MUSC
105
Introduction to Music
Study of the language, power, and communicative properties of music in the Western tradition. Students will acquire basic skills in music literacy, theory, and aural comprehension. In addition, selected works, both popular and classical and ranging in time from the Middle Ages to the present, will be listened to and discussed with an emphasis on their musical style and cultural-social context. Class activities will include guest performances, concert attendance (on and off campus), and behind-the-scenes looks at what goes into making music. Students considering a major in Music should enroll in MUSC 105 in the fall or winter quarter of their first year. No prior music reading or basic theory knowledge is expected. Advanced students may request to test out of MUSC-105; please consult the Department Chair.
MUSC
120
Beginning Band Methods: Brass
Basic techniques of playing orchestra and band instruments; emphasis on understanding the principles and problems of playing brass. No music reading or basic theory knowledge is required.
MUSC
121
Beginning Band Methods: Woodwinds
Basic techniques of playing orchestra and band instruments; emphasis on understanding the principles and problems of playing woodwinds. No music reading or basic theory knowledge is required.
MUSC
123
Instrumental Music Methods: Strings
Basic techniques of playing the four orchestral stringed instruments. No music reading or basic theory knowledge is required.
MUSC
160
Music of World Cultures
Study of music of various cultures within their social contexts. The course includes folk, traditional, classical, and popular music from selected traditions in Africa, India, Asia, Europe, and the Americas. It presents music as an evolving process and the performance of music as an expression of individual and cultural identity. Using readings, discussions, guest lectures and performances, CDs, and films, the course provides a framework for comparison of musical cultures from different parts of the world. No music reading or basic theory knowledge required.
MUSC
165
Jazz Explorations
This course is intended to introduce students to the cultural context, instrumentation, theory, form, and analysis of jazz from its early West African roots to contemporary times. Emphasis will be placed on listening to various artists and styles. No music reading or basic theory knowledge is required.
MUSC
205
Music Theory I: Common Practice and Popular Styles
Building upon the skills acquired in MUSC 105, students use two voice counterpoint as a gateway to fluency in writing complete four-part phrases in tonal harmony. They will discover how these principles of voice-leading and harmonic grammar form the foundation of historic and contemporary musical styles. Aural comprehension skills are acquired from the concurrent lab for the course.
MUSC-105 or permission
MUSC
207
Listening Across Cultures
What does it mean to be a knowledgeable music listener? An expert listener? A native listener? Hip hop has its "heads," French opera had claqueurs, and Syrian tarab has the sammi'a (expert listeners), but is the act of listening the same across cultures, or is there something to the local perception of music that goes beyond style and genre? Questioning the adage that "Music is the universal language," this course will examine how people assign meaning and power to music. Analyzing music from around the world, we will attune our ears to the ways in which people across cultural borders conceptualize music, sound and the act of listening. No music reading or basic theory knowledge is required.
Sophomores Only
MUSC
208
Music and Identity
Music serves multiple roles: a force for social transformation, a flag of resistance, a proclamation of cultural identity, a catalyst for expressing emotion, an avenue to experiencing the sacred. Students will look at identity through the lens of contemporary and traditional American music and will consider how race, ethnicity, age, gender, national identity, and other factors express themselves in and are shaped by music. The ability to read music or understand basic music theory is not required; a love of music and an interest in American culture are essential. This course is a Shared Passages Sophomore Seminar.
Sophomores only
MUSC
264
History of American Music
This course is a survey of the history and development of music in the United States, from precolonial musical practices through the present. The majority of the course will be devoted to trends in popular music in the U.S., though we will also devote time to sacred and concert music traditions, necessarily touching on the broader context of musical cultures in the Americas.
MUSC
2XX
TBD
MUSC
305
Music Theory II: Chromaticism and Modernism
Building upon the skills acquired in MUSC 130, students will study techniques of modulation, as well as expressive and coloristic devices leading to late 19th century chromaticism, leading into 20th century practices. These elements will be part of further study of popular and art song form, theme and variations, rondo and sonata. Class meetings will include both lecture and workshops. Coordinated aural comprehension skills are acquired from the concurrent lab for this course.
MUSC-205 or permission
MUSC
315
Sound & Culture in the Middle East
An introduction to the popular culture and cultural politics of the modern Middle East, as heard through the medium of sound. Exploring the varied soundscapes and musical cultures of the region, we will examine how sound shapes, reinforces, critiques, and transforms social life, from the local to the international level. Listening to music as both an aesthetic object and a site for the contestation of ideas, we will learn about the ways in which music is used to articulate an array of competing visions: of the nation, colony and post-colony; religion, gender, and sexuality; globalization, hybridity, and modernity. Prior experience with music notation or theory is not necessarily required for this course, but students must have taken either MUSC-105 or ANSO-103 or received instructor permission.
MUSC-105 or ANSO-103 or have received instructor permission.
MUSC
376
Conducting
A study of the general rudiments of ensemble conducting through an emphasis on the orchestral literature. After an introduction to critical score-reading concepts (analysis skills, transposition, special terms, historical background), the remainder of the course is dedicated to practical application, with students receiving weekly podium time in front of a small laboratory ensemble. Offered spring quarter, even years
MUSC-105 or permission
MUSC
377
Music Arranging
This course will provide students with knowledge necessary to create new musical arrangements from existing instrumental and choral works.
Must have taken MUSC-175
MUSC
3XX
TBD
MUSC
490
Arts Entrepreneurship
A capstone course which seeks to encourage integration between research, musicology, theory, performance, and career development. An in-depth analysis of a major work forms the first half of the course; using similar methodology, students will choose a work of their own to explore in the second half, and this counts as the comprehensive exam for the Music Major.
MUSC-150, MUSC-155, MUSC-160, AND MUSC-375; junior or senior standing
MUSC
4XX
TBD
MUSC
593
Senior Integrated Project
Each program or department sets its own requirements for Senior Integrated Projects done in that department, including the range of acceptable projects, the required background of students doing projects, the format of the SIP, and the expected scope and depth of projects. See the Kalamazoo Curriculum -> Senior Integrated Project section of the Academic Catalog for more details.
Permission of department and SIP supervisor required.
MUSC
600
Teaching Assistantship