MU-101 Fundamentals of Music and Aural Skills

LASC Categories: CA

An introduction to reading and writing conventional music notation, the fundamentals of music theory, and basic aural skills. Emphasis will be placed on intervals, scales, chords, rhythmic values, sight-singing, melodic dictation, and aural recognition of intervals and chords.

Every year. 3 Credits

MU-102 Applied Music

LASC Categories: ICW

Prerequisites: Audition required

Audition required. Private instruction in an instrument or voice. Thirteen weekly one-hour lessons. May be repeated. Studio fee required. Instruments offered: brass, guitar, piano, percussion, strings, and winds.

Fall and Spring and every year. 1 Credit

MU-104 Class Piano

LASC Categories: CA

Prerequisites: MU-100 or MU-101

Basic piano technique and pedagogy in a group setting of 12 or fewer

Fall and Spring and every year. 1 Credit

MU-106 Class Guitar

An introduction to playing the guitar, including technique, reading tabs and notation, and harmonization of melodies with chords. Solo literature appropriate to the level will be studied. Students are required to provide an instrument.

Fall and Spring and every year. 1 Credit

MU-115 Music Appreciation

LASC Categories: CA

General survey of masterpieces of major composers of various periods in history of music.

Fall and Spring and every year. 3 Credits

MU-120 Ear Training

Prerequisites: MU-100 or MU-101

An introductory course in the fundamentals of ear-training and sight-singing. Emphasis will be placed on the development of basic melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic aural skills through listening, dictation, and application of solfege.

Every year. 3 Credits

MU-125 Jazz Appreciation

LASC Categories: CA, TLC

Surveys the history of jazz beginning with the earliest roots in the American South to today.

Every year. 3 Credits

MU-140 World Music

LASC Categories: CA

An introduction to music of various cultures and continents including music of Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, and India.

Spring only and every 2-3 years. 3 Credits

MU-175 Music in America

Survey of music history and literature in America including gospel spirituals, jazz, popular and classical music.

Other or on demand. 3 Credits

MU-185 Composition I

LASC Categories: CA

Prerequisites: MU 101 Fundamentals of Music Aural Skills OR MU 100 Music Fundamentals

An introduction to compositional methods and techniques. Students develop personal expression by creating musical works while exploring use of melody, harmony, timbre, rhythm, texture, and tonality within conventional musical forms.

Spring only and every year. 3 Credits

MU-193 Special Topics in Music:First Year Students

LASC Categories: FYS

Introductory level course covering topics of special interest to first-year students. Offered only as a First-Year Seminar.

Every year. 3 Credits

MU-200 Issues in Music

This course deals with topics of special interest, in both seminars and studio environments at an introductory level.

3 Credits

MU-202 Applied Music

Prerequisites: Audition Required

Instruments offered: Piano, voice, oboe, clarinet, flute, saxophone, trumpet, trombone, French horn, violin, viola, cello, bass, percussion, guitar. Instructors for other instruments may be arranged by special request to the Music Department. Private instruction in an instrument or voice, one hour per week. Student fee required. May be repeated. Offered every semester.

Fall and Spring and other or on demand. 1 Credit

MU-205 Music Theory I

LASC Categories: CA

Prerequisites: MU-100 or 101.

Analysis and application of harmonization techniques using diatonic chords. Further emphasis is placed on voice-leading, figured bass, melodic construction, and embellishing tones.

Spring only and other or on demand. 3 Credits

MU-215 Chorus and Music Theory

LASC Categories: CA

Prerequisites: Audition Required

Mixed choral repertoire and performance, covering vocal problems and techniques. Introduction to music theory, rhythms, intervals, basic chordal structures, harmonization. Participation in college chorus required.

Fall and Spring and every year. 3 Credits

MU-220 Chorus

LASC Categories: CA

Prerequisites: MU-215

Mixed Chorus repertoire. May be repeated.

Fall and Spring and every year. 0.5-1 Credits

MU-222 African Drumming

LASC Categories: GP, CA, DAC

An exploration of African music and drumming techniques from the culture of Ghana. Students will develop performance skills and present a public performance during the course of the semester.

Every year. 0.5-3 Credits

MU-223 African Drumming II

LASC Categories: CA, GP

Prerequisites: MU 222-African Drumming I, or MU 193-FYS African Drumming from Ghana

This Level 2 ensemble builds on Level 1 in the following ways: (a) learn new drumming styles; (b) improvise with greater freedom; and (c) learn to play lead drum rhythms, with the possibility of performing them in the final performance.

Spring only and every 2-3 years. 3 Credits

MU-228 Piano Ensemble

LASC Categories: CA

Prerequisites: MU-102 or MU-190

A small ensemble for keyboard players who will learn, explore, and perform four- hand piano repertoire.

Every year. 1 Credit

MU-231 Women in Music

LASC Categories: CA, TLC

A survey of the role of women in music, particularly the great composers from Medieval to Contemporary times.

3 Credits

MU-237 Music in the Elementary School

LASC Categories: CA

Discover the benefits of using music to enrich general education from preschool through high school. Develop your own musicianship through learning to use your singing voice, learning to play the recorder, learning to read notation and gaining an overview of western music history.

Other or on demand. 3 Credits

MU-250 Music of the Cinema:Spectacle, Splendor, And Spielberg

LASC Categories: CA, TLC

An introduction to the role, impact, and importance of music in motion pictures from silent movies through contemporary film.

