Archived: 2020-2021 Undergraduate Course Listings

• PROFESSOR: James Deaville
• DESCRIPTION: Introduction to issues and methods in the study of music. Development of writing and research skills; methodological approaches in all academic areas of music (historical musicology, ethnomusicology, popular music studies, music and media studies, music theory). Topics will be  discussed in historical, analytical and cultural contexts, including considerations of race and gender.
• METHOD OF EVALUATION: TBD
• READINGS: TBD

================

• PROFESSOR: Kristin M. Franseen
• DESCRIPTION: Western classical music from the medieval period to the present. Major historical periods (Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, Romantic, Modern, Postmodern) are examined through representative music ranging from Gregorian chant to contemporary experimental trends. This class will focus on introducing active listening skills in relation to western classical music, as well as the ability to read and write critically about what you hear. While we will focus on a few selected examples of genres, works, and people in the lectures for each time period, there will be opportunities for further study on topics of your choice.
• METHOD OF EVALUATION: Occasional short reading and listening responses, “virtual concert report” midterm paper, and annotated “mixtape/playlist/concert program” final project
• READINGS: There is no assigned textbook for this course. Readings will be drawn from various historical sources (composers’ letters, contracts, diaries/memoirs, and essays, as well as firsthand accounts of historical performances), musicological blogs (including Not Another Music History Cliché and The Avid Listener), and very brief excerpts from relevant musical scholarship.

================

• PROFESSOR: John Higney
• DESCRIPTION: Through lectures, readings, and assignments students are introduced to the history of western art music from the Middle Ages to the present. Although helpful, the ability to read music is not required as students investigate musical practices, styles, genres, significant persons and places. In addition to the music itself, the broader cultural contexts of literature, visual arts, politics and power, philosophy, and society are considered. Historical knowledge and musical skills acquired through this course will equip students to better appreciate the origins western art music and culture and their relationship to today’s globalized world.
• METHOD OF EVALUATION: Course work consists of quizzes, midterm and final examinations, and writing assignments.
• READINGS: TBD

================

• PROFESSOR: John Higney
• DESCRIPTION: 
Popular music is consumed by billions of people around the world; yet, in everyday life, rarely do we consider how our lives are shaped by popular music. This course investigates popular music as social and cultural practice from a variety of perspectives including industrial and cultural production/consumption, gender and sexuality, race and racialization, texts and signification, globalization, media, technologies and dissemination, audiences and fandom (mainstream and subcultural). The topics and modes of inquiry presented in this course will prepare students to think critically about popular music and wider culture in the modern world.
• METHOD OF EVALUATION: Course work typically includes midterm and final exams, reading/lecture reflections and/or quizzes, and an essay length written assignment. The ability to read music is not required or expected.
• READINGS: TBD

================

• PROFESSOR: John Higney
• DESCRIPTION: Popular music is consumed by billions of people around the world; yet, in everyday life, rarely do we consider how our lives are shaped by popular music. This course investigates popular music as social and cultural practice from a variety of perspectives including industrial and cultural production/consumption, gender and sexuality, race and racialization, texts and signification, globalization, media, technologies and dissemination, audiences and fandom (mainstream and subcultural). The topics and modes of inquiry presented in this course will prepare students to think critically about popular music and wider culture in the modern world.
• METHOD OF EVALUATION: Course work typically includes midterm and final exams, reading/lecture reflections and/or quizzes, and an essay length written assignment. The ability to read music is not required or expected.
• READINGS: TBD

================

• PROFESSOR: Jesse Stewart
• DESCRIPTION: This course, designed specifically for non-music students, is intended to deepen students’ understanding and appreciation of various forms of music. In addition to providing an introduction to the core building blocks of music (such as melody, rhythm, harmony, timbre, and form), the course will situate different modes of music making among broader musical, social, cultural, and historical trends. One of the central questions animating the course will be “What makes music meaningful”?
• METHOD OF EVALUATION: TBD
• READINGS: TBD

================

• PROFESSOR: Dave Schroeder
• DESCRIPTION: MUSI 1107 involves the introductory study of principles and techniques in music theory as practiced in the western European tonal tradition. Topics to be covered include key signatures, time signatures, intervals, chord and scale formation, triads, seventh chords, and an introduction to the general principles of rhythm, metre and tonal organization in music. The course material will be supported with recorded, printed and performed musical examples. A diversity of musical examples will be studied from various genres. The importance of making the connection between the aural effect of musical examples and their written form will be stressed.
• METHOD OF EVALUATION: TBD
• READINGS: TBD

