Music
Music is a unique form of human expression that transcends boundaries of language, culture, time, and place. The study of music, especially in a liberal arts context, is inherently interdisciplinary, drawing on the sister arts and other fields in the humanities as well as the social sciences and sciences. The Department of Music provides a tremendous variety of opportunities to explore, experience, and perform music both inside and outside the classroom.
We offer all students the opportunity to nurture and develop their own particular love of music, while providing music majors with rigorous, sustained training. Our academic courses explore the history, culture, theory, technology, and performance of music and class topics reach back through history and around the globe. Our program of private vocal and instrumental instruction offers students private lessons, coaching, and master-classes with exceptional performers drawn from across the country. Our ensembles bring students together to collaborate and perform a diverse repertoire.
Whether you are interested in classical, popular, or global music, in music of the past or the present, in creating, performing, or simply listening, Holy Cross provides a rich context for engagement with music and the arts. Our varied and dynamic curriculum has something for everyone: for students who wish to major in music and for those who wish to explore music one course — or one concert — at time.
Facilities
Facilities in the Department of Music include the newly renovated Brooks Concert Hall; fully equipped classrooms; practice rooms with pianos; and lockers for student instruments. The Fenwick Music Library houses a sizeable collection of scores, books, sound recordings, and DVDs, as well as computers and state-of-the-art audio/visual stations. A rich variety of technology resources include the Brooks Recording Studio, equipped with professional software and hardware complemented by a wide selection of microphones, digital and analog mixers, and studio monitors; the Brooks Media Studio, containing 12 dedicated student workstations furnished with industry standard software and hardware used for computer music coding and hacking, audio recording and mastering, composing for film and video, and the creation of electronic, electroacoustic, and new media projects; and several music-notation and ear-training workstations housed in the Fenwick Music Library.
Scholarships
The department offers two merit-based scholarships. The Brooks Music Scholarship is a four-year scholarship offered annually to an incoming student who will major in music or double major in music and another discipline. Candidates must demonstrate outstanding achievement in the area of instrumental/vocal performance or composition in addition to a significant academic record. The recipient is granted full tuition, independent of need. The scholarship is renewable annually, provided that the student maintains a strong academic record and continues to be a highly active music major. Candidates should address inquiries to:
Chair
Department of Music
College of the Holy Cross
1 College Street
Worcester, MA 01610
The application deadline is January 15. The Organ Scholarship is a four-year, full tuition, scholarship, renewable on a yearly basis, offered to an incoming student who will major in music or double major in music and another discipline. Applicants should already be advanced organists who have studied organ seriously for several years, have experience in church music, and have a strong background in keyboard studies and good sight-reading skills. As the Holy Cross Organ Scholar, the recipient will assist the College Organist in all aspects of the chapel music program and will have available the 1985 four manual, fifty-stop mechanical action organ located in the beautiful St. Joseph Memorial Chapel. The Organ Scholar will also be expected to study organ privately for four years and have a career goal in church music and/or organ. Please note: the organ scholarship is not offered every year. Applicants for the organ scholarship must apply for early decision and the first materials are due October 15. Organ scholarship applicants should apply as early as possible because the live audition at Holy Cross must be completed no later than December 18.
Study Abroad
Many majors choose to study abroad and up to two electives may be completed abroad with approval, though required theory and history courses may not be taken abroad. All majors who wish to go abroad should consult the Department’s Study Abroad Advisor for approval of courses taken aboard to count toward the major.
Advanced Placement Credit
Holy Cross awards credit for Advanced Placement exams taken through the College Board Advanced Placement Program and the International Baccalaureate Program and will accept some Advanced Level General Certificate of Education (A-Level) exams. One unit of credit is awarded for an Advanced Placement score of 4 or 5 in any discipline recognized by the College. One unit of credit is awarded for a score of 6 or 7 on a Higher Level International Baccalaureate Examination in a liberal arts subject. One unit of credit is awarded for a score of A/A* or B on an A Level exam in a liberal arts subject. The College does not award credit for the IB Standard Exam or the A-Level Exam. AP, IB, and A-Level credit may be used to satisfy deficiencies and common area requirements. Each academic department has its own policy regarding the use of AP or IB credit for placement in courses and progress in the major. The Department Chair must also review the A-Level score to determine placement in courses and progress in the major. See departmental descriptions for further information.
Students with AP Credit in Music Theory, prior course work in, or knowledge of music theory may earn advanced placement in the department’s theory sequence. These students may be eligible for advanced placement in the major and should consult with the chair of the department. Please note: even in these cases, AP Credit does not count toward the number of courses required for the major.
Performance Program
The Department of Music invites all students to participate in our extensive performance program, which includes ensembles (such as College Choir, Chamber Orchestra, Balinese Gamelan), chamber music, and private instruction.
With options for every student, our performance ensembles are both diverse and inclusive. They offer students the chance to learn music of different cultures and styles, running the gamut from early music to new (see the website for a complete list). All are open to both majors and non-majors. Ensembles that may be taken for performance credit include the College Choir, Chamber Singers, Chamber Orchestra, Jazz Ensemble, Concert Band, and Schola Cantorum. Students who wish to may take eligible ensembles for lab credit.
