genres of western music, as well as familiarity with world music. It also provides critical tools to understand the basic components of music: melody, harmony, rhythm, texture, tempo, dynamics, instrumentation. To cultivate musicality, class taught, in part, through practical application: singing and rhythm exercises, elementary score reading etc. Open to B.F.A. students only.

MUSC 1211. Music for Dancers II. (3 Credits)

This two-course sequence develops general knowledge of the major historical periods, styles and genres of western music, as well as familiarity with world music. It also provides critical tools to understand the basic components of music: melody, harmony, rhythm, texture, tempo, dynamics, instrumentation. To cultivate musicality, class taught, in part, through practical application: singing and rhythm exercises, elementary score reading etc. Open to B.F.A. students only.

Prerequisite: MUSC 1210.

MUSC 1231. Chamber Music Instruction. (0 to 1 Credits)

Consists of ten weekly coachings for ensembles of 3-5 musicians (can be instrumental, vocal, or a combination of the two). Interested  students should contact the Dept. of Art History and Music for more information. Groups are formed at the start of the semester and includes an end-of-semester performance. Pass/Fail only. Lab fee.

MUSC 1241. Concert Choir-Rose Hill. (0 to 1 Credits)

Rehearsal and performance of selected choral music. Requirements include regular attendance at two weekly rehearsals, dress rehearsals, and regularly scheduled performances. By audition and permission of the instructor. Interested students should contact Campus Ministry for more information. For Rose Hill-based students. Pass/Fail only.

MUSC 1242. Concert Choir-Lincoln Center. (0 to 4 Credits)

Rehearsal and performance of selected choral music. Requirements include regular attendance at two weekly rehearsals, dress rehearsals, and regularly scheduled performances. By audition and permission of the instructor. Interested students should contact Campus Ministry for more information. For Lincoln Center-based students. Pass/Fail only.

MUSC 1245. Women's Choir. (0 to 1 Credits)

The Fordham University Women's Choir focuses on development of the female voice, both technically and artistically. It also strives to introduce its members to literature from all music history eras and genres. Because the concept of the women's choir is relatively new to the world of music, many of the compositions performed are contemporary, opening the ensemble to new works by budding composers. Membership to this ensemble is open to students from both the Rose Hill and Lincoln Center campuses.

MUSC 1260. Vocal Instruction: Classical. (0 to 1 Credits)

A sequence of private weekly lessons in classical voice, available for credit to all students. Students’ progress is monitored by the department. Pass/Fail only. NO REFUND AFTER DROP/ADD: To confirm the exact fee for this course in the given semester, consult http://www.fordham.edu/musiclessons which lists the current fee information.

MUSC 1261. Vocal Instruction: Jazz. (0 to 1 Credits)

A sequence of private weekly lessons in jazz voice, available for credit to all students. Students’ progress is monitored by the department. Pass/Fail only. NO REFUND AFTER DROP/ADD: To confirm the exact fee for this course in the given semester, consult http://www.fordham.edu/musiclessons which lists the current fee information.

MUSC 1262. Instrumental Instruction: Piano Classical. (0 to 1 Credits)

A sequence of private weekly lessons in classical piano, available for credit to all students. Students' progress is monitored by the department. Pass/Fail only. NO REFUND AFTER DROP/ADD: To confirm the exact fee for this course in the given semester, consult http://www.fordham.edu/musiclessons which lists the current fee information.

MUSC 1263. Instrumental Instruction: Piano Jazz. (0 to 1 Credits)

A sequence of private weekly lessons in jazz piano, available for credit to all students. Students' progress is monitored by the department. Pass/Fail only. NO REFUND AFTER DROP/ADD: To confirm the exact fee for this course in the given semester, consult http://www.fordham.edu/musiclessons which lists the current fee information.

MUSC 1264. Instrumental Instruction: Guitar Classical. (0 to 1 Credits)

A sequence of private weekly lessons in classical guitar, available for credit to all students. Students' progress is monitored by the department. Pass/Fail only. NO REFUND AFTER DROP/ADD: To confirm the exact fee for this course in the given semester, consult http://www.fordham.edu/musiclessons which lists the current fee information.

