Performance study - individual instruction.

Performance study - individual instruction.

Performance study - individual instruction.

Conducting II builds on fundamentals of conducting from Music 242. The course will include gestural vocabulary, moving fluently between choral and instrumental conducting, introduction to keyboard realization of scores, relationship between interpretation and conducting, and rehearsal preparation. The conducting class forms the core of the ensemble for the class.

The course begins with an overview of the ways music analysis informs, and is informed by, other disciplines of musical inquiry: history, criticism, etc. The course culminates in an application of various analytic approaches to a small group of related works within the Western art music tradition. This year the topic will be adapting plays into operas, and we will study two operatic adaptations of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream: Purcell's The Fairy-Queen (1692) and Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream (1960).

Art and music are a part of all human cultures. Is there something about the human brain that drives us to paint and sing? We will examine how the brain simultaneously processes different aspects of visual and auditory stimuli, ask how this processing may affect the way we do art and music, and explore where these phenomena may occur in the brain. As we engage in discussion and hands-on activities, we will discover the commonalities between the arts and the sciences including practice, experimentation, exploration, innovation, and creativity.

Highly select vocal ensemble drawn from Glee Club to perform original works for women's chorus, with emphasis on contemporary music.

A relatively advanced women's choir with a varied classical, contemporary, and folk-derived repertoire. Occasional collaborations with men's choruses and orchestra, sometimes involving long-distance travel. Previous ensemble experience (vocal or instrumental) and strong musicianship--including sight singing--are prerequisites.

The second in a three-semester survey of Western music history, Music 282 examines the cultures of art music in Europe and the Americas from 1700-1900, focusing on the evolution of styles and genres and the changing roles of composers, performers, and audiences.

This course will focus on learning by ear and playing the polyrhythmic traditional music of the peoples of southern Ghana, Togo and Benin, including sections of Adjogbo and Agbekor. All students will learn drum, rattle and bell parts, some songs, and some dance steps. Non-musicians are welcome; practice between classes is required. The group will perform in a workshop at the end of the semester.