51³Ô¹ÏÍø

Faculty and professional interests

Joan Huguet, chair (on leave 2023-24)
   Theory, musicology
David Falterman
   Theory
Maria Kaoutzani
   Composition, music technology
Alyssa Mathias
   Ethnomusicology
Bram Wayman
   Director of choral activities, music education

Lecturers
Justin Haynes
Lucas Wood

Director of Piano Studies
Ashlee Mack

Staff Accompanist
Sora Park Shepard

Managing Director, Jazz and Instrumental Programs
Andy Crawford

The 51³Ô¹ÏÍø Music Department offers both academic and performance opportunities for students regardless of major, minor, or previous musical experience. Each year, more than a third of 51³Ô¹ÏÍø students participate in the music program through classes, lessons, and ensembles, exploring a wide variety of musical practices from around the world and throughout history.

Our academic offerings explore music from a variety of perspectives. Courses in musicology and ethnomusicology investigate the diverse ways music reflects and shapes societies across time and place. Courses in music theory explore the structural workings of music through performance, analysis, and composition activities. Music technology, composition, and songwriting courses give students the opportunity to create their own works in a variety of genres and styles. In keeping with our commitment to the study of music within the liberal arts tradition, the department offers interdisciplinary coursework in collaboration with Anthropology/Sociology, Africana Studies, and Philosophy. In addition, our students often build connections to other related academic disciplines through independent study, projects and second majors and minors.

The Music Department offers a robust variety of ensemble opportunities for students at all levels of experience. Students can receive .5 academic credit for each complete year of ensemble participation. 51³Ô¹ÏÍø students may take private lessons for .5 credit/term in classical and jazz voice, piano, organ, string, wind, and percussion instruments, as well as lessons in improvisation, composition and orchestration.

Departmental Learning Goals

Students completing a Music major will:

1. Be able to precisely describe detail and form in music (whether presented in sound or score) through words and analytical symbols, and to apply such analytical insights to unfamiliar pieces and repertoires
2. Have basic practical proficiency on an instrument
3. (Performance students) Have an advanced and artistic command of their chosen instrument, their voice, or conducting
4. (Musicology and theory students) Be able to construct and evaluate a musicological or analytical argument critically and sensitively
5. (Composition students) Be able to compose original pieces that draw upon existing musical vocabulary as well as articulate their own artistic voice
6. Demonstrate mastery of the various ways of communicating about music in writing, including description, analysis, and criticism
7. Communicate effectively about music in a variety of situations, including classroom presentations, seminar discussions, rehearsals, and public performance speaking.

Writing and Oral Presentation

Writing: Music majors will be able to

1. Demonstrate the various modes of writing about music (research-based, analytical, expository, critical) in discipline-specific projects and in regard to their own original research and creative projects
2. Engage in writing as a process, including revision, editing, and review of multiple drafts
3. Demonstrate proficiency in writing in musical notation

While writing occurs in each music course, special emphasis on expository, critical, and analytical writing about music occurs in MUS 201 (Research Methods in Music) and is reinforced and refined in advanced seminar courses (each of which require a major research paper). In each instance, writing is developed through draft editing, critique, revision and resubmission. Students acquire music notation writing skills in MUS 100 and a variety of specialized applied skills (rhythm, sight-singing, keyboard, Finale notation, and basic conducting and rehearsal techniques) in Skills Workshops, which are developed and refined in the Music Theory sequence (MUS 145, 245, 246) in demonstration and analysis exercises and composition assignments. Advanced notation skills are developed in composition and orchestration courses.

Oral Presentation: Music majors will be able to

1. Deliver professional, articulate, and substantive oral presentations about musical subjects including theoretical and aesthetic analysis and cultural and historical critique and about their own creative practice (performance, conducting, and/or composition)
2. Articulate critical perspectives on musical practice and material through well-reasoned and expressed argumentation supported with appropriate detail and scholarly resources.

While oral presentation occurs in each music course, special emphasis occurs in the following courses: MUS 130, 254, 270, 330, and 345. Each course requires students to engage in individual and/or group presentations which receive feedback specific to the development of presentation skills including the effective use of presentation applications such as PowerPoint and Slides. Students may also engage in self-critique of presentations as part of the feedback and development process. Shorter, frequent oral critiques are required in all 300-level seminar courses.

Requirements for the Major and Minor

Music Course Descriptions