Department of Music

Last updated: November 8, 2010 at 11:43 a.m.

Objectives

Undergraduate Major
The Department of Music offers a broad-based undergraduate major that combines the study of history, theory, composition, and performance. The core of the program consists of two years of theory (with associated labs that provide further training in the musicianship skills necessary for all musical endeavors), three semesters of the history of Western music, participation in University ensemble, and three electives chosen from a broad array of topics. Students may, if desired, opt for one of five specialized tracks within the music major or work with a faculty adviser to propose an alternate program in accordance with their own interests.
  • Composition
    The track in composition develops skills in composition and analysis through courses in composition selected in consultation with the faculty adviser.
  • Cultural Studies
    The track in cultural studies encourages students to develop an understanding of music of various traditions in their cultural and social contexts. Students in this interdisciplinary track select courses in cultural studies from offerings in the schools of creative arts, social sciences, and humanities.
  • History
    The track in history allows students to focus on the place of music in history through elective courses on historical topics chosen in consultation with the faculty adviser. Students are encouraged to select these courses from related disciplines to focus on a particular time or place.
  • Performance
    The track in performance, open to highly qualified students by audition, develops skill in performance through private study as well as through elective courses selected in consultation with the faculty adviser. Students also present junior and senior recitals.
  • Musical Theater Performance
    The track in musical theater performance, open to qualified students by audition, allows students with an interest in musical theater to pursue that dream. In addition to taking courses in the music department, musical theater students are encouraged to participate in musicals produced by the Theater Arts Department and to enroll in a mix of music and theater electives. Students also present junior and senior recitals.

Graduate Program in Music
The department offers graduate programs in two areas: composition and theory, and musicology. The department also offers, in conjunction with the program in women's and gender studies, a joint MA in music & women's and gender studies.

Composition and Theory
The department offers three degree programs in composition and theory: MA (normally one year), MFA (normally two years), and PhD (normally two or more years following the completion of MFA requirements). The programs are designed to help students develop a command of the craft of composition. That objective is supported by studies in theory and analysis and in electro-acoustic music.

Musicology
The department offers three degree programs in musicology: MA (normally one year), MFA (normally two years), and PhD (normally two or more years following the completion of MFA requirements). The programs offer an integrated approach to the understanding of the nature, structural basis, and historical development of music. Students may elect to emphasize or concentrate in music history, or in theory and analysis. In the music history program, a variety of techniques and methodologies, including source studies, style development, and historiography, are applied to different repertories and historical problems. The theory and analysis program features work in the history of theory as well as analytic work in the context of theory construction involving the evaluation of pretonal, tonal, and contemporary analytic models. Courses consist of proseminars and seminars: proseminars survey an array of topics illustrating the representative avenues of research and methodological approaches and seminars typically concentrate on a single topic.

Music & Women's and Gender Studies
The department offers an interdisciplinary program with women's and gender studies, leading to a joint MA in music & women's and gender studies. Topics include feminist theory, gender studies, cultural history, and the investigation of work by and about women.

How to Become a Major

Students wishing to major in music should arrange to meet with the undergraduate advising head, who will discuss the various options for majoring in music and assign them to a faculty adviser. Students who opt to focus their study by choosing a specific track within the music major will be given both written guidelines and examples of elective courses for that track. Before admission to the major, candidates will normally pass MUS 101a and b, with accompanying labs MUS 102a and b, preferably during their first year.

How to Be Admitted to the Graduate Program

The general requirements for admission to the Graduate School, as specified in an earlier section of this Bulletin, apply to candidates for admission to this area of study. Students are advised to submit scores on the Graduate Record Examination. Applications received after the deadline will be considered on a rolling basis until the program is filled.

Applicants for study in composition and theory are required to submit evidence of qualification in the form of examples of original work in musical composition; they must also take a departmental written test in basic musicianship. Applicants for admission in musicology should submit examples of their prose writing on music. Musicology applicants wishing to specialize in theory and analysis should also submit examples of advanced work in musical theory.

Admission is granted for one academic year at a time. Readmission will be refused in cases where students have not demonstrated a capacity for acceptable graduate work.

Faculty

Mary Ruth Ray, Chair
Viola, Lydian String Quartet.

Eric Chafe, Undergraduate Adviser (History Track)
Music of Monteverdi. Bach. Wagner. Seventeenth century. Postromantic music. Twentieth-century music. Analysis.

Yu-Hui Chang (on leave academic year 2010-2011)
Composition. Theory and analysis.

Eric Chasalow, Graduate Program Chair (Composition) and Undergraduate Adviser (Composition Track)
Composition. Analysis. Electronic music.

Seth Coluzzi (on leave academic year 2010-2011)
Music of the Renaissance. Theory and analysis.

Judith Eissenberg, Undergraduate Adviser (Cultural Studies Track)
Violin, Lydian String Quartet. Chamber music performance and analysis. Director, MusicUnitesUS.

Joshua Gordon
Cello, Lydian String Quartet. Performance and analysis.

Neal Hampton
Director, Brandeis Orchestra. Jazz history.

Allan Keiler, Graduate Program Chair (Musicology); Joint MA Adviser (Music & Women's and Gender Studies)
Nineteenth-century music. Theory and analysis. Beethoven.

Sarah Mead, Undergraduate Advising Head
Director, Brandeis Early Music Ensemble. The Authenticity Question.

Bob Nieske
Director, Jazz Ensemble. Jazz bass. Jazz improvisation and composition.

James Olesen
Chorus. Chamber Choir. Director, Brandeis choruses.

David Rakowski (on leave academic year 2010-2011)
Composition. Theory and analysis.

Daniel Stepner, Undergraduate Adviser (Performance Track)
Violin, Lydian String Quartet. Performance and analysis.

Vocal Instructors

Pamela Wolfe, soprano
Pamela Dellal, mezzo-soprano
Jason McStoots, tenor
Maggie Galloway, jazz vocals

Instrumental Instructors

Violin
Judith Eissenberg
Sharan Leventhal
Daniel Stepner
Paula Zeitlin, jazz violin
Viola
Mary Ruth Ray
Cello
Joshua Gordon
Viol
Sarah Mead-Ramsey
Double Bass
Elizabeth Foulser
Robert Nieske
Guitar
Steven Kirby
Harp
Virginia Crumb
Flute
Jill Dreeben
Clarinet
Margo McGowan
Oboe
Laura Ahlbeck
Bassoon
Margaret Phillips
Saxophone
Kristine Grey
Tom Hall, director, Improv Collective
Trumpet
Phil Grenadier
Dana Russian
French Horn
Frederick Aldrich
Trombone
Daniel Linden
Euphonium and Tuba
Michael Milnarik
Piano
Ben Cook, jazz piano
Evan Hirsch
Jean Meltaus
Marc Ryser
Harpsichord
Frances Fitch
Organ
Christa Rakich
Percussion
Richard Flanagan
Amit Kavthekar, tabla
Robert Schulz

Requirements for the Minor

The minor in music consists of the equivalent of six semester courses:

A. Theory (three semesters): MUS 101a and 101b (with associated two-credit labs MUS 102a and b) or MUS 103a and 103b (with associated two-credit labs MUS 104a and b). Placement at the appropriate level is determined by an examination given at the beginning of the semester. Students may be exempted from any portion of this sequence by examination.

B. History (two semesters): chosen from MUS 131a, 133b, 135a.

C. One additional music course: MUS 1a, MUS 2a, MUS 5a, or MUS 80a,b – MUS 85a,b may NOT count as an elective for the music minor.

Requirements for the Major

A. The major in music consists of the equivalent of 12 semester courses.
1. Theory (six semesters): MUS 101a and 101b (with associated lab MUS 102a and b), and MUS 103a and 103b (with associated lab MUS 104a and b). Placement at the appropriate level is determined by an examination given at the beginning of the semester. Students may be exempted from any portion of this sequence by examination.
2. History (three semesters): MUS 131a, MUS 133b, and MUS 135a.
3. Electives: Three semesters of courses from the music department. MUS 111a and b (Private Instruction: Instrumentalists) or MUS 112a and b (Private Instruction: Voice) may be taken only once for major credit. MUS 1a, MUS 2a, MUS 5a, and MUS 80a,b – MUS 85a,b may NOT count as electives for the music major.
4. Ensemble: Majors in music are required to enroll in a music department ensemble (such as Early Music Ensemble, Chamber Music, Orchestra, Chorus, Jazz Ensemble), with or without credit, for four semesters. 
5. Piano proficiency: Keyboard proficiency must be demonstrated by the end of the next-to-last semester.  Keyboard instruction under the basic piano program is offered for those students who are deficient at the keyboard. No fee is charged for this instruction, and no credit is granted.
B. Music majors may choose to specialize in one of five tracks: composition, cultural studies, history, performance, or musical theater performance. These tracks combine core courses in theory and history and electives chosen in consultation with the undergraduate advising head and the track adviser. Students are encouraged to develop areas of interest within the track, in consultation with the respective adviser, and to choose appropriate electives for these areas.

Composition Track
Core courses:
1. Theory (six semesters): MUS 101a and 101b (with associated two-credit labs MUS 102a and b), and MUS 103a and 103b (with associated two-credit labs MUS 104a and b). Placement at the appropriate level is determined by an examination given at the beginning of the semester. Students may be exempted from any portion of this sequence by examination.
2. History (three semesters): MUS 131a, MUS 133b and MUS 135a.

