Courses

  • CFA MP 682: Harpischord for Keyboard Majors
    Study and performance of the harpsichord and its literature. Students instructed in the various aspects of harpsichord playing, including technique, registration, basso continuo realization, performance practice, national styles, and the major composers for the instrument. 2.0 credits.
  • CFA MP 690: Orchestral Conducting Seminar
    Study and directed assignments in conducting of significant works, vocal and instrumental, in addition to required attendance at rehearsals of assigned groups. Credit amount varies.
  • CFA MP 691: Choral Conducting Seminar: Medieval and Renaissance
    Content includes refinement of conducting skills, study of repertoire, score analysis, and rehearsal techniques. Literature may include Gregorian chant and Masses, motets, and madrigals from the fourteenth- through seventeenth-centuries. Students will observe and participate in rehearsals and performances of the School of Music choral ensembles (e.g. Chamber Chorus, Concert Choir) and the Boston University Symphonic Chorus. Enrollment in these ensembles for credit is discouraged, as participation is expected in order to satisfy laboratory component of Seminar
  • CFA MP 692: Choral Conducting Seminar: Baroque and Early Classic
    Content includes refinement of conducting skills, study of repertoire, score analysis, and rehearsal techniques. Literature may include oratorios, Masses, and smaller choral works from the seventeenth- and eighteenth-centuries. Students will observe and participate in rehearsals and performances of the School of Music choral ensembles (e.g. Chamber Chorus, Concert Choir) and the Boston University Symphonic Chorus. Enrollment in these ensembles for credit is discouraged, as participation is expected in order to satisfy laboratory component of Seminar.
  • CFA MP 705: Writing for the DMA Recital Track
    Prerequisite: successful completion of MH711. Research, development, and guided preparation of elements of the DMA Recital Track Lecture Recital including: project proposal, literature review, outline, bibliography, powerpoint presentation, and research paper from which the Lecture Recital will be extracted.
  • CFA MP 720: Accompaniment Practicum
    Advanced collaborative accompaniment experience and instruction in instrumental sonata repertoire. Required for piano majors in the Performance Diploma curriculum; elective course for all other graduate piano majors; not open to enrollment by undergraduates. Enrolled pianists are assigned to accompany one School of Music instrumental major.
  • CFA MP 723: Opera Arias for Pianists 1
    Study and performance of standard opera aria repertoire for collaborative pianists. Topics include study of recitative, operas of Mozart, and the Bel Canto operas of Bellini, Rossini, Donizetti and Verdi.
  • CFA MP 724: Opera Arias for Pianists 2
    Study and performance of standard opera aria repertoire for collaborative pianists. Topics include operas by Puccini, Wagner, Strauss, Britten, Russian and 20th century American composers.
  • CFA MP 730: Opera Institute
    Performance-based curriculum taught by full-time and adjunct faculty members, along with guest professionals who are currently in the business or have had significant operatic careers. Includes voice lessons, repertoire coaching, Italian Conversation, Acting, Movement (Stage Combat, Ballet, Period Styles, Commedia, Alexander Technique), Business Strategies, Social Protocols for the Artist, Auditions, and Networking. Singers have the opportunity to participate in two large-scale productions with a full orchestra per year, a Fringe Festival of significant one-act operas, and outreach programs.
  • CFA MP 731: Special Topics in Song Literature
    Focused study on a specific body of song literature through historical criticism, analysis of poetry, and performance. Topic varies by semester. 2 cr.
  • 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 891: Choral Repertoire of the Renaissance
    Seminar in repertoire and performance practice of the vocal ensemble music from the late Middle Ages and Renaissance, approximately 1420-1600. Required for all DMA candidates in Choral Conducting. 2 cr.
  • CFA MP 892: Choral Repertoire of the Baroque
    Seminar in repertoire and performance practice of choral music from the Baroque and early Classical periods. 2 cr.
  • 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.
  • CFA MT 102: Music Theory 2
    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 1
    Elements of music; properties of tone and rhythm, sight reading from bass and treble clefs; notation of meter and rhythms; construction of scales, triads, and intervals. Ear-training, sight-singing, analysis, and compositional work. Credit not applicable to music major. 4 cr.

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