Gail Archer, Professor of Professional Practice, Director, Music Program, Barnard College

Other officers of the University offering courses listed below:

Professors: Marcos Baltar, Susan Boynton, Joseph Dubiel, Walter Frisch, Brad Garton (on leave Spring 2024), Giuseppe Gerbino (Vice Chair), Georg Friedrich Haas, George Lewis, Elaine Sisman, Christopher J. Washburne (Chair)
Associate Professors: Alessandra Ciucci, Kevin Fellezs, Aaron Fox on leave Spring 2024), Mariusz Kozak, Benjamin Steege
Assistant Professors: Knar Abrahamyan, Zosha Di Castri, Julia Doe, Ruth Opara
Lecturers: Audrey Amsellem, Ashkan Behzadi, Seth Cluett (Director: Computer Music Center), Scott Douglass, Saad Haddad, Velia Ivanova, Cheng Wei Lim, Anna Meadors, Finola Merivale, Jeffrey Milarsky,  Russell O'Rourke, Magdalena Stern-Baczewska (Director: Music Performance Program), Peter Susser, Lucy Turner, Sonja Wermager, Tom Wetmore
Associates: Michael Skelly, Ole Mathisen (Director: Louis Armstrong Jazz Program)
CU Adjuncts: David Adamcyk, Dongmyung Ahn, Ramin Amir Arjomand, Kristy Barbacane, Sadie Dawkins, Galen DeGraf, Tina Fruhauf, Stephanie Lou George, Michael Joviala, Marilyn McCoy, George Murer, Joshua Navon, Ashley Nail, Ryan Pratt, Ralph Whyte
BC Adjuncts: Marilyn Louise McCoy, Lauren Ninoshvili
BC Voice Adjuncts: Jean-Paul Björlin, Harolyn Blackwell, Coralie Gallet, Josephine Mongiardo-Cooper, Robert Osborne

Requirements for the Music Major

You need a total of 48 points, minimum, for our major across two tracks:

12 points Music Theory I-IV
  4 points Ear Training I-IV
  6 points Music History I/II
  6 points 2000-level courses
  9 points 3000-4000-level courses
  4 points vocal or instrumental lessons
  4 points Senior Seminar
  3 points Senior Project: Research or Repertoire

Program of Study: To be planned with the department consultant before the end of the sophomore year. Prospective music majors should complete the prerequisites by the end of their sophomore year and are encouraged to complete them by the end of their first year. By the end of her first year as a music major, the student should select a faculty adviser.

Prerequisite: MUSI BC1001 AN INTRODUCTION TO MUSIC I or MUSI BC1002 AN INTRODUCTION TO MUSIC II, MUSI UN1002 FUNDAMENTALS OF MUSIC, and MUSI UN1312 INTRODUCTORY EAR-TRAINING. Prospective music majors are advised to satisfy the prerequisites prior to their declaration as majors or before the end of their sophomore year. This requirement may be fulfilled either through successful completion of the courses or satisfactory performance on examinations administered each semester by the department.

Courses: At least 40 points, including MUSI UN2318 MUSIC THEORY I - MUSI UN2319 MUSIC THEORY II; MUSI UN3321 MUSIC THEORY III - MUSI UN3322 MUSIC THEORY IV; four semesters of ear training, unless the student is exempt by exam; the following two history courses: MUSI UN3128 HIST-WEST MUS: MID AGE-BAROQUE and MUSI UN3129 HIST-WEST MUS:CLASSICAL-20TH CENTURY; and at least three 3000- or 4000-level electives in her area of interest (theory, history, composition, or ethnomusicology). The remaining points are chosen from 2000- to 4000-levels. No more than 6 points of 2000-level courses and no more than 4 points of instrumental or vocal lessons will count toward the major.

Senior Project: In the fall semester of the senior year, a major must enroll in MUSI BC3992 SENIOR SEM FOR MUSIC MAJORS in which she will write a paper which deals with primary sources. In the spring semester of the senior year, a student will either work with her adviser to expand the paper written in the senior seminar by taking MUSI BC3990 SENIOR PROJ:RESEARCH FOR MUSIC, or she will take MUSI BC3991 SENIOR PROJ: MUSIC REPERTORY and prepare an hour-long vocal or instrumental recital, or compose an original composition.

Keyboard Proficiency: Music majors will be required to take a keyboard proficiency exam, which must be arranged by making an appointment with a member of the piano faculty, immediately upon declaration of the major. Those who do not pass the exam will be required to take MUSI W1517 Keyboard Harmony and Musicianship - MUSI UN1518 KEYBOARD HARMONY/MUSICIANSHIP, for 1 point each term, which will count against the maximum 4 points allowed toward completion of the major.

Languages: For students who plan to do graduate work in music, the study of German, French, Italian, and/or Latin is recommended.

Note: With the permission of Gail Archer, Barnard Director, students may take lessons at the Manhattan School of Music or the Julliard School. For non-majors, there is a six semester limit, but majors may continue for the remainder of their program.

Practice Rooms: Piano practice rooms are available, at a nominal fee, upon application to the Music Department in 319 Milbank. Application should be made during the first week of classes. Preference in assigning hours is given to students taking piano instruction, majors, and concentrators, in order of application. The organ studio in St. Paul's Chapel is available for organ practice. Arrangements should be made with Mary Monroe, Associate in Organ Performance, during the first week of classes.

Requirements for Ethnomusicology Track in the Music Major

The ethnomusicology track combines the social science of music in such courses as the Social Science of Music and Asian Music Humanities, together with anthropology as a regular option for all students.  All  special majors in ethnomusicology must take two courses in anthropology at the recommendation  of the Barnard anthropology department in consultation with ethnomusicology faculty at Columbia.

Courses for an ethnomusicology track in the music major

Pre-requisite: One semester of Introduction to Music MUSI BC1001 AN INTRODUCTION TO MUSIC I or MUSI BC1002 AN INTRODUCTION TO MUSIC II

MUSI UN2314EAR-TRAINING I1
MUSI UN2315EAR-TRAINING II1
MUSI UN2318MUSIC THEORY I3
MUSI UN2319MUSIC THEORY II3
MUSI V3420The Social Science of Music3
Up to 4 performance credits (lessons or ensembles)4
One 3000-level wester music history course3
One Asian Humanities-Music (AHMM) course3
Three ethnomusicology electives, one at the 2000-level and the other from the upper division electives9
Two courses in Anthropology, one at the introduction to cultural anthropology level; the other, an elective6
Ethnographic thesis of 30-40 pages, developed over the senior year6

Requirements for the Minor

4 Terms of Theory

MUSI UN2318 MUSIC THEORY I  MUSI UN2319 MUSIC THEORY II

MUSI UN3321 MUSIC THEORY III  MUSI UN3322 MUSIC THEORY IV

4 Terms of Ear-Training (unless student is exempt by exam)

MUSI UN2314 EAR-TRAINING I  MUSI UN2315 EAR-TRAINING II

MUSI UN3316 EAR-TRAINING III  MUSI UN3317 EAR-TRAINING IV

2 Terms of History

MUSI UN3128 HIST-WEST MUS: MID AGE-BAROQUE  

MUSI UN3129 HIST-WEST MUS:CLASSICAL-20TH CENTURY  

Instrumental Instruction and Performance Courses

Please note: In the instrumental lesson listed below, all offered on a weekly, individual basis, a course of half-hour lessons earns 1 point of credit, and a course of one-hour lessons earns 2 points of credit. Unless otherwise indicated on auditions and registration is posted during the fall registration period by director of Music Performance Program.1
 

MUSI BC1001 AN INTRODUCTION TO MUSIC I. 3.00 points.

Prerequisites: no previous knowledge of music is required. A survey of the development of Western music from 6th-century Gregorian Chant to Bach and Handel, with emphasis upon important composers and forms. Extensive listening required

Fall 2023: MUSI BC1001
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
MUSI 1001 001/00662 M W 2:40pm - 3:55pm
325 Milbank Hall
Gail Archer 3.00 33/37
MUSI 1001 002/00663 T Th 10:10am - 11:25am
325 Milbank Hall
Marilyn McCoy 3.00 15/25

MUSI BC1002 AN INTRODUCTION TO MUSIC II. 3.00 points.

Prerequisites: no previous knowledge of music is required

Spring 2024: MUSI BC1002
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
MUSI 1002 001/00290 M W 2:40pm - 3:55pm
405 Milbank Hall
Gail Archer 3.00 27/57
MUSI 1002 002/00291 T Th 10:10am - 11:25am
325 Milbank Hall
Marilyn McCoy 3.00 22/25

MUSI BC1501 VOICE INSTRUCTION. 2.00 points.

Entrance by audition only. Call Barnard College, Department of Music during registration for time and place of audition (854-5096)

Fall 2023: MUSI BC1501
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
MUSI 1501 001/00664  
Gail Archer 2.00 27/23
MUSI 1501 002/00665  
Gail Archer 2.00 24/25

MUSI BC1502 VOICE INSTRUCTION. 2.00 points.

Entrance by audition only. Call Barnard College, Department of Music during registration for time and place of audition (854-5096)

Spring 2024: MUSI BC1502
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
MUSI 1502 001/00292  
Gail Archer 2.00 24/24
MUSI 1502 002/00293  
Gail Archer 2.00 16/27

MUSI UN1593 BARNARD-COLUMBIA CHORUS I. 1.00 point.

Prerequisites: auditions by appointment made at first meeting. Contact Barnard College, Department of Music (854-5096). Membership in the chorus is open to all men and women in the University community. The chorus gives several public concerts each season, both on and off campus, often with other performing organizations. Sight-singing sessions offered. The repertory includes works from all periods of music literature. Students who register for chorus will receive a maximum of 4 points for four or more semesters

Fall 2023: MUSI UN1593
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
MUSI 1593 001/00666 T Th 6:00pm - 8:00pm
405 Milbank Hall
Gail Archer 1.00 19/90

MUSI UN1594 BARNARD-COLUMBIA CHORUS II. 1.00 point.

Prerequisites: auditions by appointment made at first meeting. Contact Barnard College, Department of Music (854-5096). Membership in the chorus is open to all men and women in the University community. The chorus gives several public concerts each season, both on and off campus, often with other performing organizations. Sight-singing sessions offered. The repertory includes works from all periods of music literature. Students who register for chorus will receive a maximum of 4 points for four or more semesters

Spring 2024: MUSI UN1594
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
MUSI 1594 001/00294 T Th 6:00pm - 8:00pm
405 Milbank Hall
Gail Archer 1.00 20/85

MUSI UN1595 BARNARD-COLUMBIA-CHAMBR SINGER. 1.00 point.