Electives:
Three semesters of courses from music and/or related disciplines as approved by the track adviser. MUS 111a and b (Private Instruction: Instrumentalists) or MUS 112a and b (Private Instruction: Voice) may be taken once only for major credit.

Electives include: MUS 30a, MUS 31a, MUS 106a, MUS 107a, MUS 120a, MUS 160a, Mus 161a, MUS 162b, MUS 170a, MUS 171a, MUS 172a,b, MUS 175a. MUS 1a, MUS 2a, MUS 5a, and MUS 80a,b – MUS 85a,b may NOT count as electives for the composition track. See the end of this section for a list of electives offered outside of the music department.

Cultural Studies Track
Core courses:
1. Theory (three semesters): MUS 101a and 101b (with associated two-credit labs MUS 102a and b) or MUS 103a and 103b (with associated two-credit labs MUS 104a and b). Placement at the appropriate level is determined by an examination given at the beginning of the semester. Students may be exempted from any portion of this sequence by examination.
2. History (two semesters): MUS 133b plus one additional history course (MUS 131a or MUS 135a).
3. MUS 3b (or alternative courses with permission of the department).

Electives:
Six semesters of courses from music and/or related disciplines, of which three are to be music-related courses approved by the track adviser. At least one course must explore issues of globalization. MUS 111a and b (Private Instruction: Instrumentalists) or 112a and b (Private Instruction: Voice) may be taken once only for major credit. MUS 1a, MUS 2a, MUS 5a, and MUS 80a,b – MUS 85a,b may NOT count as electives for the cultural studies track. See the full list of electives at the end of this section.

History Track
Core courses:
1. Theory (six semesters): MUS 101a and 101b (with associated two-credit labs MUS 102a and b), and MUS 103a and 103b (with associated two-credit labs MUS 104a and b). Placement at the appropriate level is determined by an examination given at the beginning of the semester. Students may be exempted from any portion of this sequence by examination.
2. History (three semesters): MUS 131a, MUS 133b and MUS 135a.

Electives:
Three semesters of courses from music and/or related disciplines, to be approved by the track adviser. MUS 111a and b (Private Instruction: Instrumentalists) or 112a and b (Private Instruction: Voice) may be taken once only for major credit. MUS 1a, MUS 2a, MUS 5a, and MUS 80a,b – MUS 85a,b may NOT count as electives for the history track.

Electives include: MUS 32b – 65a, MUS 150a, MUS 178b – MUS 189a, MUS 195a. See the full list of electives at the end of this section for electives offered outside of the music department.

Performance Track
The performance track is available to qualified students by audition (normally at the end of the sophomore year).

Core courses:
1. Theory (six semesters): MUS 101a and 101b (with associated two-credit labs MUS 102a and b), and MUS 103a and 103b (with associated two-credit labs MUS 104a and b). Placement at the appropriate level is determined by an examination given at the beginning of the semester. Students may be exempted from any portion of this sequence by examination.
2. History (three semesters): MUS 131a, MUS 133b, and MUS 135a.
3. Private lessons and ensemble.
4. Recitals in the junior (MUS 117a and b) and senior year (MUS 118a and b). The recital in the senior year may be taken as 99d (Senior Project) by petition.

Electives:
Three additional electives, two of which are concerned primarily with issues of performance, to be approved by the track adviser. MUS 111a and b (Private Instruction: Instrumentalists) or 112a and b (Private Instruction: Voice) may be taken once only for major credit. MUS 1a, MUS 2a, MUS 5a, and MUS 80a,b – MUS 85a,b may not count as elextives for the performance track.

Performance electives include, MUS 113a, MUS 114a, MUS 116a,b, MUS 121a, and MUS 178a. See the full list of electives at the end of this section for electives offered outside of the music department.

Musical Theater Performance Track  
The performance track with emphasis on musical theater is available to qualified students by audition (normally at the end of the sophomore year).

Core courses:
1. Theory (six semesters): MUS 101a and 101b (with associated lab MUS 102a and b), and MUS 103a and 103b (with associated lab MUS 104a and b). Placement at the appropriate level is determined by an examination given at the beginning of the semester. Students may be exempted from any portion of this sequence by examination.
2. History (three semesters): MUS 131a or MUS 135a; MUS 133b; THA 25a.
3. Private lessons and ensemble. Up to two semesters performing in a Brandeis Theater Company musical fulfills the ensemble co-requisite requirement for private lessons.
4. Recitals in the junior (MUS 117a and b) and senior year (MUS 118a and b). The recital in the senior year may be taken as MUS 99d (Senior Project) by petition.

Electives:
Three additional electives concerned primarily with issues of musical theater performance, from the music and theater departments, to be approved by the track adviser. MUS 111a and b (Private Instruction: Instrumentalists) or MUS 112a and b (Private Instruction: Voice) may be taken only once for major credit. MUS 1a, MUS 2a, MUS 5a, and MUS 80a,b – MUS 85a,b may NOT count as electives for the music major.

C. Alternative programs: At any time prior to the completion of the junior year, the student may, in consultation with his or her adviser, submit an alternative proposal for the completion of the major. Such proposals will be considered by the department on the basis of their coherence and appropriateness to specific goals.

D. All majors in music are required to participate in a music department ensemble (such as Early Music Ensemble, Chamber Music, Orchestra, Chorus, Jazz Ensemble) with or without credit, for four semesters. Students may petition to fulfill one semester of their ensemble requirement with participation in a professional non-Brandeis ensemble.

E. Piano proficiency: Keyboard proficiency must be demonstrated by the end of the next-to-last semester. Keyboard instruction under the basic piano program is offered for those students who are deficient at the keyboard. No fee is charged for this instruction and no course credit is granted.

F. Additional requirements for candidates for degrees with distinction: To be eligible for honors in music, candidates must demonstrate superior ability through their overall record and a capacity for independent thought beyond the limits of their course program (such as a written thesis, an approved project in original composition, or a senior recital).

Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts

Composition and Theory
A.
Six courses at the graduate level: seminars in composition, proseminars in tonal writing; proseminars and seminars in tonal and nontonal analysis.

B. A composition that is begun during the first semester, completed in time to be performed in the spring graduate composers' concert.

C. One year of residency.

D. Attendance at departmental composition colloquia.

Musicology
A.
Six courses at the graduate level: proseminars and seminars in musicology (including an array of courses in different historical periods, in music analysis, and in history of theory). MUS 171a is required unless exemption is earned through examination.

B. Satisfactory completion of the language requirement in French or German.

C. A seminar paper written during the first semester, expanded with independent supervision of a faculty member during the second semester.

D. One year of residency.

E. Attendance at departmental musicology colloquia.

Requirements for the Degree of Master of Fine Arts

Composition and Theory
A.
Twelve courses at the graduate level: proseminars and seminars in composition, seminars in tonal and nontonal analysis, a course in electro-acoustic music (or demonstrated proficiency).

B. Examinations: Demonstration of competence by means of a portfolio review and written general examination at the end of the second year of study.

C. Thesis: An original composition, the scope to be approved by the faculty in composition. The master’s thesis must be deposited electronically to the Robert D. Farber University Archives at Brandeis.

D. Two years of residency.

E. Attendance at departmental composition colloquia.

Musicology
A.
Twelve courses at the graduate level: proseminars and seminars in musicology (including an array of courses in different historical periods, in music analysis, and in history of theory). MUS 171a is required unless exemption is earned through examination.

B. Satisfactory completion of the language requirement in French and German. Students may substitute another language for French by petition. The German requirement should be satisfied by the end of the first year.
 
C. Thesis: Either a thesis that is an analytical or historical study of a topic acceptable to the music faculty or revised copies of two seminar papers that have been certified by the seminar instructor and at least one other faculty member as demonstrating a high degree of competence in research writing. Two copies of the thesis must be submitted to the program chair in final form no later than December 1 for a February degree, or April 1 for a May degree. The master’s thesis must be deposited electronically to the Robert D. Farber University Archives at Brandeis. For doctoral candidates, successful completion of the general examinations may be substituted for this thesis requirement.

D. Two years of residency.

E. Attendance at departmental musicology colloquia.

Requirements for the Joint Degree of Master of Arts in Music & Women's and Gender Studies

A. WMGS 205a or another course designated as a foundational course.

B. One course in feminist research methodologies (WMGS 198a, or the Feminist Inquiry course offered through the Graduate Consortium in Women's Studies, or an alternative).

C. Two courses at the graduate level listed as electives in women's and gender studies; one in music, and one from another department.

D. Two courses at the graduate level in the music department.

E. Participation in the fall semester noncredit women's and gender studies graduate proseminar.

F. Attendance at all departmental musicology & women's and gender studies colloquia.

G. Completion of a master's research paper of professional quality and length (normally twenty-five to forty pages) on a topic related to the joint degree. The paper will be read by two faculty members, one of whom is a member of the music department, and one of whom is a member of the women's and gender studies core or affiliate faculty.

Language Requirement
There is no foreign language requirement for the joint master's degree.

Residence Requirement
One year.

Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy

Composition and Theory
A
. Sixteen courses at the graduate level. MUS 171a is required unless exemption is earned through examination.

B. Teaching: Preparation of graduate students for teaching careers is an integral part of the PhD programs in music. Beginning with the second year of residence, PhD candidates in composition participate as teaching fellows in the relevant undergraduate courses, for a minimum of six semesters. All teaching comes under the guidance of the primary course instructors and the department chair.

C. Satisfactory completion of the language requirement in one language (French, German, Italian, or another language by petition).