Our Chamber Music Program provides interested students the opportunity to play in small chamber ensembles such as duets, string quartets, or mixed ensembles (strings with piano or winds). Each ensemble receives weekly coaching by music department faculty. Select groups have the opportunity to perform at department recitals.
The department provides the opportunity for all students (including beginners) to take private lessons in either instrumental or vocal performance. Students may choose either ten half-hour or one-hour lessons per semester. For music majors and non-majors who qualify, lessons may be taken for lab credit (pass/no pass).
Junior or Senior Music Majors who wish to enroll in one of the Performance Courses (MUSC 331 Intermediate Performance 1/MUSC 332 Intermediate Performance 2, or MUSC 431 Advanced Performance 1/MUSC 432 Advanced Performance 2 to receive individual instruction on an instrument or voice for full course credit must have successfully completed four semesters of one-hour lessons for credit, four courses in the major, and be in good standing in the department (have at least a B average in the major and B- overall). Interested students may audition for the Director of Performance and must obtain the signatures of both the Director of Performance and the Chair of the Department in order to enroll. Performance Course requirements include:
- Meeting specific goals worked out in advance with a private instructor,
- Participating in department recitals during both terms of enrollment,
- Successful completion of final jury examinations administered by music department faculty at the end of each semester.
Students must register for the class as a fifth course in the first semester of enrollment. At the end of this first semester, they will be assigned an IP (In Progress). During the second semester of enrollment they may register for Performance as a fourth or fifth course with a letter grade. Students may only claim a maximum of two units of Performance with letter grade toward graduation. No student may enroll in more than one upper-division Performance course each semester.
Jessica P. Waldoff, Ph.D., Carol and Park B. Smith Professor of Music, Chair
Chris Arrell, D.M.A., Associate Professor
Daniel J. DiCenso, Ph.D., Associate Professor
Jacqueline H. Georgis, Ph.D, Assistant Professor
Schuyler Whelden, Ph.D., Assistant Professor
Matthew J. Jaskot, Ph.D., Professor of Practice
Ezequiel Menendez, D.M.A., Professor of Practice and Distinguished Artist in Residence in Organ
Sergio I Munoz Leiva, D.M.A., Professor of Practice in Music and Director of Chamber
I Nyoman Catra, Ph.D., Fellow and Lecturer in Balinese Music, Theatre, and Dance
Michael Carney, D.M.A., Professor of Practice in Music
Katie Gardiner, D.M., Professor of Practice in Music
Brian Saia, M.F.A., Professor of Practice
Joseph Nelson, Ph.D., Visiting Assistant Professor
Ulysses Loken, D.M.A., Visiting Lecturer
Diarmuid ÓMeachair, B.A., Visiting Lecturer
Laurence Rosania, M.A., Visiting Lecturer
Steve Skop, M.M., Visiting Lecturer
MUSC 101 — Introduction To Music Course count: 1
A one-semester introduction to art music in the Western tradition, its forms and history, with an emphasis on the major composers of the common practice period. Assignments focus on developing critical listening skills and an appreciation and understanding of Western art music.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts
Typically Offered: Fall, Spring
MUSC 103 — Music Fundamentals Course count: 1
In these topics-based courses, students will explore common building blocks of music, including notation, scales, melody, chords, harmonic progression, rhythm and meter, instrumentation, and song structure. Students will engage with these topics through written assignments and experiential activities, such as keyboard skills, ear training, and music production, as appropriate to the course topic and focus. Open to students with little to no previous formal study in music. May not be repeated for credit.
Open to students with little to no previous formal study in music.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts
Typically Offered: Fall, Spring
MUSC 104 — Introduction to Songwriting Course count: 1
This course is designed to teach students with no songwriting experience how to write songs. This is primarily a project-based course, in which students will learn the basic principles of songwriting through a variety of weekly writing exercises, culminating in a portfolio of original songs. The focus of the original work is on the creation of the raw song product, as opposed to song recordings enhanced by studio production. Students will also analyze current and historical songwriting trends to understand how musical elements and lyrics combine to create song forms. No formal musical training is required, but it is expected that a student will be able to express their musical ideas through singing, playing an instrument such as piano or guitar, or within a digital audio workstation.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts
MUSC 105 — Individual Instruction Course count: 0
Beginning/intermediate students enroll in a first semester of individual instruction on an instrument or voice with an appropriate instructor. Ten private lessons are given at a mutually convenient time to be arranged. This course is taken pass/no pass as an overload and does not count toward graduation.
GPA units: 0.25
Typically Offered: Fall, Spring
MUSC 106 — Individual Instruction Course count: 0
Beginning/intermediate students enroll in a second semester of individual instruction on an instrument or voice with an appropriate instructor. Ten private lessons are given at a mutually convenient time to be arranged. This course is taken pass/no pass as an overload and does not count toward graduation.
