Courses

Column one has the course number and section. Other columns show the course title, days offered, instructor's name, room number, if the course is cross-referenced with another program, and a option to view additional course information in a pop-up window.

Star Trek Music- The Franchise Frontier
AS.376.166 (85)

Music defines the Star Trek experience. Through their continued reuse and repetition, Star Trek’s many musical themes go beyond their original audiovisual frameworks to operate as learned musical-cultural texts. As Star Trek has expanded its content into a myriad of installments and media platforms, this musical symbolism has proved vital in articulating both these differences and “sameness.” This online, asynchronous course uses Star Trek’s music as a tool to investigate musical branding and the creation of meaning in the media we consume every day. Through close viewings—and listenings—of film, television episodes, video games, computer games, commercials, and other media, we will explore the meaning(s) these media construct and acquire as they are re-used and re-purposed in audiovisual contexts. Your work will include studying media clips, television episodes, and some feature-length films; short readings in which we interact with both current and classic scholarly literature; regular discussion posts and responses to our content; a weekly reflection journal of short posts; and a final paper/project on a Star Trek music topic of your choice (1500 words). In so doing, we will hone your analytical skills by learning to critically evaluate filmic media and craft arguments about the roles of music/sound in film.

  • Credits: 3.00
  • Level: Lower Level Undergraduate
  • Days/Times:
  • Instructor: Sommerfeld, Paul
  • Room:  
  • Status: Open
  • Seats Available: 7/15
  • PosTag(s): n/a

Course # (Section) Title Day/Times Instructor Room PosTag(s) Info
AS.376.166 (85)Star Trek Music- The Franchise FrontierSommerfeld, Paul 

Column one has the course number and section. Other columns show the course title, days offered, instructor's name, room number, if the course is cross-referenced with another program, and a option to view additional course information in a pop-up window.

Freshman Seminar: Composer Biographies in Film
AS.376.123 (01)

This freshman seminar focuses on the lives of Mozart, Beethoven, Schumann, and Chopin and the depictions of their lives in film during the 20th century. The course provides both an introduction to film analysis and music history biography.

  • Credits: 3.00
  • Level: Lower Level Undergraduate
  • Days/Times: TTh 12:00PM - 1:15PM
  • Instructor: Ahn, Suhnne
  • Room: Mattin Center 101
  • Status: Open
  • Seats Available: 13/13
  • PosTag(s): n/a

Musicianship I
AS.376.221 (01)

An introduction to basic musicianship skills. The course is divided into performance skills (sight singing, rhythm reading, basic piano, and improvisation) and aural skills (recognition of pitch, chords, rhythms, melodies, and other musical structures). Topics include major and minor keys and simple time signatures. Emphasis is placed on developing effective practice techniques. Pre-requisite: AS.376.111 (Rudiments of Music Theory and Musicianship) or placement exam.

  • Credits: 2.00
  • Level: Lower Level Undergraduate
  • Days/Times: TTh 1:30PM - 2:20PM
  • Instructor: Fishbein, Joshua H
  • Room: Shaffer 202
  • Status: Open
  • Seats Available: 8/15
  • PosTag(s): n/a

Rudiments of Music Theory and Musicianship
AS.376.111 (02)

This course introduces written and aural music fundamentals including notation, scales, intervals, chords, rhythm, meter and sight-singing. Students will compose melodies and short pieces and complete listening projects. Course does not count towards the completion of the minor.

  • Credits: 3.00
  • Level: Lower Level Undergraduate
  • Days/Times: MWF 9:00AM - 9:50AM
  • Instructor: Maust, Paula
  • Room: Shaffer 202
  • Status: Reserved Open
  • Seats Available: 4/15
  • PosTag(s): n/a

Rudiments of Music Theory and Musicianship
AS.376.111 (01)

This course introduces written and aural music fundamentals including notation, scales, intervals, chords, rhythm, meter and sight-singing. Students will compose melodies and short pieces and complete listening projects. Course does not count towards the completion of the minor.

  • Credits: 3.00
  • Level: Lower Level Undergraduate
  • Days/Times: TTh 10:30AM - 11:45AM
  • Instructor: Rickelton, Michael T
  • Room: Shaffer 202
  • Status: Reserved Open
  • Seats Available: 7/15
  • PosTag(s): n/a

Music Theory I
AS.376.211 (01)

Introduction to basic principles of tonal music through listening, analysis and music making. Students study melody, harmony, voice leading, figured bass and dissonance treatment, and will also undertake short composition projects. Must have taken the qualifying examination or AS.376.111. Recommended to be taken concurrently with AS.376.221.