Prerequisites: auditions by appointment made at first meeting. Contact Barnard College, Department of Music (854-5096). Membership in the chorus is open to all men and women in the University community. The chorus gives several public concerts each season, both on and off campus, often with other performing organizations. Sight-singing sessions offered. The repertory includes works from all periods of music literature

Fall 2023: MUSI UN1595
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
MUSI 1595 001/00667 T Th 8:00pm - 9:30pm
405 Milbank Hall
Gail Archer 1.00 10/30

MUSI UN1596 BARNARD-COLUMBIA-CHAMBR SINGER. 1.00 point.

Prerequisites: contact Barnard College, Department of Music (854-5096). Membership in the chorus is open to all men and women in the University community. The chorus gives several public concerts each season, both on and off campus, often with other performing organizations. Sight-singing sessions offered. The repertory includes works from all periods of music literature

Spring 2024: MUSI UN1596
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
MUSI 1596 001/00295 T Th 8:00pm - 10:00pm
405 Milbank Hall
Gail Archer 1.00 5/25

MUSI BC3139 INTRODUCTION VOCAL REPERTOIRE. 3.00 points.

This course is designed for developing singers. Group vocalizing, learning of songs and individual workshop performances are aimed at improving the students technical skill and the elements necessary to create a meaningful musical and dramatic experience. Attention to text, subtext, emotional and psychological aspects of a piece and the performers relationship to the audience are included in the work. Repertoire is predominantly in English and comes from both classical and popular traditions Individual coaching sessions are available with the class accompanist and help strengthen the students confidence and skill. The class culminates with an in-class performance

Fall 2023: MUSI BC3139
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
MUSI 3139 001/00668 T Th 1:10pm - 2:55pm
325 Milbank Hall
Jean-Paul Bjorlin 3.00 6/15
Spring 2024: MUSI BC3139
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
MUSI 3139 001/00296 F 10:00am - 1:00pm
405 Milbank Hall
Coralie Gallet 3.00 10/10

MUSI BC3140 VOCAL REPERTOIRE, TECHNIQUE. 3.00 points.

Vocal exercises and exploration of wide-ranging repertoires, styles, and languages of the Western European song tradition. The rich variety of English, French, Italian and German poetry and music from the Baroque period through the Twentieth Century allows the student to experience both the music and the cultural environment of each of these styles. Attention is given both to meaning oftext and musical interpretation. Individual coaching sessions are available with the class accompanist and help strengthen the students confidence and skill. The class culminates with an in-class performance

Fall 2023: MUSI BC3140
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
MUSI 3140 001/00669 F 10:00am - 1:00pm
325 Milbank Hall
Coralie Gallet 3.00 9/15
Spring 2024: MUSI BC3140
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
MUSI 3140 001/00297 T Th 1:10pm - 2:55pm
325 Milbank Hall
Jean-Paul Bjorlin 3.00 8/8

MUSI BC3145 WORLDMUSE ENSEMBLE. 3.00 points.

Worldmuse Ensemble delves into compelling music from many genres such as world music, gospel, classical--old and new. We perform without a conductor, increasing awareness and interaction among ourselves and our audience. We collaboratively integrate music, dance, and theatre traditions (masks etc.). For experienced singers, and instrumentalists and dancers who sing

Spring 2024: MUSI BC3145
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
MUSI 3145 001/00298 T Th 11:10am - 12:55pm
225 Milbank Hall
Jean-Paul Bjorlin 3.00 12/15

MUSI BC3990 SENIOR PROJ:RESEARCH FOR MUSIC. 3.00 points.

Working with her advisor, a student will expand the research project initiated in the Fall Senior Seminar for Music Majors (BC3992x). In order to satisfy the requirement, the student will complete a fifty page research paper

Fall 2023: MUSI BC3990
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
MUSI 3990 001/00670  
Gail Archer 3.00 0/2
Spring 2024: MUSI BC3990
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
MUSI 3990 001/00300  
Gail Archer 3.00 3/6

MUSI BC3991 SENIOR PROJ: MUSIC REPERTORY. 3.00 points.

Working with her advisor, a student will develop a vocal or instrumental recital program with representative musical works from a variety of historical periods. In order to satisfy the requirement, the student will present an hour long public performance of the recital program. Students may also satisfy this requirement by composing original vocal or instrumental works

Spring 2024: MUSI BC3991
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
MUSI 3991 001/00301  
Gail Archer 3.00 0/1

MUSI BC3992 SENIOR SEM FOR MUSIC MAJORS. 4.00 points.

The goals of this seminar are a) to introduce senior music majors to ethnographic, bibliographic, and archival research methods in music and b) to help the same students develop, focus, implement, draft, revise, and polish a substantive, original piece of research (25-30 pages) which will serve as the senior project. The course will begin with a survey of academic literature on key problems in musicological research and writing, and will progress to a workshop/discussion format in which each week a different student is responsible for assigning readings and leading the discussion on a topic which s/he has formulated and deemed to be of relevance to her own research

Fall 2023: MUSI BC3992
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
MUSI 3992 001/00672 Th 10:10am - 12:00pm
113 Milstein Center
Lauren Ninoshvili 4.00 3/15

MUSI UN1002 FUNDAMENTALS OF MUSIC. 3.00 points.

Corequisites: Introductory Ear-Training (V1312, or higher, as determined by placement exam).
Introduction to music, including notation, written and aural skills, and basic conceptual resources of music theory. Exploration of scale, mode, rhythm, meter, texture and form, with reference to a diverse range of musics

Fall 2023: MUSI UN1002
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
MUSI 1002 001/10777 M W 1:10pm - 2:25pm
814 Dodge Building
Calder Hannan 3.00 21/24
Spring 2024: MUSI UN1002
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
MUSI 1002 001/11956 T Th 1:10pm - 2:25pm
814 Dodge Building
Charles Kirchen 3.00 21/24

HUMA UN1123 MASTERPIECES OF WESTERN MUSIC. 3.00 points.

Analysis and discussion of representative works from the Middle Ages to the present

