(Offered as BIOL 350 and NEUR 350)  This course will provide a deeper understanding of the physiological properties of the nervous system. We will address the mechanisms underlying electrical activity in neurons, as well as examine the physiology of synapses; the transduction and integration of sensory information; the function of nerve circuits; the trophic and plastic properties of neurons; and the relationship between neuronal activity and behavior.

Independent Reading Course. A full course.

Fall and spring semesters.

In this seminar we explore stylistic characteristics of compositions that demonstrate the most important tendencies in twentieth-century music. Instead of applying one analytical method, we try out various approaches to twentieth-century music, taking into consideration the composers’ different educational and cultural backgrounds.

(Offered as MUSI 440 and SWAG 440) How do popular musicians express their identity through their music? And how do listeners explore their own identities by consuming and interacting with this music? This course explores how American popular music of the last sixty years has expressed the race, gender, and sexual identities of its performers and consumers, and how the music industry has affected the production and meaning of popular music from the 1950s into the present, through rock and roll, soul, country, hip hop, and more.

Independent reading course. A full course.

Fall and spring semesters. The Department.

Immersive composition projects according to the needs and experience of the individual student, deepening the experience gained in courses of study like Music 269. One class meeting per week and private conferences. Guest composer presentations in a workshop environment. This course may be repeated.

Requisite: MUSI  269 or the equivalent, and consent of the instructor. Fall semester. Professor Sawyer.

This course will explore compositional techniques continually growing from the numerous traditions that filter through Western art music styles. Innovate works by twentieth and twenty-first century composers that generate new approaches to these traditions (through melody and scale, rhythm and meter, harmony, instrumentation, and musical structure) will be examined and practiced to the best of our collective abilities. The course will employ improvisation as a source of ideas for written compositions and as a primary compositional mode.

(Offered as THDA 254 and MUSI 254) What is the role of sound in live performance, and how is it designed and produced?

An upper level theory course designed for majors or students with prior jazz performance or theory experience. Students do not need a background in jazz to enroll in this course, and this course may be used to satisfy one of two required courses for the theory and analysis requirement for the music major.