MUSC 1265. Instrumental Instruction: Guitar Jazz. (0 to 1 Credits)

A sequence of private weekly lessons in jazz guitar, available for credit to all students. Students' progress is monitored by the department. Pass/Fail only. NO REFUND AFTER DROP/ADD: To confirm the exact fee for this course in the given semester, consult http://www.fordham.edu/musiclessons which lists the current fee information.

MUSC 1266. Instrumental Instruction: Flute. (0 to 1 Credits)

A sequence of private weekly lessons in flute, available for credit to all students. Students' progress is monitored by the department. Pass/Fail only. NO REFUND AFTER DROP/ADD: To confirm the exact fee for this course in the given semester, consult http://www.fordham.edu/musiclessons which lists the current fee information.

MUSC 1267. Instrumental Instruction: Clarinet. (0 to 1 Credits)

A sequence of private weekly lessons in clarinet, available for credit to all students. Students' progress is monitored by the department. Pass/Fail only. NO REFUND AFTER DROP/ADD: To confirm the exact fee for this course in the given semester, consult http://www.fordham.edu/musiclessons which lists the current fee information.

MUSC 1268. Instrumental Instruction: Brass Horns/Saxophone. (0 to 1 Credits)

A sequence of private weekly lessons in a brass instrument, available for credit to all students. Students' progress is monitored by the department. Pass/Fail only. NO REFUND AFTER DROP/ADD: To confirm the exact fee for this course in the given semester, consult http://www.fordham.edu/musiclessons which lists the current fee information.

MUSC 1269. Instrumental Instruction: Violin/Viola. (0 to 1 Credits)

A sequence of private weekly lessons in violin/viola, available for credit to all students. Students' progress is monitored by the department. Pass/Fail only. NO REFUND AFTER DROP/ADD: To confirm the exact fee for this course in the given semester, consult http://www.fordham.edu/musiclessons which lists the current fee information.

MUSC 1270. Instrumental Instruction: Cello. (0 to 1 Credits)

A sequence of private weekly lessons in cello, available for credit to all students. Students' progress is monitored by the department. Pass/Fail only. NO REFUND AFTER DROP/ADD: To confirm the exact fee for this course in the given semester, consult http://www.fordham.edu/musiclessons which lists the current fee information.

MUSC 1273. Instrumental Instruction: Miscellaneous. (0 to 1 Credits)

A sequence of private weekly lessons in an instrument available for credits to all students. Student's progress is monitored by the department. By audition and permission of the instructor. Pass/Fail only. NO REFUND AFTER DROP/ADD: To confirm the exact fee for this course in the given semester, consult http://www.fordham.edu/musiclessons which lists the current fee information.

MUSC 1274. Organ Instruction. (0 to 1 Credits)

This sequence of private weekly lessons in organ instruction is available for credit to all students. Students' progress is monitored by the music department, and the course may be taken on a Pass/Fail basis only. Pass/Fail only. NO REFUND AFTER DROP/ADD: To confirm the exact fee for this course in the given semester, consult http://www.fordham.edu/musiclessons which lists the current fee information.

MUSC 1280. Instrumental Instruction: Drums. (0 to 1 Credits)

Students take a sequence of private weekly lessons in drums, available for credit to all students. Students' progress is monitored by the department. Pass/Fail only. NO REFUND AFTER DROP/ADD: To confirm the exact fee for this course in the given semester, consult http://www.fordham.edu/musiclessons which lists the current fee information.

MUSC 1281. Orchestra. (0 to 1 Credits)

Rehearsal and performance of selected orchestral music. Requirements include regular attendance at rehearsals and performances. By audition and permission of the instructor. Pass/Fail only.

MUSC 1291. Jazz Ensemble. (0 to 1 Credits)

The Chamber Jazz Ensembles focus on a wide range of jazz styles and work at different appropriate levels. Students will have the opportunity to learn about melody, harmony, arranging, song form, and improvising in the context of a small group format culminating in a final performance. All instruments are welcome. Credit toward the music major/minor ensemble performance requirement is offered. Contact Matthew Buttermann at mbuttermann@fordham.edu for further information about scheduling and info sessions.