D. Examinations: General examinations during the second year. Oral qualifying examination in the third year.

E. Dissertation: An original musical composition and a thesis on a theoretical or analytical subject. Two copies of the thesis, as well as an abstract not to exceed 350 words in length, should be submitted to the program chair no later than December 1 for a February degree, or March 1 for a May degree, of the academic year in which the PhD degree is to be conferred. Upon completion of the thesis, the candidate is expected to defend it in a final oral examination. The faculty in composition attempts to arrange for the performance of dissertation compositions whenever possible.

F. Three years of residency.

G. Attendance at departmental composition colloquia.

Musicology
A.
Satisfactory completion of all requirements for the MFA except the thesis.

B. Teaching: Preparation of graduate students for teaching careers is an integral part of the PhD programs in music. Beginning with the second year of residence, PhD candidates in musicology participate as teaching fellows in the relevant undergraduate courses, for a minimum of six semesters. All teaching comes under the guidance of the primary course instructors and the department chair.

C. Examination: At the end of the second year, candidates must demonstrate competence by means of a written general examination.

D. Four additional courses at the graduate level, normally MUS 401d (Dissertation Research), or other courses as recommended by the faculty.

E. Dissertation proposal: fifteen- to twenty-page page prospectus of the dissertation developed in consultation with the dissertation adviser and presented to the musicology faculty for their approval, no later than the end of the third year of residency.

F. Dissertation on a historical, theoretical, or analytical subject. Two copies of the doctoral dissertation, as well as an abstract of the dissertation not to exceed 350 words in length, should be submitted to the program chair no later than December 1 for a February degree, or March 1 for a May degree, of the academic year in which the PhD degree is to be conferred.

Dissertations should demonstrate the competence of the candidate as an independent investigator, his or her critical ability, and effectiveness of expression. Upon completion of the dissertation, the candidate is expected to defend it in a final oral examination.

G. Three years of residency.

H. Attendance at departmental musicology colloquia.

Special Notes Relating to the Graduate Program

Master's Degree
Students may normally hold only one master's degree in the department. For example, a student who earns the joint MA degree in music & women's and gender studies may not apply for the MFA in musicology.

Language Requirements
Language examinations to test reading proficiency are administered by the music department. Students will be asked to translate several passages with the aid of a dictionary. Foreign language course credits do not in themselves constitute fulfillment of the language requirements. Examinations will be offered once per semester. In case of failure, an examination may be taken more than once.

Instrumental Proficiency
At least moderate proficiency at the piano is required of all candidates for advanced degrees.

Electronic Music Studio
The Brandeis Electro-Acoustic Music Studio (BEAMS) with facilities for the composition of electronic music is available to qualified student composers. Director: Mr. Chasalow.

Special Notes Relating to the School of Creative Arts Distribution Requirement

Private Instruction and Ensembles in Fulfillment of the Creative Arts Distribution Requirement
Please note that ensembles and private instruction (MUS 80a,b – MUS 85a,b, MUS 111a,b, MUS 112 a,b, and MUS 116a,b) yield half-course credit each; therefore, two semesters of ensemble or one semester of private instruction plus the corequisite ensemble are required to fulfill the creative arts distribution requirement.

Courses of Instruction

(1-99) Primarily for Undergraduate Students

MUS 1a Introduction to Music
[ ca ]
A general introduction to the materials and forms of music, and a study of musical literature. Training in analytical listening, based on selected listening assignments. Open to non-majors who are assumed to have little or no previous knowledge of music. Usually offered every second year.
Staff

MUS 2a The Western Tradition as Seen through Chamber Music
[ ca ]
The focus will be on the string quartet and music for strings and keyboard. Key works from the baroque period through recent music will be performed, examined, and placed in cultural context. Composers represented will include Bach, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, Brahms, Debussy, Ravel, Stravinsky, Schoenberg, and Ives. Usually offered every fourth year.
Lydian String Quartet and Staff

MUS 3b Introduction to World Music
[ ca nw ]
Open to all students.
What are we listening to? Applies engaged listening skills and critical analysis for a deeper appreciation of (non-Western) music as a cultural expression. Focuses on particular traditions as well as social context, impact of globalization, cultural production, cultural rights, etc. Usually offered every year.
Ms. Eissenberg

MUS 4a Introduction to Chinese Music
[ ca nw ]
Open to all students; no musical background is required.
A general introduction to this history and practice of Chinese music, with a focus on existing musical activities and their historical traces. through listening, reading, and class discussion, students explore different musical genres and gain an understanding and appreciation of Chinese music idiom, as well as a general picture of how music lives and functions in Chinese-speaking communities. Usually offered every third year.
Ms. Chang

MUS 5a Fundamentals of Music
[ ca ]
This is an experiential learning course. For the general student with no musical background. Two hours a week will be devoted to the notation of music, including scales, intervals, keys, triads, rhythm, and meter. The third hour will be devoted to sight-singing and dictation. Reading knowledge of music is not required; a placement exam will be given on the first day of instruction. Usually offered every year.
Mr. Gordon

MUS 30a A Cappella Arranging
[ ca ]
Open to music majors and non-majors. Prerequisite: MUS 5a or demonstration of requisite musical skills. May not be taken for credit by students who have taken MUS 6b in prior years.
Writing for unaccompanied voices in various styles, including chordal, folk song, jazz, and pop. Arrangements will be sung in class when feasible. Usually offered every second year.
Staff

MUS 31a Broadway Bound: The Craft of Composing Songs for Musical Theater
[ ca ]
Open to music majors and non-majors. May not be taken for credit by students who have taken MUS 7b in prior years.
An introduction to the art and craft of composing for the theater, participants create and present songs and dramatic scenes for peer and instructor feedback. Contemporary and traditional musical theater masterpieces are analyzed. Participants should have essential musical skills in place. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Hampton

MUS 32b Everybody Sings the Blues: A Jazz Survey
[ ca ]
Open to music majors and non-majors.
The history of jazz is examined by exploring the various incarnations of the blues idiom throughout jazz's history. Aural and written examinations in addition to a final paper will be required. Usually offered every third year.
Mr. Hampton

MUS 33a The Beatles: From "Yesterday" to "Tomorrow Never Knows"
[ ca ]
Open to music majors and non-majors.
Everyone loves The Beatles. In this class we will delve into why they do so. Examines how social, political, technological, and musical movements combined to create the perfect storm that was The Beatles. Usually offered every third year.
Staff

MUS 38a American Music
[ ca ]
Open to music majors and non-majors.
Exploration of the tensions between folk, popular, and cultivated traditions. Course will focus on select repertories, beginning with New England psalm singing from the eighteenth century and closing with musical theater, jazz, and art composers from the 1920s and 1930s. Usually offered every third year.
Staff

MUS 39a Global Pop Music
[ ca ]
Examines various genres of popular music in non-American societies, providing students with a broad introduction to global popular music and the various issues present in each of the genres. Outlines global music by geographic location and characteristics of musical style, including relevant topics such as music and resistance, music hybridity, and music and identity. Previous knowledge of music is not required for this class. Special one-time offering, fall 2010.
Ms. Wissner

MUS 42a The Music of Johann Sebastian Bach
[ ca ]
Open to music majors and non-majors.
The originality and magnitude of Bach's achievement will be measured in reference to the musical and cultural traditions he inherited. Representative works for each genre will be discussed to uncover the elements of Bach's individual style and the nature of his genius. Usually offered every third year.
Mr. Chafe

MUS 44a Mozart
[ ca wi ]
Open to music majors and non-majors.
Examines the life and works of W. A. Mozart and traces his development as a composer from his tours of Europe as a child prodigy through his last works in Vienna. Various compositions will be studied, some in greater detail. Usually offered every fourth year.
Staff

MUS 45a Beethoven
[ ca ]
Open to music majors and non-majors.
A study of the most influential musician in the history of Western civilization. Although attention is given to his place in society, emphasis falls on an examination of representative works drawn from the symphonies, concertos, chamber music, and solo piano works. Usually offered every third year.
Mr. Keiler

MUS 51b The Symphony
[ ca ]
Open to music majors and non-majors.
Examines a major genre of Western classical music: the symphony. By analyzing representative masterpieces, students acquire an understanding of the development of musical style in the classic, romantic, and modern periods. Usually offered every second year.
Staff

MUS 52a Opera
[ ca ]
Open to music majors and non-majors.
Surveys the history of opera from its emergence around 1600 to the present day. In addition to tracing musical changes, the social, cultural, and intellectual trends that influenced (and were shaped by) these changes are also considered. Usually offered every second year.
Staff

MUS 53a Music for the Ballet
[ ca ]
Open to music majors and non-majors.
Focuses on a series of masterpieces in the ballet repertoire from the romantic era to around 1970. Emphasizes ballet schools and styles, including the music of composers such as Tchaikovsky, Debussy, Stravinsky, Ravel, Prokofiev, Copland, Chopin, and Schumann, and choreographers such as Bournonville, Petipa, Ivanov, Nijinsky, Balanchine, and Graham. Usually offered every fourth year.
Mr. Chafe

MUS 56b Romanticism and Music
[ ca ]
Open to music majors and non-majors.
The expressive and stylistic dimensions of romanticism as a musical movement in the nineteenth century. Topics include Wagnerian music drama, the relation of poetry to music in the works of Schumann, Berlioz, and Liszt, and roots of romanticism in Beethoven's music as well as its aftermath and flowering in the twentieth century. Usually offered every fourth year.
Mr. Chafe

