Undergraduate Courses

Overview of the business of songwriting and music publishing in the 21st
century music marketplace. Topics include the legal foundations of
copyright, performing and mechanical rights, A&R, contracts between
songwriters and publishers, synchronization licensing, royalties, streaming
and sub-publishing.

Applications of new technologies for teaching and learning, including video, digital audio, MIDI, computer notation and score preparation, interactive CAI, internet, web publishing, and portfolio development.

This course serves as the capstone project class & will provide Seniors guidance & tools to complete an original project of their choice. Students will work with the instructor to define a project, research methods, & work plan. The class will be a combination of group & individual meetings. The experience culminates in a written document & a presentation to peers and faculty

Musical Theatre Dance is designed to bridge the gap between all dance styles used on Broadway, and to enrich and improve students’ vocabulary and movement skill set. Focuses on expression through movement, accuracy of movement execution, and the stamina building required of musical theatre performers when dancing, acting, and singing at the same time. Daily dance warm-up, including stretching, center-work, and cardio, followed by across-the-floor progressions, and a different style dance combination at center each week.

A study of the history and repertoire of contemporary music theatre, from its origins in the mid-19th century, through its first masterwork, Show Boat, to its current state. Trends and styles are discussed and illustrated.

A study of the history and repertoire of contemporary music theatre, from its origins in the mid-19th century, through its first masterwork, Show Boat, to its current state. Trends and styles are discussed and illustrated.

The goal of this course is to explore material from the music theatre repertoire in a way that continues to fuse knowledge from classroom work, voice studio, and stage experience when approaching an audition situation. Students learn how to draw upon individuality when selecting material that is both suited to their industry type as well as their other interests and talents. Students also continue to add repertoire to their “book” in preparation for a career in the business.

In this course students prepare to enter the professional world by means of creating and presenting an Industry Showcase for an invited audience of theatre professionals. The course includes repertoire investigation / selection, rehearsal for Showcase numbers, industry advice on type, wardrobe. Students also explore the techniques and skills of networking, unions, casting directors, agents, managers, and many business and “life as an actor” skills necessary for a career in the business.

This course is an acting class that is intended to further develop analytical and performance skills. Students work on scene and song material from music theatre scripts to assimilate what is learned in acting classes and song analysis. This class examines how we move from scene work into song, the impetus for the move, and how we can create truthful circumstances that support the work.

The Music Theatre Workshop is divided into specialized topics, such as voice and diction, song analysis, audition technique, and production. The emphasis of the workshop is performance, its techniques, its theory and its reality. Courses are taught by Broadway professionals active in the disciplines and who have extensive experience in education. Guest lectures share their experiences and lead seminars. Each workshop culminates with an end-of-semester critiqued performance. Students perform material regularly in class.

A historical and dramaturgical study of the American musical from its beginnings in 1880 to its modern form. Emphasis in placed on the evolution of the libretto and the integration of music, dance, and the spoken word. The study of character, plot development, and denouement are explored through performance.

This course introduces students to the basic elements of melody, harmony, and rhythm in music and how they combine to create musical meaning. A major emphasis of the course is hands-on music experimentation, including guided in-class performance and the use of music apps, software, and other technology. Students study a diverse body of musical examples drawn from classical, popular, and world music via projects completed in the classroom and in New York City. No prior musical experience required. This course does not count toward credits for the music major or minor

An introduction to melody, harmony and counterpoint in the music of diatonic tonality through projects in directed composition and analysis .

Further projects in diatonic tonality and an introduction to simple forms.

In this course students will follow up with their harmony studies. We will go through harmonic instances of advanced chromaticism of the late 19. century and up to the very edge of tonality. Emphasis will be put on assignments and exercises in order to develop good creative and analytical skills in harmony. Concurrently we will examine the main formal principles of tonal music and apply our knowledge in analysis of selected compositions. We will use various analytical approaches and test them on a large scale of historical musical material. Every student will be due to realize at least one analysis of assigned composition during the semester.

In this course students will deepen their knowledge of music theory. We will learn and practice advanced harmony and form in tonal music as well as selected topic of 20th century music theory and practice. We will start from chromatic harmony of the late 19. Century and go through instances of atonal, serial music up to special 20th century composition techniques and forms. Emphasis will be put on assignments and exercises in order to develop good creative and analytical skills. We will examine the main formal principles of post-tonal music and apply our knowledge in analysis of selected compositions. We will use various analytical approaches and test them on a large scale of musical material. Every student will be due to realize at least one analysis of assigned composition during the semester.

Music is universal to all human cultures. This course will explore fundamental concepts of the psychological, emotional, and cognitive effects of music and what factors in the human body and brain are involved in producing them, with particular emphasis on cross-cultural study. Students will learn beginning methods of computational feature extraction and machine learning to explore simple
artificial intelligence models that build on and articulate the conceptual frameworks of music and
cognition introduced in the initial phase of the class.

An introduction to the field of acoustics emphasizing sound production by musical instruments, propagation of sound from source to listener (including electronic reproduction), and psychoacoustics perception of sound.

This course introduces students to the practice and discipline of writing narrative and theatrical songs (those that tell a story or function as part of a larger one) through a survey of the literature, an examination of the principles and tools employed in such songs, and guided creation of individual songs and larger works. Analyses of material from the repertoire serve as a basis for inspiring new work. Emphasis on comprehending and mastering the writing process, and
responding to the modern cultural context in which this work is created.

This course explores the metamorphosis of the US into not just a country of immigrants, but a country of intense nativism, suspicion and hostility to outsiders of certain stripes. We highlight how stakeholders in the American political project have used means both democratic and supra-democratic to impact the question of who can and cannot enter the country, pushing on one end to erect sturdier barriers to entry and on the other, to welcome migrants with more open arms.