Music (MUSC)

This is an archived copy of the 2015-2016 catalog. To access the most recent version of the catalog, please visit http://e-catalog.sewanee.edu.

MUSC 101 Music of Western Civilization (4)

An introduction to the great music of Western civilization from the Middle Ages to the present. The course begins with a discussion of the elements of music and proceeds with a chronological overview of music history. Musical masterworks from all style periods are studied. May not be taken for credit by students who have taken MUSC 151.

MUSC 102 Music Fundamentals I: Chords and Keys (2)

A general introduction to the language of music intended to help the student gain fluency in reading conventional musical notation. Fundamental theoretical concepts (melodic and rhythmic notation, intervals, major and minor key signatures, major and natural minor scales, and simple and compound meters) are studied and rudimentary piano skills (scales and chords) are cultivated in a weekly laboratory (one half hour per week). Students with some proficiency in these areas are urged to seek placement in MUSC 103.

MUSC 103 Music Fundamentals II: Composing for the Keyboard (2)

This course assumes knowledge of basic musical notation, intervals, key signatures, major and natural minor scales, and compound meters. Topics studied include harmonic progressions in major and minor keys, harmonic and melodic minor scales, basic Roman numeral analysis and the harmonization of melodies using I, IV, and V chords. The course culminates in a simple composition assignment for piano. Keyboard skills are developed in a weekly laboratory (one half hour per week) and includes simple chord progression and a short piece. Students with some proficiency in these areas are urged to seek placement in MUSC 260. Note: This course cannot be taken for credit by students who have already earned a full course credit for MUSC 102. Prerequisite: MUSC 102 or placement.

MUSC 104 Music Fundamentals: Keyboard Skills (4)

A general introduction to the language of music, using the keyboard as tool kit. Students with little or no experience in keyboard practice and acquire the ability to play basic piano compositions. They also learn the essentials of accompanying melodies with harmonies. Along with keyboard skills, the student learns fundamental theoretical concepts (melodic and rhythmic notation, intervals, major and minor key signatures, major and natural minor scales, and simple and compound meters) while gaining fluency in reading conventional musical notation. Includes an additional studio practicum session. Not open for credit to students who have previously taken MUSC 102 or MUSC 103.

MUSC 105 Introduction to World Music (4)

An introduction to selected non-Western musics that broadly considers the function and aesthetics of music in non-Western cultures. Analytical terminology related to different musical genres and styles is also emphasized. To situate the music of the Southeastern U.S. in this same kind of cultural analysis, one unit looks at various folk music traditions from this region. A major assignment of the course involves preparing a cultural and stylistic assessment of a music group, genre, or repertory familiar to the student.

MUSC 111 Knowing the Score: Music and Electronic Media (4)

This course allows students to develop musical literacy and, concurrently, to explore the ways electronic keyboards and computers communicate. Participants use a new technique for learning musical notation that combines the aural experience of music with its visual representation on the computer monitor. Hands-on experience with computers and piano keyboards is important, as students learn the rudiments of music making and notation, composing their own melodies and rhythms. Basics of MIDI-Musical Instrument Digital Interface, the communication protocol between musical instruments and computers will be covered. The course follows a historical progression, examining a few representative masterpieces of Western classical music. Initially, early music and its relatively simple melodic organization provide students with an entree to notation, but as literacy skills increase, more recent compositions come under analysis, culminating in nineteenth- and twentieth-century works. The music theory skills acquired here a.

MUSC 141 "Ramblin' Blues:" The Back Roads of Southern Music (4)

The "roots" music of the Southeast has been one of the region'sand the country's chief exports. Musicians wander back roads, crowd front porches and church pews, and sometimes make their way to music centers like Nashville, New Orleans, and Memphis. This course focuses on musicians in the Southern tradition and addresses diverse idioms including folk, blues, country, bluegrass, rockabilly, zydeco, and shape-note singing. Intended mainly for freshmen in the Living Learning Communities, the course assumes experience with a range of musics and introduces terminology required for knowledgeable analysis of roots music including mode, meter, and form (e.g., 12-bar blues.) This course may not be taken for credit by students who have taken MUSC 213 or MUSC 223.

MUSC 143 Move on up a Little Higher: The History of Gospel Music (4)

African American Gospel music represents a unique and powerful tradition of American music and culture. This course begins with the foundations of Gospel music as represented in African American spirituals and blues along with its religious roots in the Great Awakenings and the later Pentecostal movement. Subsequent topics include the post-Civil War Jubilee choral style, Gospel’s “golden age” of 1945-55, the advent of black-run radio programs, record companies, and a performance circuit for Gospel singers. Gospel music from 1960 to the present is examined bio-chronologically, discussing important songwriters, singers, and the music’s significant stylistic changes. As a useful overture to study students may pursue in upper-level music courses, this course also introduces terminology required for musical analysis, including mode, meter, and form.

