Courses of Study 2018-2019 
    
    Mar 28, 2024  
Courses of Study 2018-2019 [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

Course Descriptions


 

MUSIC—Music

  
  • MUSIC 1100 - Elements of Musical Notation


         
    Fall (weeks 2-5; 8-11). 1 credit. S/U grades only.

    Staff.

    This four-week course fulfills the requirement of basic pitch, rhythm, and score-reading skills needed for some introductory courses and 2000-level courses with prerequisites.

  
  • MUSIC 1101 - Elements of Music


    (LA-AS)      
    Fall. 3 credits. Student option grading.

    No previous training in music required.

    A. Hicks.

    Have you ever wondered: is there music in outer space? what is music’s “deep history”? how do we know music when we hear it? why does it make us want to dance? does it also make us “civilized”? and how do cultural, technological, and economic forces shape why we listen, when we listen, and what we listen to? Elements of Music offers the opportunity to think about all these questions (and more) through a wide variety of hands-on musical activities: experimenting with instruments, recording and manipulating sounds from the world around us, examining medieval musical books, dancing the Twist, Sweatin’ to the Oldies, improvising, singing, and above all, listening to music from around the world. 

  
  • MUSIC 1105 - Introduction to Western Music Theory


    (LA-AS)      
    Spring. 3 credits. Student option grading.

    Recommended prerequisite: experience in reading music.

    J. Spinazzola.

    A self-contained introduction to theories of notated Western concert (“classical”) music and related ideas found in jazz, rock, film, other popular forms, and traditional folk genres. Fundamentals of pitch (melody, harmony, counterpoint, tuning), time (rhythm and form), and other parameters (including timbre and instrumentation). Application of music notation, and implications on analysis. The history and science of music theory. “Western” music theory in context, and contemporary approaches.

  
  • MUSIC 1107 - [Introduction to Improvisation]


    (CA-AS)      
    Offered on demand. 3 credits. Letter grades only.

    P. Merrill.

    An introduction to music improvisation: the study and performance of diasporic traditions from North America, South America, and the Caribbean with a focus on popular music and the blues. Previous experience in music making is not required. Singing or playing a tonal instrument is required. Concurrent enrollment in  MUSIC 1100 - Elements of Musical Notation  may be necessary.

  
  • MUSIC 1201 - European Music from the Middle Ages, Renaissance, and Baroque


    (HB) (LA-AS) (CU-ITL)     
    Fall. 3 credits. Student option grading.

    N. Zaslaw.

    This listening-intensive course will introduce students to key styles in European art music from before 1750 through a focus on several important musical centers at different historical moments: medieval Paris (chant, organum, monophonic songs), 15th-century Burgundy (sacred and secular polyphony), late 16th-century Mantua (madrigals, instrumental genres, early opera), late 17th-century Versailles (court ballet, instrumental suite), Leipzig around 1740 (organ music, cantata), and London around 1750 (concerto, opera, oratorio). Works by composers such as Perotin, Dufay, Monteverdi, Bach, and Handel will be studied within the cultural contexts that allowed them to flourish.

  
  • MUSIC 1202 - Classical Music from 1750 to the Present


    (HB) (LA-AS)      
    Spring. 3 credits. Student option grading.

    A. Zhou.

    A survey of Western art music in many genres, with emphasis on listening. The course covers the Classical, Romantic, and Modern eras, ending with works by living composers. Opportunities for hearing live music are built into the course. 

  
  • MUSIC 1212 - Music on the Brain


    (CA-AS)      
    Spring. 3 credits. Student option grading.

    Co-meets with BIONB 4200 .

    R. Hoy, A. Lewandowski.

    This course is for anyone who listens to music or plays music and wonders what’s going on in your brain that makes you feel the way you do. Starting with the music each of you knows and loves—the soundtrack to your life—we will explore what’s going on in your brain when you play or just listen. We will tackle questions like: What is the relationship between language and music? Do animals have music? How does the brain process rhythm & tempo, melody, harmony, and pattern in music? How and why does your music work for you?

  
  • MUSIC 1312 - History of Rock Music

    (crosslisted) AMST 1312  
    (LA-AS) (CU-ITL)     
    Spring. 3 credits. Student option grading.

    No previous training in music required.

    J. Peraino.

    This course examines the development and cultural significance of rock music from its origins in blues, gospel, and Tin Pan Alley up to alternative rock and hip hop. The course concludes with the year 2000.

  
  • MUSIC 1313 - [A Survey of Jazz]

    (crosslisted) AMST 1313  
    (LA-AS)      
    Spring. Offered on demand. 3 credits. Student option grading.

    No previous training in music required.

    S. Pond.

    This course addresses jazz from two perspectives: the various sounds of jazz, as well as the historical streams-musical and cultural-that have contributed to its development. Listening and writing assignments are major components of the course.

  
  • MUSIC 1320 - [Music of Latin America]

    (crosslisted) LATA 1320  
    (GHB) (CA-AS) (CU-ITL)     
    Fall. Offered on demand. 3 credits. Student option grading.

    R. Sierra.

    This course examines the diverse music of Latin America, covering traditional, popular, and classical repertoire. Listening and discussion will focus on the most significant musical developments from early colonial times to the present.

  
  • MUSIC 1321 - Music of Mexico and the Mexican Diaspora

    (crosslisted) AMST 1321 LATA 1321 , LSP 1321 , SPAN 1321  
    (CA-AS) (CU-ITL)     
    Spring. 3 credits. Letter grades only.

    A. Madrid.

    This class is a survey of music practices among Mexican communities both in Mexico and in the U.S. Taking contemporary musical practices as a point of departure, the class explores the historical, cultural, and political significance of a wide variety of Mexican music traditions (including indigenous, folk, popular, and art music, dating back to the 16th Century) from a transnational perspective.

  
  • MUSIC 1330 - African Music

    (crosslisted) ASRC 1330  
    (GB) (CA-AS) (CU-ITL)     
    Fall. 3 credits. Letter grades only.

    C. Appert.

    This course is an introduction to the music of Sub-Saharan Africa. In addition to exploring the diversity of indigenous musics throughout the continent, students will learn how migration, colonialism, nationalism, and globalization contributed to the development of African popular musics, from early twentieth century genres to contemporary Afrobeats. Engaging scholarly and popular media texts, musical recordings, and documentary films, students will explore how music has negotiated political, economic, and health crises, and will critically examine the relationship between music and global representations of Africa.

  
  • MUSIC 1341 - Gamelan in Indonesian History and Cultures

    (crosslisted) ASIAN 2245 , VISST 2744  
    (GB) (LA-AS) (CU-ITL)     
    Fall. 3 credits. Student option grading.

    No previous knowledge of musical notation or performance experience necessary.

    C. Miller.

    This course combines hands-on instruction in gamelan, Indonesia’s most prominent form of traditional music, and the academic study of the broader range of music found in contemporary Indonesia, including Western-oriented and hybrid popular forms. Students thus engage with music directly, and use it as a lens to examine the myriad social and cultural forces that shape it, and that are shaped by it.

  
  • MUSIC 1421 - Introduction to Computer Music


    (LA-AS)      
    Fall. 3 credits. Letter grades only.

    K. Ernste.

    A composition-based introduction to computer hardware and software for digital sound and media. Fundamentals of audio, synthesis, sequencing, and other techniques for electronic music production. Each student creates several short compositions.

  
  • MUSIC 1465 - Computing in the Arts

    (crosslisted) CS 1610 ENGRI 1610 , PMA 1640 , PSYCH 1650  
    (LA-AS)      
    Spring, Summer. 3 credits. Student option grading.

