The Amherst College Jazz Ensemble meets a minimum of 2X per week in rehearsals and gives a minimum of three performances each semester. Membership is possible for those who perform on traditional jazz instrumentation (saxophones, brass, piano, guitar, bass, drums, vibes) as well as vocalists. An exciting opportunity each year is the chance to give a world premiere of a piece composed especially for the membership of the jazz ensemble. This always current piece goes along with other repertoire that is chosen from the last 100 years of jazz.

In 1848 Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels published The Communist Manifesto, in which they argued that capitalism is the result of the exploitation of the working class. The same year Richard Wagner began to compose his monumental cycle of four operas, The Ring of the Nibelungen, in which greed leads to the destruction of nature and brings about the end of the old world order.

Through composition, analysis, listening practice, and performance, we will build a solid working understanding of many principles of music common in Western musical traditions. The course aims to develop comfort and dexterity in engaging with music via listening, analysis, and creative work. Assignments include harmonizing melodies, writing short melodies and accompaniments, creative representation and listening projects, and annotated analysis. On several occasions we will use our instruments and voices to bring musical examples to life in the classroom.

An exploration of the physiology and acoustics of the human singing voice in a group setting. We will learn the fundamentals of singing including breathing, tone production, and diction. Vocal technique is taught in a group format as a healthy foundation for choral performance in both classical and non-classical singing styles. Learn basic vocal and musical vocabulary.

Lecturer Arianne Abela. Spring semester.

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The Amherst College Glee Club, founded in 1865, is the fifth oldest collegiate choral ensemble in the United States. In this course, the ensemble will meet twice a week to develop the skill and knowledge to perform a wide range of musical styles and genres. Participation in this course will help singers develop their vocal ability in a positive environment, interact with living composers on newly composed repertory, as well as engage in the study of repertory from the Western and non-western choral canon.

(Offered as MUSI 128 and BLST 114). This course examines the relationship between blues music and American culture. Using Amiri Baraka's influential 1963 book of music criticism, Blues People, as a central text, we will explore ways in which the "blues impulse" has been fundamental to conceptions of African-American identity. At the same time, we will trace the development of African-American music through its connection to West African musical traditions and through its emergence during slavery and the Jim Crow South.

Most of us listen to music by putting on our headphones and connecting to the internet, but not that long ago, such a feat was physically and technologically impossible. In the space of little more than a generation, there has been a sea change in how we listen to music. What are some of the implications of this transformation? If we are usually alone when we’re doing it, can listening to music still be considered a communal activity? Have we privatized the musical space? Have we democratized it? Has live music become a quaint vestige of the past?

This hands-on course offers students an introduction to key concepts of realizing music in Digital Audio Workstations (DAWs). Topics include: analog and digital workflows, microphone types, acoustics, digital editing, mixing, MIDI, sampling, and studio practices. DAWs such as Garageband, Logic Pro, ProTools, and Ableton, are arguably the most ubiquitous tools used for creating music.

(Offered as MUSI 108 and PHYS 108) Appreciating music requires no special scientific or mathematical ability. Yet science and mathematics have a lot to tell us about how we make music and build instruments, what we consider harmonious, and how music is processed by the ear and brain.