MUSC 151 Song, Symphony, Stage: Music in Western Civilization (4)

An accelerated version of MUSC 101 intended for performing musicians or other students with fair experience as listeners. After a quick review of the history of Western music, the course proceeds to consider topics such as the many manifestations of songs through the centuries, music and dance, music and politics, and musical exoticism/globalization. In addition to songs, other genres under consideration include symphonies, concertos, sonatas, operas, and musicals. Students take an active role in selecting music for discussion. May not be taken for credit by students who have taken MUSC 101.

MUSC 201 Bach, Beethoven, and the Beatles: History of Music in the Modern Era (4)

A detailed survey of music in the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries. The course first looks at early modern traits in music of the 18th century, like Bach's polyphony and castrato singers, and then considers the influence of the Enlightenment on music and Beethoven's championing of individual expression. The enhanced status of popular musics-including jazz, rock, and rap-in the 20th century is linked with the broader cultural development of the "mechanically reproducible artwork," specifically music recording. Prerequisite: MUSC 101.

MUSC 205 Music of the Baroque Era (4)

A survey of the history and literature of music from 1600 to 1750 culminating in the study of selected works by Bach and Handel. Prerequisite: MUSC 101 or HUMN 201 or HUMN 202.

MUSC 206 Music of the Classic Period (4)

A study of the formulation of the classical style and its evolution in the hands of the Viennese classicists: Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven. Prerequisite: MUSC 101 or HUMN 202.

MUSC 207 Music of the Romantic Period (4)

A study of the history, literature, and ethos of musical romanticism as it is expressed in the works of the great composers from Schubert to Mahler. Prerequisite: MUSC 101 or HUMN 202.

MUSC 208 Music of the Twentieth Century (4)

A study of the history and literature of music from the Impressionist period to the present day, encompassing neoclassicism, expressionism, serialism, and electronic music. Prerequisite: MUSC 101 or HUMN 202.

MUSC 210 Music in Multicultural America (4)

An exploration of historical experiences of various ethnic communities in the United States as they are expressed through music. The course includes an examination of how music has shaped and reinforced individual and collective identity. Issues concerning identity such as ethnicity, gender, generation, nationalism, and multiculturalism are discussed using case studies that represent African-American, Asian-American, Chicano/Latino-American, European-American, and Native American communities. Students also learn basic musical concepts and terminologies as well as basic analytical tools of ethnomusicology. Prerequisite: MUSC 101 or MUSC 105.

MUSC 211 “Songs of the Caged, Songs of the Free”: Music, Place, and Identity in Asian Diasporas (4)

Forcibly or voluntarily, people have migrated from their native places in Asia to alien lands since ancient times. While maintaining active and imaginary links with their homelands, these communities have created unique diasporic cultures of their own. This course explores such historical experiences of migrants, exiles, and sojourners from Asia and the impact of their dislocation--relocation experiences on the reconstruction of their identities. Although the primary focus is on music as an identity marker, students also consider literature and films. The course refers to different diasporic communities worldwide that represent the diversity of Asian diasporas. Prerequisite: ASIA 100 or MUSC 101 or MUSC 105.

MUSC 212 From Court Dances to Sacrificial Dances: Cultural Transformations in Music (4)

An examination of representative canonic works composed between the mid-eighteenth century and the beginning of World War I. During this period music traces the socio-political changes seen more broadly in the West, from aristocracy to democracy, with musicians pursuing ever greater freedom of individual expression. Large-scale and chamber works by composers such as Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, and Stravinsky are addressed from an analytical, historical, and critical perspective. Prerequisite: MUSC 101 or MUSC 151.

MUSC 213 From Ragtime to Radiohead: Music in the Era of Recordings (4)

Recording technologies, which date back to the late nineteenth century, have affected music more profoundly than any other musical change since the adoption of music notation. This course traces the development of those technologies, with particular attention to the performers, composers, and repertories that have exploited them. Many important figures and movements in twentieth and twenty-first century music are addressed: ragtime, blues, jazz, and rock; Copland, Varèse, Reich; the Beatles, Pink Floyd, Radiohead. Different recording formats - from piano rolls to mp3s - receive particular attention. Prerequisite: MUSC 101 or MUSC 105 or MUSC 141 or MUSC 151.