Prerequisite: MUSC 105
GPA units: 0.25
Typically Offered: Fall, Spring
MUSC 107 — Individual Instruction Course count: 0
Beginning/intermediate students enroll in a third semester of individual instruction on an instrument or voice with an appropriate instructor. Ten private lessons are given at a mutually convenient time to be arranged. This course is taken pass/no pass as an overload and does not count toward graduation.
Prerequisite: MUSC 106
GPA units: 0.25
Typically Offered: Fall, Spring
MUSC 108 — Individual Instruction Course count: 0
Beginning/intermediate students enroll in a fourth semester of individual instruction on an instrument or voice with an appropriate instructor. Ten private lessons are given at a mutually convenient time to be arranged. This course is taken pass/no pass as an overload and does not count toward graduation.
Prerequisite: MUSC 107
GPA units: 0.25
Typically Offered: Fall, Spring
MUSC 110 — College Choir Course count: 0
Students attend all regularly scheduled rehearsals, dress rehearsals, and concerts during the period of enrollment. This course is taken pass/no pass as an overload and does not count toward graduation. Students may repeat this course and/or other ensemble courses.
GPA units: 0.25
Typically Offered: Fall, Spring
MUSC 111 — Orchestra Course count: 0
Students attend all regularly scheduled rehearsals, dress rehearsals, and concerts during the period of enrollment. This course is taken pass/no pass as an overload and does not count toward graduation. Students may repeat this course and/or other ensemble courses.
GPA units: 0.25
Typically Offered: Fall, Spring
MUSC 112 — Jazz Ensemble Course count: 0
Students attend all regularly scheduled rehearsals, dress rehearsals, and concerts during the period of enrollment. This course is taken pass/no pass as an overload and does not count toward graduation. Students may repeat this course and/or other ensemble courses.
GPA units: 0.25
Typically Offered: Fall, Spring
MUSC 113 — Wind Ensemble Course count: 0
Students attend all regularly scheduled rehearsals, dress rehearsals, and concerts during the period of enrollment. This course is taken pass/no pass as an overload and does not count toward graduation. Students may repeat this course and/or other ensemble courses.
GPA units: 0.25
Typically Offered: Spring
MUSC 114 — Chamber Music Course count: 0
Students attend all regularly scheduled rehearsals, dress rehearsals, and concerts during the period of enrollment. This course is taken pass/no pass as an overload and does not count toward graduation. Students may repeat this course and/or other ensemble courses.
GPA units: 0.25
Typically Offered: Fall, Spring
MUSC 115 — Chamber Singers Course count: 0
Students attend all regularly scheduled rehearsals, dress rehearsals, and concerts during the period of enrollment. This course is taken pass/no pass as an overload and does not count toward graduation. Students may repeat this course and/or other ensemble courses. Department consent required.
GPA units: 0.25
Typically Offered: Fall, Spring
MUSC 116 — Jazz Combo Course count: 0
Students attend all regularly scheduled rehearsals, dress rehearsals, and concerts during the period of enrollment. This course is taken pass/no pass as an overload and does not count toward graduation. Students may repeat this course and/or other ensemble courses.
GPA units: 0.25
Typically Offered: Fall, Spring
MUSC 117 — Chapel Choir Course count: 0
Chapel Choir is a mixed ensemble of singers and instrumentalists open to all students. We sing for the Sunday 7 pm Mass during the Academic Year, with rehearsals before each Mass. This group performs a wide variety of liturgical music from many styles including traditional, contemporary, and Classical traditions.
GPA units: 0.25
Typically Offered: Fall, Spring
MUSC 121 — Intro to Audio Recording Course count: 1
Intro to Audio Recording explores, through traditional and experiential learning, the role of the recording studio in music. Through the study of recording studio theory, critical listening and analysis, classroom discussions, and in-depth examinations of seminal repertoire, students will gain insight into the critical role of the recording studio in sparking innovation, and, perhaps paradoxically, shaping musical aesthetics. Through exercises in microphone selection and placement, frequency filtering, audio mixing, and signal processing, as well as a final cumulative creative project, students will engage with the recording studio as a living laboratory. By the end of the course, students will gain an understanding of how to apply the potential of the recording studio to their own creative work, as well as an appreciation of how the recording studio has fundamentally changed the way musicians and listeners alike experience music.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts
Typically Offered: Fall
MUSC 133 — Global Music History Course count: 1
Introduction to music of selected African, Asian, and American cultures. Each culture is approached through its social and cultural context, its theoretical systems and musical instruments, as well as its major musical and theatrical genres.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts, Cross-Cultural Studies
Typically Offered: Annually
MUSC 140 — Song Through the Ages Course count: 1
This course explores the power of song in Western culture drawing on both classical and popular traditions. Songs of love, songs of war, songs of worship, songs of protest - every human emotion has been expressed in song. The focus is on questions of expression and shared values in over four centuries of music.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts
Typically Offered: Annually
MUSC 141 — From Opera to Broadway Course count: 1
For over four-hundred years, musical drama has existed at the center of cultural life in Western society. From its beginning, opera was a genre bound up in excess and exaggeration. Musical comedy, or Broadway, originates in theater traditions such as commedia dellarte and relied on stock character types and comical situations as plot devices. But is the Broadway musical Americas version of opera? No, its not, because it has a different form, style, and history. This class surveys musical theater going back to the origins of opera in 17th-century Venice to 19th-century verismo and ballad opera, singspiel, and light opera to the modern Broadway musical. This will include learning the musical characteristics and forms defining each, in addition to major composers and repertoire. While musical training is helpful, it is not required for this class.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts
Typically Offered: Annually
MUSC 142 — American Popular Song Course count: 1