================

• PROFESSOR: James McGowan
• DESCRIPTION: MUSI 1700A involves the study of the principles, materials, and techniques of tonal music using music writing, analysis, and ear training activities. The course starts with an overview and review of music theory fundamentals, followed by a study of chords, rhythm, and melody, an introduction to the study of tonal counterpoint, and the combination of all these elements with a study of harmony and voice leading of diatonic tonal music. A variety of musical examples will be studied, from art music of the 1500–1900s to Popular, World, and Jazz musics; students will be encouraged and guided to make critical and analytical connections between the music-historical and cultural traditions of the music we study and theories of the tools, practices, and compositional craft that underlie it. Since the well-rounded musician must develop written skills hand-in-hand with aural skills, the importance of making the connection between the aural effect of musical examples, and their written form, will be stressed.
• METHOD OF EVALUATION: TBA
• READINGS: Textbook is required (eBook version is recommended, or a hard copy—text only—that has access to publishers’ online materials): L. Poundie Burstein and Joseph N. Straus. Concise Introduction to Tonal Harmony. 2nd edition, W.W.Norton; and Required access to additional web resources.

================

• PROFESSOR: James K. Wright
• DESCRIPTION: This course involves the study of the principles and techniques of tonal music. Topics to be covered include interval, chord and scale formation, the handling of basic harmonic progressions, and an introduction to the principles of rhythm, metre and tonal organization in music. Lectures will be supplemented with a variety of other materials pertaining to harmonic, melodic, and rhythmic pattern organization, including rudimentary acoustics, psychoacoustics, etc. An understanding of four-part harmony will be encouraged through both written and analytic exercises. The course material will be liberally illustrated with both aural and printed musical examples. Although the nature of the material inevitably involves some focus on the style of the Classical common-practice period (circa 1600-1900), the course seeks to elucidate the theoretical principles underlying tonal music in general, and therefore the harmonic language of popular music genres of the twentieth century will also be examined.
• METHOD OF EVALUATION: Take-home assignments, participation, midterm exam, final exam.
• READINGS: L. Poundie Burstein and Joseph Straus, Concise Introduction to Tonal Harmony, 2nd edition (New York: Norton); L. Poundie Burstein and Joseph Straus, Concise Introduction to Tonal Harmony: Workbook, 2nd edition (New York: Norton)

================

• PROFESSOR: James McGowan
• DESCRIPTION: MUSI 1710A is an introductory study of music as an aural phenomenon. This experiential course focuses on three primary areas of musicianship development: ear training (aural analysis and transcription of melodic and harmonic structures), solfège singing (sight reading and prepared performance), and keyboard harmony. In this way, students develop musicianship skills of both audiation—intentional listening and internalizing musical phenomena—and musical representation—in notation, analysis, singing, and keyboard playing. Sound materials are drawn from a range of sources, live and recorded.
• METHOD OF EVALUATION: Ear training assignments and four unit tests, individual sight singing and keyboard assessments, assignments & projects. No essays. The final exam is just one of the four unit tests.
• READINGS: Course Pack will be available free of charge on cuLearn; a hard copy may be available in the book store. Required access to additional web resources.

================

• PROFESSOR: Kathy Armstrong
• DESCRIPTION: This applied rhythm course will immerse students in hands on activities that are designed to build facility with Western and non-Western rhythmic concepts and their practical applications. Through use of the rhythmic solfege system Takadimi, students will learn to recognize rhythmic patterns and groupings. A fundamental element of the course will be participation in traditional music-making practices from West Africa.
• METHOD OF EVALUATION: Online playing tests, written assignments, group video assignments, online participation and attendance
• READINGS: Hoffman, Richard (2009). The Rhythm Book (2nd ed.). Franklin, Tennessee: Harpeth River Publishing

================

• PROFESSOR: John Higney
• DESCRIPTION: This course investigates jazz from its origins up to the present. Students will engage jazz musics and cultures in the contexts of history; space, place and geography; politics and economy; race and racialization; aesthetics; literature, visual arts and the moving image; gender and sexuality; musical styles, forms, and genres, compositional and improvisational practices styles and practices; significant practitioners; and, technologies, media, and industry.
• METHOD OF EVALUATION: Course work consists of quizzes (and/or reading lecture reflections; formats TBA), midterm and final examinations, and essay length writing assignments. The ability to read music is not required or expected
• READINGS: TBD