MUSC 214 Electronic Music: Synthesis Digital Recording (4)

This course covers the fundamentals of electronic music and studio recording. Using Reason software, students learn about MIDI, sound synthesis, sampling, drum machines, loop players and sound processing. The second half of the semester focuses on Pro Tools, a digital recording program. Students learn recording techniques, sound editing, use of plug-in MIDI instruments, and how to produce recordings of their own music. Prerequisite: MUSC 103 or MUSC 104 or MUSC 260.

MUSC 219 The Symphony (4)

A study of the principal genre of orchestral composition from its birth in the eighteenth century to the present day. Selected works by Haydn, Beethoven, Brahms, Mahler, and others will be closely examined. The evolution of the symphony orchestra will be considered. Prerequisite: MUSC 101 or HUMN 202.

MUSC 223 American Music (4)

A chronological survey of music in the United States from the colonial period to the present day with emphasis on the music of the twentieth century. The course examines both European-derived and vernacular styles (e.g., ragtime, jazz, and rock). Prerequisite: MUSC 101 or MUSC 105 or MUSC 141 or MUSC 151.

MUSC 224 Musics of Latin America (4)

This class explores different musical traditions of Latin America such as salsa, merengue, cumbia,porro, bolero, danzon, and samba as manifestations of cross-cultural interaction and/or religious syncretism. Through a theoretical and practical approach, students also consider elements related to construction of Latino cultural identities (e.g., music, language, social dancing) vis-à-vis migration and diaspora. The course also interrogates stereotypes and other misrepresentations of Latino culture in the U.S. Prerequisite: MUSC 101.

MUSC 225 Music and Drama (4)

A comparative and historical examination of works for the lyric stage, including grand opera, comic opera in its various national manifestations, and American musical theatre. Literary sources of stage works will be read in conjunction with the study of scores. Prerequisite: MUSC 101 or HUMN 202.

MUSC 227 Survey of Keyboard Literature (4)

A study of music composed for keyboard instruments from the time a distinct keyboard idiom appeared in the late Renaissance to the present day. Selected works by composers such as Bach, Chopin, Liszt, Debussy, and Messiaen will be closely examined. Prerequisite: MUSC 101 or HUMN 202.

MUSC 229 The Mass in Music (4)

An historical survey of musical settings of the mass from Gregorian chant to the twentieth century. Settings by Palestrina, Machaut, Bach, Haydn, Beethoven, Verdi, and twentieth-century composers will be analyzed in detail. Prerequisite: MUSC 101 or MUSC 103.

MUSC 231 Music in the Anglican Church (4)

A survey of music in the English church from the Reformation to the present day. The evolving role of music in the Anglican liturgy will be considered against the backdrop of the history of the English church and the evolution of European musical style. Works by Byrd, Gibbons, Purcell, Handel, Vaughan Williams and others will be closely examined. Prerequisite: MUSC 101 or HUMN 202.

MUSC 233 Toward the Great War: Impressionism and Modernism (4)

The turn of the twentieth century was a turbulent time for music, literature, and the visual arts, with challenges to the artistic status quo emanating especially from Paris and Vienna. Impressionism and Modernism both reflect attempts to come to terms with a changing world, and the Great War forever altered the cultural and artistic landscape. Works by Debussy, Mahler, Strauss, Schoenberg, and Stravinsky are examined from analytical, cultural, and historical perspectives, with parallel developments in the literary and visual arts also taken into consideration.

MUSC 237 The Life and Work of Ludwig van Beethoven (4)

The course will focus most centrally on a limited number of Beethoven's works that have remained as the staple masterpieces of Western music. Selected compositions from the piano sonatas, the symphonies, and the string quartets will be stressed; students will be expected to learn these in considerable detail. Beethoven's relationship to his heritage from Mozart and Haydn will be studied, as well as the personal quality of his style and the changes his individuality brought to music. Finally, the class will attempt to account for the continuing power and attraction of Beethoven's works throughout two centuries and into the present day. Prerequisite: MUSC 101 or HUMN 202.

MUSC 241 Jazz Language I: Beginning Improvisation (2)

In this course students learn to identify common elements of the jazz vocabulary, demonstrate how this vocabulary is used characteristically in jazz solos, and develop an approach to mastering the vocabulary through practice, transcription, and performance on any instrument. Students apply this approach each week on the designated tune, culminating with a final playing evaluation on any two of the tunes learned that semester. The list of selected tunes for the semester is provided at the first class meeting along with suggested recordings. Selected tunes include works from jazz masters such as Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, and Joe Henderson. Prerequisite: MUSC 260. Prerequisite or Corequisite: MUSC 257.

