This is an introduction to philosophy that explores a range of issues pertaining to religious conviction, knowledge, mind, freedom, ethics, and value. This exploration will take place through critical engagement, via reflection, writing, and conversation, with written work – some classical, some contemporary – in the philosophical tradition.

Two sections will be taught each semester.  Each section limited to 25 students.  Fall semester: Visiting Professors Boxer and Koltonski.  Spring semester: Professor George and Professor Emeritus Kearns.

This is an introduction to philosophy that explores a range of issues pertaining to religious conviction, knowledge, mind, freedom, ethics, and value. This exploration will take place through critical engagement, via reflection, writing, and conversation, with written work – some classical, some contemporary – in the philosophical tradition.

Two sections will be taught each semester.  Each section limited to 25 students.  Fall semester: Visiting Professors Boxer and Koltonski.  Spring semester: Professor George and Professor Emeritus Kearns.

(Offered as MUSI 442 and EUST 313.)  Russian music has long been a staple of the repertory of "classical music" in the concert halls of the world, but the relationship of the seductive sounds of this music to the complex culture that produced it is rarely understood outside of Russia. This course examines connections between Russian culture and Russian music through in-depth analysis of individual works of music and reading of related canonic texts.

(Offered as MUSI 227 and BLST 244 [US].)  One of two courses that trace the development of jazz from its emergence in early 20th-century New Orleans to its profound impact on American culture. Jazz History after 1945 explores the emergence of bebop in the 1940s, the shift of jazz's relationship with American popular culture after World War II, and the dramatic pluralization of jazz practice after the 1950s. We will also look at the emergence of fusion and the jazz avant-garde of the 1960s and 1970s, and theorize the reformulation of "tradition" during the 1980s.

Composition according to the needs and experience of the individual student. One class meeting per week and private conferences. 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 that grow out of the various traditions of Western art music. Innovations of twentieth-century composers in generating new approaches to melody and scale, rhythm and meter, harmony, instrumentation, and musical structure will be examined. The course will include improvisation as a source of ideas for written compositions and as a primary compositional mode. Instrumental or vocal competence and good music reading ability are desirable. Assignments will include compositions of various lengths and related analytical projects.

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. Three hours of lecture 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. As practical, in-class performance and attendance at public concerts in Amherst and elsewhere will be crucial to our work. 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 practice of the jazz idiom, modes and scales, rhythmic practices, and consider their stylistic interpretation. 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.