Fall 2023: HUMA UN1123
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
HUMA 1123 001/11544 M W 8:40am - 9:55am
404 Dodge Building
Ashkan Behzadi 3.00 23/25
HUMA 1123 002/11551 M W 8:40am - 9:55am
405 Dodge Building
Finola Merivale 3.00 25/25
HUMA 1123 003/11553 M W 8:40am - 9:55am
622 Dodge Building
Demetrius Shahmehri 3.00 24/25
HUMA 1123 004/11554 M W 10:10am - 11:25am
405 Dodge Building
Knar Abrahamyan 3.00 22/0
HUMA 1123 005/11556 M W 10:10am - 11:25am
404 Dodge Building
Thomas Wetmore 3.00 25/25
HUMA 1123 006/11557 M W 10:10am - 11:25am
622 Dodge Building
Mariusz Kozak 3.00 25/25
HUMA 1123 007/11558 M W 1:10pm - 2:25pm
404 Dodge Building
Thomas Wetmore 3.00 25/25
HUMA 1123 008/11559 M W 1:10pm - 2:25pm
716 Hamilton Hall
Russell O'Rourke 3.00 25/25
HUMA 1123 009/11560 M W 2:40pm - 3:55pm
404 Dodge Building
Magdalena Baczewska 3.00 23/0
HUMA 1123 010/11561 M W 2:40pm - 3:55pm
405 Dodge Building
Audrey Amsellem 3.00 25/25
HUMA 1123 011/11562 M W 2:40pm - 3:55pm
716 Hamilton Hall
Russell O'Rourke 3.00 25/25
HUMA 1123 012/11563 M W 4:10pm - 5:25pm
404 Dodge Building
Kristy Barbacane 3.00 23/25
HUMA 1123 013/11565 M W 4:10pm - 5:25pm
405 Dodge Building
Audrey Amsellem 3.00 25/25
HUMA 1123 014/11566 M W 4:10pm - 5:25pm
716 Hamilton Hall
Ryan Pratt 3.00 25/25
HUMA 1123 015/11567 M W 6:10pm - 7:25pm
404 Dodge Building
Galen DeGraf 3.00 24/25
HUMA 1123 016/11568 M W 6:10pm - 7:25pm
405 Dodge Building
Ashley Nail 3.00 24/25
HUMA 1123 017/11569 M W 6:10pm - 7:25pm
716 Hamilton Hall
Dongmyung Ahn 3.00 23/25
HUMA 1123 018/11570 T Th 8:40am - 9:55am
405 Dodge Building
Velia Ivanova 3.00 21/25
HUMA 1123 019/11571 T Th 8:40am - 9:55am
622 Dodge Building
Callum Blackmore 3.00 24/25
HUMA 1123 020/11573 T Th 10:10am - 11:25am
404 Dodge Building
Madeleine Turner 3.00 25/25
HUMA 1123 021/11574 T Th 10:10am - 11:25am
405 Dodge Building
Velia Ivanova 3.00 23/25
HUMA 1123 022/11578 T Th 10:10am - 11:25am
716 Hamilton Hall
Scott Douglass 3.00 25/25
HUMA 1123 023/11580 T Th 1:10pm - 2:25pm
404 Dodge Building
Madeleine Turner 3.00 25/25
HUMA 1123 024/11582 T Th 1:10pm - 2:25pm
716 Hamilton Hall
Sonja Wermager 3.00 25/25
HUMA 1123 025/11589 T Th 2:40pm - 3:55pm
404 Dodge Building
Ruth Opara 3.00 24/25
HUMA 1123 026/11591 T Th 2:40pm - 3:55pm
405 Dodge Building
Saad Haddad 3.00 24/25
HUMA 1123 027/11592 T Th 2:40pm - 3:55pm
716 Hamilton Hall
Sonja Wermager 3.00 26/25
HUMA 1123 028/11594 T Th 4:10pm - 5:25pm
404 Dodge Building
Joshua Mastel 3.00 25/25
HUMA 1123 029/11595 T Th 4:10pm - 5:25pm
405 Dodge Building
Saad Haddad 3.00 24/25
HUMA 1123 030/11596 T Th 4:10pm - 5:25pm
716 Hamilton Hall
Manuel Garcia Orozco 3.00 25/25
HUMA 1123 031/11597 T Th 6:10pm - 7:25pm
404 Dodge Building
Joshua Navon 3.00 25/25
HUMA 1123 032/11598 T Th 6:10pm - 7:25pm
716 Hamilton Hall
Marilyn McCoy 3.00 25/25
HUMA 1123 033/11599 T Th 8:40am - 9:55am
404 Dodge Building
Ashkan Behzadi 3.00 24/25
HUMA 1123 034/11600 M W 8:40am - 9:55am
716 Hamilton Hall
Anya Wilkening 3.00 23/25
HUMA 1123 035/11601 T Th 6:10pm - 7:25pm
405 Dodge Building
Ralph Whyte 3.00 23/25
HUMA 1123 036/18822 T Th 11:40am - 12:55pm
622 Dodge Building
Lauren Bernard 3.00 24/25
Spring 2024: HUMA UN1123
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
HUMA 1123 001/10673 M W 8:40am - 9:55am
404 Dodge Building
Finola Merivale 3.00 24/25
HUMA 1123 002/10674 M W 8:40am - 9:55am
405 Dodge Building
Anya Wilkening 3.00 24/25
HUMA 1123 003/10675 M W 8:40am - 9:55am
716 Hamilton Hall
Ashkan Behzadi 3.00 25/25
HUMA 1123 004/10676 M W 10:10am - 11:25am
404 Dodge Building
Mariusz Kozak 3.00 23/25
HUMA 1123 005/10677 M W 10:10am - 11:25am
405 Dodge Building
Walter Frisch 3.00 21/25
HUMA 1123 006/10678 M W 10:10am - 11:25am
716 Hamilton Hall
Ashkan Behzadi 3.00 25/25
HUMA 1123 007/10679 M W 1:10pm - 2:25pm
404 Dodge Building
Russell O'Rourke 3.00 25/25
HUMA 1123 008/10680 M W 1:10pm - 2:25pm
716 Hamilton Hall
Finola Merivale 3.00 25/25
HUMA 1123 009/10681 M W 2:40pm - 3:55pm
405 Dodge Building
Audrey Amsellem 3.00 25/25
HUMA 1123 010/10682 M W 2:40pm - 3:55pm
404 Dodge Building
Russell O'Rourke 3.00 24/25
HUMA 1123 011/10706 M W 2:40pm - 3:55pm
716 Hamilton Hall
Velia Ivanova 3.00 25/25
HUMA 1123 012/10683 M W 4:10pm - 5:25pm
405 Dodge Building
Audrey Amsellem 3.00 25/25
HUMA 1123 013/10684 M W 4:10pm - 5:25pm
404 Dodge Building
Larry Jackson 3.00 25/25
HUMA 1123 014/10685 M W 4:10pm - 5:25pm
716 Hamilton Hall
Velia Ivanova 3.00 24/25
HUMA 1123 015/10686 M W 6:10pm - 7:25pm
404 Dodge Building
Hannah Kendall 3.00 24/25
HUMA 1123 016/10687 M W 6:10pm - 7:25pm
405 Dodge Building
Marilyn McCoy 3.00 25/25
HUMA 1123 017/10688 M W 6:10pm - 7:25pm
716 Hamilton Hall
Ralph Whyte 3.00 22/25
HUMA 1123 018/10689 T Th 8:40am - 9:55am
404 Dodge Building
Knar Abrahamyan 3.00 24/25
HUMA 1123 019/10690 T Th 8:40am - 9:55am
405 Dodge Building
Nandini Banerjee-Datta 3.00 21/25
HUMA 1123 020/10691 T Th 8:40am - 9:55am
716 Hamilton Hall
Calder Hannan 3.00 25/25
HUMA 1123 021/10692 T Th 10:10am - 11:25am
404 Dodge Building
Scott Douglass 3.00 25/25
HUMA 1123 022/10693 T Th 10:10am - 11:25am
405 Dodge Building
Nandini Banerjee-Datta 3.00 24/25
HUMA 1123 023/10694 T 10:10am - 11:25am
716 Hamilton Hall
Madeleine Turner 3.00 25/25
HUMA 1123 024/10695 T Th 1:10pm - 2:25pm
404 Dodge Building
Giuseppe Gerbino 3.00 25/25
HUMA 1123 025/10696 T Th 1:10pm - 2:25pm
716 Hamilton Hall
Madeleine Turner 3.00 25/25
HUMA 1123 026/10697 T Th 2:40pm - 3:55pm
404 Dodge Building
Julia Doe 3.00 25/25
HUMA 1123 027/10698 T Th 2:40pm - 3:55pm
405 Dodge Building
John McWhorter 3.00 25/25
HUMA 1123 028/10699 T Th 2:40pm - 3:55pm
716 Hamilton Hall
Saad Haddad 3.00 25/25
HUMA 1123 029/10700 T Th 4:10pm - 5:25pm
404 Dodge Building
Elaine Sisman 3.00 25/25
HUMA 1123 030/10701 T Th 4:10pm - 5:25pm
405 Dodge Building
Sonja Wermager 3.00 24/25
HUMA 1123 031/10702 T Th 4:10pm - 5:25pm
716 Hamilton Hall
Saad Haddad 3.00 25/25
HUMA 1123 032/10703 T Th 6:10pm - 7:25pm
404 Dodge Building
Artun Cekem 3.00 23/25
HUMA 1123 033/10704 T Th 6:10pm - 7:25pm
405 Dodge Building
Jessie Kevin Cox 3.00 25/25
HUMA 1123 034/10705 T Th 6:10pm - 7:25pm
716 Hamilton Hall
Joshua Navon 3.00 24/25

MUSI UN1312 INTRODUCTORY EAR-TRAINING. 1.00 point.

This course is an introduction to basic skills in sight reading. Instruction includes reading rhythms in simple meter, solfege recitation, and sight-singing simple melodies

Fall 2023: MUSI UN1312
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
MUSI 1312 001/10782 M W 12:10pm - 1:00pm
404 Dodge Building
Mary Asti 1.00 8/14
Spring 2024: MUSI UN1312
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
MUSI 1312 001/12141 T Th 12:10pm - 1:00pm
404 Dodge Building
Mary Asti 1.00 7/14

MUSI UN1518 KEYBOARD HARMONY/MUSICIANSHIP. 1.00 point.

Prerequisites: Instructor Permission
Prerequisites: Instructor Permission This course is only open to Music Theory students who did not pass the piano proficiency exam. Sign up in 109 Dodge

Fall 2023: MUSI UN1518
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
MUSI 1518 001/10784  
1.00 0/1

MPP UN1521 UNIVERSITY ORCHESTRA I. 2.00 points.

Prerequisites: Auditions are required. Sign up for an audition on the MPP website: www.mpp.music.columbia.edu or on the CUO website: http://cuo.music.columbia.edu/
Founded by composer Edward MacDowell in 1896, the Columbia University Orchestra is the oldest continually operating university orchestra in the United States. The principal mission of the Orchestra is to expose talented student musicians to the highest level of orchestral repertoire. An audition is required

Fall 2023: MPP UN1521
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
MPP 1521 001/10785 T 6:30pm - 9:30pm
Room TBA
Jeffrey Milarsky 2.00 73/100
Spring 2024: MPP UN1521
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
MPP 1521 001/12146 T 6:30pm - 9:30pm
Room TBA
Jeffrey Milarsky 2.00 65/100

MPP UN1531 CHAMBER ENSEMBLE. 1.00 point.

Prerequisites: Auditions are required. Sign up for an audition on MPP website: www.mpp.music.columbia.edu
The Music Performance Program (MPP) offers students the opportunity to participate in various classical ensembles and study with some of the most renowned chamber musicians in New York City. An audition is required

Fall 2023: MPP UN1531
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
MPP 1531 001/11813  
Maja Cerar 1.00 0/25
MPP 1531 003/11814  
Ian Sullivan 1.00 0/25
MPP 1531 004/11815  
Magdalena Baczewska 1.00 14/16
MPP 1531 006/11816  
Sarah Adams 1.00 9/25
MPP 1531 007/11817  
Eliot Bailen 1.00 10/25
MPP 1531 008/11818  
Allen Blustine 1.00 4/25
MPP 1531 009/11819  
Vicki Bodner 1.00 0/25
MPP 1531 010/11820  
Wendy Sutter 1.00 0/25
MPP 1531 011/11821  
Maja Cerar 1.00 5/25
MPP 1531 014/11822  
Sue Anne Kahn 1.00 4/25
MPP 1531 015/11823  
Ah-ling Neu 1.00 0/25
MPP 1531 016/11824  
Muneko Otani 1.00 15/25
MPP 1531 017/11825  
Susan Palma-Nidel 1.00 2/25
MPP 1531 018/11826  
Richard Rood 1.00 8/25
MPP 1531 019/11827  
Susan Rotholz 1.00 5/25
MPP 1531 020/11831  
Jessica Thompson 1.00 0/25
MPP 1531 021/11828  
Brad Gemeinhardt 1.00 0/25
Spring 2024: MPP UN1531
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
MPP 1531 004/12148 W 4:10pm - 5:25pm
620 Dodge Building
Magdalena Baczewska 1.00 15/16
MPP 1531 006/12505  
Sarah Adams 1.00 7/25
MPP 1531 007/12506  
Eliot Bailen 1.00 9/25
MPP 1531 008/12509  
Allen Blustine 1.00 3/25
MPP 1531 010/12510  
Wendy Sutter 1.00 0/25
MPP 1531 011/12513  
Maja Cerar 1.00 5/25
MPP 1531 014/12516  
Sue Anne Kahn 1.00 5/25
MPP 1531 015/12517  
Ah-ling Neu 1.00 0/25
MPP 1531 016/12519  
Muneko Otani 1.00 13/25
MPP 1531 017/12521  
Susan Palma-Nidel 1.00 2/25
MPP 1531 018/12523  
Richard Rood 1.00 7/25
MPP 1531 019/12524  
Susan Rotholz 1.00 3/25

MPP UN1541 COLUMBIA UNIV JAZZ ENSEMBL. 1.00 point.