  • Credits: 3.00
  • Level: Lower Level Undergraduate
  • Days/Times: MWF 9:00AM - 9:50AM
  • Instructor: Perry, Lisa M
  • Room: Shaffer 302
  • Status: Open
  • Seats Available: 7/15
  • PosTag(s): n/a

Music Theory I
AS.376.211 (02)

Introduction to basic principles of tonal music through listening, analysis and music making. Students study melody, harmony, voice leading, figured bass and dissonance treatment, and will also undertake short composition projects. Must have taken the qualifying examination or AS.376.111. Recommended to be taken concurrently with AS.376.221.

  • Credits: 3.00
  • Level: Lower Level Undergraduate
  • Days/Times: TTh 12:00PM - 1:15PM
  • Instructor: Rickelton, Michael T
  • Room: Shaffer 202
  • Status: Open
  • Seats Available: 3/15
  • PosTag(s): n/a

Music Theory II
AS.376.212 (01)

This course continues the written and aural work of the previous course but focuses on chromatic harmony while continuing the study of melody, counterpoint and figured bass. Prerequisite: AS.376.211 (Music Theory I). Recommended to be taken with AS.376.222 (Musicianship II).

  • Credits: 3.00
  • Level: Lower Level Undergraduate
  • Days/Times: MWF 11:00AM - 11:50AM
  • Instructor: Stone, Stephen C
  • Room: Shaffer 202
  • Status: Open
  • Seats Available: 3/15
  • PosTag(s): n/a

Musicianship II
AS.376.222 (01)

A continuation of the skills developed Musicianship I. The course is divided into performance skills (sight singing, rhythm reading, basic piano, and improvisation) and aural skills (recognition of pitch, chords, rhythms, melodies, and other musical structures). Topics include minor keys, chromatic melody and harmony, compound time signatures, and syncopation). As in Musicianship I, emphasis is placed on developing effective practice techniques. Pre-requisite: AS.376.221 (Musicianship I) or placement exam.

  • Credits: 2.00
  • Level: Lower Level Undergraduate
  • Days/Times: TTh 3:00PM - 3:50PM
  • Instructor: Fishbein, Joshua H
  • Room: Shaffer 202
  • Status: Open
  • Seats Available: 4/15
  • PosTag(s): n/a

Introduction to Popular Music
AS.376.242 (02)

A survey of the stylistic features and social contexts of American popular music since the 1950s.

  • Credits: 3.00
  • Level: Lower Level Undergraduate
  • Days/Times: MW 3:00PM - 3:50PM, F 3:00PM - 3:50PM
  • Instructor: Smooke, David
  • Room: Shaffer 302
  • Status: Reserved Open
  • Seats Available: 7/20
  • PosTag(s): n/a

Introduction to Popular Music
AS.376.242 (01)

A survey of the stylistic features and social contexts of American popular music since the 1950s.

  • Credits: 3.00
  • Level: Lower Level Undergraduate
  • Days/Times: MW 3:00PM - 3:50PM, F 3:00PM - 3:50PM
  • Instructor: Smooke, David
  • Room: Shaffer 302
  • Status: Reserved Open
  • Seats Available: 4/20
  • PosTag(s): n/a

Electronic Music Production
AS.376.244 (01)

Students will be introduced to electronic music production techniques and software, and how both can be used to produce a wide range of genre specific results. Skills such as beat matching, intricate use of quantization, virtual instrument editing, automation, sampling, mixing, mastering, effect usage and use of plugins will be explored.

  • Credits: 3.00
  • Level: Lower Level Undergraduate
  • Days/Times: T 4:00PM - 6:20PM
  • Instructor: Gift, Kevin W
  • Room:  
  • Status: Reserved Open
  • Seats Available: 4/15
  • PosTag(s): n/a

Electronic Music Production
AS.376.244 (02)

Students will be introduced to electronic music production techniques and software, and how both can be used to produce a wide range of genre specific results. Skills such as beat matching, intricate use of quantization, virtual instrument editing, automation, sampling, mixing, mastering, effect usage and use of plugins will be explored.

  • Credits: 3.00
  • Level: Lower Level Undergraduate
  • Days/Times: W 10:30AM - 12:50PM
  • Instructor: Gift, Kevin W
  • Room:  
  • Status: Reserved Open
  • Seats Available: 4/15
  • PosTag(s): n/a

Beethoven and the Transformation of Musical Style
AS.376.336 (01)

A survey course focusing on the life and music of Ludwig van Beethoven, whose compositions transformed and revolutionized music of the 19th century. Students will become acquainted with Beethoven's major works, including piano sonatas, string quartets, and symphonies. No previous musical background is necessary. NOTE: The year 2020 marks the 250th anniversary of Beethoven's birth.

