Undergraduate Courses

Continued development of sight-singing, dictation, and aural analysis
skills developed in the prerequisite course, Advanced Aural Skills:
Chromatic Harmony. Students will critically listen to, transcribe, and
perform music incorporating modes, chromatic and jazz harmony, extended
tonality, and atonality. Advanced rhythmic topics include polyrhythm,
syncopation, swing, mixed meter, and metric modulation.

Practice in advanced melodic and rhythmic sight-singing. This course builds on skills developed in Aural Skills I and II, emphasizing the performance of melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic material using solfège. Students learn strategies for improvisation and advanced sight reading in a broad range of styles and genres including repertoire from jazz, classical, and popular music.

Project-based course designed to guide students through three advanced projects:
data visualization with APIs, games that communicate specific experiences, and cooperative networked interactions where two users work together to achieve a common goal. Each project is split into 3-4 weeks, so students have ample time to thoughtfully design a program, think through the technical architecture, develop it, and iterate based on in-class feedback.

An advanced course in expository writing for all students, especially those concerned with writing in school settings. Hours are arranged for individual counseling.

Principles and practice of identification, comparison, and evaluation of selected foods, ingredients, techniques, and equipment for recipe formulation, menu planning, or preparation with an emphasis on modifications to meet specific nutritional or other requirements.

This dance course explores the fifth element of Hip Hop Culture, "Knowledge of self" through progressive movement vocabulary within Hip Hop/Street Dance Culture. Focusing on Hip Hop as a method to endorse cultural exchange and awareness. Individuals critically reflect on the social change, political impact and the evolution of Hip Hop Culture. This course promotes the application of Hip Hop/street dance to inspire, empower, develop self-consciousness, identify social issues and examine the integration of all elements across multiple intelligences.

The principles of orchestral scoring are examined through detailed score analysis and writing projects, as well as related topics including transposition, score format, and new notation. Classical through contemporary styles.

This hands-on course provides the students with a practical toolkit to enable them to become proficient orchestrators in the field of film and media production. Using examples from traditional and contemporary practices, students analyze seminal scores written for the screen, orchestrate diverse exercises, and evaluate the results of their work by listening to live recordings of their exercises.

Projects selected by students to reflect their artistic preoccupation or to provide research in particular skills, subjects, or trends in printmaking.

Projects selected by students to reflect their artistic preoccupation or to provide research in particular skills, subjects, or trends in ceramics.

Projects selected by students to reflect their artistic preoccupation or to provide research in particular skills, subjects, or trends in painting.

Projects selected by students to reflect their artistic preoccupation or to provide research in particular skills, subjects, or trends in sculpture. Individual attention is given to the evaluation of each student’s work, black and white photographic processes and procedures and analysis of subject matter. The interrelationship with contemporary image making is emphasized.

Advanced level music theory. The courses build on techniques developed in Theory & Practice I and II.

Introduction to the materials and organizing principles of 20th and 21st century concert music and jazz. Students will engage with a range of analytical methods and compositional techniques applicable to a broad range of repertoire incorporating advanced chromaticism, modes, extended tonality, atonality, jazz harmony, and contemporary techniques in metric organization and form. The course will culminate in a final paper or presentation analyzing a 20th or 21st century work.

Digital audio workstations (DAW), such as Garage Band, Audacity, and Ableton provide students with a hands-on polyphonic platform for studying and composing contrapuntal music. This course aims to bridge traditions and practices to accommodate students in various specializations and to impart a creative understanding of counterpoint and polyphonic thinking relevant to a broad range of musical repertoire. Working in DAW, students practice contrapuntal techniques and styles using different types of audio material. The course culminates in a final composition project.

The study of non-Western theories of music. This course examines topics in pitch, rhythm, and formal structure in selected music from Africa, Latin America, East Asia, India, and the Middle East. Students will acquire a foundational understanding of the transcription and analysis of non-Western art and folk music, as well as a basic introduction to theory and performance practice by guest artists. The course will culminate in a final analysis project.

Introduction to the materials and organizing principles of 20th and 21st
century concert music and jazz. Students will engage with a range of
analytical methods and compositional techniques applicable to a broad range
of repertoire incorporating advanced chromaticism, modes, extended
tonality, atonality, jazz harmony, and contemporary techniques in metric
organization and form. The course will culminate in a final paper or
presentation analyzing a 20th or 21st century work.

This course explores a range of analytical methods and compositional
techniques characteristic of French art music from the belle époque to 1950. Topics include French dances and other large forms, rich chords, embellishing chords, the “cadence Fauréenne,” modes and pentatonic collections, and Messiaen’s “additive rhythm” and “modes of limited transposition.” Students gain hands-on practice with techniques for orchestration and transcription and analyze regional and stylistic influences, including those from Spain, Javanese Gamelan, and American blues and ragtime.

This course builds on material presented in Theory & Practice II: Popular Music.
Students explore advanced topics in harmony, rhythmic function, metric dissonance, formal function and ambiguity in song form, tuning practices, vocal and instrumental timbre, texture, recording techniques and sampling, music video analysis, and discussions of identity in popular song. Popular music, defined broadly, includes pop, rock, hip hop, rap, metal, folk, EDM, country, and other genres. Students engage with topics through assigned reading and listening, discussions, and projects.

Multichannel Media Installation & Performance is a course designed for composers & artists who want to work in a performance or installation context with immersive sound & image technology. The course focuses on software & hardware workflows for the creative applications of multi-channel sound & immersive video for the creation of fixed, generative, reactive, performance-based, & interactive systems that can be experienced in a gallery context or a live performance. Students will develop a semester-length project to use scale & immersion to creative effect. The course will feature regular creative critique as well as an overview of relevant interaction design strategies for creating interactive spaces using sensors & cameras.