================

• PROFESSOR: Dave Schroeder
• DESCRIPTION: This course provides a cultural and stylistic overview of popular music styles in North America from colonial times to the mid-1940s. Students will learn to aurally recognize various forms of music generally defined as popular in music academia, and the sociological context in which the music was created will be closely examined. The successful student will gain an understanding of the historical and aesthetic significance of various genres of music as these styles developed. How these stylistic developments have shaped popular music in the contemporary setting will also be considered. Classes will include lectures, listening, performances, documentary footage and discussions. Prerecorded lectures three hours per week.
• METHOD OF EVALUATION: TBD
• READINGS: TBD

================

• PROFESSOR: Jesse Stewart
• DESCRIPTION: This course examines selected aspects of the history of North American popular music from roughly WWII to the present day. Beginning with a discussion of 1940s country and western, rhythm and blues, and mainstream pop, the course will follow these traditions as they combine and influence one another to form rock and roll and its derivatives beginning in the 1950s. We will go on to discuss a variety of musical genres and styles including surf rock, the British invasion, the American folk music revival, soul, funk, punk, stadium rock, heavy metal, grunge, and hip hop. The course will emphasize both the changing nature of the music, and the changing social, historical, and cultural circumstances in which various styles were created and appreciated. In addition to considering the work and influence of key musical performers, we will discuss the broader social and cultural contexts that inform—and are informed by—popular music trends. Thus, we will consider such issues as the impact of changing technologies on popular music, the relationship between popular music and the mass media, as well as issues of class, gender, sexuality, and race as they relate to the history of popular music and culture in North America.
• METHOD OF EVALUATION: TBD
• READINGS: TBD

================

• PROFESSOR: Kathy Armstrong
• DESCRIPTION: This course is an introduction to Music of the World’s Peoples, and the sociocultural contexts in which those musics are created and performed.  We will investigate music from several different geographic areas (Africa, India, North America, Latin America, Caribbean, Asia and Pacific, Europe and the Middle East) using relevant readings, online discussion, and audio/visual examples.
• METHOD OF EVALUATION: Online Participation Forum, Midterm Online Quiz, Written Term Project in Two Parts,  Endterm Online Quiz.
• READINGS: Titon, Jeff Todd (2018) Worlds of Music: An Introduction to the Music of the World (Shorter Version), fourth edition, New York: Cengage.

================

• PROFESSOR: Dave Schroeder
• DESCRIPTION: This course examines European classical music from c.1790 to c.1910. Important genres and compositional styles to be studied include art song, symphony, opera, absolute music and program music. Individual and national styles in the context of the socio-political climate of the period will also be considered. The course will also feature in-depth studies of the lives of some of the most prominent Romantic era composers. Prerecorded lectures three hours per week.
• METHOD OF EVALUATION: TBD
• READINGS: TBD

================

• PROFESSOR: Mark Ferguson
• DESCRIPTION:
• Introduction to the fundamentals of orchestrating and arranging for orchestra, concert band and jazz ensemble. Aspects of the various instruments of the symphony orchestra and accepted professional standards of score presentation will be studied.
• METHOD OF EVALUATION: Four take-home assignments, individual orchestration presentation, mid-term and final exams.
• READINGS: Adler, Samuel. The Study of Orchestration, 4^thEdition,New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 2016.

================

• PROFESSOR: James K. Wright
• DESCRIPTION:  This is a course that engages the student in musical creation by focusing on the development of fundamental skills in the composition of original music. Since the essence of the course is essentially creative, all students will engage in critical thinking about their own work as well as about that of their classmates. The course is organized around four primary units of study and creative activity, each of which offers a general overview of a compositional genre, and relevant compositional issues, methods and techniques.  Each unit of three weeks will comprise a lecture, private tutorial sessions, and a workshop of student presentations dealing with the current assignment.
• METHOD OF EVALUATION: 60% = 15% x 4 for each of four composition assignments; 40% = 10% x 4 for each of the following criteria: (1) attendance, (2) composition workshop presentations, (3) Preparation for private tutorial sessions, (4) preparation for final concert
• READINGS: None required