MUSC 1300. Chamber Orchestra. (0 to 1 Credits)

The Chamber Orchestra is a Lincoln Center-based musical ensemble open to all students, University wide. The group will hold weekly rehearsals culminating in one or more performances each semester. The Chamber Orchestra invites all orchestral instruments to join, including string, woodwind, brass, and percussion players. Pass/Fail only. Lab fee.

MUSC 1301. Jazz Orchestra. (0 to 1 Credits)

The Fordham Jazz Orchestra is open to students interested in learning about and performing music by great jazz composers and arrangers, including Duke Ellington, Benny Carter, Thad Jones, Count Basie, Dizzy Gillespie, Mary Lou Williams, and Charles Mingus, among others. The Jazz Orchestra will provide ensemble, sectional, and solo experience in a big band jazz format culminating in a final performance. Improvisation is encouraged, but not required for participation. All instruments welcome. Credit toward the music major/minor ensemble performance requirement is offered. Contact Matthew Buttermann at mbuttermann@fordham.edu for further information about scheduling and info sessions.

MUSC 1302. Afro-Latin Music Ensemble. (0 to 1 Credits)

The Afro-Latin Music Ensemble focuses on traditional and popular music primarily from Ecuador and Colombia as well as popular Afro-Latin rhythms from across Latin America and the Caribbean. The music includes a variety of instruments—such as hand drums, bass drums, shakers, guitar, and the marimba—all of which accompany call-and-response singing. As Afro-Caribbean music is pervasive throughout the region and incorporated into traditional styles as well, students will also learn the fundamentals of various Latin American instrumental techniques. The ensemble focuses on participatory music, so beginners are encouraged to join and play, while experienced musicians will still be able to advance their own techniques.

MUSC 1303. Collegium Musicum. (0 to 1 Credits)

Vocal and instrumental ensemble exploring Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque music.

Attribute: MVST.

MUSC 1999. Tutorial. (1 Credit)

Independent research and readings with supervision from a faculty member.

MUSC 2014. Jazz: A History in Sound. (4 Credits)

This course studies jazz historically from the turn of the 20th century to the present, through both the shifting relations between white and black cultures in America, and the changes in musical tastes and practices over time. It considers the development of New Orleans, Swing, bebop, modal, fusion, and contemporary jazz styles, with special attention to the contributions of Armstrong, Ellington, Parker, Davis and Coltrane. Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.

Attributes: ACUP, AMST, ASAM, PLUR, URST.

MUSC 2022. Broadway Musicals. (4 Credits)

This course studies Broadway’s musical theater in its ever-changing forms. It surveys the history of musicals from the 19th century to the present, drawing on the work of influential figures such as the Gershwin brothers, Rodgers & Hammerstein, and Stephen Sondheim. It focuses on skills to analyze how books, lyrics, and music work in a musical, and it fosters critical thought in probing how musicals reflect and engage the political, economic, and social concerns at given moments in American culture. Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.

Attributes: ACUP, AMST, ASAM.

MUSC 2024. The Musical Theater of Stephen Sondheim. (4 Credits)

Stephen Sondheim altered the American cultural landscape of the late 20th century through his work in musical theater. A lyricist, composer, and dramatist in one—in his words, "a playwright in song"—he composed the scores to such groundbreaking shows as "Company," "Sweeney Todd," "Sunday in the Park with George," and "Assassins." Where convention saw the musical as a place for audiences to forget their troubles, his shows asked audiences to probe them afresh. This course examines Sondheim’s artistry as it explores the spaces between poetry and lyrics; songs and numbers; plays and musical books. And it studies some of his most enduring creations for the stage as these have transformed musical theater by the kind of stories they tell, how they tell them, and the ways they continue to challenge our thinking and feeling about the meaning of America’s history, values, and culture. Note: Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.

Attributes: ACUP, AMST, ASAM, ENGL.

MUSC 2031. Rock and Pop Music Since World War II. (4 Credits)

Rock and pop music have played key roles in Western culture for over half a century. This course considers the roots and musical features of rock and related styles, their changing status within "mainstream" culture, and the musical and ethical issues they raise. From the R&B music of the early 1950's to the British Invasion, punk, disco, rap, alternative and the spread of electronica, pop musicians have moved billions of people, while raising questions about race, gender, generation gaps, commercialism, and globalization. Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.

Attributes: ACUP, AMST, ASAM.

