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.
Basic principles of harmonic and contrapuntal technique. Emphasis will be on the acquisition of writing skills. This course is the first of the required music theory sequence for majors. Two class meetings and two ear-training sections per week.
(Offered as MUSI 222 and EUST 222.) One of three courses in which the development of Western music is studied in its cultural-historical context. Occasionally we will attend concerts in Amherst and elsewhere. Composers to be studied include Beethoven, Rossini, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Schumann, Chopin, Liszt, Berlioz, Wagner, Verdi, Musorgsky, and Brahms. Regular listening assignments will broaden the repertoire we encounter and include a wide sampling of Classical and Romantic music.
Sacred Sound examines the relationship between music and religion in broad comparative perspective. In the context of major world religions, new religious movements, and traditional spiritual practices, we will address fundamental issues concerning sacred sound: How does music enable and enhance the ritual process? How is sound sacred and what are its affects? What happens as sacred sound circulates globally among diverse communities of listeners and in secular spaces?
A course designed to explore jazz harmonic and improvisational practice from both the theoretical and applied standpoint. Students will study common harmonic practices of the jazz idiom, modes and scales, rhythmic practices, the blues, and understand the styles of jazz in relation to the history of the music. An end-of-semester performance of material(s) studied during the semester will be required of the class. A jazz-based ear-training section will be scheduled outside of the regular class times. Two class meetings per week. This course is considered a point of entry to MUSI 241.
Description for the Fall Semester:
Description for the Fall Semester:
(Offered as MUSI 101 and EUST 101.) This course teaches the close reading of music through guided listening in a variety of traditions and historical periods. The topic may change from year to year. In 2016-17, we focus on aural analysis of musical texture and form through an historical survey of musical drama with an emphasis on opera.
Fall and spring semesters. The Department.
Fall and spring semesters. The Department.