    Good comfort level with computers and some of the arts is recommended.

    Staff.

    For description and learning outcomes, see CS 1610 .

  
  • MUSIC 1466 - Physics of Musical Sound

    (crosslisted) PHYS 1204  
    (PBS-AS)      
    Spring. 3 credits. Student option grading.

    Permission of instructor required. Enrollment limited to: 60 students. Assumes no scientific background but uses high school algebra.  Open to all students and suitable for nonscientists; does not serve as prerequisite for further science courses.

    K. Selby.

    For description, see PHYS 1204 .

  
  • MUSIC 1501 - [This Week in Pop Music]


         
    Offered on demand. 1 credit. Letter grades only.

    Permission of instructor required. Enrollment limited to: residents of the Low Rises.

    C. Appert.

    How do pop music trends, scandals, and debates - particularly as played out through social media - offer a window into issues of race, gender, class, and sexuality in American culture? How do arguments about cultural ownership of musical and dance styles, for example, relate to conflicted histories of musical production and consumption in the United States? We will explore these questions through weekly conversations on of-the-moment popular music happenings and through regular critical engagement with pop culture blogs.

  
  • MUSIC 1503 - [Bridging Difference]


         
    Offered on demand. 1 credit. S/U grades only.

    Permission of instructor required.

    C. Appert.

    Join Low Rise Faculty in Residence Catherine Appert, for weekly lunchtime discussions about local, national, and international current issues at the Center for Intercultural Dialogue, and extend those conversations in informal small group meetings with Cornell faculty and residential staff. Actively participate in diversity-centered peer-to-peer learning in our residential community.

  
  • MUSIC 1520 - Wonder Woman

    (crosslisted) ASRC 1120  , DSOC 1120  
         
    Fall. 1 credit. S/U grades only.

    This is a Learning Where You Live Course.

    C. Appert, L. Leonard, N. Rooks.

    For description and learning outcomes, see DSOC 1120 .

  
  • MUSIC 1701 - FWS: Sound, Sense and Ideas


         


    Fall, Spring. 3 credits. Letter grades only.

    First-Year Writing Seminar.

    Staff.

    This First-Year Writing seminar provides the opportunity to write extensively about music’s place in our world. Topics vary by section.

    Topics for 2018-19 may include:

    Fall, Spring The Politics of Listening: Sound and Civic Life D. Hawkins.
    Fall Writing Soul, Writing Funk S. Pond.
    Fall Sounds on the Page A. Saiki

     

  
  • MUSIC 2006 - Punk Culture: The Aesthetics and Politics of Refusal

    (crosslisted) AMST 2006 , COML 2006 , ENGL 2906 .
    (CA-AS) (CU-ITL)     
    Fall. 3 credits. Letter grades only.

    J. Peraino.

    Punk Culture–comprised of music, fashion, literature, and visual arts–represents a complex critical stance of resistance and refusal that coalesced at a particular historical moment in the mid-1970s, and continues to be invoked, revived, and revised. In this course we will explore punk’s origins in New York and London, U.S. punk’s regional differences (the New York scene’s connection to the art and literary worlds, Southern California’s skate and surf culture, etc.), its key movements (hardcore, straight edge, riot grrrl, crust, queercore), its race, class and gender relations, and its ongoing influence on global youth culture. We will read, listen, and examine a variety of visual media to analyze how punk draws from and alters previous aesthetic and political movements. No previous experience studying music is necessary.

  
  • MUSIC 2101 - Theory, Materials and Techniques I


    (LA-AS)      
    Fall. 4 credits. Letter grades only.

    Prerequisite: basic ability to read/write music, to sing/play an instrument, and to navigate the keyboard (advanced skills not necessary), as evaluated by diagnostic exam (administered in first class meeting of semester) and/or instructor permission. Some students might be expected to take MUSIC 1105   in the Spring before returning to MUSIC 2101 the following Fall. Intended for students planning to major or minor in music, and other qualified students. A grade of B or better in MUSIC 2101 is required for admission to the music major.

    R. Moseley.

    Study of the foundations of tonal music as manifested primarily in the Western literate tradition, also incorporating examples from various vernacular idioms. The course combines modern pedagogical methods with the study of historical sources and focuses on active learning at the keyboard. Topics to be covered include rudiments such as scales and triads; melodic and harmonic principles; voice-leading strategies and schemata; species counterpoint; improvisation, including techniques of embellishment; rhythm, meter, and gesture. During sections, the concepts and skills introduced in lecture will be practiced at the keyboard as well as vocally. Other section activities include elements of musicianship (aural skills, intervallic production and identification, rhythmic accuracy and fluency, etc.); transcription; sight singing; and score reading.

  
  • MUSIC 2102 - Theory, Materials and Techniques II


    (LA-AS)      
    Spring. 4 credits. Letter grades only.

    Prerequisite: MUSIC 2101 . Intended for students expecting to major in music and other qualified students.

    M. Gotham.

    Theory, Materials, and Techniques II surveys tonal music as conceived and practiced throughout late-eighteenth and nineteenth-century Europe. The course combines modern pedagogical methods with the study of relevant historical sources and incorporates active learning at the keyboard. Topics to be covered include the analysis of form and genre; advanced techniques of modulation; transformational theory and other approaches to the configuration of diatonicism and chromaticism; and the relationship of words and music in nineteenth-century song. During section meetings, the concepts and skills introduced in lecture will be practiced at the keyboard as well as vocally. Other topics to be covered in sections include advanced aural skills; sight singing; score reading; and the improvisation of preludes.

  
  • MUSIC 2111 - Songwriting


    (LA-AS)      
    Fall, Winter, Summer. 3 credits. Letter grades only.

    Permission of instructor required.

    A. Lewandowski.

    Songwriting introduces students to the practice of songwriting through workshop-formatted classes. We will explore the ingredients of song (lyrics, melody, delivery, harmony, rhythm, form, texture, timbre, and arrangement) through analysis, composition, recording technologies, performance, and concert reports. Proficiency on one or more musical instruments is required. Songwriting can be taken as a stand-alone course or as part of the Songwriting sequence with Collaborative Songwriting.

  
  • MUSIC 2112 - Collaborative Songwriting


    (LA-AS)      
    Spring. 3 credits. Letter grades only.

    Permission of instructor required.

    A. Lewandowski.

    Collaborative Songwriting introduces students to the practice of songwriting through workshop-formatted classes. We will explore the ingredients of song (lyrics, melody, delivery, harmony, rhythm, form, texture, timbre, and arrangement) in diverse collaborative contexts through analysis, composition, recording technologies, performance, and concert reports. Proficiency on one or more musical instruments is required. Collaborative Songwriting can be taken as a stand-alone course or as part of the Songwriting sequence.

  
  • MUSIC 2201 - Introduction to Music Studies


    (CA-AS) (CU-ITL)     
    Spring. 4 credits. Letter grades only.

    C. Appert.

    This course introduces students to the study of music as an expression of history and culture by examining the ways in which music creates meaning, knowledge, archives, and identities. Musical examples will be drawn from a broad range of styles, chronological periods, and geographical locations; and students will engage with live performance as well as various forms of recorded music and mediated performance.  Along with considering music as sound, the course will examine different modalities of writing about music—journalistic, academic, and creative—and we will think about how these musical texts, and those that the students produce, function to situate music as discourse. The course will develop critical thinking, writing, and presentation skills. 

  
  • MUSIC 2207 - [History of Western Music I]


    (HB) (HA-AS) (CU-ITL)     
    Fall. Next offered: 2019-2020. 4 credits. Letter grades only.

