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Popular Music and Society in Latin America
This course examines how Latin American musics shape, and are shaped by, their social environment and the political histories of their homelands. Focusing especially on Cuban and Andean styles, it explores the way that sounds connect with the lived experiences of local audiences, the artistic and political goals that have motivated key performers, and the effect of their actions on broader social debates. Issues covered include the relationship between music, race, and national identity; sound as a medium for social politics; the roles of industrialization, migration, urbanization, and media dissemination in driving musical change. Enrollment limited to 19 first year students.
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Duke Ellington
This class will be an examination of the life and work of Duke Ellington. We will use recordings, scores, films, autobiographies, interviews, oral histories and other primary source materials as well as biographical, theoretical and analytical readings to study Ellington's three careers: the composer, the performer and the band leader. We will analyze his work largely within the musical parameters of form, improvisation techniques, orchestration, instrumentation, rhythmic and chordal structures, and concepts of tone quality. Although musical literacy is not required for this course, students who so want may receive tutorials in the rudiments of theory and score reading. Enrollment limited to 19 first year students.
- Primary Instructor
- McGarrell
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Computers and Music
Examine the history, literature, production and theory of music technology. Track development of musical inventions and their impact on musical thought, production and culture. Develop theoretical and practical knowledge of computer music based on first-hand experience in the Multimedia Lab, using computer music software and hardware to complete creative assignments. Gain an appreciation for the pioneering work done in previous decades, both in research and composition. Become familiar with the literature of electronic music and learn about the impact of technology on popular and experimental genres. Permission granted based on questionnaire given in first class. Preference given to lower-level students.
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Introduction to Music Theory
An introduction to musical terms, elements, and techniques, including notation, intervals, scales and modes, triads and seventh chords, modulation, melody writing and harmonization, analysis, and composition. Ear-training and sight-singing are included. For students with some musical training. Enrollment limited to 40.
- Primary Instructor
- Jiorle-Nagy
- Primary Instructor
- Jiorle-Nagy
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Theory of Tonal Music
Prerequisite to music concentration. For students with knowledge of rudiments of music, including scales, intervals, key signatures, rhythm, and meter. Knowledge of keyboard strongly recommended. Intensive study of voice leading and tonal harmony; analysis, ear training, sight singing, keyboard exercises. An entrance exam will be administered in Orwig 315 at the first regular class meeting. Students intending to enroll in MUSC 0550 must pass this test. Experienced instrumentalists or singers who have facility sight reading music normally place into MUSC0550. MUSC0400 is appropriate for students who need training in the rudiments to prepare for MUSC0550. MUSC0550 is prerequisite to MUSC0560.
- Primary Instructor
- Steinbach
- Primary Instructor
- Cole
- Schedule Code
- L: Lab
- Primary Instructor
- Cole
- Schedule Code
- L: Lab
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Chorus
Half credit each semester. A practical study of choral literature, techniques, and performance practice from Gregorian chant to the present, offered through rehearsals, sectionals, and performance. Enrollment is by audition, based on voice quality, experience, and music-reading ability. Instructor permission required.
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Orchestra
Half credit each semester. A practical study of the orchestra repertory from Bach to the present, offered through coaching, rehearsals, and performances. Enrollment is by audition. Students will be notified of audition results within the first seven days of the semester. Restricted to skilled instrumentalists. May be repeated for credit.
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Wind Symphony
Half credit each semester. A practical study of the wind band repertory from Mozart to the present, offered through coaching, rehearsals, and performances. Enrollment is by audition. Restricted to skilled instrumentalists. Instructor permission required.
- Primary Instructor
- McGarrell
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Jazz Band
Half credit each semester. A practical study of jazz from the 1920s to the present through coaching, rehearsals, and performance. Seminars on arranging, ear training, and improvisation are conducted for interested students but the focus is on performance. Enrollment is by audition. Restricted to skilled instrumentalists and vocalists. Instructor permission required.