MUS 57a Music and Culture: From Romanticism to the Modern Era
[ ca ]
Open to music majors and non-majors.
Beginning with a consideration of the meaning of romanticism and its manifestation in the styles of several major composers, the course will center on the various composers and aesthetic movements of the period before World War I. Usually offered every third year.
Mr. Chafe

MUS 65a Music, the Arts, and Ideas in Fin-de-Siècle Vienna
[ ca ]
Open to music majors and non-majors.
An exploration of the shift from romanticism to modernism in the culture of fin-de-siècle Vienna. Particular attention given to developments in music (Mahler, Schoenberg, Berg), art (Klimt, Schiele, Kokoschka), literature (Kraus, Schnitzler), and the accompanying social and political conditions (rising anti-Semitism).
Staff

MUS 80a Early Music Ensemble
This is an experiential learning course. Offered exclusively on a credit/no credit basis. Yields half-course credit. Open to singers and instrumentalists interested in learning about the historical ancestors of their modern instruments. Instrumental and/or vocal experience and competency in sight-reading required. A maximum of four course credits will be allowed for all enrollments in Ensemble (80a,b – 85a,b) alone or Private Instruction and Ensemble together. May be undertaken as an extracurricular, noncredit activity by registering in the XC section.
Examines the performance of music written before 1700. A large number of historical instruments are available for student use and instruction. Solo, ensemble, and one-on-a-part opportunities. Usually offered every year.
Ms. Mead

MUS 80b Early Music Ensemble
This is an experiential learning course. This is an experiential learning course. Continuation of MUS 80a. See MUS 80a for special notes and course description. Usually offered every year.
Ms. Mead

MUS 81a Chamber Choir
This is an experiential learning course. Corequisite: MUS 80a,b or MUS 82a,b. Offered exclusively on a credit/no-credit basis. Yields half-course credit. Vocal experience and sight-reading skill required. A maximum of four course credits will be allowed for all enrollments in Ensemble (80a,b – 85a,b) alone or Private Instruction and Ensemble together. May be undertaken as an extracurricular, noncredit activity by registering in the XC section.
Explores unusual repertory, Bach cantatas, seventeenth-century oratorios, sixteenth-century motets and madrigals, nineteenth-century lieder, and twentieth-century works. Singers prepare independently outside of scheduled rehearsals. Opportunities for one-on-a-part ensemble singing and solo works. Usually offered every year.
Mr. Olesen

MUS 81b Chamber Choir
This is an experiential learning course. Continuation of MUS 81a. See MUS 81a for special notes and course description. Usually offered every year.
Mr. Olesen

MUS 82a University Chorus
This is an experiential learning course. Offered exclusively on a credit/no-credit basis. Yields half-course credit. Placement auditions will be held at the start of the semester. A maximum of four course credits will be allowed for all enrollments in Ensemble (80a,b – 85a,b) alone or Private Instruction and Ensemble together. May be undertaken as an extracurricular, noncredit activity by registering in the XC section.
Performs in concert great literature from the sixteenth to the twentieth centuries. Aspects of singing, musicianship skills, and ensemble building are emphasized. Usually offered every year.
Mr. Olesen

MUS 82b University Chorus
This is an experiential learning course. Continuation of MUS 82a. See MUS 82a for special notes and course description. Usually offered every year.
Mr. Olesen

MUS 83a Jazz Ensemble
This is an experiential learning course. Offered exclusively on a credit/no-credit basis. Yields half-course credit. Admission by the consent of the instructor based on an audition. A maximum of four course credits will be allowed for all enrollments in Ensemble (80a,b – 85a,b) alone or Private Instruction and Ensemble together. May be undertaken as an extracurricular, noncredit activity by registering in the XC section.
The Brandeis Jazz Ensemble has about fifteen musicians. Instrumentation is different depending on who auditions. Repertoire will include charts by Mingus, Ellington, Gil Evans, Sun Ra, and others, as well as arrangements and original compositions by the director. Students are also encouraged to write for the group. Experience improvising is not essential but students must be able to read music well. Usually offered every year.
Mr. Nieske

MUS 83b Jazz Ensemble
This is an experiential learning course. Continuation of MUS 83a. See MUS 83a for special notes and course description. Usually offered every year.
Mr. Nieske

MUS 84a Orchestra
This is an experiential learning course. Offered exclusively on a credit/no-credit basis. Yields half-course credit. Placement auditions will be held at the start of the semester. A maximum of four course credits will be allowed for all enrollments in Ensemble (80a,b – 85a,b) alone or Private Instruction and Ensemble together. May be undertaken as an extracurricular, noncredit activity by registering in the XC section.
The ensemble gives several concerts each year, sometimes joining with the chorus to perform large-scale works. Students prepare independently, outside of scheduled rehearsals. Usually offered every year.
Staff

MUS 84b Orchestra
This is an experiential learning course. Continuation of MUS 84a. See MUS 84a for special notes and course description. Usually offered every year.
Staff

MUS 85a Wind Ensemble
This is an experiential learning course. Offered exclusively on a credit/no-credit basis. Yields half-course credit. Placement auditions will be held at the start of the semester. A maximum of four course credits will be allowed for all enrollments in Ensemble (80a,b – 85a,b) alone or Private Instruction and Ensemble together. May be undertaken as an extracurricular, noncredit activity by registering in the XC section.
The Wind Ensemble gives one to two concerts a semester. Members of the Wind Ensemble may be asked to play with the orchestra as needed for large-scale works. Usually offered every year.
Mr. Hampton

MUS 85b Wind Ensemble
This is an experiential learning course. Continuation of MUS 85a. See MUS 85a for special notes and course description. Usually offered every year.
Mr. Hampton

MUS 97a Independent Projects
Yields two semester-hours credit (one half-course credit). Normally open only to music majors in their junior and senior years. May be taken twice for credit if no undue duplication of content is involved.
Reserved for projects such as directed readings, preparation of a work for performance, or internships that do not require written work (papers or compositions). Usually offered every year.
Staff

MUS 97b Independent Projects
Yields two semester-hours credit (one half-course credit). Normally open only to music majors in their junior and senior years. May be taken twice for credit if no undue duplication of content is involved.
Reserved for projects such as directed readings, preparation of a work for performance, or internships that do not require written work (papers or compositions). Usually offered every year.
Staff

MUS 98a Directed Independent Study
Yields four semester-hours credit (one course credit). Open to qualified undergraduates.
One-semester course with one semester credit. Requires written work such as a historical or analytical essay, preparation of a critical edition, or the creation of an original musical composition. Usually offered every year.
Staff

MUS 98b Directed Independent Study
Yields four semester-hours credit (one course credit). Open to qualified undergraduates.
One-semester course with one semester credit. Requires written work such as a historical or analytical essay, preparation of a critical edition, or the creation of an original musical composition. Usually offered every year.
Staff

MUS 99d Senior Project
Yields eight semester-hours credit (two course credits).
A full-year course with two semester course credits. Open to seniors with a GPA in music of 3.00 or above. Admission by petition. May involve a thesis, musical performance, or composition. In all cases, it must produce written work. Usually offered every year.
Staff

(100-199) For Both Undergraduate and Graduate Students

MUS 101a Theory and Musicianship I: Part 1
[ ca ]
This is an experiential learning course. Admission by placement exam to be given in class on the first day of instruction. Corequisite: MUS 102a.
A first course for students who already read music, but wish to develop a deeper involvement. Students investigate how music "works" by composing exercises based on examples of tonal music and literature that students are practicing for performance. Focuses on elementary harmony and voice-leading, counterpoint, analysis, and model composition. In the required one-hour lab (MUS 102a), students practice sight-singing and dictation, skills essential to music literacy. Usually offered every year.
Staff

MUS 101b Theory and Musicianship I: Part 2
[ ca ]
This is an experiential learning course. Prerequisite: MUS 101a. Corequisite: MUS 102b.
The second semester introduces broad concepts of theory and begins the process of learning to write and analyze music. By the end of the year, students will gain experience in counterpoint, harmony, and formal analysis, and will compose in a simple form. Throughout the year, the relationship of repertoire and theory is stressed. The required ear-training and keyboard lab meets separately. Usually offered every year.
Staff

MUS 102a Theory and Musicianship Lab I: Part 1
Corequisite: MUS 101a.
Designed to help students develop essential music literary skills. Beginning sight-singing, simple melodic and harmonic dictation, and rhythmic studies. Materials drawn from the corequisite lecture course. Keyboard harmony. Usually offered every year.
Staff

MUS 102b Theory and Musicianship Lab I: Part 2
Corequisite: MUS 101b.
See MUS 102a for course description. Usually offered every year.
Staff

MUS 103a Theory and Musicianship II: Part 1
[ ca ]
This is an experiential learning course. Prerequisites: MUS 101a,b and 102a,b. Corequisite: MUS 104a.
This course builds on MUS 101. New topics include chromatic harmony and an introduction to twentieth-century techniques. More extended tonal composition. The required ear-training and keyboard lab meets separately. Usually offered every year.
Staff

MUS 103b Theory and Musicianship II: Part 2
[ ca ]
This is an experiential learning course. Prerequisite: MUS 103a. Corequisite: MUS 104b.
A continuation of MUS 103a. Usually offered every year.
Staff

MUS 104a Theory and Musicianship Lab II: Part 1
Corequisite: MUS 103a.
A continuation of MUS 102. More advanced exercises in sight-singing and dictation. Keyboard harmony. Usually offered every year.
Staff