    Prerequisite: MUSIC 2101  or permission of instructor.

    Staff.

    A survey of Western music and its social contexts from the beginning of notation (circa 900) to 1700. Topics include sacred chant, secular song, polyphony, madrigals, early opera, and the development of independent instrumental music. The course emphasizes listening and comprehension of genres and styles, and is intended for music majors and qualified nonmajors.

  
  • MUSIC 2208 - History of Western Music II


    (HB) (HA-AS) (CU-ITL)     
    Spring. 4 credits. Letter grades only.

    Prerequisite: MUSIC 2102  or permission of instructor.

    N. Zaslaw.

    This course, intended for music majors, music minors, and suitably qualified non-majors and non-minors, surveys the vast terrain and diverse topography of 18th- and 19th-century music across Europe and North America. Involving a comprehensive listening component alongside score study and a wide range of primary and secondary sources, the course is designed to develop students’ knowledge of repertory, musical institutions, and social practices; it also aims to equip them with the means to think critically about music and texts amid shifting historical contexts. 

  
  • MUSIC 2209 - [History of Western Music III]


         
    Fall. Next Offered: 2019-2020. 4 credits. Letter grades only.

    Permission of instructor required.

    B. Piekut.

    This course, intended for music majors, music minors, and suitably interested non-majors and non-minors, surveys the vast terrain and diverse topography of music since 1945. Involving a comprehensive listening component alongside score study and a wide range of primary and secondary sources, the course is designed to develop students’ knowledge of repertory, musical institutions, and social practices; it also aims to equip them with the means to think critically about music and texts amid shifting historical contexts. Topics will include electronic music, sound art, improvisation, minimalism, and noise.

  
  • MUSIC 2221 - [Bach and Handel]


    (HB) (LA-AS) (CU-ITL)     
    Spring. Offered on demand. 3 credits. Student option grading.

    Prerequisite: any 3-credit music course or permission of instructor. Majors may enhance this course with additional content and an extra credit by enrolling concurrently in MUSIC 3901 .

    D. Yearsley.

    Born within weeks of one another in 1685, their birthplaces less than one hundred miles apart in the forests of central Germany, George Frideric Handel and Johann Sebastian Bach composed extraordinary music spanning the gamut of human experience and grappling with fundamental human concerns (love, death, duty, happiness) with an expressive power that has never been surpassed. Handel was one of the great cosmopolitans of the eighteenth century and his life and works offer a panorama of European baroque culture. Bach by contrast spent his entire life in the region of his birth; yet his music demonstrates a miraculous awareness of the greater world beyond Germany. In this course students will encounter vocal and instrumental masterpieces by each composer taken from opera, the church, the court, and the home; we will explore the meanings of these works in their own time and their continued vibrancy in the twenty-first century.

  
  • MUSIC 2224 - Mozart in History, History in Mozart


    (HB) (HA-AS) (CU-ITL)     
    Spring. 3 credits. Student option grading.

    Prerequisite: ability to read music or concurrent enrollment in MUSIC 1100  or successful completion of another college-level music course.

    N. Zaslaw.

    An exploration of the phenomenon that is Wolfgang Amadè Mozart, using historical documents to contextualize his life and works while exploring the extensive documentation of his life and works to learn about European history during an era that included the American and French Revolutions. In Fall 2017 Mozart’s Italianate works will receive special emphasis.

  
  • MUSIC 2241 - Music as Drama: An Introduction to Opera

    (crosslisted) PMA 2633  
    (HB) (LA-AS) (CU-ITL)     
    Fall. 3 credits. Student option grading.

    R. Harris-Warrick.

    Opera has been enthralling audiences for 400 years; this course explores the multiple facets of its appeal. Using seven operas as the focus-chosen from different periods, national traditions, and styles-the class will examine the texts that have been turned into operas, the musical conventions that have guided composers (or against which they have worked), and the decisions directors make when they put operas on stage. Each work will be seen as well as heard-either in a special screening or, at least once in the semester, in a live performance. Students who have a strong background in music may wish to also enroll in MUSIC 3901 , which involves an extra class-period per week where the music is discussed in greater detail. Permission of the instructor is required for this one-credit addition.

  
  • MUSIC 2244 - [The Music, Art, and Technology of the Organ]


    (HB) (LA-AS) (CU-ITL)     
    Spring. Offered on demand. 3 credits. Student option grading.

    Majors may enhance this course with additional content and an extra credit by enrolling concurrently in MUSIC 3901 .

    A. Richards, D. Yearsley.

    The organ is an interdisciplinary wonder where mechanics, architecture, acoustics, religion, philosophy, literature, as well as the musical arts and sciences meet. This course uses the organ to explore music’s relation to technology, history and culture, and in turn traces the technical and mechanical mysteries, and expressive possibilities, of the ‘King of Instruments’ across its long history. Students will gain 1) an understanding of some key aspects of musical history and repertoire; 2) a sense for the historical relation between music and technology; 3) a new knowledge of (and enthusiasm for!) the organ; and 4) an insight into the ways in which musical instruments and the musical practice associated with them are cross-cultural and interdisciplinary. With a key focus on the music of J. S. Bach, as well as on the reception of Bach’s music in the 19th and 20th centuries, topics include the mechanics of organ construction, the North German organ art and the toccata, virtuosity and the use of the feet, the symphonic organ in the 19th century, 20th-century experimentation with organ sound, the organ and film. The course combines lectures with practical studio-style sessions at Cornell’s four superb organs, and unprecedented access to those instruments. No prior musical experience necessary, although those interested (and with some keyboard skills) will have the opportunity to learn to play – with both hands and feet.

  
  • MUSIC 2260 - Music of the 1960’s

    (crosslisted) AMST 2260 ASRC 2260  
    (CA-AS)      
    Fall. 4 credits. Letter grades only.

    B. Piekut.

    In this class, we will examine how musicians working in such genres as rock, jazz, folk, classical, soul, and experimental music responded and contributed to the major themes of the 1960s in the US: the counterculture, Vietnam, the civil rights movement, women’s liberation, and the space race. We will examine written texts, recordings, and films from the period. The ability to read music is not required.

  
  • MUSIC 2270 - [Thinking with Music]


    (CA-AS)      
    Spring. Offered on demand. 3 credits. Student option grading.

    B. Piekut.

    In this course, we will explore how we use music: to construct ourselves, to construct others, and to construct societies. “Thinking with Music” is not an historical survey or a music appreciation course, but more of an investigation into several overlapping questions: How do we make distinctions between sound and music, or between music and noise? How does music contribute to systems of meaning? How do identity categories like gender and race form our experiences of music, and how does music contribute to our experiences of identity? How do music and sound relate to the operations of power, pleasure, violence, and desire? No previous formal study of music is required.

  
  • MUSIC 2280 - [Experimental Music]


    (CA-AS)      
    Fall. Offered on demand. 3 credits. Letter grades only.

    B. Piekut.

    An introduction to significant figures and movements in adventurous music since 1950. Topics will include the New York School, Fluxus, free jazz, the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians, European free improvisation, electroacoustic improvisation, and art rock. The ability to read music is not required.

  
  • MUSIC 2311 - [The Art and Craft of Music Journalism]


    (LA-AS)      
    Fall. Offered on demand. 3 credits. Student option grading.

    Music majors may enhance this course with additional content and an extra credit by enrolling concurrently in MUSIC 3901 .