Historical survey of American popular song-Stephen Foster, blackface minstrels, sentimental parlor songs, songs of the Civil War, gospel hymns, vaudeville, Tin Pan Alley, Broadway musicals, Jerome Kern, George and Ira Gershwin, jazz-band songs and singers, country music, rhythm and blues, rock-n-roll, rock, popular "folk" songs, and more.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts
Typically Offered: Alternate Years
MUSC 143 — History of Rock Course count: 1
Survey of rock music from its beginnings in earlier forms of popular music to the twenty-first century. Attention is given to the relationship of rock music to its cultural, political, and economic contexts.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts
Typically Offered: Annually
MUSC 146 — Introduction to Irish Penny Whistle Course count: 1
Embark on a musical journey through the rich tradition of Irish folk music with our Introduction to the Irish Penny Whistle course. Designed for beginners, this course will introduce students to the history, technique, and cultural significance of the Irish penny whistle, also known as the tin whistle. One of the most iconic instruments in Irish music, the penny whistle is known for its bright, melodic tone and is perfect for learners eager to explore the foundations of traditional Irish music.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts
Typically Offered: Fall
MUSC 150 — American Music Course count: 1
Surveys three main repertoires of music in the United States: folk and traditional music of urban, rural, and ethnic origin; jazz; and art music from Charles Ives to the present, with particular attention to the influence of science and technology on recent developments.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts
Typically Offered: Alternate Years
MUSC 155 — Musics Of Latin America Course count: 1
An introduction to the rich and varied musical traditions of Latin America, this course will explore a range of issues including social function, political context, literature, and religion as they assist in understanding music in and as culture. We will study the musics of several regions without attempting a comprehensive survey. The focus will be on listening critically and appreciating music as a vehicle through which to understand culture and society. Lecture and discussion will feature audio and visual performances of many genres.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts, Cross-Cultural Studies
MUSC 162 — Global Pop Course count: 1
This course will introduce students to a range of global popular musics, in particular twentieth and twenty-first century genres such as afrobeats, bhangra, K-pop, and funk carioca, among others. We will investigate musical sounds and performances, as well as the roles that music plays in social and cultural life. Our approach will be primarily ethnomusicological, but we will also draw on scholarship and theories from musicology, anthropology, and cultural studies. The course is designed to help students develop listening skills, as well as an awareness of the ways that cultural particularity informs musical production and consumption. This requires that we consider questions of community, musical genre, commerce and industry, gender performance, race, and cross-cultural exchange alongside sounds and performances. Students can expect to engage with scholarly and journalistic literature, performance videos and, above all, listen to a lot of music. No prior musical training is required.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts, Cross-Cultural Studies
Typically Offered: Annually
MUSC 197 — Music of Peace and Conflict Course count: 1
This course will survey the music related to military conflicts, political movements, and peace making efforts from the Middle Ages to the 21st century. Students will explore how folk music, popular music, and art music have been used to depict war, express pro- and anti-war sentiments and promote political and ideological positions. Throughout the semester students will examine the broader relationship between music and society, and how world events shape musical styles and genres.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts
Typically Offered: Alternate Years
MUSC 199-S03 — Studying Music in Culture Course count: 1
This seminar is devoted to the various methodological approaches to understanding music in culture. Students in this course will draw on classroom study, discussion, and assignments to inform their field research in the Worcester area. As students develop practical skills throughout the semester and conduct exploratory fieldwork, they will share fieldwork experiences, problems, and solutions with the class. The final project will consist of an oral presentation and research essay.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Social Science
MUSC 199-S04 — Irish Music & Dance in Boston: Exploring a Cultural Legacy Course count: 1
Course activities for this class will center around the major themes of See You at the Hall, including immigration, community, cultural preservation, and the evolution of Irish music and dance in Boston. Students will participate in weekly reading groups to engage deeply with the text and discuss its historical, musical, and social contexts. These discussions will be supported by listening sessions featuring archival recordings of céilí bands, solo performers, and dance events mentioned in the book, allowing students to connect written accounts with the sound and style of the era. Independent research will be a key component of the course, encouraging students to explore a topic of interest related to Bostons Irish music scenesuch as a key musician, a significant venue, or a particular style of music or dance. This may involve archival exploration, oral history work, or analysis of recordings. Through these activities, students will develop critical skills in music research while gaining a deeper appreciation for the cultural legacy of Irish-American communities in Boston.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts
MUSC 199-S06 — Music in Shakespeare's World Course count: 1
In this course, we will survey music of the English Renaissance, music that Shakespeare and his audiences would have heard in their daily lives. This will include both secular and sacred music, along with music from Shakespeares plays, popular ballads, and dance tunes. While Shakespeares works are featured in the course schedule, we will look at a wide range of composers and genres. Assignments will include required readings, videos, and listening. You will have short writing assignments, two longer video essay journals, and quizzes and exams. Musical literacy or training is not required, though it will help.