Prerequisites: Auditions are required. Sign up for an audition on MPP website: www.mpp.music.columbia.edu
The Louis Armstrong Jazz Performance Program in the Music Performance Program (MPP) offers students the opportunity to participate in various jazz ensembles, both large and small, instrumental and vocal, that cover a wide range of musical ensembles. All ensembles perform at an intermediate level or higher and require some past jazz experience

Fall 2023: MPP UN1541
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
MPP 1541 001/11832  
Christine Correa 1.00 23/25
MPP 1541 002/11834  
Victor Lin 1.00 0/25
MPP 1541 003/11835  
Leo Traversa 1.00 7/25
MPP 1541 004/11836  
Vince Cherico 1.00 12/25
MPP 1541 005/11837  
Victor Lin 1.00 8/25
MPP 1541 006/11838  
Ole Mathisen 1.00 5/25
MPP 1541 007/11839  
Ole Mathisen 1.00 1/25
MPP 1541 008/11840  
Paul Bollenback 1.00 3/25
MPP 1541 009/11841  
Don Sickler 1.00 13/25
MPP 1541 010/11842  
Don Sickler 1.00 0/25
MPP 1541 011/11843  
John David Gibson 1.00 11/10
Spring 2024: MPP UN1541
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
MPP 1541 001/12526  
Christine Correa 1.00 14/25
MPP 1541 002/12527  
Victor Lin 1.00 0/25
MPP 1541 003/12528  
Leo Traversa 1.00 6/25
MPP 1541 004/12531  
Vince Cherico 1.00 9/25
MPP 1541 005/12532  
Victor Lin 1.00 5/25
MPP 1541 006/12533  
Ole Mathisen 1.00 4/25
MPP 1541 007/12534  
Laubrock Ingrid 1.00 0/25
MPP 1541 008/12535  
Paul Bollenback 1.00 3/25
MPP 1541 009/12536  
Don Sickler 1.00 13/25
MPP 1541 010/12537  
Ole Mathisen 1.00 0/25
MPP 1541 011/20840  
John David Gibson 1.00 6/25

MPP UN1551 WORLD MUSIC ENSEMBLE. 1.00 point.

Prerequisites: Auditions are required. Sign up for an audition on MPP website: www.mpp.music.columbia.edu
In collaboration with the Center for Ethnomusicology, MESAAS, Institute for Medieval Japanese Studies and the Louis Armstrong Jazz Performance Program, the Music Performance Program (MPP) offers students the opportunity to participate in various world music ensembles: Arab Music, Bluegrass, Japanese Gagaku/Hogaku, Klezmer and Latin American Music. Each ensemble requires different levels of experience, so please refer to the World Music section of the Music Performance Program website for more info. Please note the Latin American Music Ensemble focuses on two different Latin music traditions: The Afro-Cuban Ensemble meets in the Fall and the Brazilian Ensemble meets in the Spring

Fall 2023: MPP UN1551
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
MPP 1551 001/11844  
James Kerr 1.00 8/25
MPP 1551 002/11845  
Alicia Lindsey 1.00 9/25
MPP 1551 003/11846  
Elizabeth Brown 1.00 6/25
MPP 1551 004/11847  
Yumi Kurosawa 1.00 5/25
MPP 1551 005/11848  
Jeff Warschauer 1.00 8/25
MPP 1551 006/11849  
Leo Traversa, Vince Cherico 1.00 11/25
MPP 1551 007/11850 Th 5:00pm - 7:00pm
Room TBA
Taoufik Ben-Amor 1.00 15/18
Spring 2024: MPP UN1551
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
MPP 1551 001/12538  
James Kerr 1.00 5/25
MPP 1551 002/12569  
Alicia Lindsey 1.00 6/25
MPP 1551 003/12570  
Elizabeth Brown 1.00 3/25
MPP 1551 004/12571  
Yumi Kurosawa 1.00 6/25
MPP 1551 005/12572  
Jeff Warschauer 1.00 7/25
MPP 1551 006/12573  
Leo Traversa, Vince Cherico 1.00 11/25
MPP 1551 007/12575 Th 5:00pm - 7:00pm
Room TBA
Taoufik Ben-Amor 1.00 14/25

MUSI UN2021 MUSIC IN CONTEMP NATIVE AMER. 3.00 points.

Music in Contemporary Native America is a historical, ethnographic, and topical examination of contemporary Native American musical practices and ideologies. The course emphasizes popular, vernacular, and mass mediated musics, and calls into question the simple distinction between traditional and modern aspects of Native American cultures. Our readings and class guests (several of whom will be Native American scholars) emphasize the importance of understanding Native 2 American perspectives on these topics. Three short papers and one substantial final project are required. Approximately 100-150 pages of reading per week

MUSI UN2023 BEETHOVEN. 3.00 points.

Prerequisites: HUMA UN1123 or the equivalent.

A study of the life and works of Ludwig van Beethoven, with emphasis on selected symphonies, string quartets, and piano sonatas. Also consider the changing nature of the critical reception of Beethoven and issues of classicism and romanticism in music.

MUSI UN2025 THE OPERA. 3.00 points.

Prerequisites: HUMA W1123 or the equivalent.

The development of opera from Monteverdi to the present.  IN FALL 2011, THE OPERA WILL BE OFFERED MON/WED 2:40-3:55 in 622 DODGE.

MUSI UN2030 JEWISH MUSIC IN NEW YORK. 3.00 points.

Prerequisites: Music Humanities (Columbia University) or An Introduction to Music (Barnard).
Prerequisites: Music Humanities (Columbia University) or An Introduction to Music (Barnard). With the arrival of the first Jewish immigrants in New York in the mid-1600s until today, Jewish music in the City has oscillated between preserving traditions and introducing innovative ideas. This course explores the variety of ways people have used music to describe, inscribe, symbolize, and editorialize their Jewish experience. Along these lines, it draws upon genres of art music, popular music, and non-Western traditions, as well as practices that synthesize various styles and genres, from hazzanut to hiphop. Diverse musical experiences will serve as a window to address wider questions of identity, memory, and dislocation. We will also experience the Jewish soundscape of New York’s dynamic and eclectic music culture by visiting various venues and meeting key players in today’s music scene, and thus engage in the ongoing dialogues that define Jewishness in New York. A basic familiarity with Judaism and Jewish culture is helpful for this course, but it is by no means required. You do not need to know Jewish history to take this class, nor do you need to be able to read music. Translations from Hebrew and Yiddish will be provided, and musical analysis will be well explained

Fall 2023: MUSI UN2030
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
MUSI 2030 001/10786 M W 11:40am - 12:55pm
716 Hamilton Hall
Tina Fruehauf 3.00 16/25

MUSI UN2205 INTRODUCTION TO DIGITAL MUSIC. 3.00 points.

Prerequisites: Permission of Instructor required to enroll. Music Majors/Music Concentrations have priority for enrollment.
An introduction to the potential of digital sound synthesis and signal processing. Teaches proficiency in elementary and advanced digital audio techniques. This course aims to challenge some of the tacet assumptions about music that are built into the design of various user interfaces and hardware and fosters a creative approach to using digital audio workstation software and equipment. Permission of Instructor required to enroll. Music Majors have priority for enrollment

Fall 2023: MUSI UN2205
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
MUSI 2205 001/10787 T Th 1:10pm - 2:25pm
320h Prentis Hall
Seth Cluett 3.00 18/18
MUSI 2205 002/10802 M W 1:10pm - 2:25pm
320h Prentis Hall
Anna Meadors 3.00 18/18
MUSI 2205 003/17015 F 1:10pm - 3:40pm
320h Prentis Hall
Danielle Dobkin 3.00 8/18
Spring 2024: MUSI UN2205
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
MUSI 2205 001/12172 T Th 1:10pm - 2:25pm
320h Prentis Hall
Uri Kochavi 3.00 19/18
MUSI 2205 002/12175 M W 10:10am - 11:25am
320h Prentis Hall
Anna Meadors 3.00 20/18

MUSI UN2230 History and Practice of Electronic Music. 3.00 points.

This course will provide a critical survey of the development of electronic and computer music and sound from around the globe. From early experiments and precursors in the late 19th century through to modern-day experimental and popular music practices, this course aims to trace the development of technologies used in the production of electronic and computer derived sound and music alongside the economic, cultural, and social forces that contribute to the development of audiences. The course will focus intently on listening through a series of curated playlists in an effort to unpack style and genre distinctions. Readings and listening examples will be paired with small, hands-on assignments, that demonstrate the effect of music making tools on the process and structure of musical genres and styles ranging from the experimental practices of musique concrete, drone, and harsh noise to the mainstream practices of dub, techno, vaporwave, hyperpop, and hip hop and more

Fall 2023: MUSI UN2230
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
MUSI 2230 001/10820 T Th 2:40pm - 3:55pm
5ab Kraft Center
Anna Meadors 3.00 44/70

MUSI UN2240 The Song Within Us: Composition, Analysis, Performance. 3.00 points.

This class offers insight through composing, analysis, and performance for the composer, singer/songwriter, and performance artist. Coupling specifics of rhythm, melody, and harmony with story telling, lyric writing and the voice itself, students will be encouraged to share their imagination in song regardless of style, genre, or aesthetic. Music ranging from Chant to Music Theatre, the German lied to international pop fusion will be included as models upon which to base discussion and creative endeavor. Improvisation and musicianship techniques will complement pedagogical presentations of tonal and non - tonal compositional practice. A required final project based on any combination of composition, analysis, and performance, and in any media will be due at the end of the semester. All levels of experience and all types of instruments are welcome. Notation software is recommended but not required

Spring 2024: MUSI UN2240
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
MUSI 2240 001/12633 M W 1:10pm - 2:25pm
620 Dodge Building
Peter Susser 3.00 20/24

MUSI UN2314 EAR-TRAINING I. 1.00 point.

Designed to improve the students basic skills in sight-singing, and rhythmic and melodic dictation with an introduction to four-part harmonic dictation

Fall 2023: MUSI UN2314
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
MUSI 2314 001/10788 T Th 12:10pm - 1:00pm
404 Dodge Building
Michael Joviala 1.00 9/14
MUSI 2314 002/10789 M W 12:10pm - 1:00pm
405 Dodge Building
Sadie Dawkins 1.00 9/14
Spring 2024: MUSI UN2314
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
MUSI 2314 001/12634 M W 12:10pm - 1:00pm
404 Dodge Building
Sadie Dawkins 1.00 11/14

MUSI UN2315 EAR-TRAINING II. 1.00 point.

Techniques of sight-singing and dictation of diatonic melodies in simple and compound meter with strong emphasis on harmonic dictation

Fall 2023: MUSI UN2315
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
MUSI 2315 001/10790 M W 12:10pm - 1:00pm
814 Dodge Building
Ramin Amir Arjomand 1.00 12/14
Spring 2024: MUSI UN2315
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
MUSI 2315 001/12642 M W 12:10pm - 1:00pm
405 Dodge Building
Ramin Amir Arjomand 1.00 15/14
MUSI 2315 002/12643 T Th 12:10pm - 1:00pm
405 Dodge Building
Michael Joviala 1.00 11/14

MUSI UN2318 MUSIC THEORY I. 3.00 points.