    D. Yearsley.

    This workshop in music journalism will sharpen your prose, your mind, and your tongue. We’ll read the work of great journalists of the past and present who’ve written ardently and unforgettably about music— Joseph Addison, Hector Berlioz, Robert Schumann, George Bernard Shaw, Paul Griffiths, Greil Marcus, Stanley Crouch, and Alex Ross, among others. Thus inspired, we’ll dive into the vibrant musical scene of Cornell and beyond, each participant writing weekly pieces for the class blog, whose title and format will be determined by class members. In the course of the semester each student will accumulate a substantial portfolio of journalism, and a love of writing about music.

  
  • MUSIC 2320 - [Latino Music in the US]

    (crosslisted) AMST 2320 , LSP 2320 , SPAN 2330  
    (CA-AS) (CU-ITL)     
    Spring. Offered on demand. 3 credits. Letter grades only.

    A. Madrid.

    Music and dance cultures have been central topics of study in the development of Chicano studies, Puerto Rican studies, and Latino studies in general. From Americo Paredes to Frances Aparicio and from Jose Limon to Deborah Pacini-Hernandez, focusing on music and embodied culture through sound has allowed scholars to engage the wide variety of cultural experiences of the different ethnic groups usually described with the term “Latino.” Taking this scholarship as a point of departure, this class offers a survey of Latino music in the U.S. as a window into the political, cultural and social that struggles Mexicans, Cubans, Puerto Ricans, Brazilians, Colombians, and Central Americans have gone through while becoming hyphenated (Eg. Mexican-American, Cuban American, etc) or not, and into how these processes have continually challenged and enriched mainstream notions of “American identity.”

  
  • MUSIC 2330 - Music in and of East Asia

    (crosslisted) ASIAN 2259  
    (GB) (CA-AS) (CU-ITL)     
    Spring. 3 credits. Student option grading.

    Majors may enhance this course with additional content and an extra credit by enrolling concurrently in MUSIC 3901 .

    C. Miller.

    This course explores the breadth of music found in present day China, Japan, and Korea–from indigenous musical traditions, through adaptations of Western art music, up to the latest popular styles–as well as the presence of traditional East Asian musics outside East Asia, including right here at Cornell. In both cases, music offers a lens for examining the myriad social and cultural forces that shape it, and that are shaped by it. The course’s academic focus on critical reading and listening, written assignments, and discussion is complemented by hands-on workshops and demonstrations with student-led ensembles.

  
  • MUSIC 2340 - [The Beatles]

    (crosslisted) AMST 2340  
    (CA-AS) (CU-ITL)     
    Fall. Offered on demand. 3 credits. Student option grading.

    Majors may enhance this course with additional content and an extra credit by enrolling concurrently in MUSIC 3901 .

    J. Peraino.

    The course will focus on the music of the Beatles and their impact on American and British culture in the 1960s to the present day. Topics include considerations of race, gender, class, sexuality, and the media in their rise to fame; the influence of the counter-culture, drugs, and other rock musicians, as well as Western and Indian classical music on their music and image; their perceived rivalry with the Rolling Stones; and their experimentation with recording technology

  
  • MUSIC 2350 - [Music of the African Diaspora]

    (crosslisted) ASRC 2350  
    (GB) (CA-AS) (CU-ITL)     
    Fall. Offered on demand. 3 credits. Letter grades only.

    C. Appert.

    This course explores the history and significance of musical performance in the African Diaspora. What specific cultural practices survived the Middle Passage, and how were they transformed in the New World? Why did these practices develop into traditions as seemingly disparate as Cuban Santería’s sacred batá drumming and the secular blues music of the American South? In the 20th and 21st century, how have people (including Africans, people of African descent, and marginalized populations without direct historical links to Africa) mobilized certain musics of the African Diaspora as practices of resistance to imperialism, apartheid, and segregation? Tracing intersecting and multi-directional movements of people, music, and culture across the oceanic divide between Africa, Europe and the Americas—the “Atlantic Triangle”—we will examine the central role that music has played in the construction of social identities and movements, from the era of the transatlantic slave trade to the present day.

  
  • MUSIC 2360 - Music and Islam

    (crosslisted) ASRC 2360 , NES 2360 , RELST 2360 
    (GB) (CA-AS) (CU-ITL)     
    Spring. 3 credits. Student option grading.

    L. Tayeb.

    What does Islam ”say” about music? This course will trace circulations of this question in scholarly, popular, media, and religious discourses. Why and how does it matter what sound is called music and not, what music is called Islamic and not? We ask both how the thinking and the doing of music and Islam have been entangled in particular moments and places and how and why Muslim and non-Muslim scholars have sought out these entanglements. No prior study of music or Islam is required.

  
  • MUSIC 2380 - [Performing Hip Hop]

    (crosslisted) ASRC 2380  
    (LA-AS)      
    Spring. Offered on demand. 3 credits. Letter grades only.

    C. Appert.

    This course is a hybrid seminar/performance forum that combines scholarly exploration of hip hop musical aesthetics with applied performance. Students will engage in online and in-class discussions of hip hop musical aesthetics, contextualized historically, socially, and culturally through weekly reading and listening assignments.  They will also devote significant time to creating and workshopping individual and collaborative musical projects. Formal musical training is not required, but students should have experience making music (instrumentalists, beat makers, lyricists, vocalists, beatboxers, etc.), and should have at least a basic familiarity with hip hop music. Students who wish to enroll in the course should contact the professor for more information. 

  
  • MUSIC 2390 - [Hip Hop: Beats, Rhymes and Life]

    (crosslisted) ASRC 2390 , ENGL 2390  
    (CA-AS)      
    Spring. Offered on demand. 3 credits. Letter grades only.

    Staff.

    This course is a hybrid seminar/performance forum that combines scholarly exploration of hip hop musical aesthetics with applied performance. Students will engage in online and in-class discussions of hip hop musical aesthetics, contextualized historically, socially, and culturally through weekly reading and listening assignments.  They will also devote significant time to creating and workshopping individual and collaborative musical projects. Formal musical training is not required, but students should have some prior experience creating music (instrumentalists, beat makers, lyricists, vocalists, beatboxers, etc.), and should have at least a basic familiarity with hip hop music. Students who wish to enroll in the course may contact the professor for more information.

  
  • MUSIC 2421 - [Computers in Music Performance]


    (LA-AS)      
    Spring. Offered on demand. 3 credits. Letter grades only.

    Prerequisite: MUSIC 1421  or permission of instructor. Enrollment limited.

    K. Ernste.

    A course exploring strategies and techniques for live musical performance and real-time, interactive sound manipulation with computers.

  
  • MUSIC 2440 - Shaping Sound I: An introduction to Experimentation in Sound and Composition


    (CA-AS)      
    Fall. 3 credits. Student option grading.

    M. Papalexandri Alexandri.

    A hands-on introduction course to experimentation in sound art and composition.  Our main focus will be on the use of everyday sounds and materials in the context of musical composition. We will investigate the process of creating new work from the gathering of materials to extended forms of musical notation. We will experiment with creating, manipulating and transforming sounds using notations and guided improvisations to create forms of interacting, listening, musical textures, and structures. We will also explore notions of time, approaches to musical notation, and the symbolic representation of sound. As part of this course, we will study influential compositions and artworks from the 20th century to the present day, as starting points for discussions on form, concept, and compositional method.

  
  • MUSIC 2441 - Shaping Sound II


    (LA-AS)      
    Spring. 3 credits. Student option grading.