================

• PROFESSOR: Antonio Llaca
• DESCRIPTION: Introduction to the special stylistic features of choral music from the Renaissance to the present as well as to a variety of practical techniques (vocal production, gesture, conducting patterns, diction, etc.). Study and analysis of various elements related to choral conducting including leadership, voice pedagogy and the use of technologies in the choral rehearsal.
• METHOD OF EVALUATION: TBD
• READINGS: TBD

================

• PROFESSOR: Sam Thulin
• DESCRIPTION: An introduction to the theory and practice of electronic music creation. Lessons will cover principles of computer-based production, including: synthesis, sampling, MIDI sequencing, mixing, sound design and interactivity. All of the above will be grounded in readings and class discussions about sound, audio technology, and studio practice. Students will be exposed to a broad range of musical styles. This course is open to students of all levels; prior experience with music software is NOT required and a process of learning-by-experimentation will be encouraged.
• METHOD OF EVALUATION: TBD
• READINGS: TBD

================

• PROFESSOR: Christian Guzman Ramos
• DESCRIPTION: Computer-based music-making with an emphasis on the mixing and manipulation of recorded sound, collaborative strategies, and performance-oriented tools and techniques. Student projects will explore beatmaking, sampling, remixing, creative audio processing, modular techniques, generative systems, and the use of hardware controllers in recording and live performance. Lectures and discussions will examine a broad range of musical styles and practices. This course is open to students of all levels; prior experience with music software is NOT required and a process of learning-by-experimentation will be encouraged.
• METHOD OF EVALUATION: TBD
• READINGS: TBD

================

• PROFESSOR: Jen McLachlen
• DESCRIPTION: This course covers principles of eighteenth and nineteenth-century diatonic and chromatic harmony through written exercises and analysis. At the end of the course you will be able to recognize and label chromatic chords as well as harmonize melodies and basses using that vocabulary. This course will also explore some principles of formal analysis of eighteenth and nineteenth-century repertoir e.
• METHOD OF EVALUATION: Assignments 30%; Midterm Exam 20% ; Analysis Project 15%; Final Exam 35%
• READINGS: Burstein, L. Poundie, and Joseph N. Straus. Concise Introduction to Tonal Harmony. New York: W. W. Norton. 2016.

================

• PROFESSOR: Mark Ferguson
• DESCRIPTION:
• This course is designed to give students fundamental knowledge and practical skills in the field of jazz and popular music as it has developed in North America. Areas of study include ear training (melodic dictation, identifying chords and chord scales), harmonic theory, jazz composition and professional standards of music notation.
• METHOD OF EVALUATION: Two take-home assignments, mid-term exam, final exam.
• READINGS: There is no required textbook for this course.

================

• PROFESSOR: James McGowan
• DESCRIPTION: MUSI 2710A is a practical study of music as an aural phenomenon, and is a continuation of the course MUSI 1710. This experiential course focuses on three primary areas of musicianship development: ear training (aural analysis and transcription of melodic and harmonic structures), solfège singing (sight reading and prepared performance), and keyboard harmony. In this way, students develop musicianship skills of both audiation—intentional listening and internalizing musical phenomena—and musical representation—in notation, analysis, singing, and keyboard playing. Sound materials are drawn from a range of sources, live and recorded.
• METHOD OF EVALUATION: Ear training assignments and four unit tests, individual sight singing and keyboard assessments, assignments & projects. No essays. The final exam is just one of the four unit tests.
• READINGS: Course Pack will be available free of charge on cuLearn. Required access to additional web resources.

================

• PROFESSOR: Kathy Armstrong
• DESCRIPTION: TBD
• METHOD OF EVALUATION: TBD
• READINGS: TBD

================

• PROFESSOR: Ellen Waterman
• DESCRIPTION: This course is an examination of various issues related to the study of music in Canada through an examination of many genres and styles of music including classical, folk, popular, and jazz. An important component of the course will be issues of diversity and equity, including the major contributions to music in Canada by BIPOC, immigrant and LGBTQ2S+ communities. The course will be primarily asynchronous (students will be able to access short audio lectures, readings, and links to video and audio on cuLearn). The class will be divided into smaller discussion groups to tackle important topics in music and society in Canada today, and students will have input into these topics.
• METHOD OF EVALUATION: Active participation in this discussion component will constitute a portion of students’ grades and will culminate in a major group assignment using cuPortfolio, which allows students to create a digital presentation including audio, video and text. Evaluation will also include a final exam and individual written responses to the readings.
• READINGS: Regular weekly office hours will be held online via BigBlueButton, and will be an opportunity for the whole class to meet, ask questions, and discuss course content.

