Big Band Jazz

A mixed instrumental group for beginning, intermediate, and advanced musicians. Students study a variety of classic and contemporary swing, Latin, jazz, and pop standards. There are several performance opportunities each semester.

Electronic and Computer Music

This course will explore a range of approaches and techniques involved in the creation of electronic and computer music, including aspects of form and development, analog and digital synthesis and signal processing, basic computer music programming, and audio recording and production techniques. The focus of this seminar will be a series of exercises and creative projects that develop aesthetic and technical abilities. This creative work will be supported and enriched by selected reading and listening examples, as well as ongoing technical labs and demonstrations.

Pop Song / Jazz Tune

Pop and jazz involve different types of musical texts. From open mic nights to top-40 hits, pop performances are enactments of carefully crafted song structures. In contrast, jazz musicians treat tunes more flexibly-as frameworks to guide improvisation. In separate units for the pop song and the jazz tune, this course examines how harmony, melody, rhythm, lyrics, and form unite to inspire great performances in both traditions. Each unit will include nuts-and-bolts assignments to build analytical and compositional skills, which will be applied in a composition project at the end of each unit.
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