Prerequisites: Passing score on the placement exam administered prior to the first day of class or Fundamentals of Music/UN1002.
Elementary analysis and composition in a variety of modal and tonal idioms. A one-hour weekly lab is required, to be scheduled at the beginning of the term. Course to be taken in conjunction with the Ear-Training sequence, up through Ear-Training IV

Fall 2023: MUSI UN2318
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
MUSI 2318 001/10791 T Th 1:10pm - 2:25pm
622 Dodge Building
Peter Susser 3.00 17/20
Spring 2024: MUSI UN2318
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
MUSI 2318 001/12645 M W 1:10pm - 2:25pm
405 Dodge Building
Cheng Lim 3.00 18/20

MUSI UN2319 MUSIC THEORY II. 3.00 points.

Prerequisites: Passing score on the placement exam administered prior to the first day of class or Music Theory I/UN2318
Corequisites: one course from Ear-Training I-IV (V2314, V2315, V3316, or V3317, as determined by placement exam.)
Elementary analysis and composition in a variety of tonal idioms. A one-hour weekly lab is required, to be scheduled at the beginning of the term. Course to be taken in conjunction with the Ear-Training sequence, up through Ear-Training IV

Fall 2023: MUSI UN2319
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
MUSI 2319 001/10792 M W 1:10pm - 2:25pm
405 Dodge Building
Cheng Lim 3.00 9/20
Spring 2024: MUSI UN2319
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
MUSI 2319 001/12646 T Th 1:10pm - 2:25pm
405 Dodge Building
Knar Abrahamyan 3.00 19/20

MUSI UN2320 Introduction to Music Cognition. 3.00 points.

The aim of music cognition is to understand the musical mind. This course is an introduction to a variety of key topics in this field, including human development, evolution, neural processing, embodied knowledge, memory and anticipation, cross-cultural perspectives, and emotions. The course explores recent research on these topics, as well as ways in which this research can be applied to music scholarship. Readings are drawn from fields as diverse as music theory, psychology, biology, anthropology, and neuroscience, and include general works in cognitive science, theoretical work focused on specific musical issues, and reports of empirical research

Fall 2023: MUSI UN2320
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
MUSI 2320 001/13455 M W 2:40pm - 3:55pm
622 Dodge Building
Mariusz Kozak 3.00 27/35

MUSI UN2500 Women and Music. 3 points.

This course explores the relationship between women, music, and performance from a thematic and a cross-cultural perspective. Through the analysis of different case studies, we will investigate different topics from the perspective of ethnomusicology, cultural anthropology, and performance studies. A number of critical questions we will consider include: how does a particular gender ideology constructs and is constructed by musical aesthetics? What are some of the critical roles for women in performance?  What is the significance of gender in performances? What does it mean for women to have have and to be the voice? And how is a musical performance bound up with emotions?

Spring 2024: MUSI UN2500
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
MUSI 2500 001/12647 M W 11:40am - 12:55pm
716 Hamilton Hall
Ruth Opara 3 18/24

MUSI UN2582 JAZZ IMPROVISTN:THRY,HIST,PRAC. 3.00 points.

This course offers an introduction to jazz improvisation for instrumentalists. Through recordings, transcriptions, daily performance and selected readings, students will actively engage the history of jazz through their instruments and intellect. The idea of improvisation will be explored in an historical context, both as a musical phenomenon with its attendant theory and mechanics, and as a trope of American history and aesthetics. This class is for instrumentalists who wish to deepen their understanding of the theory, history and practice of jazz improvisation. The history of jazz will be used as a prism through which to view approaches to improvisation, from the cadences of the early Blues through the abstractions of Free Jazz and beyond. The student will be exposed to the theory and vocabularies of various jazz idioms, which they will also learn to place in their social and historical contexts

Spring 2024: MUSI UN2582
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
MUSI 2582 001/12648 M W 4:10pm - 5:25pm
112 Dodge Building
Ole Mathisen 3.00 10/20

MUSI UN3023 Late Beethoven. 3 points.

Prerequisites: MUSI UN2318-UN2319 MUSI UN2318-UN2319 or the instructor's permission.

An examination of the visionary works of Beethoven's last dozen or so years as a composer, beginning with the revision of his only opera, Fidelio, in 1814, and continuing with the late piano sonatas, cello sonatas, string quartets, Diabelli variations, Ninth Symphony, and the Missa Solemnis. Topics will include late style, romanticism, politics, deafness, and the changing nature of the musical work and its performance.

Spring 2024: MUSI UN3023
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
MUSI 3023 001/12693 T Th 1:10pm - 2:25pm
620 Dodge Building
Elaine Sisman 3 2/24

MUSI UN3103 Afrofuturism and Society: Music, Media, and Race. 3.00 points.

An aesthetic, perspective, and practice, Afrofuturism places Afro-diasporic peoples at the center of science-fiction and speculative narratives, affording Black people narrative agency over their past, present, and future. Afrofuturism exists as an essential site for the interrogation and celebration of Black life, while also serving as a thoughtful critique of anti-Black sentiments and white supremacy. This course will familiarize students with the historical underpinnings, contexts, and both seminal and contemporary works that are a part of the movement and which situate Afrofuturism as part of a larger socio-cultural discourse on race, creativity, and activism. We will be discussing Afrofuturism’s historical and socio-cultural positionality, but will also ask: in the midst of global anti-Blackness, the post-Trump era, a pandemic, and the era of Black Lives Matter, where does Afrofuturism fit in the existing discourse?

MUSI UN3127 BACH'S SACRED MUSIC. 3.00 points.

Bach’s sacred music in its historical, theological, and social context

MUSI UN3128 HIST-WEST MUS: MID AGE-BAROQUE. 3.00 points.

Prerequisites: MUSI UN2318 - MUSI UN2319. May be taken before or concurrently with this course.
Prerequisites: MUSI UN2318 - MUSI UN2319. May be taken before or concurrently with this course. Topics in Western music from Antiquity through Bach and Handel, focusing on the development of musical style and thought, and analysis of selected works

Fall 2023: MUSI UN3128
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
MUSI 3128 001/10794 T Th 2:40pm - 3:55pm
622 Dodge Building
Giuseppe Gerbino 3.00 23/35

MUSI UN3129 HIST-WEST MUS:CLASSICAL-20TH CENTURY. 3.00 points.

Prerequisites: MUSI V2318-2319. May be taken before or concurrently with this course.
Topics in Western music from the Classical era to the present day, focusing on the development of musical style and thought, and on analysis of selected works

Spring 2024: MUSI UN3129
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
MUSI 3129 001/12653 T Th 2:40pm - 3:55pm
622 Dodge Building
Sonja Wermager 3.00 35/35

MUSI UN3168 THE AMERICAN MUSICAL. 3.00 points.

Prerequisites: reading ability of music and some theoretical knowledge is required. Musical theater is one of Americas most vital and important art form. Several of its major creators studied at Columbia, including Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart, Oscar Hammerstein II, John Kander, and Fred Ebb. This course will present a historical survey of American musical theater from its origins in late nineteenth-century; through the musicals of figures like Kern, Gershwin, and Rodgers - Hammerstein; through Sondheim and the megamusical of Lloyd Webber. Focus will be on selected shows, through which broader cultural and musical trends will be examined

Spring 2024: MUSI UN3168
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
MUSI 3168 001/12699 M W 2:40pm - 3:55pm
622 Dodge Building
Walter Frisch 3.00 28/35

MUSI UN3171 PARIS FOR ROMANTICS. 3.00 points.

Prerequisites: Completion of Music Humanities (or the consent of the instructor) is a pre-requisite for this course.
Prerequisites: Completion of Music Humanities (or the consent of the instructor) is a pre-requisite for this course. This course explores Parisian musical life during the long nineteenth century, situating musical discourses, institutions, and forms within the broader landscapes of literary and artistic Romanticism. Topics to be considered include: the musical echoes of the Revolution; operatic genres and theaters; the music of the salons; cultures of consumerism and domestic performance; and issues of nationalism and historicism after 1870. Composers to be considered include: Berlioz, Chopin, Liszt, Gounod, Saint-Saëns, Franck, Massenet, and Debussy. Completion of Music Humanities (or the consent of the instructor) is a pre-requisite for this course

MUSI UN3210 Chopin, Pianos, Revolutions. 3.00 points.

This seminar offers a survey of the music by Fryderyk Chopin, examining his output in historical, geopolitical, and cultural context. Organized by genre, the study will be accompanied by the discussion of music as performance, using legendary recordings, and live in-class demonstrations. Through guided listening, analysis of the written score, and reading assignments, students will obtain tools to discuss topics related to the piano (the development of which will be an integral part of the course), comparative performance, interpretation, and performance practice. Since student performances will be an important component of the course, members of the Music Performance Program receive registration priority

Spring 2024: MUSI UN3210
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
MUSI 3210 001/14881 M W 2:40pm - 3:55pm
620 Dodge Building
Magdalena Baczewska 3.00 21/20

MUSI UN3239 INTRODUCTION TO COMPOSITION I. 3.00 points.

Composition in shorter forms. Students will compose new works for the cello, with a focus on diverse approaches to the instrument. Student pieces will be workshopped, rehearsed, and performed (and/or recorded)

Spring 2024: MUSI UN3239
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
MUSI 3239 001/12654 M W 10:10am - 11:25am
620 Dodge Building
Marcos Balter 3.00 13/12

MUSI UN3241 ADVANCED COMPOSITION I. 3.00 points.

Composition Faculty

Prerequisites: UN3239/Intro to Comp I
Composition in more extended forms. Study of advanced techniques of contemporary composition. Readings of student works

Fall 2023: MUSI UN3241
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
MUSI 3241 001/10803 M W 10:10am - 11:25am
620 Dodge Building
Finola Merivale 3.00 9/10

MUSI UN3310 TECHNIQUES OF 20TH CENTURY MUSIC. 3.00 points.

Prerequisites: MUSI UN2319 or the instructor's permission.
Materials, styles, and techniques of 20th and 21st century music. Musical concepts and compositional techniques related to serialism and atonality, timbre, orchestration, indeterminacy, rhythm and temporality, electronic and electro-acoustic music, site-specific composition, graphic notation, recomposition, minimalism, and spectralism

MUSI UN3316 EAR-TRAINING III. 1.00 point.