MUS 104b Theory and Musicianship Lab II: Part 2
Corequisite: MUS 103b.
A continuation of MUS 104a. Usually offered every year.
Staff

MUS 106a Undergraduate Composition
[ ca ]
Offered exclusively on a credit/no-credit basis.
Students are introduced to a variety of compositional issues by writing five or six short pieces and one longer project. Concurrently, pertinent examples from the twentieth-century classical repertoire will be discussed. Usually offered every second year.
Staff

MUS 107a Introduction to Electro-Acoustic Music
[ ca ]
This is an experiential learning course. Prerequisite: Any music course or permission of the instructor.
A course designed to give students basic studio skills and a context for listening to and working in electronic music. Topics include basic acoustics, sound design, digital and analog recording techniques, and assignments on the pioneers and current practitioners of electro-acoustic music. Involves hands-on experience in the use of MIDI-controlled synthesizers, samplers, production equipment, and includes individual studio projects based on individual studio time. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Chasalow

MUS 111a Private Instruction: Instrumentalists
This is an experiential learning course. Offered on a credit/no-credit grading basis. Yields two credits (one semester half-course credit). Placement auditions will be held at the start of the semester. Students registering for MUS 111a must also register for a departmental Ensemble (MUS 80a,b – 85a,b or 116a,b); 111a may NOT be taken alone. Students may petition to substitute one semester of a professionally directed non-university ensemble for their university Ensemble co-requisite. A maximum of four course credits will be allowed for all enrollments in Ensemble (MUS 80a,b – 85a,b) alone or Private Instructions and Ensemble together. Successful completion of MUS 111a,b may be applied only once toward the requirements for the major or minor in music. Course may be taken as a noncredit activity by registering in the XC section. Studio fee: $250 fee for majors; $650 for non-majors.
Instrumentalists will take ten one-hour, private lessons per semester in the field of early music, jazz, or classical music while participating in a departmental ensemble on that instrument. Usually offered every year.
Staff

MUS 111b Private Instruction: Instrumentalists
This is an experiential learning course. Continuation of MUS 111a. See MUS 111a for special notes and course description. Usually offered every year.
Staff

MUS 112a Private Instruction: Voice
This is an experiential learning course. Offered on a credit/no-credit grading basis. Yields two credits (one semester half-course credit). Placement auditions will be held at the start of the semester. Students registering for MUS 112a must also register for a departmental Ensemble (MUS 80a,b – 85a,b or 116a,b); 112a may NOT be taken alone. Students may petition to substitute one semester of a professionally directed non-university ensemble for their university Ensemble co-requisite. A maximum of four course credits will be allowed for all enrollments in Ensemble (MUS 80a,b – 85a,b) alone or Private Instructions and Ensemble together. Successful completion of MUS 112a,b may be applied only once toward the requirements for the major or minor in music. Course may be taken as a noncredit activity by registering in the XC section. Studio fee: $250 fee for majors; $650 for non-majors.
Voice students will take ten one-hour, private lessons per semester. Fundamental skills of breathing, resonating, and relaxing will be taught along with repertory appropriate to the individual student. A ten-minute jury is required in second semester. Usually offered every year.
Mr. Olesen

MUS 112b Private Instruction: Voice
This is an experiential learning course. Continuation of MUS 112a. See MUS 112a for special notes and course description. Usually offered every year.
Mr. Olesen

MUS 113a Introduction to Conducting
[ ca ]
This is an experiential learning course. Prerequisite: MUS 103a,b or permission of instructor; proficiency on an instrument or as a singer required. Corequisite: Participation in departmental ensemble.
Involves score-reading, score study and analysis, conducting technique, and conducting. Usually offered every third year.
Mr. Olesen

MUS 114a Performance and Analysis
[ ca ]
This is an experiential learning course. Admission by the consent of the instructor based on an audition. Preference given to formed groups.
Explores the connection between analyzing a composition and performing it. Does analysis reveal significant aspects of the music, which can inflect, clarify, pace, and color the performance? This course is open to competent performers by audition only. Usually offered every third year.
Staff

MUS 116a Inside the Piece: Chamber Music from the Player's Perspective
This is an experiential learning course. Offered exclusively on a credit/no-credit basis. Yields two semester-hours credit (one half-course credit). May be repeated for credit. May be undertaken as an extracurricular, noncredit activity by registering in the XC section. Vocalists will be admitted on an individual basis and must take MUS 82 a,b: University Chorus or MUS 80 a,b: Early Music Ensemble as a corequisite. Informal auditions at the beginning of the semester.
Musicians bring their own experience, instinct, and theoretical knowledge to music-making through study and performance of chamber music in a supportive master class setting. Through coaching by a professional performer, readings, and listening to recordings, this course examines how performance practice, basic structural analysis, and historical context affect interpretation. Individual and ensemble preparation required. Class meetings include coaching, discussion/listening salon, masterclass and rehearsals, to be scheduled. Final public performance. Usually offered every year.
Ms. Eissenberg

MUS 116b Inside the Piece: Chamber Music from the Player's Perspective
This is an experiential learning course. Continuation of MUS 116a. See MUS 116a for special notes and course description. Usually offered every year.
Ms. Eissenberg

MUS 117a Junior Recital I
Yields two semester-hours credit (one half-course credit). For music majors accepted into the performance or musical theater performance tracks only. Admission by the consent of the instructor based on an audition. Students may not enroll in MUS 111a,b or MUS 112a,b for credit while enrolled in MUS 117a,b.
Students will take ten one-hour private lessons in preparation for performance of a recital, to be given in the spring semester, of significant representative repertory appropriate to the instrument or voice of the student, including the selecting of repertory for a coherent program. Students are expected to demonstrate command of stylistic, technical, and expressive aspects of the chosen music. Requires passing a jury at the end of the fall semester. Studio fee: $250. Usually offered every year.
Mr. Stepner

MUS 117b Junior Recital II
Continuation of MUS 117a. Includes final preparation for spring full recital. Usually offered every year.
Mr. Stepner

MUS 118a Senior Recital I
Yields two semester-hours credit (one half-course credit). For music majors accepted into the performance or musical theater performance tracks only. Admission by the consent of the instructor based on an audition. Students may not enroll in MUS 111a,b or MUS 112a,b for credit while enrolled in MUS 118a,b.
Students will take ten one-hour private lessons in preparation for performance of a full recital, to be given in the spring semester, of significant representative repertory appropriate to the instrument or voice of the student, including the selecting of repertory for a coherent program. Students are expected to demonstrate command of stylistic, technical, and expressive aspects of the chosen music. Requires passing a jury at the end of the fall semester. Studio fee: $250. Usually offered every year.
Mr. Stepner

MUS 118b Senior Recital II
Continuation of MUS 118a. Includes final preparation for spring full recital. Usually offered every year.
Mr. Stepner

MUS 120a Jazz Composition
[ ca ]
This is an experiential learning course. Prerequisites: MUS 101b and 102b or permission of the instructor. May not be taken for credit by students who have taken MUS 190a in prior years.
Covers composing and arranging for a small jazz group. Starting with basic melodic construction, students work through harmonizing a single melody and writing parts for up to three horns and rhythm section (complete with all the necessary transpositions) using introductions, interludes, and endings. There will be a concert at the end of the semester. Some very basic keyboard proficiency is essential, as are a good command of notation and the ability to read treble and bass clef. Students are expected to be able to play their own chord progressions on the piano. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Nieske

MUS 121a Introduction to Jazz Improvisation
[ ca ]
This is an experiential learning course. Prerequisites: Ability to read music and facility on an instrument. May not be taken for credit by students who have taken MUS 191a in prior years.
This course explores some of the tools improvisers use to develop their craft: melody, harmony, rhythm, articulation, listening, and phrasing. This is approached through a series of exercises along with the playing and analysis of standard jazz tunes and the composing of solos over standard chord changes. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Nieske

MUS 131a History of Music I: Ancient through Early Baroque
[ ca ]
Prerequisites: MUS 101a and b, or by permission of the instructor. This course may not be repeated for credit by students who have taken MUS 131b or MUS 132a in previous years.
A survey of music history from antiquity to the mid-17th century, considering major styles, composers, genres, and techniques of musical composition from a historical and analytical perspective. Topics include Gregorian chant, the motet and madrigal, Monteverdi and early opera, and developments in instrumental genres.
Ms. Mead

MUS 133b History of Music II: Late Baroque and Classical
[ ca ]
Prerequisite: MUS 101a and b. This course may not be repeated for credit by students who have taken MUS 133a in prior years.
A survey of music from Vivaldi, Bach, and Handel through Beethoven and Schubert. Major styles, genres, and techniques of musical composition are discussed from historical and analytic perspective, based on a study of representative works.
Mr. Chafe

MUS 135a History of Music III: Romantic and 20th Century
[ ca ]
Prerequisites: MUS 101a and b. May not be taken for credit by students who took MUS 134b or 135a in prior years.
Surveys music history from c.1830 to the present, considering major styles, genres, and techniques of musical composition from a historical and analytical perspective. Styles and composers represented include Chopin, Liszt, Wagner, impressionism, serialism, Debussy, Stravinsky, Schoenberg, Bartok, and Babbitt. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Chafe

MUS 150a Women and Music, Past and Present: Style, Identity, Culture
[ ca ]
Examines the interaction between gender and culture in shaping music and musical life. Topics will vary; refer to the Schedule of Classes. Usually offered every fourth year.
Ms. Curtis and Ms. Montgomery