- Primary Instructor
- McGarrell
- Primary Instructor
- McGarrell
- Primary Instructor
- McGarrell
- Primary Instructor
- McGarrell
- Primary Instructor
- McGarrell
- Primary Instructor
- McGarrell
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Ghanaian Drumming and Dancing Ensemble
A dynamic introductory course on drumming, dancing, and singing of Ghana and the diaspora. Students learn to perform diverse types of African music, including Ewe, Akan, Ga, and Dagomba pieces on drums, bells, and shakers. No prerequisites. May be repeated for credit. Enrollment limited to 15. Instructor permission required.
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World Music Ensemble
This ensemble focuses on global percussive and song traditions, especially those of the African diaspora (based on instructor's vast musical experiences). Here western instrumentalists fuse with traditional musicians from every culture: bongo, gyil, ukulele, tabla, etc. Students will grow and develop their musical skills by learning new techniques on their own instrument, exploring a range of repertoire representing genres such as highlife, reggae, salsa, afrobeat, Afro-jazz, and global fusions. There will be unique opportunities to work on improvisation taking influence from Steve Reich, Tito Puente, Randy Weston, Hugh Masekela, Paul Simon, Miriam Makeba, Ghanaba, and Milton Nasimiento.
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Javanese Gamelan
Half credit each semester. Instruction, rehearsals, and performances in the gamelan music of Java, on instruments owned by the department. No prerequisites. Enrollment limited to 18 students.
- Primary Instructor
- Perlman
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Old-Time String Band
Half course each semester. Instruction and ensemble playing. Music taught by ear. American (southern Appalachian Mountain) traditional music on violin (fiddle), 5-string banjo, mandolin, and guitar. Enrollment limited to 20 students.
- Primary Instructor
- Astrausky
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Chamber Music Performance
Half credit each semester. The practical study of the literature of chamber music through participation in a small ensemble. Regular rehearsals, coaching by department staff, and performances are required. Enrollment is by audition. Students will be notified of audition results within the first ten days of the semester. Restricted to skilled instrumentalists. May be repeated for credit.
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Applied Music Program: Instruction in Vocal or Instrumental Music - Voice
Half credit each semester. Restricted to skilled musicians. Openings are limited. Enrollment and re-enrollment is by audition and jury. Lessons are given by consultants to the Applied Music Program. A fee is charged for enrollment. Copies of the Applied Music Program Guidelines giving detailed information are available online at www.brown.edu/music. May be repeated up to four times for credit.
- Primary Instructor
- Jodry
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Cole
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Finkel
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Plouffe
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Perlman
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Rovan
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
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Baroque and Classic Music
A history of music in European society from Monteverdi's opera Orfeo to Beethoven's Ninth, studied through texts, scores, CDs, DVDs, and YouTube. We'll spend two-thirds of our time on five composers: Bach, Handel, Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven. Prerequisite: MUSC0550 or equivalent.
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Advanced Musicianship I
Training in advanced musicianship skills relevant to Western art music from the sixteenth Century to the present, including sight singing, ear training, score reading, keyboard harmony, improvisation, and musical transcription. Prerequisite: MUSC 0560 or MUSC 0570, or permission of the instructor.
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Advanced Music Theory II
A study of theories of Western art music since Debussy. Exercises in analysis and composition, focusing on works of Debussy, Stravinsky, Schoenberg, Webern, Bartok and Ives. Students give presentations on selected later composers. Prerequisite: MUSC 0560 with grade of B, or the equivalent.
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Introduction to Composition
Composition students begin by using technical resources developed in their previous theoretical studies. Analysis and discussion of contemporary music provides examples of alternatives to traditional compositional strategies, which students integrate into later assignments. A study of contemporary notational practices and computer-based manuscripting and sequencing is also included. Prerequisite: MUSC 0560 or MUSC 0570 or permission of the instructor. Enrollment limited to 20 students.
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Reality Remix - Experimental VR
This course pursues collaborative experimentation with virtual and augmented reality (AR and VR).
The class will work as a team to pursue research (survey of VR/AR experiences, scientific and critical
literature review), reconnaissance (identifying VR/AR resources on campus, in Providence and the
region), design (VR/AR prototyping). Research findings are documented in a class wiki. The course
makes use of Brown Arts Initiative facilities in the Granoff Center where an existing VR laboratory will
be expanded through the course of the semester based on student needs. Class culminates in the
release the class wiki as a resource for the Brown community.