  • Credits: 3.00
  • Level: Upper Level Undergraduate
  • Days/Times: TTh 3:00PM - 4:15PM
  • Instructor: Ahn, Suhnne
  • Room: Shaffer 302
  • Status: Open
  • Seats Available: 6/16
  • PosTag(s): n/a

Introduction to Computer Music
AS.376.250 (01)

Introduction to Computer Music is an opportunity for people with no specialized training in music to explore electronic art music as a long-standing, if obscure, body of art, then to participate in creative work in the style. Participants will gain a heuristic understanding of forms of musical composition that operate outside the conventions of regular rhythm and harmony as they record and manipulate sound to sculpt it into original musical works. The lecture portion combines an historical overview of electronic music, rudiments of acoustics and musical perception, and instruction in compositional techniques and in using computers as creative musical tools. The laboratory portion, given at the Digital Media Center, serves as a workshop for creative exploration and for the completion of assigned creative projects including original works of digital sound art.

  • Credits: 3.00
  • Level: Lower Level Undergraduate
  • Days/Times: MWF 10:00AM - 10:50AM
  • Instructor: Burt, Samuel B
  • Room: Mattin Center 101
  • Status: Reserved Open
  • Seats Available: 3/14
  • PosTag(s): n/a

Mozart Operas
AS.376.428 (01)

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart wrote his first opera in 1767 at the age of 11. By the time of his death at age 35, he had written 22 full-length operas. Many of these operas are still performed today in opera houses around the world. In this course, we will discuss the enduring popularity of these works. We will discover how these operas were created, delving into the many important collaborations Mozart had with singers, librettists, impresarios, and patrons. We will analyze the words and music of the operas and how they combine to create three-dimensional characters for which his operas are known, such as the melancholy but determined Countess in The Marriage of Figaro, or the cowardly but loyal Papageno in The Magic Flute. Cultural norms have shifted dramatically between Mozart’s time and ours, and we will examine how Mozart’s operas have been received from their premieres through to today. We will think about how the operas have been translated, adapted, and circulated to different audiences in different eras and locations. Finally, we will reflect on our position as modern audience members, watching recent productions of the operas which reinterpret the works in alternative settings or times and studying the ways in which opera companies promote Mozart’s works.

  • Credits: 3.00
  • Level: Upper Level Undergraduate
  • Days/Times: Th 4:00PM - 6:30PM
  • Instructor: Kass, Lily T
  • Room: Shaffer 202
  • Status: Open
  • Seats Available: 7/15
  • PosTag(s): n/a

Introduction to Music Cognition
AS.376.371 (01)

What underlies our aesthetic response to music? How and why are we able to identify certain sounds as music? To what extent are music and natural language similar? What is it about music that evokes such powerful emotions such as happiness and sadness? What is unique to musical creativity? Examining such questions from cognitive science, neuroscience, psychology, and philosophical perspectives, this course explores relevant research and theory in the emerging domain of music perception and cognition. Students will complete a final research paper on the topic of their choice that integrates the course material.

  • Credits: 3.00
  • Level: Upper Level Undergraduate
  • Days/Times: T 9:00AM - 11:30AM
  • Instructor: Lopez-Gonzalez, Monica
  • Room:  
  • Status: Waitlist Only
  • Seats Available: 0/15
  • PosTag(s): COGS-COGPSY

Introduction to Music Cognition
AS.376.371 (02)

What underlies our aesthetic response to music? How and why are we able to identify certain sounds as music? To what extent are music and natural language similar? What is it about music that evokes such powerful emotions such as happiness and sadness? What is unique to musical creativity? Examining such questions from cognitive science, neuroscience, psychology, and philosophical perspectives, this course explores relevant research and theory in the emerging domain of music perception and cognition. Students will complete a final research paper on the topic of their choice that integrates the course material.

  • Credits: 3.00
  • Level: Upper Level Undergraduate
  • Days/Times: M 5:00PM - 7:30PM
  • Instructor: Lopez-Gonzalez, Monica
  • Room:  
  • Status: Open
  • Seats Available: 9/15
  • PosTag(s): COGS-COGPSY

Musical Theater from Aristophanes to Leonard Bernstein
AS.376.303 (01)

This course examines the birth of musical theatre from Greek tragedy through the liturgical and secular plays of the middle ages and Renaissance, to the classical and romantic singspiels, operettas, and zarzuelas of the modern era, by such figures as Aristophanes, Adam de la Halle, Hildegard of Bingen, Angelo Poliziano, Juan del Encina, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Gilbert and Sullivan, Ernesto Lecuona, Igor Stravinsky, and Kurt Weill. These will serve as a backdrop for a closer examination of the musicals of Jerome Kern, Cole Porter, George Gershwin, Irving Berlin, Richard Rodgers, Harold Arlen, Frank Loesser, Leonard Bernstein and others. In addition to studying and placing the works of these Broadway giants into a social, political, and economic context, we will study and perform from representative musicals and attend a performance at the Lyric Theatre. Student will be expected to write a capstone project.