================

• PROFESSOR: Vinay Bhide
• DESCRIPTION: The objective of this course is to give students insights into India’s ancient musical traditions. Evolving over a period of at least 5000 years. This course will concentrate on the principles of the organization of the ragas and rhythms along with the strict rules governing improvisation. as well as performances. The course will include opportunities for students to participate in this performing art through improvisation.
• METHOD OF EVALUATION: Written Test and Projects or performance.
• READINGS: TBD

================

• PROFESSOR: Melba Rodriguez
• DESCRIPTION: An examination of the role of Latin American popular music in the construction of nationalisms, official state discourses, and resistance movements based on class, race, and gender identities. The course will cover various local and transnational musical genres that have been associated with political protest in the Latin American context.
• METHOD OF EVALUATION: TBD
• READINGS: TBD

================

• PROFESSOR: Mike Tremblay
• DESCRIPTION: This course will focus on learning to improvise. We will concentrate primarily on Jazz repertoire, however the skills and techniques learned here can be easily applied to other styles of music. Assignments will be both written and practical, and will focus on the harmonic process, voice leading, and analysis. Students will learn and be able to apply various improvising techniques on their instrument of choice, regardless of their initial skill level.
• METHOD OF EVALUATION: TBD
• READINGS: TBD
  ================

• PROFESSOR: Kristin M. Franseen
• DESCRIPTION: The role of gender in the theory and practice of music in western and non-western cultures. Is music gendered? What about particular voices and instruments? How about the people who create, perform, support, and study it? In this course, we will consider how music shapes and is shaped by different experiences of gender in a variety of cultural, historical, and stylistic contexts.
• METHOD OF EVALUATION: Regular participation and engagement (including contributing discussion questions and research presentations), occasional brief reading responses, a short midterm resource response paper, and a final musical artifact analysis project
• READINGS: There is no assigned textbook for this course. Assigned readings will include a mix of historical and contemporary primary sources, relevant interdisciplinary scholarship (including music research, performance practice, and women’s/gender/sexuality studies), and digital/digitized resources on gender, sexuality, and music.

================

• PROFESSOR: Alexis Luko
• DESCRIPTION: Learn about the invention of opera and its development to about 1800. We will study the major monuments of Italian, French, German, and English opera by composers such as Monteverdi, Cavalli, Purcell, Lully, Gluck, Rameau, Handel, and Mozart. In-class viewing of select opera scenes will serve to guide discussions pertaining to modern-day staging and interpretation. Works will be discussed from a variety of historical and critical perspectives with special emphasis on: musical style, history, culture, society, politics, religion, philosophy and gender.
• METHOD OF EVALUATION: Small assignments based on readings and opera viewing/listening, online participation in discussions, presentations, final paper and final exam.
• READINGS: Weekly readings posted online

================

• PROFESSOR: Jesse Stewart
• DESCRIPTION: This course encourages the development of individual compositional practice through an exploration of various musical and theoretical concepts associated with contemporary music composition. Classes will vary in nature, comprising of lectures, class discussions, student presentations, and musical performances. In addition to concepts associated with modern, postmodern, and experimental Western musical traditions, we will discuss systems of musical logic associated with non-western musics, jazz, and popular music idioms. Students are encouraged to draw on these resources in their term assignments. As the boundaries between musical styles and traditions become increasingly fluid, it is important that we develop compositional strategies and frameworks of musical knowledge that reflect our increasingly pluralistic and interdependent world.
• METHOD OF EVALUATION: The course is structured around four composition assignments throughout the term and one final project. For each of the assignments, students registered in MUSI 3602 are required to write 2-3 minute compositions for 2 or 3 instruments, whereas students registered in MUSI 4602 are asked to write 3-4 minute compositions for 3 or 4 instruments.
• READINGS: TBD

================

• PROFESSOR: Mark Ferguson
• DESCRIPTION: Techniques of composition and arranging for small and large ensembles will be studied through the examination of selected works drawn from the jazz repertoire. Works will be selected for stylistic and theoretical analysis, for exercises in aural recognition, and for composition and arranging purposes. There will be an ear-training component involving melodic dictation and recognizing and notating jazz chords and chord scales.
• METHOD OF EVALUATION: Two listening/ear-training tests, two composition assignments, one arranging assignment and final exam.
• READINGS: ·       There is no required textbook for this course.