    M. Papalexandri Alexandri.

    In the second part of Shaping Sound - an introduction course toexperimentation in sound, composition and performance - we will continue to experiment with creating, manipulating and transforming sounds.  By using everyday sounds, materials, notations and guided improvisations we aim to create forms of interacting, listening, sonic textures, and structures. Through this process we will question notions of sound perception and generate new forms of sonic knowledge. In a workshop environment, we will explore influential compositions and artworks from the 20th century to the present day, as starting points for discussions on form, concept, and artistic method. A larger project inspired by the works examined through the course can be presented as a composition, sound object, an installation, an exhibition, or any combination thereof.

  
  • MUSIC 2525 - Music, Politics and Social Movements in the US and the World

    (crosslisted) AMST 2535 , ASRC 2525 , HIST 2525  
    (HA-AS)      
    Fall. 4 credits. Student option grading.

    K. Gaines.

    For description, see ASRC 2525 .

  
  • MUSIC 2642 - The Art of Math: Mathematical Traditions of Symmetry and Harmony

    (crosslisted) CLASS 2642 , MEDVL 2642  
    (GHB) (MQR-AS)      
    Spring. 3 credits. Letter grades only.

    A. Hicks, C. Roby.

    For description, see CLASS 2642 .

  
  • MUSIC 2701 - [Music and Digital Gameplay]


    (LA-AS)      
    Spring. Offered on demand. 3 credits. Student option grading.

    Majors may enhance this course with additional content and an extra credit by enrolling concurrently in MUSIC 3901 .

    R. Moseley.

    This course considers both music and digital games in light of their playability. It aims to provide students with critical frameworks for addressing the diverse roles played by music in digital games as well as the ways in which playing digital games can be considered a musical activity. Focusing on games across an array of genres ranging from first-person shooters to rhythm-action titles, the course will introduce students to recent scholarship on digital games from multiple disciplinary angles. No formal musical training is necessary, but suitably qualified students may take the course as a 3000-level elective by signing up for MUSIC 3901 and completing additional research components involving the analysis of specific soundtracks and/or performances.

  
  • MUSIC 2703 - Thinking Media

    (crosslisted) COML 2703 , ENGL 2703 , PMA 2703  
    (CA-AS)      
    Spring. 3-4 credits, variable. Letter grades only.

    Although designed as a three-credit course, students may elect to take MUSIC 2703 for four credits by completing additional research components (including a piece of extended writing) and attending extra sessions, which may enable the course to satisfy certain elective requirements in various departments and programs. Please consult the instructor for further details.

    R. Moseley.

    From hieroglyphs to HTML, ancient poetry to audiotape, and Plato’s cave to virtual reality, “Thinking Media” offers a multidisciplinary introduction to the most influential media formats of the last three millennia. Featuring an array of guests from across Cornell, including faculty from Communication, Comparative Literature, English, German Studies, Information Science, Music, and Performing & Media Arts, the course will present diverse perspectives on how to think with, against, and about media in relation to the public sphere and private life, archaeology and science fiction, ethics and aesthetics, identity and difference, labor and play, knowledge and power, expression and surveillance, and the generation and analysis of data.

  
  • MUSIC 3111 - [Jazz Improvisation and Theory I]


    (LA-AS)      
    Fall. Next Offered: 2019-2020. 3 credits. Letter grades only.

    Prerequisite: MUSIC 2101  or permission of instructor.

    P. Merrill.

    An introduction to fundamental jazz theory, technique, and applied skills.

  
  • MUSIC 3112 - Jazz Improvisation and Theory II


    (LA-AS)      
    Fall. 3 credits. Letter grades only.

    Prerequisite: MUSIC 3111 .

    P. Merrill.

    Continuation of jazz theory, technique, and applied skills.

  
  • MUSIC 3121 - Choral Conducting


    (LA-AS)      
    Spring. 3 credits. Letter grades only.

    R. Isaacs.

    This course will help students develop practical skills in conducting and leading rehearsals with singers.  Prerequisite:  ability to read music, and some previous singing experience.  Students will work on developing clear, expressive gestures that convey their musical intent efficiently and support the singers in their own task.  The course will also include discussion of store study and rehearsal preparation.

  
  • MUSIC 3130 - [Counterpoint]


    (LA-AS)      
    Spring. Offered on demand. 3 credits. Letter grades only.

    E. Marshall.

    This seminar explores counterpoint as a creative compositional idea, pedagogical and theoretical tool, and general musical phenomenon. Students pursue expertise in three interconnected areas: a thorough grounding in Fuxian species counterpoint practice, an understanding of musical concepts central to species counterpoint and in other types of contrapuntal design, and the ability to listen to and interpret counterpoint and polyphony in a diverse collection of notated and non-notated musics, with an emphasis on musical resources and performances at Cornell.

  
  • MUSIC 3140 - Instrumentation for Composers


         
    Fall. 3 credits. Letter grades only.

    Permission of instructor required.

    E. Marshall.

    An applied course on composing for instruments of the classical orchestra, Instrumentation for Composers involves weekly writing projects, read by and discussed with faculty performers. Additional topics include notation, new and extended techniques, as well as instrumental combination and orchestration.  For the final project, students will prepare an ensemble score for performance.

  
  • MUSIC 3150 - Tonal Counterpoint


    (LA-AS)      
    Spring. 3 credits. Student option grading.

    Prerequisite: MUSIC 2101 , MUSIC 3111 , or permission of instructor.

    M. Hall.

    This is a practical course for learning the arts of tonal counterpoint. By analyzing and emulating examples of vocal and instrument counterpoint in exemplary music literature from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, students will develop skills in free polyphonic composition as well as strict imitation, canon, and fugue. Emphasis will be placed on the creative use of techniques, building towards an understanding of when and why the “rules” of counterpoint apply (or don’t) and an awareness of their historical genealogy. The goal of the course is to provide an overview of contrapuntal techniques, to improve students’ compositional and analytical skills, and to stoke the fire the musical imagination, regardless of stylistic preference. 

  
  • MUSIC 3205 - [Cultural Studies of Music]


    (CA-AS)      
    Fall. Offered on demand. 4 credits. Letter grades only.

    A. Madrid.

    Discussion of basic cultural studies concepts through music; including concepts like class, race, gender, intertextuality, everyday life, representation, identity, consumption, community, subculture, and transculturation. Particular emphasis will be placed on questions of: immigration, orality, diaspora, technology, modernism/modernity, nationalism/transnationalism, postmodernism vs. postcoloniality, and the political economy of music.

  
  • MUSIC 3211 - Seminar in Advanced Music Studies


    (LA-AS)      
    Spring. 4 credits. Letter grades only.

    Prerequisite: MUSIC 2207  or MUSIC 2208 .

    A. Madrid.

    This course explores historical, critical, and aesthetic writings on music extending from Ancient Greece to contemporary America. We will engage with significant ways of thinking about music from the Western classical tradition and beyond it, building our skills as writers and speakers about the sonic arts in a range of cultural contexts.

  
  • MUSIC 3232 - [Topics in Western Art Music from 1750 to the Present]


    (HB) (LA-AS) (CU-ITL)     
    Spring. Offered on demand. 4 credits. Letter grades only.

    Prerequisite: MUSIC 2102  or permission of instructor.

    Staff.

    The orchestra has been a central institution in Western culture since the late 17th century. Its evolution over four centuries will be studied from social, political, technological, financial, anthropological and musical points of view. Attendance at live orchestral concerts is required.

  
  • MUSIC 3304 - [Remixing Hip-hop History]


         
    Fall. Next Offered: 2019-2020. 3 credits. Letter grades only.