Sight-singing techniques of modulating diatonic melodies in simple, compound, or irregular meters that involve complex rhythmic patterns. Emphasis is placed on four-part harmonic dictation of modulating phrases

Fall 2023: MUSI UN3316
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
MUSI 3316 001/10805 M W 12:10pm - 1:00pm
620 Dodge Building
Peter Susser 1.00 16/17
Spring 2024: MUSI UN3316
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
MUSI 3316 001/12651 M W 12:10pm - 1:00pm
620 Dodge Building
Peter Susser 1.00 12/14

MUSI UN3317 EAR-TRAINING IV. 1.00 point.

Techniques of musicianship at the intermediate level, stressing the importance of musical nuances in sight-singing. Emphasis is placed on chromatically inflected four-part harmonic dictation

Fall 2023: MUSI UN3317
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
MUSI 3317 001/10806 T Th 12:10pm - 1:00pm
620 Dodge Building
Peter Susser 1.00 7/14
Spring 2024: MUSI UN3317
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
MUSI 3317 001/12652 T Th 12:10pm - 1:00pm
620 Dodge Building
Peter Susser 1.00 14/14

AHMM UN3320 MUSIC IN EAST ASIA. 3.00 points.

A topical approach to the concepts and practices of music in relation to other arts in the development of Asian civilizations

Spring 2024: AHMM UN3320
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
AHMM 3320 001/11949 M W 6:10pm - 7:25pm
622 Dodge Building
Daniel Ferguson 3.00 22/25
AHMM 3320 002/11951 M W 6:10pm - 7:25pm
620 Dodge Building
Noah Rosen 3.00 26/25
AHMM 3320 003/11952 T Th 10:10am - 11:25am
622 Dodge Building
Thomas Wetmore 3.00 27/25
AHMM 3320 004/11954 T Th 11:40am - 12:55pm
622 Dodge Building
Thomas Wetmore 3.00 24/25

AHMM UN3321 MUSICS OF INDIA & WEST ASIA. 3.00 points.

CC/GS/SEAS: Partial Fulfillment of Global Core Requirement

A topical approach to the concepts and practices of music in relation to other arts in the development of Asian civilizations

Fall 2023: AHMM UN3321
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
AHMM 3321 001/10655 M W 6:10pm - 7:25pm
620 Dodge Building
Daniel Ferguson 3.00 23/25
AHMM 3321 002/10656 M W 6:10pm - 7:25pm
622 Dodge Building
Noah Rosen 3.00 23/25
AHMM 3321 003/10657 T Th 10:10am - 11:25am
622 Dodge Building
George Murer 3.00 25/25
AHMM 3321 004/10658 T Th 6:10pm - 7:25pm
622 Dodge Building
Hicham Chami 3.00 20/25

MUSI UN3321 MUSIC THEORY III. 3.00 points.

A one-hour weekly lab is required, to be scheduled at the beginning of the term.

Prerequisites: MUSI V2319.
Intermediate analysis and composition in a variety of tonal idioms. A one-hour weekly lab is required, to be scheduled at the beginning of the term. Course to be taken in conjunction with the Ear-Training sequence, up through Ear-Training IV

Fall 2023: MUSI UN3321
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
MUSI 3321 001/10807 T Th 1:10pm - 2:25pm
620 Dodge Building
Joseph Dubiel 3.00 8/20
Spring 2024: MUSI UN3321
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
MUSI 3321 001/12656 T Th 1:10pm - 2:25pm
622 Dodge Building
Cheng Lim 3.00 7/20

MUSI UN3322 MUSIC THEORY IV. 3.00 points.

Prerequisites: Music Theory II/UN3321
Intermediate analysis and composition in a variety of tonal and extended tonal idioms. A one-hour weekly lab is required, to be scheduled at the beginning of the term. Course to be taken in conjunction with the Ear-Training sequence, up through Ear-Training IV

Fall 2023: MUSI UN3322
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
MUSI 3322 001/10808 T Th 1:10pm - 2:25pm
405 Dodge Building
Cheng Lim 3.00 4/20
Spring 2024: MUSI UN3322
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
MUSI 3322 001/12659 M W 1:10pm - 2:25pm
622 Dodge Building
Joseph Dubiel 3.00 8/20

MUSI UN3342 Beyond Boundaries: Radical Black Experimental Music. 3 points.

This discussion seminar focuses on African American composer/improvisers in the twentieth- and twenty-first centuries whose work rejects and critiques simplistic compartmentalization in terms of improvisation, composition, genre, gender, race, and place. On the contrary, these musicians embody Duke Ellington’s famous dictum regarding great music being “beyond category.” Students will critically discuss some of the common threads in this network—musicians’ means of creating and performing their original music, its distribution in the marketplace and surrounding critical discourse, their engagement with issues of race, gender, and class within and outside of their communities, and interdisciplinary and community-based collaboration. Musical communities such encompassed in this course include the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM), Sun Ra’s Arkestra, and the Jazz Composers Guild and extends up to the current day to include contemporary artists such as Nicole Mitchell, Matana Roberts, and Tyshawn Sorey. The incredibly rich multifarious pieces and performances that we will listen to and discuss reference and incorporate elements of improvisation, theatre, twelve-tone serialism, aleatoric composition, bebop, electro-acoustic and computer music,conduction, popular music, the voice, free jazz, Afrofuturism, the blues, orchestral music, opera, and graphic notation

MUSI UN3343 Shades of Brown: Music in the South Asian Diaspora . 3 points.

This course explores the musical world of the South Asian diaspora in Europe and North America. We will read ethnographic accounts of diasporic musics and experiences and develop methods for analysis and interpretation of such accounts, situating the songs of the South Asian diaspora within its broader social history. We will address the concepts of belonging and identity, nostalgia and affect, and the dismantling or upholding of dominant discourses such as gender, race, and caste. Our focus will be on the last half century, although deeper histories will need to be considered. Students will learn to analyze instrumentation and lyrics in various genres and traditions of South Asian music, including both art, folkloric, and popular idioms, and to correlate these with aspects of the social context of diaspora. While the specific focus of the course is on a particular diasporic history, the class will help students understand and think critically about the broader phenomenon of “diaspora” and its cultural dimensions, and through this to engage critically with important aspects of cultural globalization and migration.  


Students from all departments are welcome. Reading music not required.

MUSI UN3344 Curating Popular Music: From Song Pluggers to Spotify. 3 points.

How is popular music made popular? And who makes it popular? This discussion-based course seeks to answer these questions by focusing on the critical role that music industry professionals—song pluggers, sheet music publishers, producers, talent scouts, record executives, and content curators—have played in shaping the markets of production, circulation, and consumption of popular music in the United States from the beginning of the twentieth century to the present day. Readings, listening selections, and class discussion will address a number of key genres of American popular music—Tin Pan Alley, folk, blues, country, rock, pop, and hip hop—while individual assignments (including a final project centered on creating and producing a podcast) will allow students to apply the knowledge gained in class to genres, styles, and works of their own choosing. Students will not be required to have prior knowledge of music theory or to be able to read music. Completion of Masterpieces of Western Music: “Music Humanities” (HUMA UN 1123) is preferred, but not required.

MUSI UN3400 TOPICS IN MUSIC & SOCIETY. 3.00 points.

Music Majors and Concentrators.

This course seeks to approach the study of music and society by comparatively studying repertories from different parts of the world, how the history of ideas and methods of studying such repertoires shaped them, the practices that constitute them and the ways they are understood and used by different peoples. Central to this course is the interrelationship between the constitution of a repertoire and the history of the construction of knowledge about it

Fall 2023: MUSI UN3400
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
MUSI 3400 001/10809 T Th 4:10pm - 5:25pm
622 Dodge Building
Ruth Opara 3.00 13/35
Spring 2024: MUSI UN3400
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
MUSI 3400 001/12687 T Th 4:10pm - 5:25pm
622 Dodge Building
George Murer 3.00 20/35

MUSI UN3410 The Polycultural Roots of U.S. Popular Music. 3.00 points.

This course will explore the rich hybrid development of U.S. popular music genres and vernacular music traditions. Focusing on the contributions of Indigenous, Latinx, Asian, and African American musicians and musical traditions in addition to European American musicians and musical traditions, in genres as various as country music, hip hop, jazz, reggaeton, and rock, students will enlarge their sense of the multiracial and crosscultural makeup of the music that constitutes “American popular music.”

MUSI UN3425 Music, Sound and the Law. 3.00 points.

This course is a historical overview of the relationship between music and the law in which students will employ both critical listening skills and critical thinking to understand how sound came to be understood as property, how the law impacts creativity, identity and labor, and how music has been used as a tool for enforcing and challenging legislative and political processes. We will discuss the origins of copyright law in the Enlightenment, how music has been used as a tool of colonization through formation of archives, examples of Native American conceptions of cultural property and modes of repatriation, the birth of the music industry and its segregationist history, how the law impacts creativity through the study of sampling, infringement and extension of rights, the ways in which musicians and listeners subvert legal strictures, how music can influence policy as protest or as propaganda, musical bans, noise ordinances, the relationship between music and the First Amendment, alternatives to copyright law in the digital age, music piracy, and the recent changes in the music industry to focus on data gathering as the primary model for music distribution. Music is our point of departure, and students will learn ways in which sonic practices shaped and challenged legislative paradigms. Our focus is on American musics such as Native American music, blues, country, jazz, rhythm and blues, rock and roll, experimental music, hip hop, pop, as well as some European classical music, “world” music, and EDM. Students will read and analyze legal primary sources such as the Music Modernization Act, as well as landmark court cases, critical legal literature, and musicological texts. Students will learn debate skills, acquire practical knowledge of the law through concepts such as fair use, the public domain and mechanical and performance rights, and develop listening skills to understand legal concepts such as infringement. This course is open to students of all majors and will be of particular interest to musicians, students with plans to pursue a law degree in IP or technology law, as well as those interested in working in the music industry. There are no prerequisites and no previous knowledge of music, music theory, or the law is necessary. Masterpieces of Western Music or Asian Music Humanities are recommended

MUSI UN3995 HONORS RESEARCH. 2.00-3.00 points.

Open to honors candidates in music only.