MUSC 2037. Disability and Music. (4 Credits)

The discipline of music scholarship has a history of integrating critical and cultural studies, such as race and gender. During the past 15 years, music scholars have produced hundreds of publications convincingly demonstrating that music narrates, reflects, and constructs disability. This seminar pursues various applications of the intersection between music and disability with topics covering disability’s profound role in shaping musical identities (especially those of composers and performers) and representations of disability within musical discourses and narratives. Note: Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.

Attributes: DISA, EP3.

MUSC 2048. World Music and Dance. (4 Credits)

This course will take an approach based on the premise that to study music is to study people, community, history, religion, politics and dance, as well as to study musical styles, forms and instruments. This approach provides the student with an appreciation of the sound, power and meaning of music as it exists within culture. Previously titled Worlds Of Music. Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.

Attribute: GLBL.

MUSC 2120. Introduction to Music Theory. (4 Credits)

Intro to Music Theory is a course designed for the student who wants to learn the basics of reading music notation (music written on the staff using treble and bass clefs), as well as the fundamentals of music theory such as scales, keys and key signatures, and intervals. This course assumes little to no formal musical training, and students need not be able to read music before taking this class. Students who do read music already, but lack some knowledge in theory fundamentals, are also encouraged to take this course. This class is a pre-requisite to Music Theory I (MUSC 2145) for those with no formal music theory training.

MUSC 2121. Ear Training. (4 Credits)

Ear Training is an aural skills class designed to enhance the student musician’s ability to hear music in context as well as increase fluency in sight-reading and performance. Students will learn to both recognize by ear, and sing on command, the diatonic intervals, as well as training in rhythm and solfège. While there is no course pre-requisite, students must be fluent in reading music and have some knowledge of music theory fundamentals, such as the topics covered in Introduction to Music Theory (MUSC 2120).

MUSC 2140. Fundamentals of Keyboard Musicianship. (3 Credits)

This is an intensive hands-on course in the basic skills necessary for the expression of musicianship at the keyboard. First, we learn to read, write, and interpret the fundamental elements of music theory: pitch, clef, and interval; rhythm and meter; scales and key signatures. Then, we apply these tools to the analysis and realization of triads and seventh chords, using both Roman numerals and jazz lead-sheet notation. No prior background assumed.

Corequisite: MUSC 2141.

MUSC 2141. Keyboard Lab. (1 Credit)

Offered in conjunction with MUSC 2140. This practical lab focuses on applying music-theoretical skills at the keyboard: playing diatonic scales and chord progressions; mastering specific compositions from the classical repertoire; developing a reliable sense of rhythm and meter; acquiring basic improvisational strategies and the technique of realizing jazz and popular styles from lead sheets.

Corequisite: MUSC 2140.

MUSC 2145. Music Theory I. (4 Credits)

Music Theory I is the first in a series of three required semester-long courses designed to offer a comprehensive overview of the theory of tonal music, especially of classical music during the Common Practice era, but also relating to the other genres, such as jazz and popular music. This course will cover the following subject areas: fundamentals of music theory, 2 and 3-voice counterpoint, triadic harmony, and the basics of four-part writing. This course is required for all music majors and minors. Students who do not have any prior music theory experience may be required to take an introductory level course, MUSC 2120, as a pre-requisite. Instructor permission should be granted before enrolling. Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.

MUSC 2146. Music Theory II. (4 Credits)

Music Theory II is a continuation of the required three-course music theory sequence. The class will deal primarily with the principles of diatonic harmony as found in classical music of the Common Practice era, as well as through more contemporary and popular styles. Students will learn about chord construction and progressions, and continue in the study of voice-leading principles (as exemplified by four-part writing) begun in Music Theory I. This course is required for all Music majors. Music Theory I (MUSC 2145) is a pre-requisite to this course, though some students with past music theory experience could be admitted upon instructor approval. Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.

Prerequisite: MUSC 2145.

MUSC 2147. Music Theory III. (4 Credits)

This course is the last in the required three-course music theory sequence. It extends the principles of harmony and voice leading learned in MUSC 2146 (Music Theory II) and covers chromatic harmony, especially as practiced in the 19th century and in popular styles, as well as advanced musical forms. Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.