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Seminar in Electronic Music: Real-Time Systems
Seminar in Electronic Music is a study of music employing electronic media, including real-time digital signal processing, multimedia, and live performance. Technical aspects of the course focus on programming using Max/MSP to create interactive projects and algorithmic compositions. Permission of instructor required. Interested students must come to the first class. Preference will be given to students who have completed MUSC 0200.
- Primary Instructor
- Rovan
- Schedule Code
- L: Lab
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Building Musical Instruments
In Building Musical Instruments, we will study and create expressive musical sound by building acoustic, analog, and digital instruments. Using sonic goals as inspiration for design features, we will build handheld acoustic instruments, contact microphones, basic synthesizers, and digital controllers, and we will consider the ways in which these distinct objects can work together to form a musical performance system. Topics include: musical listening and design, resonance of different materials, soldering, breadboarding, reading a basic schematic diagram, creating an enclosure, and expressive interaction with instruments. No prerequisites; enrollment determined by questionnaire distributed in first class. Maximum enrollment: 12.
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Analog Practice
Analog sound is uniquely tactile, expressive, and flexible. Through a series of solo, collaborative, recorded, and live-performed projects, this class explores the practice of creating analog sound. We will use a wide array of modular and semi-modular analog synthesizers, including the rare ARP 2500. Beginning with broad concepts of voltage flow and modulation, we will expand into considering the unique affordances of various synths, addressing questions such as tone color, ease of sound production and variation, and conduciveness to combination with other sound sources. Interested students strongly recommended to attend first day; final class list determined by questionnaire.
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Sound Art
This hands-on course explores the historical and technical innovations involving sound as a material and/or metaphor in artmaking. Students will map out and respond to the unique ways sound-based creative practices (produced after World War II) are sites of intersectionality. Students will foreground the generative possibilities of non-normative forms and question structures of audibility and inaudibility, collision and resistance. Students will develop a critical awareness of how sound art emerged from the experimentation with emerging technologies used in the science, military and industrial complexes. The tools and methodologies students experiment with will be contextualized with readings of everyday sonic praxis. Permission will be granted based upon a questionnaire given in the first class.
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Seminar in Electronic Music: Advanced Studio Techniques
This course will focus on developing and reinforcing technical skills, musical concepts, and critical listening abilities associated with the practice of composition in an electronic music studio. These studies will be tied to a broad range of aesthetic approaches and discussions of sound synthesis and processing, spatialization, and recording techniques.
Through a series of projects and focused study, students will expand their knowledge and craft, and will provide each other with a forum for exploring their creative studio work. MUSC 1200 is a prerequisite, and preference will be given to students who have also taken MUSC 1210, and/or 1250.
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Major Masters and Repertoires of Music: Bach
An examination of the life and work of Bach, including its placce in German church music, views of his contemporaries and explanation of hi manuscript and publishing history.
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The Case of Wagner
Richard Wagner (1813-83) changed forever the forms, meanings, and contexts of European music, especially the symphonic and operatic traditions. He transformed the way we listen to music written before him. This course will pay close attention to several major music dramas, especially Lohengrin, The Ring of the Nibelung, and Parsifal, focusing on music, words, and the history and variety of staged productions. We will also consider Wagner’s relation to literature, philosophy, and history, including such issues as nationalism, modernism, anti-Semitism, and the persisting controversies around his work in Germany and Israel.
This is an upper-level seminar but open to all.
- Primary Instructor
- Steinberg
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Applied Music Program: Instruction in Vocal or Instrumental Music - Voice
Half credit each semester. Restricted to skilled musicians. Restricted to skilled musicians demonstrating mastery of an advanced repertory in their fields. Openings are limited. Enrollment and re-enrollment is by audition and jury. Lessons are given by consultants to the Applied Music Program. MUSC 0830, 0840 is prerequisite to this course. A fee is charged for enrollment. Copies of the Applied Music Program Guidelines giving detailed information are available online at www.brown.edu/music. Prerequisite: MUSC 0400, or MUSC 0550, MUSC 0560. Written permission required. May be repeated up to four times for credit.