================

• PROFESSOR:
• DESCRIPTION:
• METHOD OF EVALUATION:
• READINGS:

================

• PROFESSOR: Anna Hoefnagles
• DESCRIPTION: This is a seminar course taught by a settler-ally scholar in which students examine historic and contemporary musical expressions by Indigenous peoples in Canada. Issues examined include identity politics, settler-colonialism/decolonization and the arts, Indigenous research methodologies and issues, ownership and sharing protocols, Indigenous activism and politics in Canada, and intercultural and popular musics. Indigenous musicians and culture-bearers will be invited to speak to the class about their practices and experiences.
• METHOD OF EVALUATION: Engagement and presence in class, weekly reading responses, research assignment, presentation and term paper, final exam
• READINGS: Readings will be drawn from contemporary sources on Indigenous music as well as materials related to individual cultures and issues in Indigenous Studies more broadly.

================

• PROFESSOR: Kathy Armstrong
• DESCRIPTION:
• METHOD OF EVALUATION:
• READINGS:
  ================

• PROFESSOR: James Wright
• DESCRIPTION: Seminar discussions and readings will examine topics such as the following: Music in early Russian experimental film (Eisenstein, Vertov, Pudovkin, et al); Silent film accompaniment; Music and the British GPO film unit; John Grierson’s conception of the role of music in documentary film; the Music Department of the National Film Board of Canada (NFB); Norman McLaren’s experimental film and sound (NFB); Music in propaganda film; Music in early animated film (1930s-50s); Music and sound in documentary film; the Semiotics of film music (Philip Tagg, et al); Impact of exiled European emigré composers on the Hollywood classic film era; Claudia Gorbman’s Unheard Melodies; Hanns Eisler and Theodor Adorno on film music; Jazz in film; Music/sound in cinéma verité and direct cinema; Pop music in film; Michel Chion on audio-visual media; Music in IMAX film; Original versus compilation film scores; Representation, Othering and Orientalism in film music; Evolution of film music techniques and technologies; Women film composers (e.g., Hildur Gudnadottir’s Oscar-winning score for Joker, 2019); Problem of the temp-track (for film composers); Aesthetic debates concerning functional versus absolute music in film.
• METHOD OF EVALUATION: Seminar participation and weekly reading responses, research presentation, final research paper.
• READINGS: None required

================

• PROFESSOR: Terry Tufts
• DESCRIPTION: This course will task students with writing for various imaginary artists, provided to the students by the instructor.  Multiple genres will be and explored and explained paying particular attention to lyric, incorporations of various musical and lyrical hooks, and overcoming writer’s block.
• METHOD OF EVALUATION: TBD
• READINGS: No texts required but suggested readings will be distributed liberally.

================

• PROFESSOR: Alexis Luko
• DESCRIPTION: This course examines the soundtracks of filmmakers whose work demonstrates a distinctive sonic style: Stanley Kubrick, Jean-Luc Godard, Ingmar Bergman, Wes Anderson, The Coen Brothers, Sophia Coppola, David Lynch, Martin Scorsese, Quentin Tarantino, Michael Haneke, and Andrey Tarkovsky. In our analysis of sonic style, we will take into account music, voice, sound effects and silence.
• METHOD OF EVALUATION: Small assignments based on readings and weekly film viewing, online participation in discussions, presentations, final paper and final take-home exam.
• READINGS: James Wierzbicki, editor. Music, Sound and Filmmakers: Sonic Style in Cinema. New York: Routledge, 2012.