Prerequisites: a formal proposal to be submitted and approved prior to registration; see the director of undergraduate studies for details.
Prerequisites: a formal proposal to be submitted and approved prior to registration; see the director of undergraduate studies for details. A creative/scholarly project conducted under faculty supervision, leading to completion of an honors essay, composition, or the equivalent

Fall 2023: MUSI UN3995
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
MUSI 3995 001/10836  
Susan Boynton 2.00-3.00 0/5
MUSI 3995 002/10837  
Alessandra Ciucci 2.00-3.00 0/5
MUSI 3995 003/10838  
Zosha Di Castri 2.00-3.00 0/5
MUSI 3995 004/10839  
Julia Doe 2.00-3.00 0/5
MUSI 3995 005/10840  
Joseph Dubiel 2.00-3.00 0/5
MUSI 3995 006/10841  
Kevin Fellezs 2.00-3.00 0/5
MUSI 3995 007/10842  
Aaron Fox 2.00-3.00 1/5
MUSI 3995 009/10845  
Bradford Garton 2.00-3.00 0/5
MUSI 3995 010/10846  
Giuseppe Gerbino 2.00-3.00 0/5
MUSI 3995 011/10847  
Georg Friedrich Haas 2.00-3.00 0/5
MUSI 3995 013/10848  
Mariusz Kozak 2.00-3.00 0/5
MUSI 3995 014/10849  
George Lewis 2.00-3.00 1/5
MUSI 3995 015/10850  
Jeffrey Milarsky 2.00-3.00 0/5
MUSI 3995 016/10851  
Seth Cluett 2.00-3.00 0/5
MUSI 3995 017/10852  
Elaine Sisman 2.00-3.00 0/5
MUSI 3995 019/10853  
Magdalena Baczewska 2.00-3.00 0/5
MUSI 3995 020/10844  
Peter Susser 2.00-3.00 1/5
MUSI 3995 021/10843  
Christopher Washburne 2.00-3.00 0/5
MUSI 3995 022/10885  
Knar Abrahamyan 2.00-3.00 0/5
Spring 2024: MUSI UN3995
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
MUSI 3995 001/12749  
Susan Boynton 2.00-3.00 0/5
MUSI 3995 002/12750  
Alessandra Ciucci 2.00-3.00 0/5
MUSI 3995 003/12751  
Zosha Di Castri 2.00-3.00 1/5
MUSI 3995 004/12752  
Julia Doe 2.00-3.00 0/5
MUSI 3995 005/12753  
Joseph Dubiel 2.00-3.00 2/5
MUSI 3995 006/12754  
Kevin Fellezs 2.00-3.00 0/5
MUSI 3995 008/12755  
Walter Frisch 2.00-3.00 0/5
MUSI 3995 009/12757  
Bradford Garton 2.00-3.00 0/5
MUSI 3995 010/12758  
Giuseppe Gerbino 2.00-3.00 0/5
MUSI 3995 011/12760  
Georg Friedrich Haas 2.00-3.00 0/5
MUSI 3995 012/12772  
Marcos Balter 2.00-3.00 0/5
MUSI 3995 013/12771  
Mariusz Kozak 2.00-3.00 0/5
MUSI 3995 014/12770  
George Lewis 2.00-3.00 1/5
MUSI 3995 015/12769  
Jeffrey Milarsky 2.00-3.00 0/5
MUSI 3995 016/12768  
Seth Cluett 2.00-3.00 1/5
MUSI 3995 017/12767  
Elaine Sisman 2.00-3.00 0/5
MUSI 3995 018/12766  
Benjamin Steege 2.00-3.00 0/5
MUSI 3995 019/12765  
Magdalena Baczewska 2.00-3.00 0/5
MUSI 3995 020/12764  
Peter Susser 2.00-3.00 2/5
MUSI 3995 021/12763  
Christopher Washburne 2.00-3.00 0/5
MUSI 3995 022/12762  
Knar Abrahamyan 2.00-3.00 0/5

MUSI UN3998 SUPERVISED INDEPENDENT STUDY. 2.00-3.00 points.

Prerequisites: approval prior to registration; see the director of undergraduate studies for details.
Prerequisites: approval prior to registration; see the director of undergraduate studies for details. A creative/scholarly project conducted under faculty supervision

Fall 2023: MUSI UN3998
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
MUSI 3998 001/10855  
Susan Boynton 2.00-3.00 0/5
MUSI 3998 002/10856  
Alessandra Ciucci 2.00-3.00 0/5
MUSI 3998 003/10857  
Zosha Di Castri 2.00-3.00 2/5
MUSI 3998 004/10858  
Julia Doe 2.00-3.00 0/5
MUSI 3998 005/10859  
Joseph Dubiel 2.00-3.00 0/5
MUSI 3998 006/10860  
Aaron Fox 2.00-3.00 0/5
MUSI 3998 007/10861  
Kevin Fellezs 2.00-3.00 0/5
MUSI 3998 009/10862  
Bradford Garton 2.00-3.00 0/5
MUSI 3998 010/10863  
Giuseppe Gerbino 2.00-3.00 0/5
MUSI 3998 011/10864  
Georg Friedrich Haas 2.00-3.00 0/5
MUSI 3998 013/10865  
Mariusz Kozak 2.00-3.00 0/5
MUSI 3998 014/10866  
George Lewis 2.00-3.00 0/5
MUSI 3998 015/10867  
Jeffrey Milarsky 2.00-3.00 0/5
MUSI 3998 016/10868  
Seth Cluett 2.00-3.00 1/5
MUSI 3998 017/10869  
Elaine Sisman 2.00-3.00 0/5
MUSI 3998 019/10870  
Magdalena Baczewska 2.00-3.00 0/5
MUSI 3998 020/10871  
Peter Susser 2.00-3.00 0/5
MUSI 3998 021/10872  
Christopher Washburne 2.00-3.00 0/5
MUSI 3998 022/10886  
Knar Abrahamyan 2.00-3.00 0/5
Spring 2024: MUSI UN3998
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
MUSI 3998 001/12884  
Susan Boynton 2.00-3.00 0/5
MUSI 3998 002/12885  
Alessandra Ciucci 2.00-3.00 0/5
MUSI 3998 003/12886  
Zosha Di Castri 2.00-3.00 3/5
MUSI 3998 004/12888  
Julia Doe 2.00-3.00 0/5
MUSI 3998 005/12889  
Joseph Dubiel 2.00-3.00 1/5
MUSI 3998 007/12890  
Kevin Fellezs 2.00-3.00 0/5
MUSI 3998 008/12891  
Walter Frisch 2.00-3.00 0/5
MUSI 3998 009/12892  
Bradford Garton 2.00-3.00 1/5
MUSI 3998 010/12893  
Giuseppe Gerbino 2.00-3.00 0/5
MUSI 3998 011/12894  
Georg Friedrich Haas 2.00-3.00 0/5
MUSI 3998 012/12895  
Marcos Balter 2.00-3.00 0/5
MUSI 3998 013/12896  
Mariusz Kozak 2.00-3.00 0/5
MUSI 3998 014/12897  
George Lewis 2.00-3.00 0/5
MUSI 3998 015/12898  
Jeffrey Milarsky 2.00-3.00 0/5
MUSI 3998 016/12899  
Seth Cluett 2.00-3.00 1/5
MUSI 3998 017/12900  
Elaine Sisman 2.00-3.00 0/5
MUSI 3998 018/12902  
Benjamin Steege 2.00-3.00 0/5
MUSI 3998 019/12903  
Magdalena Baczewska 2.00-3.00 0/5
MUSI 3998 020/12904  
Peter Susser 2.00-3.00 0/5
MUSI 3998 021/12905  
Christopher Washburne 2.00-3.00 0/5
MUSI 3998 022/12906  
Anna Meadors 2.00-3.00 1/5
MUSI 3998 023/12907  
Ole Mathisen 2.00-3.00 1/5
MUSI 3998 024/12908  
Knar Abrahamyan 2.00-3.00 0/5
MUSI 3998 025/12940  
Ruth Opara 2.00-3.00 0/5

MUSI GU4060 MEDIEVAL MUSIC DRAMA. 3.00 points.

In this seminar we will study examples of music drama from the tenth century to the fourteenth, taking into account both the manuscript sources and methodological questions raised by performative works at the intersection of literature, music, and ritual

Fall 2023: MUSI GU4060
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
MUSI 4060 001/10810 F 1:00pm - 3:00pm
701a Dodge Building
Susan Boynton 3.00 5/12

MUSI GU4108 Critical Approaches to Opera Studies. 3.00 points.

Why opera now? In what ways can a 400-year-old art form speak to the needs of contemporary society? This seminar provides an introduction to critical opera studies: we will analyze a broad range of lyric repertory (spanning from Monteverdi to Saariaho) while interrogating the debates these works have generated, both historically and in the present day. Topics to be considered include: operatic institutions and conventions; gender and voice; theories of “text” and liveness; modernist staging; the troubling legacies of Empire and exoticism; and the intersections of opera and multimedia (opera on/as film, opera in HD, site-specific opera). Wherever possible, this course will incorporate live performance in New York, engaging the Metropolitan Opera as well as institutions for “indie” opera and new music. While completion of Music Humanities is a suggested pre-requisite, this class welcomes interdisciplinary perspectives. Individual assignments may be tailored to accommodate student interests and backgrounds outside of the field of music

MUSI GU4113 Medieval Mediterranean Love Songs. 4.00 points.

This seminar will focus on love poetry in the medieval western Mediterranean. Readings will consist primarily of medieval lyric in Old Occitan, Galician Portuguese, Old French, Italian, and Castilian in conversation with concurrent kindred forms of the lyric in classical Arabic and medieval Hebrew from medieval Iberia and Italy. Most weeks will include listening examples but a background in music is not a prerequisite. All texts will be available in translation; originals will also be made available. We will emphasize close reading and analysis, often addressing the relationship between text and music

Spring 2024: MUSI GU4113
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
MUSI 4113 001/11594 Th 12:10pm - 2:00pm
701a Dodge Building
Isabelle Levy, Susan Boynton 4.00 15/17

MUSI GU4230 Sounding Alternative Perspectives in Electronic Music. 3.00 points.

In this seminar we will explore examples of electronic music composition and practice as propositions that centered situated perspective and dialogic world-making in the creative space as a means of resistance. We will look at historical and contemporary figures that animated alternative identity articulations, proposed distributed power dynamics, and challenged environmental bifurcations from the grounded and speculative province of music making. We will engage feminist methodologies in our approach, as they uphold the supposition that practice is praxis and scholarship, and support collective learning techniques. Readings in critical theory, musicology, and media studies will support our research as well as practice-based projects. With this seminar we will ask how electronic music functioned(s) as place or form of identity formation and challenge to normative expression. Can electronic music work as an experience that resists patriarchal and/or colonial structures or disciplines? What strategies have been taken that reset or rescript techno-masculinist spaces, tools and practices? And how can we create an analysis method that makes these qualities legible? No in-depth experience with either computers or electronic music is required, though music and sound will be the principle focus of our inquiry. Interdisciplinary methods of critical response and analysis will be explored in this class

MUSI GU4325 Topics in Music Cognition. 3.00 points.