- Primary Instructor
- Jodry
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Cole
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Finkel
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Plouffe
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Perlman
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Rovan
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
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Introduction to Ethnomusicology
This seminar offers an introduction to theory and method in ethnomusicology, a discipline grounded in ethnographic research and writing on musical practices. We will think, talk, and write about how and why people make music, as well as how and why ethnomusicologists go about their work. Students will undertake independent fieldwork projects on musical communities, learning first-hand about both the special potential and the practical/ethical challenges of this type of research. Case studies highlight such issues as tradition, appropriation, postcolonial politics, and the ethics of fieldwork. Prerequisites: sophomore standing; MUSC 0400/0550 or ETHN 1000 or instructor permission.
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Latinx Music in the U.S. (LACA 1504E)
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Music and Modern Life
Examines topics related to the everyday use of music: the determinants of musical taste; music for emotional self-management (in the health club or Iraq War); "high" vs. "low" music; eclectic taste; popular music and the music industry; mp3blogs; new business models. Readings (in sociology, history, and cultural studies) and original field research by class members. Instructor permission required. Enrollment limited to 20.
- Primary Instructor
- Perlman
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Gospel Music from the Church to the Streets (RELS 1650)
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Advanced Ghanaian Drumming and Dancing Ensemble
Students with experience in African and related musical traditions perform drumming, dancing, and singing of Ghana and the diaspora. Focus on a more challenging repertoire with emphasis on multi-part, lead, and improvisational playing. Prerequisite: audition. May be repeatable for credit. Instructor permission required. Enrollment limited to 15 students.
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Individual Independent Study
Directed undergraduate research for advanced students. Prerequisite: permission of the instructor. Section numbers vary by instructor. Please check Banner for the correct section number and CRN to use when registering for this course.
- Primary Instructor
- Warren
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Jaeger
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Cole
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Momeni
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- McGarrell
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Obeng
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Perlman
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Rovan
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Nathan
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Winkler
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Moses
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Miller
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Tucker
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Steinbach
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Jodry
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Osborn
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Gooley
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Wang
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
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Music and Technoculture
This seminar explores ethnographic and theoretical approaches to the study of music technologies in cultural and historical context. How do emergent technologies affect the nature of musical experience? What does technology have to do with ideologies of musical creativity, authenticity, virtuosity, and aesthetic value? We will give equal attention to production, distribution, and consumption practices (and their convergence). Major topics include “liveness” and recording, remix and remediation practices, interfaces/instruments, labor and property, virtual scenes, and digital gameplay. Prerequisite: graduate standing or written permission.
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Digital Performance
A production seminar examining the artistic impact and creative potential of digital media in the context of live performance. Readings and analysis of work examine innovations in performance practice from dance, theatre, performance art and music. Collaborative assignments investigate video projection, sound design and interactive sensor technology, culminating in a final large-scale performance. Permission will be granted based upon a questionnaire given in the first class.
- Primary Instructor
- Winkler
- Primary Instructor
- Winkler
- Schedule Code
- L: Lab
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Preliminary Examination Preparation
For graduate students who have met the tuition requirement and are paying the registration fee to continue active enrollment while preparing for a preliminary examination.
- Schedule Code
- E: Grad Enrollment Fee/Dist Prep
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Reading and Research
Directed graduate research. Section numbers vary by instructor. Please check Banner for the correct section number and CRN to use when registering for this course.
- Primary Instructor
- Nathan
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Wang
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Cole
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Osborn
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- McGarrell
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Obeng
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Perlman
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Rovan
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Warren
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Winkler
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Moses
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Miller
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Tucker
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Jodry
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Primary Instructor
- Gooley
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
- Schedule Code
- I: Independent Study/Research
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Thesis Preparation
For graduate students who have met the residency requirement and are continuing research on a full time basis.
- Schedule Code
- E: Grad Enrollment Fee/Dist Prep
