Courses

The listing of a course description here does not guarantee a course’s being offered in a particular term. 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.

• CFA MT 602: Analytical Techniques 2
  Analysis of post-tonal music. Investigation into compositional methods and procedures used in 20th and 21st century music. Lectures leading to individual analytical projects. Credits not applicable to MusAD in Composition. 3 cr.
• CFA MT 621: Graduate Composition
  Prereq: Two years of composition. Original work in advanced musical composition. May be repeated for credit. 3 cr.
• CFA MT 631: Orchestration 1
  Basic techniques in scoring for chorus, orchestra, band, and ensembles. Ranges and transpositions of voices and instruments; idiomatic writing, score reading, and clef transposition. 3 cr.
• CFA MT 632: Orchestration 2
  Prereq: CFA MT 631. Contemporary orchestral techniques. Advanced study in scoring for modern orchestras, ensembles, choruses, and bands.
• CFA MT 635: Composing with Electronic Sounds and Computers 1
  Aesthetic and technical knowledge needed to complete individual, creative work using electronic media alone or with acoustic instruments. 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 provide an introduction to existing literature and relevant aspects of acoustic and electronic theory. May not be taken concurrently with CFA MT436. 2 cr. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in the following BU Hub area: Digital/Multimedia Expression.
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  • Digital/Multimedia Expression
• CFA MT 636: Composing with Electronic Sounds and Computers 2
  Prereq: CFA MT 635 or equivalent experience and permission from instructor. Expansion of aesthetic and technical knowledge in the domains of computer music, sound manipulation and sound recording. Introduction to computer-assisted composition environments and real-time interaction between electronics and instruments. 2 cr.
• CFA MT 641: Modal Counterpoint
  Analysis and writing of sixteenth-century vocal styles based on the practices of Palestrina, Lassus, and others. 2 cr.
• CFA MT 642: Tonal Counterpoint
  The study of the early eighteenth-century styles of J.S. Bach and his contemporaries, with an emphasis on the relationship between theory and practice. Special attention will be paid to composing and analyzing invertible counterpoint, canon, two-part inventions and fugue. This is a graduate course, cross-listed with the undergraduate course MT 342. 2 cr.
• CFA MT 645: Contemporary Techniques 1
  Analysis and original application of contemporary compositional techniques and processes. 2 cr.
• CFA MT 665: Schenkerian Analysis
  Critical discussion and training in the theory and analytic techniques of Heinrich Schenker and his followers. Lectures leading to individual projects utilizing his methods. 3 cr.
• CFA MT 681: Music of Our Time: Composers and Repertoire
  Overview of a cross-section of contemporary composers, and trends in music. Focus on composers and places that have become major hubs of compositional activity and ideas. Composers of many different nationalities and aesthetic orientations will be studied. 3 cr.
• CFA MT 701: Doctoral Proseminar-Skills
  Preparation for doctoral qualifying examination in general music theory skills and chorale harmonization. Course may not be taken by MM students or undergraduates. 3 cr.
• CFA MT 702: Doctoral Proseminar-Analysis
  Preparation for doctoral qualifying examination in tonal and post-tonal analysis. Course may not be taken by MM students or undergraduates. 3 cr.
• CFA MT 711: Music Theories of the World
  MSICTHR OF WRLD
• CFA MT 751: Special Topics in Theory and Analysis
  Examination of important topics in music theory and analysis. Individual papers and projects assigned by the instructor. 3 cr. (May be repeated for credit).
• CFA MT 761: Advanced Tonal Analysis
  Prereq: CFA MT 601. Advanced work involving analytic approaches to pitch organization, form, motive, rhythm, etc. with emphasis on nineteenth-century music. 3 cr.
• CFA MT 762: Advanced Contemporary Analysis
  In-depth review of analytical techniques and terminology developed for diverse musical styles from the 20th and 21st centuries. Analysis of representative works from the literature. 3 cr.
• CFA MT 772: Music Perception and Cognition
  This course is designed to introduce students to scientific literature on music preparation, music performance, and related topics. It is designed as a readings course in selected topics with an introduction to statistical methods and methods of experimental design, flexible in response to the background of students and subjects of interest to them. Previous offerings have enrolled only music students from a variety of degree programs (Performance DMAs, Composition DMAs, Theory MMs, and undergraduates). This version of the course may be cross-listed with the new undergraduate HUB course in Music Perception and Cognition, MT472, and therefore will only enroll graduate students and remains a three-credit course to best fit into current graduate programs. 3cr Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Social Inquiry II, Quantitative Reasoning II, Research and Information Literacy.
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  • Quantitative Reasoning II
  • Research and Information Literacy
  • Social Inquiry II
• CFA MT 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 MU 090: CHAMBER MUSIC
  CHAMBER MUSIC