Monday, Wednesday, Friday – 9:00 – 9:50 or 10:00 – 10:50

This course gives an overview of music technology through practical information and several hands-on projects. Concepts such as MIDI and digital audio are introduced and specific topics are covered in detail including sequencing, music notation, digital recording, mixing, and production. 

Monday, Wednesday, Friday – 9:00 – 9:50 or 10:00 – 10:50

Eurhythmics II introduces combinations of binary and ternary metric units, mixed meters, changing meters, and notation and performance of cross-rhythms.

Monday, Wednesday 12:30 - 1:50 PM

This class will be an in-depth analytical study of music of the Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque Periods. It will emphasize selected genres and forms by representative composers in order to trace the evolution of musical style and to clarify the main characteristics of these periods, to set the musical developments in broader cultural contexts, and to apply this knowledge to practical decisions made by todays musician.

Monday, Wednesday 1:00 - 1:50 PM

Come and explore the rich musical heritage of Black America. This course will survey the music of Black America beginning with the African legacy and continuing through the music of the Twentieth Century. Class sessions will involve discussions, listening, viewing of films, and reports by students on topics of individual interest. Discussions will involve, historical, cultural and political perspective, as well as the music and composers themselves.

Monday – 2:00 – 3:20

The raw recording is just the first step in the process of creating a professional finished audio product. Editing is the art of piecing together different takes to make one final good take. Mastering is the art of polishing the good take to perfection--balancing all the instruments and tracks, adding special effects, setting final levels. If recording seems like an high-energy activity--involving engineers, musicians, producers--editing and mastering are the necessary counterparts--long tedious hours of solitary confinement honing the skills of the mastering engineer. Those taking this course are expected to have significant music skills: actively playing a musical instrument (or composition), and/or the ability to read a piano score at the least, and a full orchestra score from any recent century, including our own, at the most.

Wednesday, 12:00 – 1:50

This is an historical survey of (a) aesthetic theories about music and human agency--music’s affects and effects, thus its significance and even its very existence--and of (b) actual utilizations of music. Theories range from Aristotle’s catharsis to trauma theory and neuromusicology in our time. The applications range from the biblical David’s therapeutic harp playing in the court of King Saul (11th C. BCE) to U.S. interrogators in Iraq (21st C. CE); from Vodun and exorcisms in other cultures to MUZAK in our own. In short, its a chronological survey of what peoples have believed about music’s powers and, consequently, how music has been used and abused. 

Tuesday, Thursday 10:00 – 10:50

What is your message? Who is your audience? How do you reach them? These are among the topics well explore in this course. Group projects and case studies help us identify the key aspects of one of the most important aspects of any music career. Being a great musician won’t do you any good if no one knows you exist. By the end of the semester, students should be able to understand such concepts as branding, marketing, reach and advertising; identify audience segments and target messages to those segments; create compelling marketing materials, including bios, group and program descriptions, websites and flyers; work with teams to try out a variety of marketing strategies in real-world circumstances; learn to capitalize on social media and use it to effectively build and communicate to an audience; learn to write effective and powerful marketing copy (bios, sales pieces, etc.); examine competitors and market leaders to look for opportunities and best practices.