Courses
The listing of a course description here does not guarantee a course’s being offered in a particular semester. Please refer to the published schedule of classes on the MyBU Student Portal for confirmation a class is actually being taught and for specific course meeting dates and times.
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CFA MP 731: Selected Topics in Song Literature
Exploration of the songs of women composers of the nineteenth through 21st centuries. Emphasis on socio-political context and on performance practice. Composers include Strozzi, Hensel, C. Schumann, Nadia and Lili Boulanger, Taillefaire, Beach, and modern American composers such as Tower, Laitmann, and Larsen. 2 credits. -
CFA MP 735: Vocal Pedagogy 1
Introduction to the fundamentals of vocal tract physiology, acoustics, and technique. Open to all graduate students. -
CFA MP 781: Special Topics in Performance Practice 1
Consideration of major performance issues in the music of Monteverdi, Handel, Bach, et al. Covers topics such as ornamentation, tempo, articulation, tuning and temperament, baroque instruments and their playing techniques, baroque dance, and various national styles of playing. Students perform on their instruments, discuss performance issues, read primary sources and other material about 17th and 18th century performance, compose ornamentation, and listen to and discuss recorded performances. occasional guest lecturers. Required of all historical performance majors. Open to other music graduate students with permission of the instructor. -
CFA MP 782: Special Topics in Performance Practice 2
Continuation of CFA MP781. -
CFA MP 899: Independent Project/Directed Study
Specialized, individually tailored and guided work on projects not connected with a thesis, dissertation or other terminal document, but of particular interest to the graduate student. Variable credit. -
CFA MP 929: Research, Directed Study, and Performance in Conducting
Preparation of project in the field of conducting. Credit amount varies. -
CFA MT 101: Music Theory 1
Elements of tonal music are explored through listening, writing, improvisation, and analytical work. The course investigates the structure and usage of triads, seventh chords, and basic cadence types. An introduction to general voice-leading principles will be covered through figured-bass exercises and harmonization of tunes. Formal structures such as motive, phrase, period, and sentence will be introduced. A keyboard-harmony component will be covered in separate weekly meetings. Placement test may be required. -
CFA MT 102: Music Theory 2
Prerequisite: CFA MT 101. A continued study of tonal music is approached through listening, writing, improvisation, and analytical work. The course explores the structure and usage of secondary functions, the concepts of tonicization and modulation to closely related keys. Continued work in applying general voice-leading principles will be covered through figured-bass exercises and harmonization of melodies. Formal structures such as binary, ternary, and rondo will be introduced. A keyboard harmony component will be covered in separate weekly meetings. -
CFA MT 105: Elements of Music Theory
Elements of Music Theory (CFA MT105) provides a creative introduction to the foundational principles of musical structure. Using a multi-modal approach, combining in-class performance exercises, listening, composition, keyboard, aural (and oral) learning, students acquire an analytical vocabulary and the basic knowledge to support the exploration of musical repertoires, to enhance their own performances, and to develop their own musical compositions. Analytical and music-composition projects engage concepts of musical space, time, pitch, rhythm, and harmony as employed in tonal music. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Creativity/Innovation. Course may not be taken by CFA music majors -
CFA MT 111: Aural Skills 1
Sight singing and dictation of diatonic materials in multiple clefs and using all intervals. Exercises in rhythmic reading, conducting, prepared singing, and intonation. 1 cr. -
CFA MT 112: Aural Skills 2
Undergraduate Prerequisite: CFA MT 111 or placement by exam. Continuation of MT 111. An introduction to chromaticism and modulation within a tonal context. Triplets and compound rhythms. Melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic dictation. 1 cr. -
CFA MT 121: Basic Composition 1
Introduction to principles of composition. Instruction in calligraphy and manuscript preparation. Examination of contemporary music techniques. Written work modeled on analyses of representative forms. 2 cr. Permission of instructor required -
CFA MT 122: Basic Composition 2
Prereq: CFA MT 121. Continued examination of principles of composition, calligraphy, and manuscript preparation. Examination of contemporary music devices. Written work modeled on analyses of representative forms. 2 cr. -
CFA MT 201: Music Theory 3
Prerequisite: CFA MT102. Further study of chromatic tonal music is approached through listening, writing, improvisation, and analytical work. The course explores the structure and usage of augmented-sixth chords, mode mixture/borrowed chords, and modulation to distantly related keys. Continued work in applying general voice-leading principles will be covered through figured-bass exercises and harmonization of tunes. Formal structures such as the sonata principle and sonata-hybrids will be introduced. A keyboard-harmony component will be covered in separate weekly meetings. Effective Fall 2018, this course is part of a Hub sequence: when taken with CFA MT 202, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Quantitative Reasoning I, Creativity/Innovation. -
CFA MT 202: Music Theory 4
Prerequisite: CFA MT201. Further study of chromatic music in the common-practice period is approached through listening, writing, and analytical work. The course explores the structure and usage of augmented-sixth chords, mode mixture/borrowed chords, the Neapolitan triad, and modulation to distantly related keys. Continued work in applying general voice-leading principles will be covered through figured-bass exercises and harmonization of melodies. Formal structures such as sonata and sonata hybrids will be introduced. A keyboard harmony component will be covered in separate weekly meetings. Effective Fall 2018, this course is part of a Hub sequence: when taken with CFA MT 201, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Quantitative Reasoning I, Creativity/Innovation. -
CFA MT 211: Aural Skills 3
Undergraduate Prerequisites:CFA MT 111 and MT 112 or placement by exam.Continuation of CFA MT 112. More challenging exercises in sight singing and preparation of increasingly chromatic or melodically disjunct materials. Melodic, harmonic, two-part, and rhythmic dictation. Two-part rhythmic exercises and conducting. 1 cr. -
CFA MT 212: Aural Skills 4
Undergraduate Prerequisites: CFA MT 111, MT 112, and MT 211 or placement by exam. Continuation of CFA MT 211. Greater emphasis on non-diatonic material;, more difficult exercises in prepared singing, sight-singing, dictation, and rhythm. 1cr. -
CFA MT 221: Composition 3
Prereq: CFA MT 122. Original work in traditional and non-traditional forms of musical composition. (May be repeated for credit.) 2 cr. Undergraduate. -
CFA MT 222: Composition 4
Prereq: CFA MT 221. Continued composition of original work in traditional and non-traditional forms of musical composition. (May be repeated for credit) 2 cr. Undergraduate. -
CFA MT 301: Music Theory 5
Prerequisite: CFA MT202. Analytical and theoretical concepts of post-tonal music will be explored in music of the 20th and 21st centuries. Major stylistic trends and approaches, such as free atonality, centricity/scale-based music, neo-classicism, twelve- tone/serial music, experimentalism, and new approaches to tonality will be covered. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in the following BU Hub area: Quantitative Reasoning II.