This advanced seminar builds on the Introduction to Music Cognition (MUSIC UN2320) with an in-depth inquiry into selected key topics in the field of Music Cognition. Specific topics vary each year, depending on interest and availability of instructors, and include human development; evolution; communication and music’s relation to language; embodied knowledge; first-person awareness; metaphor; ineffability; neuroscience; mental representations; memory and anticipation; cross-cultural studies; emotions; musical aesthetics; artificial intelligence; agency; creativity; and music’s relation to other art forms. Each semester the course delves into recent research on 3–4 of these topics, focusing in particular on how this research can be applied to questions of musical knowledge. Advanced readings are drawn from fields as diverse as music theory, psychology, biology, anthropology, philosophy, and neuroscience. They include general works in cognitive science, theoretical work focused on specific musical issues, and reports of empirical research

Spring 2024: MUSI GU4325
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
MUSI 4325 001/15030 W 4:10pm - 6:00pm
622 Dodge Building
Christopher Peacocke, Mariusz Kozak 3.00 12/15

MUSI GU4360 ANALYSIS OF TONAL MUSIC. 3.00 points.

Detailed analysis of selected tonal compositions. This course, for advanced undergraduates and beginning graduates, is intended to develop understanding of tonal compositions and of theoretical concepts that apply to them, through study of specific works in various forms and styles

Fall 2023: MUSI GU4360
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
MUSI 4360 001/10811 W 2:10pm - 4:00pm
620 Dodge Building
Joseph Dubiel 3.00 3/12

MUSI GU4380 Topics in Sound Studies. 3.00 points.

Sound studies is a burgeoning interdisciplinary field that explores the question of how does listening to sound, beyond having a phone conversation or listening to your favorite tunes, influence culture, knowledge, and society by initiating dialogues across musicology, philosophy, cultural studies, disability studies, race and gender studies, and science and technology studies. In this course, students will examine three interrelated debates within the field: 1. the role of sound in understanding and uncovering historical and cultural knowledge; 2. the function of sound in the invention of media and technologies that have transformed listening culture; 3. the capacity of sound to shape social perceptions of race and gender. Reading texts that have revolutionized the way we think about sound, students will learn how sound and listening participated in historical and contemporary meaning-making

Fall 2023: MUSI GU4380
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
MUSI 4380 001/14169 M 2:10pm - 4:00pm
620 Dodge Building
Knar Abrahamyan 3.00 3/15

MUSI GU4407 Songs and Sounds of Protest of Latin America and the Caribbean: Relistening to the 1960s and 1970s. 3.00 points.

This course is a topical (not comprehensive) survey of musical-poetic manifestations from Latin America, the Caribbean and their diasporas that emerged during the 1960s and the 1970s. The course revisits this time period by exploring the contributions of myriad countries among which Puerto Rico, Brazil, Nicaragua, Cuba, Québec, Haiti, Chile, Argentina, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Martinique/Guadeloupe, and the United States (with a strong emphasis on New York). It analyzes objects and experiences engaged in contesting colonialism, settler colonialism, imperialism, patriarchy, racism, capitalism and Eurocentrism highlighting as well the limits (and limitations) of these radical discourses. Using a decolonial/postcolonial lens and an ethnomusicological approach, the course pays careful attention to the politics of these musics, their historical context and aesthetics, and the social imaginary of those who made them possible

MUSI GU4308 Theory and Analysis of Jazz and Improvisation. 3.00 points.

This course explores diverse approaches to analyzing jazz and improvisation. Students will engage with analytical methods stemming from both scholars and improvisers, learn to apply traditional analytical approaches, examine critical issues underlying them, and develop new applications of heretofore underexamined ones. We will focus alternatively on harmony, solos, interaction, cognition, rhythm, and pedagogy, among other issues, and the survey will afford students insight into the priorities, methodologies, outcomes, and shortcomings of each of them. Additionally, the course covers theoretical texts produced by improvising musicians, as well as instances where improvisers engage with preexisting theoretical texts. Finally, we will also examine intersections between identity—encompassing issues such as race, ethnicity, gender, and class among others—and music theory. We will investigate characterizations of music theory, composition, and improvisation in terms of identity and suggest ways that we might incorporate the diverse range of theorists and analysts in our course into larger intellectual and musical histories

MUSI GU4420 MUSIC AND PROPERTY. 3.00 points.

Fall 2023: MUSI GU4420
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
MUSI 4420 001/10812 T 2:10pm - 4:00pm
701c Dodge Building
Aaron Fox 3.00 3/12

MUSI GU4425 SOUNDING ISLAM. 3.00 points.

The objective of this course is to explore the relationship between sound, music and Islam and, in doing so, to focus on a philosophy of listening (sama‘) which is deeply embedded in the experiential. The course aims to analyze how sound and music directly or indirectly associated with Islam are produced, circulated, and listened to by a wide variety of audiences in local and transnational settings; to explore the ways in which multiple sonic dimensions of Islam have affected the public sphere in different historical moments and contexts (particular in relation to ideas about nationalism, secularism and modernity); and to examine the effect of these sonic dimensions on Muslim and non-Muslim listeners in a local and a transnational perspective

MUSI GU4500 JAZZ TRANSCRIPTION & ANALYSIS. 3.00 points.

Prerequisites: the instructor's permission.
Prerequisites: the instructors permission. A progressive course in transcribing, proceeding from single lines to full scale sections and ensembles. Stylistic analysis based on new and previously published transcriptions

Fall 2023: MUSI GU4500
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
MUSI 4500 001/10816 M W 4:10pm - 5:25pm
814 Dodge Building
Ole Mathisen 3.00 7/20

MUSI GU4505 JAZZ ARRANGING & COMPOSITION. 3.00 points.

Prerequisites: MUSI UN2318 - MUSI UN2319 Diatonic Harmony or equivalent.

Course designed to train students to arrange and compose in a variety of historical jazz styles, including swing, bebop, hard bop, modal, fusion, Latin, and free jazz.

MUSI GU4515 CONDUCTING MUSIC. 3.00 points.

Prerequisites: advanced music major and extensive contemporary music background.
Prerequisites: advanced music major and extensive contemporary music background. Analysis of the modern repertory of contemporary music with directional emphasis on actual conducting preparation, beating patterns, rhythmic notational problems, irregular meters, communication, and transference of musical ideas. Topics will include theoretical writing on 20th-century conducting, orchestration, and phrasing

MUSI GU4525 INSTRUMENTATION. 3.00 points.

Prerequisites: extensive musical background. Analysis of instrumentation, with directional emphasis on usage, ranges, playing techniques, tone colors, characteristics, interactions and tendencies, all derived from the classic orchestral repertoire. Topics will include theoretical writings on the classical repertory as well as 20th century instrumentation and its advancement. Additional sessions with live orchestral demonstrations are included as part of the course

Fall 2023: MUSI GU4525
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
MUSI 4525 001/10817 T Th 1:10pm - 2:25pm
814 Dodge Building
Jeffrey Milarsky 3.00 8/25

MUSI GU4630 RECORDED SOUND. 3.00 points.

Prerequisites: The instructor's permission.
Prerequisites: The instructors permission. As music moves into the 21st century, we find ourselves surrounded by an ever-evolving landscape of technological capability. The world of music, and the music industry itself, is changing rapidly, and with that change comes the opening – and closing – of doorways of possibility. What does this shift mean for today’s practicing artist or composer? With big label recording studios signing and nurturing fewer and fewer artists, it seems certain that, today, musicians who want to record and distribute their music need to be able to do much of the recording and production work on their own. But where does one go to learn how to do this – to learn not only the “how to” part of music production, but the historical underpinnings and the development of the music production industry as well? How does one develop a comprehensive framework within which they can place their own artistic efforts? How does one learn to understand what they hear, re-create what they like and develop their own style? This class, “Recorded Sound,” aims to be the answer. It’s goal is to teach artists how to listen critically to music from across history and genres in order to identify the production techniques that they hear, and reproduce those elements using modern technology so they can be incorporated into the artist’s own musical works

Fall 2023: MUSI GU4630
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
MUSI 4630 001/10814 M 1:10pm - 4:00pm
317 Prentis Hall
David Adamcyk 3.00 12/15
Spring 2024: MUSI GU4630
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
MUSI 4630 001/14931 T 4:10pm - 6:00pm
317 Prentis Hall
Anna Meadors 3.00 15/15

MUSI GU4802 Sound, Music and Death. 3 points.

This seminar is an exploration of the roles of sound and music play in people’s attempts to grapple with death and its many auras. We will read literature from ethnomusicology, anthropology, and sound studies, and listen to musics from many parts of the world, so as to investigate how 1) the processes of aging, decay, and mourning; 2) metaphorical deaths including war and exile; and 3) imaginations of afterlives resound among the living.

MUSI GU4810 Sound: Foundations. 3.00 points.

This foundational course in sound will begin by exploring how listening happens as well the tools necessary capture and present that listening. Through hands-on experimentation and demonstration, this seminar will examine both the technical and semiotic use of sound as amaterial within creative practice. Fundamental studio techniques will be explored including soldering for building cables, microphones, and loudspeakers. We will also explore the building blocks of analog and digital processes for the creation of sound, including microphones (types, patterns, and placement), basic synthesis, and techniques for recording, mixing, editing, and mastering. Through creative projects that implement these skills we will learn by doing. We will study theories of sound and listening that determine or are determined by technology, from the physical and social dimensions of the sounds we use to create, language (sound as a symbol or object), acoustics (sound in space), acousmatics (sound without a visual reference), and psycho-acoustics (sound as cognitive process). This class assumes no prior knowledge or technical skill. Some reading will be assigned and we will look and listen to a lot of work, students are encouraged to participate actively in discussions

MUSI GU4998 SUPERVISED INDEPENDENT STUDY. 1.00-3.00 points.

Fall 2023: MUSI GU4998
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
MUSI 4998 001/10813  
Seth Cluett 1.00-3.00 2/5
MUSI 4998 003/20917  
Anna Meadors 1.00-3.00 1/3
Spring 2024: MUSI GU4998
Course Number Section/Call Number Times/Location Instructor Points Enrollment
MUSI 4998 001/12911  
Seth Cluett 1.00-3.00 0/5

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