Courses

Students will study the music of Cuba from African, Iberian, and Pan-American roots, and learn to analyze and understand its musical and historical significance. Course addresses technological, social, and economic developments in Cuba, the Caribbean, and the US in the context of their influence on the evolution of Cuban music. Students will study the development of Afro-Cuban music as a musical style and learn to identify harmonic, rhythmic, melodic and textural elements. Students will gain a heightened awareness of music, culture and race relations associated with this genre. The commonalities and differences between Afro-Cuban music and jazz will be explained and discussed.

This course focuses on the wide range of indigenous music found today in countries such as Bulgaria, Greece, Bosnia, Former Yugoslavia Republic of Macedonia, Serbia, Romania, Albania and Turkey. The course will examine the historical factors that contributed to the development of Balkan music in these different regions and students will analyze and understand the commonalities and differences in traits in music throughout the Balkans.

Students in this course will study blues music developed in Chicago gaining skills to analyze and understand its musical and historical significance. Additionally, this course will address technological, social and economic developments seminal to Chicago blues. Students will study the development of the blues as a musical style and learn to identify harmonic, rhythmic and textural elements. Sociologically, students will gain a heightened awareness of music, culture and race relations associated with the genre.

This course looks at the changing, converging and sometimes disruptive relationship between music and media — both traditional and digital. Students explore voice activated listening, media consolidation, the new music industry, streaming services, video, music discovery across multimedia platforms, sync marketing, and future technologies.

The course in designed to expose students to a series of musical styles, presented chronologically respecting the historical, social, political & economic developments of Brazilian culture as whole.Specific recordings will be used to enhance the awareness of harmonic, rhythmic & textural elements on each genre. Together with these musical styles the students will learn about the racial structure of Brazilian culture, the social impact of its music on education & economical stability to many under privilege communities.

A one credit, seven week analysis of the life and times of Miles Davis. The theme of searching & changing will unify the discussion of the five important periods in the career of Miles Davis: Early Miles (bebop); The Cool School of the 50s; Kind of Blue & modal jazz; The 60s quintet & modern jazz; Electric Miles. Video & audio examples will inform the discussion around Miles Davis' autobiography.

This course focuses on music developed in the Arab-Muslim world and students will gain skills to analyze and understand its musical and historical significance. Additionally, this course will address technological, social, and economic developments seminal to Arabic Music. Students will study the development of Arabic music and learn to identify harmonic, rhythmic and textural elements. Sociologically, students will gain a heightened awareness of music and culture associated with the region.

Comprehensive overview of research in the multi-disciplinary field of Music Information Retrieval (MIR) which uses knowledge from diverse areas such as signal processing, machine learning and information and music theory. Exploration of how this knowledge can be used to develop novel methodologies for browsing and retrieval of large music collections. Emphasis would be given to audio signal processing techniques.

An in-depth analysis of how music artists, songs, & concerts create contemporary media narratives about health, equality, & social change through public service announcements & advocacy campaigns in the public & non-profit sectors. We investigate the impact of the work of music celebrities’ promotion of social change to the general public, & use interdisciplinary approaches in music, informal education, & entertainment to evaluate innovation & social enterprise in the music industry.

This course tells the stories of composers, inventors, & entrepreneurs who opened music up to electronic instruments, new sounds, & new ideas of composition between 1900 & the beginning of the 21st century. Specific instruments will be examined, including the Theremin, RCA Synthesizer, Moog synthesizer, Buchla synthesizer, Synclavier, & Kyma. Specific compositions will be discussed. This course will define a starting point for ongoing innovation in sound design, composition, & the creation of new musical instruments.

This course provides the advanced knowledge in music notation and music preparation required for the professional world. Students learn the best practices to present and produce scores using industry standard notation software programs. Students also learn how to be efficient in creating, revising, and preparing their scores. In addition, students learn how to incorporate advanced or non-standard notation in their scores.

The music industry is made up of two primary rights holders: record companies and music publishers. This seminar focuses on the latter, the poorly understood stepsister to the front and center record companies, and dissects the business of songwriting in the digital era. Areas covered include the origins of copyright and copyright legislation, performing rights/PROs, mechanical Licensing/CMOs, publishing deals and agreements, synchronization, digital media, song catalog evaluation, and the role of the creative songwriter and music publisher.

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.

An in-depth exploration of the vocabulary, legal foundation, and business of music publishing as it relates to music creators,songs and songwriters, music users, record companies, digital music services, broadcasters, film & television studios and game developers in the modern marketplace. Topics include background study in copyright law, artist & repertoire, contracts, licensing, royalties and sub-publishing.

In this course students study and gain experience in music and music education research methodologies and music reference procedures. Emphasis is placed on using qualitative research methodologies and resources toward conducting small, real-world research projects, reporting them in class, and creating research papers and/or topic proposals for MA theses and PhD dissertations.

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.

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.

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.