MUS 160b Electro-Acoustic Music Composition (Laptopping)
[ ca ]
Preference given to students who have taken MUS 107a and majors in the departments of the School of Creative Arts. May not be taken for credit by students who have taken MUS 109b in prior years.
A continuation of work begun in MUS 107a, with emphasis on composition and performance in the electro-acoustic medium. Course focus is on individual and collaborative projects. Work is carried out in BEAMS (Brandeis Electro-Acoustic Music Studio), but every effort will be made to equip students to compose on their own computers and to work collaboratively using the Internet. Composition projects are based on models since 1948 in the genres of musique concrete, "pure" and "live" electronic music, music for instruments and tape, and multidisciplinary works. A final project leads to the production of a concert. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Chasalow

MUS 161a Electro-Acoustic Music Composition
[ ca ]
Composing for electronic media. Advanced topics in software synthesis, sound design, studio production. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Chasalow

MUS 162b Seminar in MAX/MSP
[ ca ]
Advanced undergraduate students should consult with the instructor. Counts as a cross-listed course for theater MFA sound design students.
Topics related to the use of the MAX/MSP graphical programming language for composition, sound design, installation, and live performance. Participants engage in individual projects and study MAX patches by established practitioners. Individual and group research and presentations are required. Usually offered every third year.
Mr. Chasalow

MUS 170a Advanced Harmony and Counterpoint
[ ca ]
Prerequisite: MUS 103b or permission of the instructor. May not be taken for credit by students who have taken MUS 105a in prior years.
Advanced harmony and counterpoint. Tonal forms. Analysis. Offered on request.
Staff

MUS 171a Form and Analysis
[ ca ]
Required of all musicology graduate students and composition doctoral students during the first year. Prerequisite for undergraduate students: MUS 103a and permission of instructor. May not be taken for credit by students who have taken MUS 108b in prior years.
A proseminar in analytical approaches to Western music through representative examples from major composers from the Middle Ages through the early 20th century. Emphasis will be placed on the common practice period. Different theories of musical form will be applied to representative genres. Work on close harmonic analysis as well as large scale tonal and rhythmic structure will be included. Graduate students may be exempted by examination.
Mr. Keiler

MUS 172a Proseminar in Theory and Composition
[ ca ]
May be repeated for credit.
Technical projects in theory and composition; baroque counterpoint; canon, fugue, and chorale prelude. Usually offered every second year.
Staff

MUS 172b Proseminar in Theory and Composition
[ ca ]
May be repeated for credit.
Composition in classical forms with particular emphasis on sonata form. Usually offered every second year.
Staff

MUS 175a Instrumentation and Orchestration
[ ca ]
This is an experiential learning course. Prerequisites: MUS 101a and b. May not be taken for credit by students who have taken MUS 193a in prior years.
Technical projects in the art of writing for instruments and for groups of instruments, from chamber groups of various sizes to full orchestra. Score study of examples from 1770 to the present. Additional focus on notation and on rules for instrumental parts. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Rakowski

MUS 178b The Authenticity Question: Applying Historical Performance Practices
[ ca ]
Prerequisite: MUS 5a or 101a. May not be taken for credit by students who have taken MUS 110b in prior years.
Explores the implications of historically informed performance in Western music of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Through study of early instrumental and vocal pedagogy, period instruments, ensembles and editions, students will discover how historical context influences our perception of music. Course will include field trips to historical instrument workshops. Usually offered every third year.
Ms. Mead

MUS 182b Advanced Music Seminar
[ ca ]
Prerequisites: MUS 101b and MUS 102b. Primarily intended for music majors and minors in the junior or senior year.
Historical and/or analytical and interpretive approaches to the study of selected musical masterworks. Typical topics: the Brahms string quartets; the operas of Verdi and Wagner; Bach cantatas; the nineteenth-century German lied; Haydn symphonies; Stravinsky ballets; Schoenberg operas. Usually offered every second year.
Staff

MUS 183b Music in European Culture 1400-1600
[ ca ]
Prerequisites: MUS 101a and b, one music history course (MUS 131a – 135a), and experience with early music; open to other students by permission of the instructor.
This advanced seminar, designed for music majors in their junior or senior year and for students enrolled in MERL, explores the place of music in European culture between 1400 and 1600. Taking as its point of departure a group of representative compositions, it considers questions such as the role of music in society, the impact of religious reformations, the significance of music printing in the transmission of music, and problems in performance practice. Usually offered every fourth year.
Staff

MUS 184b Proseminar in Medieval Music
[ ca ]
Broad coverage of the principal topics and research techniques of medieval music; structure of the liturgy, chant notation, oral transmission theory, tropes and sequences, polyphonic notation, and rhythmic modes. Introduction to standard bibliographic tools including editions, facsimiles, microfilms, liturgical books, and reference books. Usually offered every third year.
Mr. Coluzzi

MUS 185a Proseminar in Music of the Renaissance
[ ca ]
An introduction to the fundamentals of Renaissance musical language. Investigation of selected topics in Renaissance musicology, such as editorial methods, archival research, printed and manuscript sources, historiography, and analytical approaches to Renaissance music. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Coluzzi

MUS 186a From Source to Sound: Interpretation of Early Notation
[ ca ]
An introduction to Western notation from the tenth through the sixteenth century. Students develop their understanding of scribal practices in relation to musical style through weekly transcription exercises, with special attention to editorial practices concerning musica ficta and text underlay. Usually offered every second year.
Staff

MUS 187b Proseminar in Music of the Baroque
[ ca ]
Selected topics in the music of the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. Sample topics: Monteverdi operas; tonality in seventeenth-century music; Bach and theology; the beginnings of music criticism in the eighteenth century. Usually offered every third year.
Mr. Chafe

MUS 188b Proseminar in Music of the Eighteenth Century
[ ca ]
In addition to tracing the evolution of the principal genres (e.g., sonata, symphony, string quartet, opera buffa, opera seria), the course assesses the historical position of the major figures from Bach and Handel to Mozart and Haydn. Particular emphasis is placed on understanding the phenomenon of the "style shift" from baroque to classical style. Usually offered every fourth year.
Staff

MUS 189a Proseminar in Music of the Nineteenth Century
[ ca ]
A broad study of the principal stylistic developments and musical genres of the nineteenth century. Topics include significance of Beethoven on the musical thinking of the nineteenth century, the rise of national schools of composition, especially opera, and program music and its aesthetic and compositional bases. Usually offered every third year.
Mr. Keiler

MUS 190b Proseminar in Schenkerian Analysis
[ ca ]
The systematic study of the approach to music analysis developed by Heinrich Schenker. The basic concepts of diminution, voice leading, prolongation, and structural level are studied and their significance is applied to smaller examples as well as the principal longer forms of tonal music. The student gradually masters all of the notational techniques of linear analysis as they are applied to the tonal repertory. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Keiler

MUS 191a Analysis of Tonal Music
[ ca ]
This is an experiential learning course. Detailed examination of a few complete works of the tonal repertory (from Bach to Brahms). Usually offered every second year.
Staff

MUS 191b Analysis of Extended Tonal Music
[ ca ]
This is an experiential learning course. Works in this course are selected from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Composers such as Wagner, Wolf, Debussy, early Schoenberg, Bartok, and Stravinsky. Music from the Renaissance and early baroque may also be examined. Usually offered every second year.
Staff

MUS 192a Topics in Analysis of Early Twentieth-Century Music
[ ca ]
Detailed examination of selected works composed between 1908 and 1951. Usually offered every second year.
Staff

MUS 193b Topics in Analysis of Contemporary Music
[ ca ]
Detailed examination of selected works since 1951. Usually offered every second year.
Staff

MUS 194a Topics in Twentieth-Century Music
[ ca ]
Studies in twentieth-century music and the revolution in sensibility at the end of the nineteenth century. Close reading of texts by Stravinsky, Bartok, and the Viennese School; also discusses European and American music since World War II. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Chafe

MUS 195a Seminar: Music and Meaning
[ ca ]
The problem of meaning has reemerged as a central concern in musicology. Contemporary approaches to musical meaning in which interdisciplinary connections are emphasized will be considered. Possible topics of study include narratology, hermeneutics, gender studies, psychoanalytic approaches to biography and musical content, and the work of Peter Kivy. Changes in attitudes toward musical meanings that have occurred in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries will also be explored. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Keiler

MUS 199a Chamber Music Workshop
[ ca ]
Prerequisite: Audition tape. Preference given to preformed groups.
An intensive workshop for preprofessional and adult amateur musicians. Daily rehearsals, master classes, and lecture demonstrations. Student concerts on the weekends. Usually offered every summer.
Lydian String Quartet

(200 and above) Primarily for Graduate Students

MUS 209a Seminar in Psychoanalysis and Biography: The Psychoanalytic Study of the Artist
The foundations of psychoanalytic theory in its contribution to the understanding of the artist. Topics include the relation of the artist to his work as seen from the perspective of psychoanalysis and creativity and the creative process. In addition to the pioneering work of Freud, Rank, and Kris, more contemporary issues in psychoanalytic theory, for example, ego psychology, are explored. The possible directions of applied psychoanalysis for musicology are considered. Usually offered every fourth year.
Mr. Keiler