Prerequisite: MUSC 2146.

MUSC 2148. Music Theory IV. (4 Credits)

This final music theory course focuses on further exploration of counterpoint, musical forms, and advanced analytical approaches. Students will study imitative counterpoint, such as fugal writing, the Sonata Principle in the 19th and 20th centuries, and will learn to write about music using technical language. Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.

Prerequisite: MUSC 2147.

MUSC 2222. Music Composition. (4 Credits)

This class will engage in the study of instrumental music composition covering a wide range of stylistic approaches and historical genres. Students will compose several short musical works over the course of the semester culminating in a final project that will be performed in a workshop setting by professional musicians. Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.

Prerequisites: MUSC 2145 and MUSC 2146.

MUSC 2231. Introduction to Jazz Improvisation. (4 Credits)

Introduction to the practice of jazz improvisation including scales, chords, transcription, stylistic analysis and performance. Students will play through exercises in class and transcribe solos for their own instruments. Open to all students regardless of background and experience. Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.

MUSC 2233. Jazz Arranging and Orchestration. (4 Credits)

This class covers basic tools and skills for learning about the sounds of different instruments and voices used in a jazz ensemble. We will learn how these elements can be combined to create various styles and effects specific to jazz music. Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.

MUSC 2235. Composing for Film and Media. (4 Credits)

This course examines film music as a genre. Students will receive an introduction to the history of film music as well as learn about the technical considerations of writing music for visual media such as film, television, and video games. Students will apply and demonstrate their learning by composing music to underscore the dramatic narrative of film scenes. Music notation proficiency is required, and access to/experience with a DAW (digital audio workstation) is highly recommended. Note: Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.

MUSC 2300. Eletcronic Music and Music Production. (4 Credits)

An introduction to the creation, editing, and sequencing of electronic and recorded music using MIDI, computer software, sampling, and audio recordings. Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.

MUSC 2800. Internship. (2 Credits)

Internship.

MUSC 2999. Tutorial. (2 Credits)

Independent research and readings with supervision from a faculty member.

MUSC 3031. Rock and Pop Music Since World War II. (4 Credits)

Rock and pop music have played key roles in Western culture for more than half a century. This course considers the roots and musical features of rock and related styles, their changing status within "mainstream" culture, and the musical and ethical issues they raise. From the R&B music of the early 1950s to the British invasion, punk, disco, rap, alternative, and the spread of electronica, pop musicians have moved billions of people while raising questions about race, gender, generation gaps, commercialism, and globalization. Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.

MUSC 3110. Music Before 1600. (4 Credits)

This course spans 2000 years: from Pythagoras and Ancient Greek musical culture, to the birth of a commercial music industry in Renaissance Italy. We will examine carefully a number of musical worlds in order to extend our abilities as listeners, writers, analysts, and musicians. We will combine a study of musical style and technique with discussions of mysticism, gender and sexuality morality, science, economics (class, commerce, and colonialism), and art and architecture. Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.

Attributes: MVAM, MVST, REST.

MUSC 3111. Modern Sounds, Early Music. (4 Credits)

Medieval and Renaissance music's fragmentary survival has inspired scholars, performers, composers, and artists to realize what remains according to varying creative urges and ideological preoccupations. This course examines the cultures of early music as well as their living legacies. Studying musical traditions from 1000 to 1600, we build a technical vocabulary for discussing music and seek to understand how historical change affects aesthetics, music-making, and listening from 1000 to the present. We also study the reception of medieval music—how it has been rejected, restored, recreated, and reimagined—to consider how "the medieval" is historically produced. No prior musical experience is required. Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.

Attribute: MVAM.

MUSC 3121. Baroque Music: Music Between Ancients and Moderns. (4 Credits)

Musicians of the Baroque era (c. 1600-1750) distinguished themselves through the creation of distinctively modern sounds even as they found inspiration in the past: Monteverdi, Vivaldi, Handel, Bach (and their contemporaries) created music that continues to be performed. To understand what music meant during the Baroque, and what Baroque music might mean to us today, we will combine a study of musical style and technique with discussions of: sexuality, science and the occult, drama, morality, religion, class, colonialism, and the cultural upheavals of the Enlightenment. Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.

