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.

Vocal Jazz

A select vocal ensemble that studies classic and contemporary jazz, Broadway and pop standards. Members are encouraged to audition for solos with the Big Band and Chamber Jazz Ensembles. There are several performance opportunities each semester.

Beg.West African Drumming Ens.

This course will focus on learning by ear and playing polyrhythmic music from southern Ghana, Togo and Benin, including sections of Gahu, Adjogbo and Agbekor. All students will learn drum, rattle and bell parts, some songs and some dance steps as well. Non musicians are welcome, but practicing between classes is required. The group will perform at the end of the semester.

Chorale

Beginning ensemble. Well-suited to beginning to intermediate singers. Sight-reading and music theory are incorporated throughout the course. Emphasis is placed on developing techniques for healthy and beautiful vocal production, learning critical listening skills, singing with expression and understanding, and ultimately demonstrating growth as choral musicians. The ensemble explores music from a variety of languages, styles, and cultures.

Music and Film

This course is for all who stay to the end of the credits, purchase soundtracks, and argue over who should have won the Oscar for Best Score, along with anyone else interested in the undervalued importance of music to the general effect of a motion picture. We will explore and discuss the myriad ways in which these two media interact. The course will focus on classic scores by Herrmann, Morricone, and Williams, as well as the uses of pre-existing music in films of Kubrick and Tarantino.

World Music

This course is a survey of selected musical traditions from different parts of the world, including Africa, Indonesia, Indian, the Caribbean, and the United States. The course adopts an ethnomusicological approach that explains music as a cultural phenomenon, and explores the social and aesthetic significance of musical traditions within their respective historical and cultural contexts. It examines how musical traditions change over time, and how such changes reflect and relate to social and political changes within a given society.
Subscribe to