Courses

  • CFA MU 609: Theory Practicum 1
    Practical application of theoretical skills: keyboard realization, score reading, rehearsal techniques, advanced solfège and intonation drills, and analytical problems as related to the needs of the performing musician. Performance problems of contemporary literature. Materials drawn from solo and ensemble music of all periods. Elective course for junior level and above, including graduate students. 2 cr, each semester.
  • CFA MU 610: Theory Practicum 2
    Practical application of theoretical skills: keyboard realization, score reading, rehearsal techniques, advanced solfège and intonation drills, and analytical problems as related to the needs of the performing musician. Performance problems of contemporary literature. Materials drawn from solo and ensemble music of all periods. Elective course for junior level and above, including graduate students. 2 cr.
  • CFA MU 611: Composing with Electronic Sounds and Computers 1
    This course seeks to give the students the aesthetic and technical knowledge needed to complete individual, creative work using electronic media alone or with acoustic instruments. The course will make use of computers, recording equipment, digital editing software, and sound analysis software: developing basic skills in synthesis, sampling, digital recording and live performance techniques. Listening assignments will provide an introduction to existing literature and relevant aspects of acoustic and electronic theory will be discussed. May not be taken concurrently with CFA MU 412. 2 cr course offered both Fall and Spring semesters.
  • CFA MU 612: Composing with Electronic Sounds and Computers 2
    Prereq: CFA MU411 or MU611 or equivalent experience and permission from instructor. This course seeks to expand to students the aesthetic and technical knowledge in the domains of computer music, sound manipulation and sound recording. It also seeks to introduce Computer Assisted Composition environments and real-time interaction between electronics and instruments. 2 cr course offered both Fall and Spring semesters.
  • CFA MU 613: Composing with Electronic Sounds and Computers 3
    Prereq: CFA MU 412/612 or equivalent experience and permission of instructor. More advanced computer music applications focusing on synthesis, real-time interaction and high-level musical control of processes. 2 cr course offered both Fall and Spring semesters.
  • CFA MU 614: Individual Projects in Electronic and Computer Music
    Prereq: CFA MU 613 or permission of instructor. Individual projects in composition and research. May be repeated for credit. 2 cr course offered both Fall and Spring semesters.
  • CFA MU 615: Contemporary Techniques 1
    Analysis and original application of such techniques as polyharmony, atonality, pandiatonicism, linear counterpoint, multirhythms, and aleatory types. 2 cr, each semester.
  • CFA MU 620: Schenkerian Analysis
    Critical discussion of the theory techniques of Heinrich Schenker and his followers. Lectures leading to individual projects employing his methods. 3 cr.
  • CFA MU 621: Introduction to the Organ
    Introduction to the Organ, a companion course to MU450 Introduction to the Harpsichord, will cover organ technique, repertoire, registration, history, and design. Basic techniques of touch, pedaling and coordination, and hymn playing will be addressed, as well as a survey of the literature written for the organ as related to developments in organ design and technology. Visits to local organs on and off campus will be included as well as classes regularly held in Room 426 where there is a seven-stop Noack mechanical studio organ. 1 cr.
  • CFA MU 624: History and Literature of the Keyboard 1
    From backgrounds in organ, clavichord, and harpsichord, music of the Baroque period to sonatas and character pieces of Schubert. 3 cr.
  • CFA MU 625: History and Literature of the Keyboard 2
    From piano music of Mendelssohn to contemporary repertory; emphasis on impact of virtuosity and perfection of idiomatic writing in the keyboard style of the nineteenth century. 3 cr.
  • CFA MU 627: Jazz History and Performance Techniques 1
    Open to non-music majors and music majors for elective credit with advisor approval. Introduction to the American musical art form through recordings, videos, discussion, concerts and workshops; also an introduction to the role of jazz in education. 2 cr.
  • CFA MU 628: Jazz History and Performance Techniques 2
  • CFA MU 630: History and Literature of Opera 2
    Rossini, Donizetti, and Bellini; sociopolitical backgrounds of Italian opera in the nineteenth century; Verdi: Aida, Otello, Falstaff; verismo and its exponents. Influence of Wagner on Italian opera; Giacomo Puccini. 3 cr.
  • CFA MU 635: Music of Wagner
    Rienzi to Lohengrin. Aesthetics of the music drama; Der Ring des Nibelungen; the leitmotiv device; Wagner's prose works. The neo-German controversy in the writings of Hanslick, Kurth, Lorenz, and other contemporary analysts; Tristan and the path to the future. 3 cr.
  • CFA MU 636: Interpretation Workshop: The Cantatas of J.S. Bach
    This course will explore, through live performances contributed by its participants, issues of Bach interpretation, ranging from questions of historical practice to relationships between structural analysis and musical realization. Course content varies by semester. 3 cr.
  • CFA MU 637: Notation, Music Production, and Electronic Instruments
    Covers music notation, music production, and electronic instruments in K−12 education. Students learn to use notation software (Sibelius and Finale), to create and edit digital audio and MIDI recordings, and to use electronic and virtual instruments. Students explore ways to incorporate these tools into the curriculum. The course is taught in a hands-on environment. Satisfactory participation in class activities and successful completion of several projects are required. This course fulfills half of the requirements for TI:ME Level 1 certification.
  • CFA MU 639: Music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
    Early training and travels: Salzburg and Vienna, Mozart and Haydn. Emphasis on Mozart's contributions to literature of the symphony, chamber music, concerto, sonata, opera, song, and mass; recent Mozart research and chronology. 3 cr.
  • CFA MU 640: Music of Ludwig van Beethoven
    His work in relation to his life and times; contributions to the expansion of classic symphonic and sonata principles and developmental techniques. Emphasis on his symphonies, chamber music, sonatas, and concertos; Beethoven's influence on later nineteenth-century composers. 3 cr.
  • CFA MU 641: Music of Franz Peter Schubert
    His life and times. Early training and influences. The songs, the chamber music, the symphonies, the stage works. Religious music and piano music. 3 cr.

Back to full list of College of Fine Arts