    M. Williams.

    In this course, we will study and challenge conventional histories of hip-hop by centering the genre’s underexplored musical and aesthetic features. By listening anew for hip-hop’s origins in the throes of the Atlantic Ocean, students will hear Nas and Damian Marley as “distant relatives”. By learning how to analyze the flow styles of Kendrick Lamar and Nicki Minaj, they will update hip-hop’s age-old authenticity debates. And by turning up the volume on hip-hop’s silenced, queer resonances, they will gain new insights into influential contemporary artists like Mykki Blanco. By learning how to engage with rap musically, students will gain a richer understanding of hip-hop history and develop new skills in critical historical inquiry.

  
  • MUSIC 3312 - Music in World Religions

    (crosslisted) RELST 3312  
    (GB) (CA-AS) (CU-ITL)     
    Fall. 3 credits. Student option grading.

    E. Lyon.

    How does music relate to the divine? This class investigates the dynamic nexus of music, theology, and socio-cultural forces in Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, and Christianity.  Students will acquire knowledge of a variety of musical systems and will think and write critically about topics including the role of gender in public and private worship, sacred song and protest, and artistic freedom and liturgical censure. Repertoire will range from Handel’s Messiah to African American spirituals, ’cham (Tibetan ritual dance), tajwid (Qur’anic recitation), and bhajan (Hindu devotional music).  Semester-long projects in a religious tradition of each student’s choice will combine traditional research methods with creative investigations tailored to individual skill sets (field work, composition, performance, analysis, …) Knowledge of Western notation not required.

  
  • MUSIC 3321 - Jazz Around the World

    (crosslisted) AMST 3321 
    (CA-AS) (CU-ITL)     
    Spring. 3 credits. Student option grading.

    S. Ospina Romero.

    This course explores the history of the globalization of jazz and offers a survey of local jazz scenes in various parts of the planet. Rather than presenting jazz as an exclusive U.S. tradition spreading throughout the world, the course fosters an understanding of jazz as taking shape in a series of diasporic channels, defined by the constant flux of musicians, audiences, and mass mediated music as well as by its adaptation to different musical structures, social conditions, cultural meanings, and racial ideas. By studying how musicians in multiple locals around the planet have engaged with jazz, the course furthers new and challenging understandings of what jazz is, of its significance in changing historical and cultural scenarios, and of the ways in which it has been shaped in the course of its global dissemination.    

  
  • MUSIC 3340 - Minimalism


    (LA-AS)      
    Fall. 4 credits. Letter grades only.

    B. Piekut.

    Minimalism emerged in the early 1960s in a tight interdisciplinary configuration among music, sculpture, film, and dance. It has been understood as an investigation into, variously, the relationship between frequency and rhythm, apperception over expression, collaborative authorship or anonymity, the creative possibilities of magnetic tape, and reduced compositional materials. Music-specific descriptions might highlight drones, pulses, consonance, just intonation, and non-western metric systems. This upper-level seminar will touch on all of  these claims about minimalism, as well as the social and political conditions of its appearance. Artists will include La Monte Young, Simone Forti, Yvonne Rainer, Tony Conrad, Terry Riley, Terry Jennings, Catherine Christer Hennix, Robert Morris, Steve Reich, Philip Glass, Julius Eastman, and Eliane Radigue.

  
  • MUSIC 3350 - [Introduction to Experimental and Improvised Music since 1950]


    (CA-AS)      
    Spring. Offered on demand. 4 credits. Letter grades only.

    B. Piekut.

    An introduction to significant figures and movements in adventurous music since 1950. Topics will include the New York School, Fluxus, free jazz, the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians, European free improvisation, electroacoustic improvisation, and art rock. The ability to read music is not required.

  
  • MUSIC 3431 - Sound Design

    (crosslisted) PMA 3680  
    (LA-AS)      
    Fall, Spring. 3 credits. Letter grades only.

    Prerequisite: some experience with audio/video recording or editing recommended. Permission of instructor required.

    W. Cross.

    For description, see PMA 3680 .

  
  • MUSIC 3432 - [Sound Studies: An Introduction]

    (crosslisted) STS 3121  
    (CA-AS)      
    Fall or Spring. Next Offered: 2019-2020. 4 credits. Letter grades only.

    T. Pinch.

    For description, see STS 3121 .

  
  • MUSIC 3480 - Brazilian Culture through its Music

    (crosslisted) ASRC 3480 , LATA 3480 , PORT 3480  
    (GB) (CA-AS) (CU-ITL)     
    Spring. 4 credits. Letter grades only.

    S. Pond.

    Few areas of cultural expression can rise to the importance of music in Brazilian life. This seminar-style course employs discussion, critical reading and listening – and hands-on music-making – to investigate Brazilian culture, history, and politics through the lens of its music.  Samba will be a significant focus, but we will also discuss a range of additional regional and national styles. Along with two class meetings per week, our “discussion” will coincide with rehearsals for Deixa Sambar, Cornell’s Brazilian ensemble. The course will be taught in English. Music experience is not necessary, but engagement in music-making is an integral part of the course.

  
  • MUSIC 3490 - Hip Hop in Global Perspective


    (CA-AS) (CU-ITL)     
    Fall. 3 credits. Letter grades only.

    C. Appert.

    This course examines hip hop’s historic development in the United States and its global spread to Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East. We will explore how youth throughout the world increasingly draw on U.S. hip hop to address their own experiences of marginality, exploitation, and displacement, localizing the music in ways that potentially complicate dominant models of cultural globalization.

  
  • MUSIC 3511 - Individual Instruction


         


    Fall, Spring. 0.5 credits. S/U grades only.

    Prerequisite: Successful audition with faculty sponsor. Course fee: $539. Enrollment limited to: advanced students only. Students should contact faculty sponsor or music department office for audition information.

    Students may register for these courses in successive semesters or years. Information about course fees can be found here: http://music.cornell.edu/individual-instruction-lessons.

    Staff.

    Individual instruction in voice, organ, harpsichord, piano and fortepiano, violin, viola, cello, percussion, and some brass and woodwind instruments to those students advanced enough to do college-level work in these instruments. For more information about individual instruction, see the section titled Musical Instruction .

  
  • MUSIC 3512 - Individual Instruction


         


    Fall, Spring. 0.5 credits. S/U grades only.

    Prerequisite: Successful audition with faculty sponsor. Course fee: $809. Enrollment limited to: advanced students only. Students should contact faculty sponsor or music department office for audition information. Students may register for these courses in successive semesters or years.

    Information about course fees can be found here: http://music.cornell.edu/performing/private-lessons/

    Staff.

    Individual instruction in voice, organ, harpsichord, piano and fortepiano, violin, viola, cello, percussion, and some brass and woodwind instruments to those students advanced enough to do college-level work in these instruments. For more information about individual instruction, see the section titled Musical Instruction .

  
  • MUSIC 3513 - Individual Instruction


         


    Fall, Spring. 1 credit. Letter grades only.

    Prerequisite: Successful audition with faculty sponsor. Course fee: $1,078. Enrollment limited to: advanced students only. Students should contact faculty sponsor or music department office for audition information.

    Students may register for these courses in successive semesters or years. Information about course fees can be found here: http://music.cornell.edu/performing/private-lessons/.

    Staff.

    Individual instruction in voice, organ, harpsichord, piano and fortepiano, violin, viola, cello, percussion, and some brass and woodwind instruments to those students advanced enough to do college-level work in these instruments. For more information about individual instruction, see the section titled Musical Instruction .

  
  • MUSIC 3514 - Individual Instruction


         


    Fall, Spring. 2 credits. Letter grades only.

    Corequisite: for every 4 credits of lessons, one 3 credits music history or music theory course is required.