GPA units: 1
MUSC 199-S07 — Sound Design for Theatre & Film Course count: 1
This course introduces the creative and technical practices of sound design for theatre and film. Through a hands-on approach, using Pro Tools & QLab software, students will explore how the use of dialogue (ADR), music, sound effects, and atmosphere creates imaginative and emotionally resonant soundscapes. Creating stories with character development, tone, mood, and atmosphere with sound. Students will develop critical analysis of professional sound designs and apply this knowledge in practical, project-based assignments for both theatrical productions and moving image.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts
MUSC 201 — Music Theory 1 Course count: 1
Ever wonder how music works? This course offers an integrated approach to music theory that is applicable to a broad range of styles from the classical symphony to popular song. Through analysis, musicianship exercises, and creative projects, students learn how composers and songwriters use common elements such as rhythm, scales, chords, melody, and counterpoint as building blocks to create unique musical styles. Music 201 is suitable for students from all majors and class years.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts
Typically Offered: Annually Fall
MUSC 202 — Music Theory 1 Lab Course count: 0
A corequisite of Music Theory 1, this lab offers an introduction to ear training, sight singing, and keyboard skills. Active participation is required. This lab is taken pass/no pass as an overload and does not count toward graduation.
GPA units: 0.25
Typically Offered: Annually Fall
MUSC 203 — Music Theory 2 Course count: 1
The second semester of the two-semester Western music theory sequence devoted to the underlying principles of tonal music, Music Theory 2 explores the musicals elements of chromatic music through listening, discussion, analysis, and musical composition. Topics include advanced chromaticism, extended counterpoint, and large-scale musical forms. Students must have the ability to read one or more musical clefs.
Prerequisite: MUSC 201 or permission of the instructor and Chair. Lecture required with Lab (MUSC 204).
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts
MUSC 204 — Music Theory 2 Lab Course count: 0
A co-requisite of Music Theory 2, this lab offers intermediate to advanced training in aural skills, sight-singing, and keyboard skills. Active participation is required. This lab is taken pass/no pass as an overload and does not count toward graduation.
GPA units: 0.25
MUSC 205 — Individual Instruction Course count: 0
Intermediate level students enroll in a first semester of individual instruction on an instrument or voice with an appropriate instructor. Ten private lessons are given at a mutually convenient time to be arranged. This course is taken pass/no pass as an overload and does not count toward graduation.
GPA units: 0.25
Typically Offered: Fall, Spring
MUSC 206 — Individual Instruction Course count: 0
Intermediate level students enroll in a second semester of individual instruction on an instrument or voice with an appropriate instructor. Ten private lessons are given at a mutually convenient time to be arranged. This course is taken pass/no pass as an overload and does not count toward graduation.
Prerequisite: MUSC 205
GPA units: 0.25
Typically Offered: Fall, Spring
MUSC 207 — Individual Instruction Course count: 0
Intermediate level students enroll in a third semester of individual instruction on an instrument or voice with an appropriate instructor. Ten private lessons are given at a mutually convenient time to be arranged. This course is taken pass/no pass as an overload and does not count toward graduation.
Prerequisite: MUSC 206
GPA units: 0.25
Typically Offered: Fall, Spring
MUSC 208 — Individual Instruction Course count: 0
Intermediate level students enroll in a fourth semester of individual instruction on an instrument or voice with an appropriate instructor. Ten private lessons are given at a mutually convenient time to be arranged. This course is taken pass/no pass as an overload and does not count toward graduation.
Prerequisite: MUSC 207
GPA units: 0.25
Typically Offered: Fall, Spring
MUSC 211 — History of Western Music 1 Course count: 1
This course offers a survey of music in Western Europe from the earliest Chants in the Roman Catholic Church to the music of Vivaldi, Handel, and Bach in the 18th Century. To study the European heritage in music allows us to discover an extraordinary variety of musics from earlier times and faraway places and to connect these distant musics from long ago to our present. In this class, we will study broad traditions and individual works of the Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque periods with an emphasis on aspects of the surrounding culture as well as a range of issues and activities that are involved in the writing of music history. Emphasis will be placed on the development of musical styles, genres, compositional procedures, and performance traditions from many different periods, places, and repertories.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts, Historical Studies
Typically Offered: Annually Fall
MUSC 212 — History of Western Music 2 Course count: 1
This course offers a survey of music in the Western tradition from 1750 to the present time. Our focus will be on musical works, styles, and genres that were influential as well as on the people who created, performed, and listened to this music. We will study important trends, figures, and moments from the Classical, Romantic, and Modern periods with an emphasis on understanding the music in its surrounding culture. Emphasis will be placed on the development of musical style, compositional procedures, and performance traditions from many different periods, places, and repertories.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts, Historical Studies
Typically Offered: Spring
MUSC 218 — Jazz Improvisation 1 Course count: 1
Introduces students to the fundamentals of jazz harmony and improvisation. Topics include chord and scale construction, harmonic progression, symbols used in improvisation, jazz scales and modes. These theoretical concepts are applied to the analysis and performance of standard jazz tunes. A portion of the class is devoted to performance and improvisation.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts
Typically Offered: Annually Fall
MUSC 219 — Jazz/ Improvisation 2 Course count: 1
Examination and analysis of contemporary jazz improvisation techniques. Students are required to play their own instruments in class. Recorded jazz solos by jazz artists will be analyzed and discussed.