MUS 212a Seminar: Analyzing Early Music (1300-1600)
An investigation of analytic approaches to pretonal music, including such issues as text-music relations, tonal structures, compositional planning, use of preexisting material. Usually offered every fourth year.
Mr. Coluzzi

MUS 213b Seminar in Music of the Renaissance
An investigation of a selected topic in Renaissance music. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Coluzzi

MUS 214b Seminar: Baroque Topics
An in-depth investigation of one selected topic in baroque music. Topics may include the Monteverdi madrigals, seventeenth-century instrumental music, and the Bach Passions. The methodology employed varies according to the subject; emphasis is given to more recent research in most cases. Usually offered every fourth year.
Mr. Chafe

MUS 216a Seminar: Topics in Bach Interpretation
The interpretation of the music of J. S. Bach. Selected topics may include the Bach Passions, Bach's early cantatas, the Leipzig cantata cycles, Bach's instrumental cycles. Usually offered every third year.
Mr. Chafe

MUS 217b Topics in Music of the Eighteenth Century
An in-depth examination of selected topics in eighteenth century music. Usually offered every fourth year.
Staff

MUS 218b Seminar in the Music of the Nineteenth Century
A detailed exploration of one historical, analytical, or stylistic issue of current significance to nineteenth-century musicology. Topics include the two versions of Verdi's Simon Boccanegra and cyclic organization in the song cycles of Robert Schumann. Usually offered every fourth year.
Mr. Keiler

MUS 219a Seminar: Wagner
This seminar will study one of Wagner's major works in depth and from a variety of approaches: analytical questions; the sketches and drafts; Wagner's writings. Special emphasis will be given to Wagner's Schopenhauerian aesthetics. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Chafe

MUS 220a Seminar: The German Postromantic Period
This course will study topics drawn from the period between 1860 and 1914. Topics may include Mahler's songs and symphonies, the aesthetics of late nineteenth-century music, the postromantic lied with particular emphasis on Hugo Wolf. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Chafe

MUS 224b Seminar in Medieval Music
An in-depth study of a selected topic in medieval music. Usually offered every third year.
Staff

MUS 225a Seminar: Topics in the History of Theory to 1700
An investigation of topics in music theory (including the tonal system, solmization, modality, counterpoint, composition, musica ficta, notation) based on a close reading of theoretical treatises.
Staff

MUS 226a History and Literature of Western Music Theory: Baroque to 1850
Usually offered every fourth year.
Mr. Keiler

MUS 226b History and Literature of Western Music Theory: 1850 to the Present
Usually offered every third year.
Mr. Keiler

MUS 292a Seminar in Composition
Group meetings and individual conferences. Opportunities for the performance of student works is provided. Usually offered every year. Specific sections for individual faculty members as requested.
Staff

MUS 292b Seminar in Composition
Group meetings and individual conferences. Opportunities for the performance of student works are provided. Usually offered every year. Specific sections for individual faculty members as requested.
Staff

MUS 299a Individual Research and Advanced Work
Usually offered every year.
Staff

MUS 299b Individual Research and Advanced Work
Usually offered every year.
Staff

MUS 401d Dissertation Research
Specific sections for individual faculty members as requested. Required of all doctoral candidates.
Staff

Cross-Listed in Music/Composition Track

FA 119a Sound Art Studio
[ ca ]
Prerequisite: Any studio art or music course or permission of the instructor. Studio fee $75 per semester.
Students learn how to create a dialog between sonic and visual elements in creative works. The evolving practice of incorporating sound and image, digital and otherwise, is studies to provide models for individual and collaborative student works. Usually offered every third year.
Mr. Baenziger and Mr. Chasalow

FILM 100a Introduction to the Moving Image
[ ca hum ]
An interdisciplinary course surveying the history of moving image media from 1895 to the present, from the earliest silent cinema to the age of the 500-channel cable television. Open to all undergraduates as an elective, it is the introductory course for the major and minor in film and visual media studies. Usually offered every year.
Staff

PHYS 29b Electronics Laboratory II
[ sn ]
Prerequisite: PHYS 29a.
Introductory laboratory in digital electronics. Topics to be covered are Boolean algebra, combinational logic, sequential logic, state machines, digital-analog conversion, and microprocessors. The last part of the semester is spent on individual design projects. Usually offered every year.
Mr. Kirsch

THA 50b Sound Design
[ ca ]
This is an experiential learning course. This is an experiential learning course. Prerequisite: THA 2a or permission of the instructor. Laboratory fee: $10 per semester.
Explores the process of modern sound design from concept to execution. Hands-on sound lab instruction provides a foundation for creative expression in the aural arts. Projects include creating aural images and soundscapes based on selected readings, static and moving images. This class provides a solid foundation in audio editing and MIDI sequencing. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Wilson

Cross-Listed in Music/Cultural Studies Track

ANTH 1a Introduction to the Comparative Study of Human Societies
[ nw ss ]
This is an experiential learning course. Examines the ways human beings construct their lives in a variety of societies. Includes the study of the concept of culture, kinship and social organization, political economy, gender and sexuality, religion and ritual, symbols and language, social inequalities and social change, and globalization. Consideration of anthropological research methods and approaches to cross-cultural analysis. Usually offered every semester.
Ms. Lamb, Ms. McIntosh, or Mr. Urcid

ANTH 26a Communication and Media
[ ss ]
An exploration of human communication and mass media from a cross-cultural perspective. Examines communication codes based on language and visual signs. The global impact of revolutions in media technology, including theories of cultural imperialism and indigenous uses of media is discussed. Usually offered every second year.
Ms. McIntosh

ANTH 112a African Art and Aesthetics
[ ca nw ss ]
This is an experiential learning course. The visual arts and aesthetics of sub-Saharan Africa and the African Diaspora, with attention to the spiritual, social, and cultural dimensions of art and performance. Special emphasis on the historical dynamism and cultural creativity of "tradition-based" and contemporary African artists. Usually offered every third year.
Mr. Auslander

ANTH 126b Symbol, Meaning, and Reality: Explorations in Cultural Semiotics
[ ss ]
Provides a historical survey of the development of theories of signs and symbols; comparison of Peircean and Saussurean foundations of modern semiotics; the structure of cultural codes (language, art, and music); and the possibility of cross-cultural typologies. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Parmentier

ANTH 129b Global, Transnational, and Diasporic Communities
[ ss ]
Examines social and cultural dimensions of globalization from an anthropological perspective. Topics include the impact of global capitalism upon indigenous communities, global forms of popular culture and consumerism, transnational migration and diasporas, changing inequalities and gender systems, global sexual cultures, and the AIDS pandemic. Includes a focus on the South Asian diaspora when taught by Ms. Lamb. Usually offered every second year.
Ms. Ferry or Ms. Lamb

ANTH 184b Cross-Cultural Art and Aesthetics
[ nw ss ]
A cross-cultural and diachronic exploration of art, focusing on the communicative aspects of visual aesthetics. The survey takes a broad view of how human societies deploy images to foster identities, lure into consumption, generate political propaganda, engage in ritual, render sacred propositions tangible, and chart the character of the cosmos. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Auslander or Mr. Urcid

ECS 100a European Cultural Studies Proseminar: Modernism
[ hum wi ]
Explores the interrelationship of literature, music, painting, philosophy, and other arts in the era of high modernism. Works by Artaud, Baudelaire, Benjamin, Mann, Mahler, Schoenberg, Stravinsky, Kandinsky, Schiele, Beckett, Brecht, Adorno, Sartre, Heidegger, and others. Usually offered every fall semester.
Mr. Dowden

ECS 100b European Cultural Studies Proseminar: Making of European Modernity
[ hum wi ]
Investigates how the paradigm of what we know as modernity came into being. We will look at the works of writers and philosophers such as Descartes, Aquinas, Dante, Ockham, Petrarch, Ficino, Rabelais, and Montaigne. Artwork from the Middle Ages and the Renaissance will be used to understand better what "the modern" means. Usually offered every spring semester.
Mr. Randall

ED 101b Elementary School Curriculum and Teaching: Arts, Multiculturalism, and Other Topics
[ ss ]
This is an experiential learning course. Limited to students enrolling in ED 111e spring semester.
Focuses on principles and effective procedures for teaching elementary students. Examines how art, creative drama, multicultural education, special education, and physical education affect teaching and learning. Usually offered every year.
Ms. Moriarty

ENG 64b From Libertinism to Sensibility: Pleasure and the Theater, 1660-1800
[ hum wi ]
Investigates the exchange between performance texts and contemporaneous discussions of class, nationality, and political party. Emphasizes the emergence of modern gender and sexual roles and the impact of the first professional women actors. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. King

ENG 101a Studies in Popular Culture
[ hum ]
A critical analysis of contemporary culture, including television, film, video, advertising, and popular literature. Combines applied criticism and theoretical readings. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Morrison

ENG 151b Theater/Theory: Investigating Performance
[ hum oc ]
This is an experiential learning course. Prerequisite: A course in dramatic literature and familiarity with theatrical production.
The theater, etymologically, is a place for viewing. Theory, etymologically, begins with a spectator and a viewing. Reading theories of theater and performance against paradigmatic dramatic texts and documents of social performance, speculation, and spectatorship are reviewed. Usually offered every third year.
Mr. King

ENG 177b The Rock and Roll Novel
[ hum ]
Surveys contemporary US and world fiction with a musical focus. Asks how and why fiction explodes mythology of the rock star, fandom, and the culture industry. Involves close reading and close listening. Usually offered every third year.
Ms. Irr