    Prerequisite: Successful audition with faculty sponsor. Course fee: $1,078. Enrollment limited to: advanced students only. Students should contact faculty sponsor or music department office for audition information. Students may register for these courses in successive semesters or years.


    Information about course fees can be found here: http://music.cornell.edu/individual-instruction-lessons.

    Staff.

    Individual instruction in voice, organ, harpsichord, piano and fortepiano, violin, viola, cello, percussion, and some brass and woodwind instruments to those students advanced enough to do college-level work in these instruments. For more information about individual instruction, see the section titled Musical Instruction .

  
  • MUSIC 3602 - Chorus


         
    Fall, Spring. 2 credits. Letter grades only.

    Prerequisite: successful audition. See the Music Department website to schedule an audition. All newly accepted members of the Chorus must simultaneously enroll in MUSIC 3902  for one semester.

    R. Isaacs.

    A nationally renowned treble-voice chorus specializing in music for sopranos and altos. Tours and records annually. The Chorus frequently combines with the Glee Club to work on mixed-voice repertoire and major works.

  
  • MUSIC 3603 - Glee Club


         
    Fall, Spring. 2 credits. Letter grades only.

    Prerequisite: successful audition. See the Music Department website to schedule an audition. All newly accepted members of the Glee Club must simultaneously enroll in MUSIC 3902  for one semester.

    R. Isaacs.

    A nationally renowned male-voice chorus specializing in music for men’s voices. Tours and records annually. The Glee Club frequently combines with the Chorus to work on mixed-voice repertoire and major works.

  
  • MUSIC 3604 - Chorale


         
    Fall, Spring. 1 credit. Student option grading.

    Prerequisite: successful audition. See the Music Department website to schedule an audition.

    S. Spinelli.

    A course for singers wishing to develop their musicianship, sight-reading, and vocal technique.  The Chorale may occasionally perform publicly but is more focused on the development of essential skills to a high level, preparing students for further singing in a cappella groups, the Chorus, the Glee Club, or the Chamber Singers.

  
  • MUSIC 3609 - Brazilian Ensemble - Deixa Sambar

    (crosslisted) LATA 3609  
         
    Fall, Spring. 1 credit. Student option grading.

    S. Pond.

    Deixa Sambar performs several styles of samba, Brazil’s national music. Members need not have prior background in music-making, but a good sense of rhythm is desirable. Members include students as well as Ithaca community members, brasileiros as well as newcomers to Brazilian culture. Rehearsals develop playing skills, with a deep emphasis on cultural understanding of this vital, community-based music.

  
  • MUSIC 3610 - Cornell Gamelan Ensemble


         
    Fall, Spring. 1 credit. Student option grading.

    Recommended prerequisite: MUSIC 1341  - Gamelan in Indonesian History and Cultures is not an absolute prerequisite, but it or other relevant experience is recommended. Permission of instructor required.

    C. Miller.

    Study and performance mostly of traditional Javanese gamelan music. Group rehearsal once a week in preparation for one concert. Individual instruction is offered as necessary; those wishing to learn advanced techniques should also enroll in MUSIC 4641  - Advanced Instruction in Gamelan.

  
  • MUSIC 3612 - Pan-African Drum and Dance Ensemble

    (crosslisted) ASRC 3612  
         
    Fall, Spring. 1 credit. Student option grading.

    I. Anim.

    Pan-African Drum and Dance Ensemble is an introductory performance course where students learn performance traditions from across West Africa. No prior experience is necessary. Students may choose to focus on drumming or dancing.

  
  • MUSIC 3613 - Cornell Steel Band

    (crosslisted) LATA 3613  
         
    Fall, Spring. 1 credit. Student option grading.

    Permission of instructor required.

    C. Miller.

    The Cornell Steel Band explores the wide variety of music for an orchestra of instruments fashioned from 55-gallon oil drums, and an “engine room” of non-pitched percussion. Interwoven into the focus on hands-on practice is reflection on the meanings of steel band, historically and in the present, in its native Trinidad and Tobago and here in the United States. Formal musical training is not necessary, though a sense of rhythm and a good ear are helpful.

  
  • MUSIC 3614 - [Middle Eastern Music Ensemble]

    (crosslisted) NES 3914  
         
    Fall, Spring. Offered on demand. 1 credit. Student option grading.

    Permission of instructor required.

    G. Holst-Warhaft.

    Performance of diverse musical traditions from the Middle East. Instruction in individual instruments (oud, santouri, ney, kanoun, and percussion) and group rehearsals, culminating in one or two performances per semester. Songs are taught in several languages, with the assistance of local language and diction teachers.

  
  • MUSIC 3615 - Jazz Repertory Ensemble


         
    Spring. 1 credit. Student option grading.

    Prerequisite: successful audition.

    P. Merrill.

    Study and performance of classic and contemporary big band literature. Rehearsal once a week with one to two performances a semester.

  
  • MUSIC 3621 - Cornell Symphony Orchestra


         
    Fall, Spring. 1 credit. Student option grading.

    Prerequisite: successful audition.

    H. Cheng.

    Study and performance of a broad repertoire of orchestral works from Beethoven to the present.

  
  • MUSIC 3631 - Cornell Wind Symphony


         
    Fall, Spring. 1-2 credits, variable. Student option grading.

    Prerequisite: successful audition.

    J. Spinazzola.

    The Cornell Wind Symphony unites student musicians in an ensemble dedicated to the study and performance of emerging and traditional wind repertoire. Through annual off-campus experiences we also explore music as a vehicle for cross-cultural exchange and collaboration, and in doing so support Cornell’s core values of public engagement and global awareness.

  
  • MUSIC 3633 - [Wind Ensemble]


         
    Fall, Spring. Offered on demand. 1 credit. Student option grading.

    Prerequisite: successful audition; previous background in percussion.

    Staff.

    Wind Ensemble unites Cornell University students who seek remarkable music making through the process of preparing and performing established and emerging wind repertoire. Premieres new works for winds, brass and percussion, tours every two years, performs regularly on campus.

  
  • MUSIC 3634 - Cornell Percussion Group


         
    Fall, Spring. 1 credit. Letter grades only.

    M. Sparhuber.

    The Cornell Percussion Group explores and performs un-conducted chamber music of the rapidly expanding percussion repertoire.  The Group takes advantage of the stylistic and sonic breadth that the relatively young medium of percussion chamber music engenders, performing music that ranges from classics of the percussive canon from composers such as John Cage and Iannis Xenakis, to collaborations with composers on new repertoire.  Members of CPG will develop their percussive technique and collaborative musical skills through the study of a diverse array of un-conducted percussion chamber works and mixed chamber ensemble pieces. Prior experience with percussion instruments is required, and participants must meet with the instructor for a short audition before enrolling.

  
  • MUSIC 3660 - Music Improvisation Ensemble


         
    Fall, Spring. 1 credit. Student option grading.

    Prerequisite: successful audition.

    A. Lewandowski.

    The Music Improvisation Ensemble provides students with the opportunity to explore the elements of music from an improviser’s perspective. Each session will focus on a different area of improvisation, including noise, graphic scores, conducted improvisation, free music, small and large group improvisation, and interdisciplinary collaboration with dance and film. This ensemble is open to any level of musician. An audition is required at the beginning of the semester simply as a means of introduction.

  
  • MUSIC 3701 - Performing Chamber Wind Music


         
    Spring. 2 credits. Letter grades only.

    Permission of instructor required. Enrollment limited to: nine players - pairs of oboes, clarinets, bassoons, horns and one double bass. Auditions will be held during the first two days of the fall semester. Register to audition at the Chamber Music link on www.cuwinds.com; required musical excerpts and time slots will be posted on July 1.