================

• PROFESSOR: Petr Cancura
• DESCRIPTION: This project-based course will explore the artistic and logistic challenges of taking a musical concept from idea to presentation. Assignments will be structured to guide the student through a creative process in order to realize the best artistic realization of their musical idea. Classes will include study of musical examples ranging from one-off music performances to highly produced recordings. Analysis of key characteristics studied during class will be applied by students through assignments. Context, cultural significance, in conjunction with the basic elements of music making such as melody, harmony and rhythm will also be studied as part of class and assignments. Special emphasis will be placed on the process of developing your own musical style. Students will learn to arrange, perform, clarify their artistic intent, and present their music throughout this course. This course will involve creating music on a regular basis. A performance of sorts (the form of which will be agreed upon on an individual basis) will take place during the semester.
• METHOD OF EVALUATION: TBD
• READINGS: TBD

================

• PROFESSOR: Kathy Armstrong
• DESCRIPTION:
• METHOD OF EVALUATION:
• READINGS:

================

• PROFESSOR: Jesse Stewart
• DESCRIPTION: This course encourages the development of individual compositional practice through an exploration of various musical and theoretical concepts associated with contemporary music composition. Classes will vary in nature, comprising of lectures, class discussions, student presentations, and musical performances. In addition to concepts associated with modern, postmodern, and experimental Western musical traditions, we will discuss systems of musical logic associated with non-western musics, jazz, and popular music idioms. Students are encouraged to draw on these resources in their term assignments. As the boundaries between musical styles and traditions become increasingly fluid, it is important that we develop compositional strategies and frameworks of musical knowledge that reflect our increasingly pluralistic and interdependent world.
• METHOD OF EVALUATION: The course is structured around four composition assignments throughout the term and one final project. For each of the assignments, students registered in MUSI 3602 are required to write 2-3 minute compositions for 2 or 3 instruments, whereas students registered in MUSI 4602 are asked to write 3-4 minute compositions for 3 or 4 instruments.
• READINGS: TBD

================

PROFESSOR: Mark Ferguson
DESCRIPTION: The art of arranging for small and large jazz ensembles is introduced through analysis of recordings by artists such as Duke Ellington, Fletcher Henderson, Count Basie, Quincy Jones and Rob McConnell. Topics include 2, 3 and 4 voice writing, contrapuntal writing and notation for rhythm section, woodwinds and brass instruments.
METHOD OF EVALUATION: Three take-home assignments, listening test, individual analysis presentation and one arrangement for jazz ensemble.
READINGS: There is no required textbook for this course.
================

• Instructor: David Jackson
• This course offers students an introduction to key concepts in popular music studies. Situating our listening and consumption of popular music in the everyday, we approach popular music critically by examining how it operates through social, historical, political, and technological spaces. We will move quickly beyond questions of taste to explore issues of cultural production and consumption, race, gender and sexuality, performance and spectacle, musical subcultures, and music as a social experience.
• Evaluation: TBA
• Text: TBA

================

• Instructor: Dave Schroeder
• This course provides students with a historical survey of Anglo-American popular music styles from approximately 1945 to the present. Significant artists and musical pieces will be examined, along with the sociological contexts in which these works were created. How various styles of popular music developed and evolved will also be considered. In addition, this course will consider popular music in relation to technology, audiences, mediums, mainstream culture and subcultures, race, gender, and sexuality.
• Evaluation: Evaluation will consist of three assignments/exams.
• Text: This course does not have a required textbook.
• Format: Prerecorded lectures twice a week.

================

• Instructor: Kathy Armstrong
• This course is an introduction to Music of the World’s Peoples, and the sociocultural contexts in which those musics are created and performed.  We will investigate music from several different geographic areas (Africa, India, North America, Latin America, Caribbean, Asia and Pacific, Europe and the Middle East) using relevant readings, online discussion, and audio/visual examples.
• Evaluation: Online Participation Forum, Midterm Online Quiz, Written Term Project in Two Parts,  Endterm Online Quiz.
• Required Online Text: Titon, Jeff Todd (2018) Worlds of Music: An Introduction to the Music of the World (Shorter Version), fourth edition, New York: Cengage.
• Format: This course is asynchronous (no livestream component)

================

• Instructor: Dave Schroeder
• Music generally classified as “popular” is an integral part of our cultural fabric and a ubiquitous presence in our daily lives. MUSI 1002 will address some of the most pertinent issues when examining popular music from an academic and sociological perspective. Successful students will develop an enhanced ability to think critically about music in general and the cultural impact it has on society. Issues to be addressed include authenticity, commodification, appropriation, gatekeeper issues, media imaging, artistic integrity, gender roles, sexuality, race, social class, political expression, performance practices, multi-media dissemination, modern technology, and cultural idolization.
• Evaluation: Evaluation will consist of three assignments/exams.
• Text: This course does not have a required textbook.
• Format: Prerecorded lectures twice a week.

================