  • Credits: 3.00
  • Level: Upper Level Undergraduate
  • Days/Times: T 4:30PM - 6:50PM
  • Instructor: Weiss, Susan Forscher
  • Room: Shaffer 202
  • Status: Waitlist Only
  • Seats Available: 0/20
  • PosTag(s): n/a

Jazz Improvisation and Theory
AS.376.258 (01)

The primary focus of this performance/theory course is designed to help students acquire and develop basic language for improvisation in a collaborative environment. Throughout the semester, the course will develop these skills through songs drawn from standard jazz repertoire, examining improvised solos by master musicians, and understanding the application of fundamental theory concepts in performance situations. Enrolled students should be comfortable with theory rudiments such as note reading, scales, and intervals. No textbook is required, but students should have access to an instrument (singers are welcome).

  • Credits: 3.00
  • Level: Lower Level Undergraduate
  • Days/Times: MW 1:30PM - 2:45PM
  • Instructor: Sims, Ian K
  • Room: Shaffer 302
  • Status: Open
  • Seats Available: 10/15
  • PosTag(s): n/a

Caribbean Music
AS.376.342 (01)

This course will explore several genres of traditional and popular music from the Caribbean, including Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, Haiti, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico. We will examine the social, political, and economic issues that have shaped these musics, with migration, colonization, race, and tourism especially informing our studies. Students will read about a variety of musical experiences and listen to representative examples of each music genre in order to think critically about music, culture, and performance in Caribbean contexts.

  • Credits: 3.00
  • Level: Upper Level Undergraduate
  • Days/Times: M 1:30PM - 4:00PM
  • Instructor: Donnelly, Laura
  • Room: Shaffer 202
  • Status: Open
  • Seats Available: 10/15
  • PosTag(s): n/a

Course # (Section) Title Day/Times Instructor Room PosTag(s) Info
AS.376.123 (01)Freshman Seminar: Composer Biographies in FilmTTh 12:00PM - 1:15PMAhn, SuhnneMattin Center 101
AS.376.221 (01)Musicianship ITTh 1:30PM - 2:20PMFishbein, Joshua HShaffer 202
AS.376.111 (02)Rudiments of Music Theory and MusicianshipMWF 9:00AM - 9:50AMMaust, PaulaShaffer 202
AS.376.111 (01)Rudiments of Music Theory and MusicianshipTTh 10:30AM - 11:45AMRickelton, Michael TShaffer 202
AS.376.211 (01)Music Theory IMWF 9:00AM - 9:50AMPerry, Lisa MShaffer 302
AS.376.211 (02)Music Theory ITTh 12:00PM - 1:15PMRickelton, Michael TShaffer 202
AS.376.212 (01)Music Theory IIMWF 11:00AM - 11:50AMStone, Stephen CShaffer 202
AS.376.222 (01)Musicianship IITTh 3:00PM - 3:50PMFishbein, Joshua HShaffer 202
AS.376.242 (02)Introduction to Popular MusicMW 3:00PM - 3:50PM, F 3:00PM - 3:50PMSmooke, DavidShaffer 302
AS.376.242 (01)Introduction to Popular MusicMW 3:00PM - 3:50PM, F 3:00PM - 3:50PMSmooke, DavidShaffer 302
AS.376.244 (01)Electronic Music ProductionT 4:00PM - 6:20PMGift, Kevin W 
AS.376.244 (02)Electronic Music ProductionW 10:30AM - 12:50PMGift, Kevin W 
AS.376.336 (01)Beethoven and the Transformation of Musical StyleTTh 3:00PM - 4:15PMAhn, SuhnneShaffer 302
AS.376.250 (01)Introduction to Computer MusicMWF 10:00AM - 10:50AMBurt, Samuel BMattin Center 101
AS.376.428 (01)Mozart OperasTh 4:00PM - 6:30PMKass, Lily TShaffer 202
AS.376.371 (01)Introduction to Music CognitionT 9:00AM - 11:30AMLopez-Gonzalez, Monica COGS-COGPSY
AS.376.371 (02)Introduction to Music CognitionM 5:00PM - 7:30PMLopez-Gonzalez, Monica COGS-COGPSY
AS.376.303 (01)Musical Theater from Aristophanes to Leonard BernsteinT 4:30PM - 6:50PMWeiss, Susan ForscherShaffer 202
AS.376.258 (01)Jazz Improvisation and TheoryMW 1:30PM - 2:45PMSims, Ian KShaffer 302
AS.376.342 (01)Caribbean MusicM 1:30PM - 4:00PMDonnelly, LauraShaffer 202