Prerequisite: MUSC 218
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts
MUSC 221 — Beats of the Black Atlantic Course count: 1
How is identity performed? How is it sounded? How are stories of migration intertwined with the creation of musical and cultural identity? Under what socio-cultural, economic, and political conditions are narratives of the diaspora and diasporic connectedness invoked, reframed, or altogether rejected? Beats of the Black Atlantic is designed as an introduction to the histories of African and Afrodiasporic music cultures and their sonic, corporeal, and visual manifestations. This undergraduate course will expand students musical worldview and equip them with the tools to contextualize and understand a variety of electronic musical styles, from batida in Lisbon to Jamaican dub; grime in London to Angolan kuduro. In this seminar, students will focus on questions of diaspora and diasporic consciousness, exploring how communities across the African diaspora preserve and cultivate new cultural practices through traditional and contemporary music genres. Through engagement with music, dance, literature, and film, students will wrestle with important musical and cultural issues involved in the study of electronic musics of the Black Atlantic from the mid-1970s onward, which include, but are not limited to, music and politics; music and globalization; performance and (dis)ability; music-making in post-colonial and diasporic contexts; and varying notions of cultural authenticity. By the end of the course, students will have enhanced knowledge of the local and global development of the music genres discussed and increased ability to discuss and describe a wide range of musical styles, structures, and concepts.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts, Cross-Cultural Studies
MUSC 225 — Tutorial Course count: 1
Independent study on a topic in any field of music conducted under the direction of a faculty director. Weekly meetings and a student-designed term project are customary. Permission of faculty member and the department chair required.
GPA units: 1
Typically Offered: Annually
MUSC 228 — Music & the Jesuits Course count: 1
This course explores the many ways in which the Jesuits have been involved in the field of music over time and space. While it is now well-known that the Jesuits have been important composers and patrons of music, the many ways in which the Society of Jesus has used music as a tool of its mission across all contexts remains less well understood. The goal of the course is to construct a more robust sense of the many ways the Jesuits have engaged with music as art and music as a tool of mission. The course will also examine the many sites of Jesuit music culture around the globe, then and now, to draw a better understanding of Jesuit religious/missionary work, Jesuit engagement in and proximity to slavery and colonialism, and the complex cultural legacy of the Society of Jesus.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts, Studies in Religion
Typically Offered: Alternate Years
MUSC 231 — Music Of Bali-Gamelan 1 Course count: 1
Introduces students to Balinese music through the performance of selected pieces from the Gong Kebyar repertory. Instruction provided in the technique of playing the instruments that make up the Gamelan.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts, Cross-Cultural Studies
Typically Offered: Fall, Spring
MUSC 232 — Music Of Bali-Gamelan 2 Course count: 1
Introduces students to more advanced techniques of playing the instruments in the Gamelan.
Prerequisite: MUSC 231
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts, Cross-Cultural Studies
Typically Offered: Fall, Spring
MUSC 236 — From Blues to Rap Course count: 1
This course is a survey of African-American music from the early 20th century to the present day. This course will consider various musical styles, with special emphasis on developments since 1950, including blues, gospel, R&B, rock and roll, doo-wop, soul, funk, disco, hip-hop, and rap-from the rural south to the urban north; from the east coast to the west coast; from the live stage to the recording studio. Though the primary function of the course will be to consider the development of musical style (that is, the music itself), we will also consider broader questions concerning the influences on and influences of African-American music, issues of cultural appropriation and race, and the agency of such music in social movements from the civil-rights era to the present day.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts
Typically Offered: Annually
MUSC 238 — Musical Cultures of Brazil Course count: 1
Brazil, the world's fifth largest nation by both population and area, is home to wide variety of musical traditions. Brazilian musical practice has contributed to the formation of local and national identities, accompanied religious ceremonies and rites, been subject to the possibilities and pitfalls of industrial and neoliberal capitalism, and served as a vehicle for protest and political organizing. In this course, we will examine many of the country's major musical styles and practices, particularly as they are bound up with social and cultural trends, changes, and issues. Musics to be covered include capoeira, samba, bossa nova, MPB, tropicália, sertanejo, funk carioca, tecnobrega, and hip hop. We will also learn about the history and culture of Brazil, situating musical practices and meanings within their particular contexts and uses. Students will learn critical listening and music interpretation skills, which they will use to complete a research paper on a Brazilian music topic. No prior language or musical training is required.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts, Cross-Cultural Studies
MUSC 241 — Intro to Electroacoustic Music Course count: 1
Designed for all students interested in the electronic music studio, this survey course provides a comprehensive overview of the techniques, literature, and materials of electroacoustic music. Topics include musical acoustics, classic musique concrète techniques, digital music, sound design, and production. Course goals include gaining fluency in appropriate technologies and strengthening interpretive and creative skills through the completion of original musical compositions.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts
Typically Offered: Annually Fall
MUSC 242 — Topics in Computer Music Course count: 1
In these topic-based courses, students explore contemporary creative practices in computer music through hands-on, project-driven work. Projects are designed to develop technical skills alongside original creative work, while also encouraging critical engagement with aesthetic questions about music, sound, technology, and artistic expression. Music 242 is open to students of all majors seeking an introduction to creative practices in computer music. No prior experience in coding or music-making is required. The course may be repeated for credit when offered with different topics.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts
Typically Offered: Annually Fall
MUSC 251 — Digital Media for Musicians Course count: 1
Explores the role of digital media in the world of music and teaches how digital tools are utilized by the contemporary composer. Students get "hands-on" experience with digital audio, MIDI, the internet, and a host of computer applications (PowerPoint, Photoshop, Dreamweaver, ProTools, Audacity, Adobe Premier), that are essential for the aspiring musician.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts
Typically Offered: Annually Fall
MUSC 259 — Music, Performance, Community Course count: 1
This seminar is designed for students interested in exploring community engagement (and career paths in the arts). Majors and non-majors interested in music performance or composition, visual and creative arts, sound installation, video, technology, creative writing, business, performance art and theatre as well as other related fields are especially encouraged to enroll.
GPA units: 1
MUSC 260 — Gregorian Chant Course count: 1
In this course students will come to understand the history of Gregorian chant, both as a religious phenomenon and as a repertory of music. The course will begin in the Early Christian era and trace the history of Gregorian chant through the Middle Ages all the way to the present. Students will consider the role chant was made to play in asserting theological and cultural disagreements that historically led the rise of a variety of forms of Christian worship in the early centuries, some of which continue to be preserved and practiced in the present. The course will also consider chants role as art music and popular music, from the History of Western Music to film and popular song.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts, Studies in Religion
Typically Offered: Annually
MUSC 265 — Music of the 20th Century Course count: 1
Study of representative works of this century, illustrating their compositional techniques and relationship to the past (i.e., the music of Bartok, the different styles of Stravinsky, the atonal and serial music of Schoenberg and his followers). This course also includes selected readings on contemporary music theory and practice.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts
MUSC 275 — Symphony Course count: 1
Introduction to the orchestra, its instruments, and repertory from the inception of public concerts in the 18th century to the present day.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts
MUSC 284 — Beethoven and His World Course count: 1
Beethoven was the most celebrated composer in Europe during his lifetime and his fame has only increased over the last two centuries. His heroic perseverance in the face of deafness--an almost unthinkable affliction for any musician--has transformed his biography into a story of struggle and triumph. In this course we will study some of his most famous works in depth, with an emphasis on the development of his musical style, the immediate socio-cultural context, and reception history.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts
Typically Offered: Alternate Years
MUSC 299-F01 — Music Production for Songwriters Course count: 1
This class will explore the creative elements of music production and the craft of the recorded arts. Through listening and analyzing of recorded music from a wide array of styles, genres, and time periods and discussing the techniques used to create mood and tension, students will go through the process of creating a modern recording of a song, turning a smartphone demo into a professionally polished surround-sound tapestry of sonorities. The final project will be a listening event through a multi-channel speaker configuration of your song. Some previous experience with songwriting, recording, and music theory is recommended.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts
MUSC 299-F04 — Empire Reimagined: Music, Movement & Memory Course count: 1
Through critical engagement with the music and dance of the Portuguese-speaking world, students in this 200-level seminar will explore issues around the socio-political underpinnings of Portuguese seaward expansion and colonial rule; decolonization, and the emergence of post-colonial nation-states. Students will explore how local communities have used music and other cultural practices to resist, challenge and reframe the role of empire and colonial rule. By writing critical responses to assigned readings, songs, and documentaries, and by engaging in class discussions and debates, students will gain a deeper understanding of the ideological foundations of colonialism and the diasporic memory-work that is performed by individuals through music. Class meetings will be devoted to lectures, discussion, listening, and when possible, playing music together.
GPA units: 1
MUSC 305 — Music Theory 3 Course count: 1
Music 305 focuses on 20th-century musical systems with an emphasis on the study of compositional theory and the analysis of selected works. Original composition is required.
Prerequisite: MUSC 203.
GPA units: 1
Typically Offered: Annually Fall
MUSC 306 — Adv. Topics in Music Analysis Course count: 1
Topics-oriented seminar in advanced music theory and analysis open to students who have completed Music Theory 1-3 or by permission of the instructor. May be used as an upper-division elective for the music major.