MUSC 243 If It Ain't Got That Swing: The History of Jazz (4)

Jazz has been called "America's Classical Music" and the United States' greatest musical export. Jazz is at once an improvisatory yet timeless art. This course presents a chronological survey of its major styles and artists, from African acculturation in the New World to the present. Topics include the roots of jazz, the New Orleans masters, jazz in the 20's, Big Band, Bebop, Post-Bop styles, Avant-garde, Fusion, recent developments, and jazz vocalists. Through listening assignments and attendance at live performances, students learn to identify jazz styles and instrumentation. Prerequisite: MUSC 101 or MUSC 141 or MUSC 143 or MUSC 257.

MUSC 245 Arranging Music for Ensembles (2)

This course introduces the principles of music arranging for students who have mastered the fundamentals of music theory. In an interactive environment, students learn to prepare music for choirs, children’s ensembles, bands, and other instrumental groups. The course addresses instrumentation, scoring, and part-making, and culminates in projects undertaken in collaboration with ensembles and musicians on campus and within the greater Sewanee community. Prerequisite: MUSC 102.

MUSC 251 University Choir (1)

The University Choir plays an important role in the musical life of the University and All Saints' Chapel. At All Saints', the choir's activities include singing at all Sunday Eucharist services during the semester as well a monthly Choral Evensong. In addition to its liturgical duties, the choir offers several concert performances throughout the year, often with orchestral accompaniment. Membership in the choir is open to any undergraduate student.

MUSC 253 University Orchestra (1)

The University Orchestra presents the full range of the symphonic repertory and collaborates frequently with other organizations to present choral-orchestral and musico-theatrical works. Participation in the University Orchestra is open to all qualified undergraduate students as well as students from the School of Theology, faculty, and members of the Sewanee community.

MUSC 255 Workshop for the Singing Actor (4)

Training in performance as a singing actor in a workshop setting, providing opportunities for the integration of singing and movement. The course will cover a variety of musical styles with emphasis on Broadway and opera scenes.

MUSC 257 University Jazz Ensemble (1)

Jazz Ensemble provides experiences in performance of all types of jazz literature from early swing (Duke Ellington, Count Basie) and Latin forms (Antonio Carlos Jobim) to contemporary fusion (Pat Metheny, Brecker Brothers, Yellow jackets). The group focuses on the developing jazz student, providing an opportunity for a challenging ensemble experience while encouraging the performer to explore improvisation. In addition, members have the opportunity to compose and arrange music for the ensemble. Membership is open to all students regardless of major. The group consists of saxophones, trumpets, trombones, guitar, bass, drum set and keyboard. In addition, the group involves male and female vocalists as well as string players with an interest in learning to sing or play jazz. The jazz ensemble offers one or more performances each semester.

MUSC 258 University Gospel Choir (1)

The University gospel choir, which performs under the name “Sewanee Praise,” offers a campus performance medium for gospel music. The group’s repertory includes spirituals, traditional and contemporary gospel, praise and worship, and contemporary Christian. May be repeated for credit.

MUSC 259 Chamber Ensemble (1)

Chamber ensemble is designed to provide students with a performance opportunity in small ensemble repertoire. Ensembles will be formed using the available personnel of woodwind, brass, string, and piano students. These ensembles may include: woodwind quintet, clarinet quartet, flute quartet, brass quintets, string quartets, and other various ensembles based on the repertoire and available players. Pianists may participate based upon the availability of other instrumentalists to form piano-based ensembles.

MUSC 260 Introduction to Part Writing (4)

The sequence of MUSC 260, MUSC 261, and MUSC 360 comprise a systematic view of the theoretical concepts and applied skills requisite to good musicianship. Required of music majors, the sequence is also appropriate for non-majors who are serious students of music performance or composition. An introduction to the harmonic theory of the common practice period, the course begins with a review of music fundamentals and then examines the nature of triads and seventh chords, basic principles of voice-leading and harmonic progression, chord inversion, and non-chord tones. Skills such as ear-training and keyboard harmony are simultaneously cultivated. Prerequisite: MUSC 103 or MUSC 104 or placement.

MUSC 261 Seventh Chords and Chromatic Harmony (4)

A continuation of the study of the harmony of the common practice period, including an introduction to chromatic harmony (secondary function chords and diatonic modulation). The vocabulary of harmonic analysis is extended; aural skills on an increasingly sophisticated level are cultivated. Composition in traditional music idioms is undertaken. Prerequisite: MUSC 260.

MUSC 267 Applied Guitar (Group) (1)

Applied instruction in guitar in a group setting.

MUSC 268 Applied Guitar (1)