Spring only. 3 Credits

MU-275 Computers and Music

An introduction to computer music technologies with emphasis on use of electronics and computers in music composition and performance, Further emphasis will be placed on basic acoustics, perception of sound, application of computer music in experimental genres, digital recording, mixing, fundamentals of sound synthesis and digital signal processing.

Other or on demand and other or on demand. 3 Credits

MU-280 History of Music

LASC Categories: CA

A general survey of western art music covering the historical periods of the Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, Romantic, and 20th Century.

Fall and Spring and every year. 3 Credits

MU-285 Composition II

Prerequisites: MU-185 or MU-204, and MU-205.

A continuation of Composition I. Students will explore methods of tonal composition Emphasis will be placed on melodic writing, harmonization practices, chord substitutions, use of figurations, texture, and timbre in tonal music. Experimentation with rhythmic and metric practices including asymmetry, shifting accents, changing time signatures, and ostinato.

Fall and Spring and every year. 1 Credit

MU-300 Chorale

LASC Categories: CA

Prerequisites: Audition Required

Study and performance of a cappella choral literature from the Middle Ages to contemporary times. May be repeated. Audition required for enrollment.

Every year. 0.5-1 Credits

MU-302 Applied Music

Prerequisites: Audition Required

Instruments offered: Piano, voice, oboe, clarinet, flute, saxophone, trumpet, trombone, French horn, violin, viola, cello, bass, percussion, guitar. Instructors for other instruments may be arranged by special request to the Music Department. Private instruction in an instrument or voice, one hour per week. Student fee required. May be repeated. Offered every semester.

Fall only and every year. 1 Credit

MU-305 Music Theory II

LASC Categories: CA

Prerequisites: MU-205

Harmonization of melodies using primary and secondary chords, harmonic analysis of tonal music from the Common Practice Period, including diatonic and chromatic chords, secondary dominants, modulation, and aural skills. An introduction to formal schemes in music including phrase structure, binary and ternary and form, sonata form, and species counterpoint.

Fall only and every year. 3 Credits

MU-310 The American Musical in Performance

Study, rehearsal and performance of a great American musical. Music, acting and dance will all be skills which are developed.

Every 2-3 years. 3 Credits

MU-321 Small Ensemble

LASC Categories: ICW, CA

The performance of musical works by a small ensemble. By permission of instructor or audition.

Fall and Spring and every year. 0.5-1 Credits

MU-326 Chamber Orchestra

LASC Categories: CA

In this class the students will rehearse and perform music from the orchestral repertoire in a variety of styles and genres and from varied periods. All woodwind, string, brass, keyboard and percussion instruments are eligible to participate. 1 credit section for those repeating the class in another semester and those in proposed revised music minor; .5 credit section for VPA music concentrators Pre-requisite: Audition for Instructor

Fall and Spring and every year. 0.5-3 Credits

MU-330 Jazz Ensemble

LASC Categories: ICW, USW, DAC

An ensemble where students learn to perform traditional jazz repertoire, as well as original compositions. Through rehearsing, performing, directed listening and ear training, students will learn: (a) conceptual approaches to improvising and composing; (b) harmonic, melodic and rhythmic theory specific to the jazz idiom; and (c) methods for connecting audiation to instrumental playing. Special emphasis will be on jazz standards, especially those with a blues form. 3 credits 1 credit if repeating .5 for Visual and Performing Arts majors with music concentration or focus and those who minor in composition and music technology

Fall and Spring and every year. 0.5-3 Credits

MU-375 Sound Synthesis

Prerequisites: MU-275

A continuation of MU 275 Computers and Music. Focus on application of sound in composition acoustics and additive synthesis, modulation and waveshaping, signal flow, processing, digital filtering, reverberation, and sample processing.

Other or on demand and other or on demand. 3 Credits

MU-385 Composition III

Prerequisites: MU 285/Composition II MU 305/Music Theory I (currently MU 210)

An exploration of compositional practices presented during Composition II. Students will compose absolute music in the style of the Common Practice Period as well as work with superimposed chords, shifting tonality, pandiatonicism, large-scale forms, polyrhythms, and polymeter, This course introduces to composing tonal music for non-musical genres including media, video games, incidental music for theater and film.

Other or on demand and every year. 1 Credit

MU-400 Independent Study in Music

Prerequisites: Consent of Instructor

An opportunity for further study in a special field of interest under faculty supervision.

Fall and Spring and every year. 1-6 Credits

MU-402 Applied Music

Prerequisites: Audition Required

Instruments offered: Piano, voice, oboe, clarinet, flute, saxophone, trumpet, trombone, French horn, violin, viola, cello, bass, percussion, guitar. Instructors for other instruments may be arranged by special request to the Music Department. Private instruction in an instrument or voice, one hour per week. Student fee required. May be repeated. Offered every semester.

Fall and Spring. 1 Credit

MU-408 Directed Study: Music

Directed study offers students, who because of unusual circumstances may be unable to register for a course when offered, the opportunity to complete an existing course with an established syllabus under the direction and with agreement from a faculty member.

3 Credits

MU-410 Special Topics in Music

This course will allow members of the music faculty to develop courses of special interest. This would include seminars on specific composers or compositions, in both classroom and applied studio enviorments.

0.5-3 Credits

MU-485 Composition IV

Prerequisites: MU-385

Compositional techniques of the 20th-century including modality, parallelism, atonality, serialism, electronic music, aleatory, music concrete, and sound synthesis.

Other or on demand and other or on demand. 1 Credit