    J. Spinazzola.

    This coached chamber music course emphasizes rehearsal skills, leadership, and collaborative methods; familiarization with the repertory; musical analysis through performance; and developing a historically informed, musically unified, interpretation. Students participate in masterclasses with guest artists and/or Music Department faculty. These classes will present general topics, concepts specific to performance practice, and traditional performance-based instruction. The course includes two recitals featuring music prepared throughout the semester. Students are strongly encouraged to supplement the course with individual instruction on their instrument. For additional information contact jms862@cornell.edu.

  
  • MUSIC 3703 - Engaged Performance


         
    Spring. 2 credits. Student option grading.

    S. Spinelli.

    This community-engaged seminar gives students the opportunity to combine the study of arts education with community engagement projects. A key component is the design and implementation of a music-centered arts program in tandem with community partners in Ithaca. In consultation with instructors who have expertise in arts education and the leaders of local community groups, students will each design and teach a music lesson in an after-school music program. Students will learn about the challenges involved in running a community arts program and explore the ways that musical performance can be a community building activity. In seminars and discussions, they will learn about the civic engagements and ethical practices involved in the design, operation, and administration of community arts programs.

  
  • MUSIC 3901 - Supplemental Study in Music


         
    Fall, Spring. 1 credit. Letter grades only.

    Corequisite: enrollment in an approved 2000-level, 3-credit music history course. Permission of instructor required.

    Staff.

    Intended primarily for music majors, this option allows students enrolled in an approved 1000- or 2000-level 3-credit music history course to pursue independent research and writing projects. Students will study various topics in music history at a more advanced level through supplementary reading, discussion, and writing, by arrangement with the professor.

  
  • MUSIC 3902 - Supplemental Study in Choral Musicianship


         
    Fall. 1 credit. Letter grades only.

    R. Isaacs.

    A one-semester musical orientation for new members of the Chorus and Glee Club, helping them make the adjustment to the much greater demands of musicianship and vocal technique required in those ensembles. Topics covered include interval training, tonal centering, rhythm reading, speeding up the translation of notation, vocal technique, warmup exercises, common choral markings, following a conductor, and so on. Techniques covered in the class will be put into practice by learning some of the common repertoire that each ensemble has sung for generations, forming a bond with alumni.

  
  • MUSIC 4102 - [Topics in Music Analysis]


    (LA-AS)      
    Spring. Offered on demand. 4 credits. Student option grading.

    Staff.

    A critical survey of important analytical approaches to tonal music not covered in lower-level theory courses. The topics will be selected from among the following, in part on the basis of student interest: phrase-rhythm; large-scale paragraph structure, especially in sonata-form expositions; structural-tonal (“Schenkerian”) voice-leading; thematic-motivic relations; and large-scale coherence in multimovement works. Frequent assignments and class presentations.

  
  • MUSIC 4103 - [Topics in Post-Tonal Theory]


    (LA-AS)      
    Spring. Offered on demand. 4 credits. Letter grades only.

    Staff.

    This seminar examines theories core to the creation and analysis of music of the 20th and 21st centuries known as “post-tonal” (here defined as a wide range of musics employing techniques distinct from the tonal and formal approaches specific to the 18th and 19th century concert tradition). To understand both the possibilities and limits of traditional analysis, the course addresses canonical works and styles, while also investigating the applicability of such theories, and alternate methods, to other works and genres (including music in which notation is not central – potentially embracing improvisational forms; experimental jazz, pop, rock and film; or certain non-Western musics) through creative analysis, listening, readings, and compositional experimentation. 

  
  • MUSIC 4111 - [Composition in Recent Styles]


    (LA-AS)      
    Fall. Offered on demand. 4 credits. Student option grading.

    R. Sierra.

    Principles of composition, approached through traditional forms (variation, sonata) and through the imitation of specific 20th-century styles. May be taken more than once for credit, by permission and if taught by a different instructor.

  
  • MUSIC 4112 - [Composition]


    (LA-AS)      
    Fall, Spring. Next offered: 2019-2020. 4 credits. Letter grades only.

    Permission of instructor required. Enrollment is by portfolio submission and is contingent upon space availability. Co-meets with MUSIC 7111 . Portfolios, including a minimum of two recent scores and any audio-video documentation of performances, should be submitted via e-mail, musicatcornell@gmail.com, in advance of each semester along with a brief summary of musical background and interest in taking composition and a list of previous courses in music, including at least two semesters of music theory.

    Fall, K. Ernste, M. Papalexandri Alexandri; Spring, M. Papalexandri Alexandri, R. Sierra.

    A course for graduate or advanced undergraduate composers seeking individual music composition instruction. The course combines one-on-one meetings with group seminars featuring workshops, master classes, and/or visiting guests. In addition to individual and group meetings, composers may have opportunities for the reading and/or performance of their work.

  
  • MUSIC 4121 - [Advanced Conducting]


    (LA-AS)      
    Spring. Offered on demand. 4 credits. Letter grades only.

    C. Kim.

    Intended to give students more experience with score study, rehearsal techniques and conducting vocabulary through weekly podium time and class discussion. Advanced conducting will continue topics covered in basic conducting(3121). Ear training in the context of being able to hear the score will be an integral part of the course. will be Basic knowledge of beat patterns and gestural vocabulary will be assumed and students will explore conducting in the orchestral, band, choral and mixed media.

  
  • MUSIC 4122 - [Orchestration]


    (LA-AS)      
    Spring. Offered on demand. 4 credits. Student option grading.

    Staff.

    Orchestration based on 19th- and 20th-century models.

  
  • MUSIC 4181 - Psychology of Music

    (crosslisted) PSYCH 4180  
    (KCM-AS)      
    Fall. 3-4 credits, variable. Student option grading.

    Prerequisite: a psychology course on perception or cognition and MUSIC 2101  or equivalent. Co-meets with PSYCH 6180 . Credit varies depending on whether student elects to do independent project.

    C. L. Krumhansl.

    For description, see PSYCH 4180 .

  
  • MUSIC 4222 - [Music and Monstrous Imaginings]


    (HB) (LA-AS)      


    Fall. Offered on demand. 4 credits. Student option grading.

    A. Richards.

    Explores intersections between musical, literary and visual culture at the margins of the rational around 1800. How do the monstrous, mad and fantastical figure in cultural theory and practice of the period? What is the role of deception and illusion? In what kinds of performance do the imaginary and real intersect? What are the implications of theories of genius and imagination for the conception of ‘eccentric’ works of art?

    Readings include Burke, Todorov, Diderot, Abbate, E. T. A. Hoffman, Freud, with music from C. P. E. Bach, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Berlioz, Paganini. Topics include the sublime and the beautiful, genius and inspiration, automata, the glass harmonica, the grotesque, and the uncanny. A reading knowledge of German will be helpful.

  
  • MUSIC 4260 - [Global Performance]

    (crosslisted) LSP 4260  
    (CA-AS) (CU-ITL)     
    Fall. Offered on demand. 4 credits. Letter grades only.

    Co-meets with LSP 7260 /MUSIC 7260 .

    A. Madrid.

    The field of performance studies provides a rich conceptual framework to understand a wide variety of phenomena, from activities that explicitly involve performance (eg. music, dance, theater, ritual) to discursive, social, and political performativity (eg. the construction of identities, the enunciative use of language, political activism, and the use of the body in everyday life).This seminar focuses on globalization and its impact on cultural production in the Americas, drawing on the particular insights of performance studies into these phenomena.

 

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