MUSC 3122. Music, Enlightenment, and Revolution. (4 Credits)

From the 1750's to Beethoven's music in the early nineteenth century, this course examines the cultural issues of this crucial period in music history and their reflection in the compositions of such composers as Pergolesi, Gluck, Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven. It considers how changing ideas about nature, government, social class, improvisation, dance, and language--as well as national rivalries, war, and technological advances--shaped the music that has come to represent the "classical" era in European art music. Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.

MUSC 3123. Music & the Age of Romanticism. (4 Credits)

Most of our current behaviors and beliefs with respect to Western music were first shaped in the cultural discourses of the nineteenth century. This course examines these as part of the interactions of nineteenth-century music composition, performance, reception, and criticism with the major social, intellectual, and cultural movements of the age, focusing on the work of Beethoven, Rossini, Berlioz, Wagner, Verdi, Mussorgsky, and Brahms. Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.

Attribute: COLI.

MUSC 3124. Music of the Modernist Age. (4 Credits)

This course studies the engagement of Western music with the modernist and postmodernist movements that shaped much of 20th-century cultural sensibility. Starting with the innovations of Debussy, Schoenberg, Stravinsky, and Ives, it traces historically how musicians in Europe and America rose to the challenges posed by the intellectual, artistic, political, social, and scientific upheavals of the age as they explored not only new ways of making music and organizing sound itself, but also new ways of thinking about music and creating musical meaning. It also examines cultural conversations that took place between traditions of art music and vernacular music such as jazz, whose musicians explored ways of engaging with modernism on their own terms. Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.

MUSC 3130. Race and Gender in Latin American Popular Music. (4 Credits)

More than just entertainment for the young, popular music is an important cultural force, especially its role in the creation, negotiation, and articulation of identities. In this course, we will analyze the various effects popular music can have on identity, especially race and gender, as well as how it serves as a link to the past, as part of creating an imagined community, and as a form of resistance to dominant ideologies. Examples of music genres will include bachata, dembow, soca, samba, zouk, tango, and trap. Note: Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.

Attributes: LAHA, LALS, PJRC, PJST.

Prerequisite: MUSC 1100.

MUSC 3200. Ethnomusicology: Methods and Practices. (4 Credits)

This course provides a general introduction to the study of ethnomusicology, including its history, theory, and ethnographic field methods. We discuss critical ethnomusicological readings, which will introduce the discourse, critical issues, debates, and paradigms that have shaped the field. This course will also examine the interdisciplinary nature of the field, particularly as it intersects with gender and race theory and cultural studies. We will listen to and study music ranging from samba to bhangra and Afrobeat. Students will conduct fieldwork using the methods and ethical considerations discussed in class. Note: Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.

MUSC 3999. Tutorial. (3 Credits)

Independent research and readings with supervision from a faculty member.

MUSC 4000. Music and Nationalism. (4 Credits)

Since modern nationalism first emerged in the eighteenth century, music has been used in many ways by nationalists to shape and to stand for their cultural and political claims. This interdisciplinary course will examine how music helped motivate the earliest interest in "folklore," and how "classical" and even recently "popular" musics have drawn on these foundations. We will examine how historians, musicologists, folklorists, composers, sociologists and others have treated music in this context. Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.

Attributes: EP3, ICC.

MUSC 4001. Music, Text, and the Imperial Encounter. (4 Credits)

Beginning in the Middle Ages, cultures on different continents began to discover each other in new ways, and music played a vital role in their encounters. Using the disciplinary tools of literary studies and musicology, this course explores those interactions, focusing on writing and music as agents of political and religious power in processes of cultural exchange and conflict. Through units on Latin America, New England, China, and Africa, the course examines how missionaries and colonial leaders mixed literary and musical forms of cultural production to build new social structures; pre-existing indigenous cultures, and their creative post-contact collaboration and resistance in shaping hybrid identities. We study practices from both sides of the encounters. Knowledge of Spanish OR music is helpful but not required. Note: Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.

Attributes: ACUP, AMST, ASAM, ICC, LAHA, LALS.

MUSC 4999. Tutorial. (4 Credits)

Independent research and readings with supervision from a faculty member.

MUSC 5303. Collegium Musicum. (0 Credits)

Vocal and instrumental ensemble exploring Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque music.