Prerequisite: MUSC 305 or permission of Instructor.
GPA units: 1
Typically Offered: Every Third Year
MUSC 315 — Advanced Topics in Music History Course count: 1
This course explores music history from a methodological perspective. How do we construct and make sense of the music of the past? How does this activity inform our understanding and appreciation of music today? With an emphasis on critical reading, listening, analysis, discussion, and writing. Topics, materials, and course format vary from year to year.
GPA units: 1
MUSC 325 — Tutorial Course count: 1
Independent study on a topic in any field of music conducted under the direction of a faculty director. Weekly meetings and a student-designed term project are customary. Permission of faculty member and the department chair required. Advanced.
GPA units: 1
Typically Offered: Annually
MUSC 331 — Intermediate Performance 1 Course count: 0
Instrumental or vocal lessons for students of intermediate competency. Interested students must have completed four semesters of individual instruction, perform at the intermediate level and obtain the permission of the Director of Performance and the Chair of the department.
GPA units: 0
Typically Offered: Annually
MUSC 332 — Intermediate Performance 2 Course count: 1
Instrumental or vocal lessons for students of intermediate competency. Interested students must have completed four semesters of individual instruction, perform at the intermediate level and obtain the permission of the Director of Performance and the Chair of the department.
Prerequisite: MUSC 331
GPA units: 1
Typically Offered: Annually
MUSC 383 — Mozart and His World Course count: 1
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (17561791) was a child prodigy, musical innovator, virtuoso performer, and compelling dramatist whom biographers later dubbed the Shakespeare of Music. The world in which he composed -- and struggled at times -- was a vibrant, competitive, multilingual, multicultural hotbed of enlightenment debate and revolutionary tension. It turns out that many of the themes and conflicts Mozart wrote about in his time still matter in ours: human affection in society, reconciliation, gender, identity, and difference. This course offers an in-depth exploration of Mozarts music that draws on historical context to engage Mozart today. Musical scores, recordings, videos, primary sources (including the Mozart family letters), and a rich variety of readings will frame discussion of familiar works and rarely performed gems.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts
Typically Offered: Alternate Years
MUSC 390 — Music & Gay Rights Course count: 1
Where once popular music was considered to be merely a reflection of social change, today, scholars regard popular music to be a powerful agent of change itself. It is thus that we have come to celebrate artists and musicians among the very architects of the civil rights and women's rights movements of the 1960s and 1970s. However, the role of music in various gay rights movements remains less well understood. This course will consider the complex relationship between popular music and gay rights over the last fifty years. Examining the fraught notion of gay music in musical, historical, and aesthetic terms, the course will also explore the role music has played in building up and breaking down certain conceptualizations of sex, gender, and sexuality in American popular culture; in shaping distinct forms of gay identity (inclusive of LGBTQIAPK+ identity) in the popular media; in drawing attention to issues of voice-formation and cultural appropriation; and in forging political agency via song. The ability to read musical notation is not required and while this course has no specific prerequisite, students should be prepared to engage at an upper intermediate to advanced level. A prior course in music, sociology, cultural studies, or GSWS may be helpful, but is not required.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts
MUSC 399-F03 — Music and Anti-Racism Course count: 1
Anti-racist movements throughout the twentieth and twenty-first centuries have frequently relied on music as an important communicative and affective tool. This class will closely examine how music and musicians have participated in anti-racist activism in the US Civil Rights Movement, at the border of Haiti and the Dominican Republic, as an historical corrective to racist policies in Brazil, and during and after the South African anti-apartheid movement. We will examine primary texts (in a variety of media) and secondary scholarship on these movements. Students will complete a final analytical project drawing on a case study of their choice, analyzing how musicians, musical sound, and musical practice participate in contesting and dismantling racist systems and policies.
Prerequisite: One previous music course or permission of instructor.
GPA units: 1
Common Area: Arts, Cross-Cultural Studies
MUSC 400 — Junior/Senior Seminar Course count: 1
Required for music majors. This course is designed to provide an opportunity for juniors and seniors to integrate the knowledge and skills they have acquired in the major by drawing on multiple methodologies (musicology, ethnomusicology, theory, historical performance practice, and popular music studies, among others) to study selected musical works in depth. Topics and repertory vary from year to year. The culmination of this course is a capstone project designed by the student.
GPA units: 1
MUSC 425 — Tutorial Course count: 1
GPA units: 1
Typically Offered: Fall, Spring
MUSC 431 — Advanced Performance 1 Course count: 0
Instrumental or vocal lessons for students of advanced competency. Interested students must have completed four semesters of individual instruction, perform at the intermediate or advanced level and obtain the permission of the Director of Performance and the Chair of the department.
GPA units: 0
Typically Offered: Annually
MUSC 432 — Advanced Performance 2 Course count: 1
Instrumental or vocal lessons for students of intermediate to advanced competency. Interested students must have completed four semesters of individual instruction, perform at the intermediate or advanced level and obtain the permission of the Director of Performance and the Chair of the department.
Prerequisite: MUSC 431
GPA units: 1
Typically Offered: Annually