GECS 170a Viennese Modernism, 1890-1938
[ hum ]
Open to all students. Conducted in English with readings in English translation.
An interdisciplinary exploration of cultural and intellectual life in Vienna from the end of the Habsburg era to the rise of Nazism: film, music, painting, theater, fiction, philosophy, psychology, and physics. Works by Berg, Broch, Canetti, Freud, Hofmannsthal, Klimt, Kraus, Mach, Mahler, Musil, Schoenberg, Webern, Wittgenstein, and others. Usually offered every fourth year.
Mr. Dowden

HIST 61a Cultures in Conflict since 1300
[ ss wi ]
Explores the ways in which cultures and civilizations have collided since 1300, and the ways in which cultural differences account for major wars and conflicts in world history since then. Usually offered every year.
Mr. Freeze and Mr. Jankowski

HIST 132b European Thought and Culture since Darwin
[ ss ]
Main themes and issues, modes and moods, in philosophy and the sciences, literature and the arts, from mid-nineteenth-century realism to late twentieth-century unrealism. Usually offered every year.
Mr. Binion

HIST 169a Thought and Culture in Modern America
[ ss wi ]
Developments in American philosophy, literature, art, and political theory examined in the context of socioeconomic change. Usually offered every third year.
Mr. Engerman

HS 250b The Arts of Building Peace
May not be taken for credit by students who took COEX 250a in prior years.
This is an experiential learning course. How can music, theater, poetry, literature, and visual arts contribute to community development, coexistence, and nonviolent social change? In the aftermath of violence, how can artists help communities reconcile? Students explore these questions through interviews, case studies, and projects. Usually offered every year.
Ms. Cohen

IGS 10a Introduction to International and Global Studies
[ ss ]
"Globalization" touches us more every day. Introduces the challenges of globalization to national and international governance, economic success, individual and group identities, cultural diversity, the environment, and inequalities within and between nations, regions of the globe, gender, and race. Usually offered every year.
Mr. Freeze or Mr. Ross

PHIL 113b Aesthetics: Painting, Photography, and Film
[ ca hum wi ]
Explores representation in painting, photography, and film by studying painters Rembrandt, Velázquez, and Vermeer, as well as later works by Manet, Degas, Cézanne, and Picasso; photographers Ansel Adams, Dorothea Lange, Edward Weston, Walker Evans, Alfred Stieglitz, and Diane Arbus; and filmmakers Renoir and Hitchcock. Usually offered every third year.
Mr. Teuber

RECS 149b Russian Modernism in: Culture and Arts
[ hum ]
Open to all students. Conducted in English. Students may choose to do readings either in English translation or in Russian.
An interdisciplinary immersion in the period, emphasizing the connections between historical and artistic trends and employing prominent theories of culture. Focuses on major figures, works, and events in film, literature, the performing and visual arts, and political, philosophical, and religious thought. Usually offered every fourth year.
Mr. Powelstock

SOC 120b Globalization and the Media
[ ss ]
Investigates the phenomenon of globalization as it relates to mass media. Topics addressed include the growth of transnational media organizations, the creation of audiences that transcend territorial groupings, the hybridization of cultural styles, and the consequences for local identities. Usually offered every second year.
Ms. Miller

SOC 128a Religion and Globalization
[ ss ]
Examines the experience of religion as a social and individual identity. Looks into the social-psychology of religious resurgence movements (Islamic, Evangelical, and others) with special attention paid to the role and character of globalization and religious consciousness in the world today. Readings cover comparative classical and contemporary thought and research. Usually offered every year.
Ms. Hayim

SOC 154a Community Structure and Youth Subcultures
[ ss ]
This is an experiential learning course. Examines how the patterning of relations within communities generates predictable outcomes at the individual and small-group level. Deals with cities, suburbs, and small rural communities. Special focus is given to youth subcultures typically found in each community type. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Cunningham

WMGS 105b Feminist Theories in Historical and Cross-Cultural Perspective
[ ss ]
Prerequisite: Students are encouraged, though not required, to take WMGS 5a prior to enrolling in this course.
Examines diverse theories of sex and gender within a multicultural framework, considering historical changes in feminist thought, the theoretical underpinnings of various feminist practices, and the implications of diverse and often conflicting theories for both academic inquiry and social change. Usually offered every spring.
Ms. Smith

Cross-Listed in Music/History Track

AAAS 79b Afro-American Literature of the Twentieth Century
[ hum ss wi ]
An introduction to the essential themes, aesthetic concerns, and textual strategies that characterize Afro-American writing of this century. Examines those influences that have shaped the poetry, fiction, and prose nonfiction of representative writers. Usually offered every second year.
Ms. Smith

AMST 55a Race, Ethnicity, and Immigration in American Culture
[ ss ]
May not be taken for credit by students who took AMST 169a in prior years.
Provides an introductory overview of the study of race, ethnicity, and culture in the United States. Focuses on the historical, sociological, and political movements that affected the arrival and settlement of African, Asian, European, American Indian, and Latino populations in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Utilizing theoretical and discursive perspectives, compares and explores the experiences of these groups in the United States in relation to issues of immigration, population relocations, government and civil legislation, ethnic identity, gender and family relations, class, and community. Usually offered every year.
Ms. Davé

AMST 100b Twentieth-Century American Culture
[ ss ]
Prerequisite: AMST 100a.
The democratization of taste and the extension of mass media are among the distinguishing features of American culture in the twentieth century. Through a variety of genres and forms of expression, in high culture and the popular arts, this course traces the historical development of a national style that came to exercise formidable influence abroad as well. Usually offered every year.
Staff

ECS 100b European Cultural Studies Proseminar: Making of European Modernity
[ hum wi ]
Investigates how the paradigm of what we know as modernity came into being. We will look at the works of writers and philosophers such as Descartes, Aquinas, Dante, Ockham, Petrarch, Ficino, Rabelais, and Montaigne. Artwork from the Middle Ages and the Renaissance will be used to understand better what "the modern" means. Usually offered every spring semester.
Mr. Randall

FA 51a Art of the Early Renaissance in Italy
[ ca ]
Major painters, sculptors, and architects in Rome, Florence, and Venice from Masaccio to Leonardo da Vinci. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Unglaub

FA 170b Nineteenth-Century European Painting and Sculpture
[ ca ]
A survey of movements in painting and sculpture from the French Revolution through the periods of romanticism, realism, and impressionism. Usually offered every second year.
Ms. Scott

FREN 135a Rebellion Against Romanticism
[ hum ]
Prerequisite: FREN 106b or the equivalent, or permission of the instructor.
Liberation and selfhood in nineteenth-century France: short stories, novels, poetry, and theater. Topics include love and intimacy, the struggle for identity, gender roles, myth and folklore, religion and secularization. Authors may include Lamartine, Hugo, Desbordes-Valmore, Musset, Nerval, Sand, and Balzac. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Kaplan

GER 120a German Enlightenment and Classicism
[ hum ]
Prerequisites: GER 39a, A- or better in GER 30a, or the equivalent.
Careful reading and discussion (in German) of some of the most moving dramatic scenes and lyrical poems written by Lessing, Klopstock, Lenz, Goethe, Schiller, Hölderlin, and others will provide an overview of those fertile literary and intellectual movements--enlightenment, storm and stress, and idealism--that eventually culminated in German classicism. Usually offered every third year.
Ms. von Mering

HIST 130a The French Revolution
[ ss ]
The sources, content, and results of the French Revolution; its place in the broader context of the democratic revolution of the West. A study of the events and analysis of the elements involved. Usually offered every second year.
Staff

HIST 147a Imperial Russia
[ ss wi ]
Examines the processes and problems of modernization--state development, economic growth, social change, cultural achievements, and emergence of revolutionary and terrorist movements. Usually offered every year.
Mr. Freeze

RECS 148a Russian Drama: Text and Performance
[ hum ]
Open to all students. Conducted in English. Students may choose to do readings either in English translation or in Russian.
Examines the rich tradition of Russian drama and theater. Readings include masterpieces of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, including those by Chekhov, Pushkin, Gogol, Ostrovsky, Mayakovsky, Erdman, and others. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Powelstock

Cross-Listed in Music/Performance Track

ED 101b Elementary School Curriculum and Teaching: Arts, Multiculturalism, and Other Topics
[ ss ]
This is an experiential learning course. Limited to students enrolling in ED 111e spring semester.
Focuses on principles and effective procedures for teaching elementary students. Examines how art, creative drama, multicultural education, special education, and physical education affect teaching and learning. Usually offered every year.
Ms. Moriarty

ENG 151b Theater/Theory: Investigating Performance
[ hum oc ]
This is an experiential learning course. Prerequisite: A course in dramatic literature and familiarity with theatrical production.
The theater, etymologically, is a place for viewing. Theory, etymologically, begins with a spectator and a viewing. Reading theories of theater and performance against paradigmatic dramatic texts and documents of social performance, speculation, and spectatorship are reviewed. Usually offered every third year.
Mr. King

THA 4a Acting I: The Vocal-Physical Connection
[ ca ]
This is an experiential learning course. Prerequisite: THA 2a or permission of the instructor.
A beginning-level course incorporating theater games, improvisations, various movement techniques, relaxation, and vocal release work to open and expand the possibilities of vocal and physical expressiveness. The goal is to liberate the creative imagination, free the student to interact spontaneously with others, and develop relationships with the ensemble. Usually offered every semester.
Ms. Lowry, Ms. Krstansky, and Ms. Terry