Chair, Associate Professor Eva Linfield

Professor Paul Machlin; Associate Professors Jonathan Hallstrom, Linfield, and Steven Saunders; Assistant Professor Steven Nuss; Adjunct Assistant Professors Cheryl Tschanz and Patricia Helm; Faculty Fellow Kevin Clifton

The Colby Music Department includes music historians, composers, and theorists, all of whom are performing musicians. The curriculum for majors and non-majors is designed to provide a broad range of academic studies in music at all levels while also allowing students the opportunity to develop their creative and expressive gifts as performers. The department's conviction that music bears an intimate relationship to the cultural and social matrix from which it springs is reflected in the diversity of course offerings.

Facilities include a 394-seat recital hall, two concert grand pianos and several smaller grands, an orchestra and band rehearsal room, a fully digital electronic music center with a variety of sound-producing and -recording equipment, teaching studios, and practice rooms. Performances are scheduled in the recital hall and in Lorimer Chapel. The Fine Arts library contains a listening center, tapes and recordings, and resource materials for curricular and recreational needs.

Requirements for the Major in Music
Music 111, 181, 182, 184, 241, 242, 281, 282, 341, 493; one elective in music at the 200 level or higher; two semesters of lessons and two semesters of ensemble participation. The department requires majors to demonstrate keyboard proficiency through a brief examination by the end of the first semester of the junior year. The specific elements of the exam are available from the department.

The point scale for retention of the major applies to all courses in music except Music 153. No requirement for the major may be taken satisfactory/unsatisfactory.

Requirements for the Minor in Music
Music 111, 181, 182; one semester of music history chosen from Music 241, 242, 341; two four-credit music courses at the 200 level or higher (or one 200-level course and Music 184); and two semesters of applied music (both of which must be taken on the same instrument). The College does not subsidize the cost of lessons for minors. For additional information concerning applied music options, fees, scheduling, and related matters, refer to the applied music statement below.

Applied Music
Private lessons in voice and a variety of instruments are available, with or without academic credit (see Music 091, 191). Music 153 or Music 181 fulfills the prerequisite for graded credit in Music 191 and 193.

Fees for lessons, billed through the College business office, depend upon the number of credits elected; consult the Music Department for specific charges. Extracurricular instruction in applied music is also available in January and may satisfy a January requirement; no academic credit for applied music may be earned in January. Students electing Music 091 or 191 or taking extracurricular instruction must consult the applied music coordinator. Individual lessons/times are scheduled in consultation with the appropriate applied music associate. Note: By electing any applied music, the student incurs a responsibility for the appropriate fee.

Music majors, beginning in the first semester of their sophomore year, are eligible for six semesters of subsidized instruction in applied music (Music 191 for two credits) in the instrument of their choice. Majors are also eligible for an additional four semesters of subsidized instruction; however, the College will not fund more than two instruments per semester, and when piano is being studied in preparation for the proficiency exam, it will be considered the second instrument. Majors who study with approved instructors who are not members of the Music Department's applied music staff are eligible for the same subsidy; consult the applied music coordinator for specific criteria.

Note: all three- or four-credit hour courses offered by the Music Department, except 213, fulfill the area requirement in Arts (A). Those that also fulfill the Diversity requirement include the D
designation.

COURSE OFFERINGS

091fjs    Lessons: Noncredit (or JP)    Noncredit instruction in voice and instruments for qualified students. Regular offerings include violin, viola, violoncello, piano, voice, flute, guitar (classical, American traditional, and jazz), and selected brass and woodwind instruments. One 30-minute lesson weekly in fall and spring; two 45-minute lessons weekly in January. For additional information concerning fees, scheduling, and related matters, see the Music Department secretary. Noncredit.     FACULTY

093fs    Applied Music: Ensemble, noncredit    Noncredit participation in musical ensembles sponsored by the Music Department. See description for 193. Noncredit.     FACULTY

111fs    Introduction to Music    Why does the music that we typically identify as "classical" produce such intense reactions in some listeners, while others find the music merely pleasant or even incomprehensible? Much of the answer lies in our awareness of what to expect as we listen to particular types of musical works. The course aims to heighten the experience of listening to Western art music through a survey of the major periods of music history (Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, Romantic, and Contemporary). Emphasis is on listening to and thinking critically about individual compositions and their cultural context. No previous musical experience is assumed. Four credit hours.  A.    SAUNDERS

113s    Music and Imagination    What does music mean, and how are those meanings communicated? Why do we value certain music (why, for example, are "rock" performers generally more admired than "pop" creations like the Spice Girls)? How did the rift between "popular" and classical music arise? What are the consequences of having a canon of musical masterworks? What are the motives for music criticism and analysis? An introduction to the ways musicians and scholars think about music, its uses, meanings, and values. Ability to read music notation is not required. Four credit hours.  A.    SAUNDERS

115j    History of Chamber Music    A history of music for string quartet offered by the members of the Portland String Quartet, artists-in-residence at Colby. Representative works by Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, and others will be studied in their cultural and historical contexts. Two credit hours.    KECSKEMETHY

118j    African Music    An introduction to the music of Africa, an integral and defining aspect of the culture of Africa. Hands-on experience with various instruments (e.g. drums, rattles, bells) as well as singing and dancing, to provide important insights into the cultures of Africa. Various African music themes will be explored through films and recordings. The course will culminate in a final performance by the class. Offered January, 2000, as Music 197. Three credit hours.  A.    BENISSAN

[132]    Topics in Music History    Attention to a single significant problem or issue in the study of music. Past topics have included the madrigal, music in Renaissance culture, American popular song, and individual composers (e.g. Mozart). Four credit hours.  A.    

[133]    American Music    A survey of American music from the time of the Pilgrims to the present, examining the cultivated traditions of art song, symphony, chamber music, and opera, as well as the vernacular heritage of hymnody, folk and popular song, African-American music (including the blues, ragtime, and jazz), Tin Pan Alley, Broadway musical, and rock. Includes close reading of selected works, study of selected composers (Billings, Ives, Joplin, Gershwin, and Ellington), and consideration of relationships between music and cultural context. Four credit hours.  A.    

153fs    Introduction to Music Theory    An introductory survey of the main aspects of music theory and practice, including rhythm, intervals, scales and keys, melody, harmony, and form. Some music reading, creative writing, and analytical studies in various styles and periods are included. Primarily for students not intending to major in music. Four credit hours.  A.    HELM

181f    Music Theory I    The first course in a sequence exploring the language of music. Just as learning a foreign language involves mastering a variety of skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing), becoming conversant in music requires the ability to hear, notate, analyze, compose, and perform. The course introduces the elements and structure of music, including intervals, scales, chords, melody, harmony, and counterpoint. It investigates how great composers have organized their musical thoughts, allows students to compose in a variety of styles, and introduces ear training and sight singing. Primarily for students with some prior musical training (see also Music 153). Four credit hours.  A.    SAUNDERS

182s    Music Theory II    A continuation of Music Theory I; an introduction to four-part writing is included. Primarily for music majors and others with prior training in music. Prerequisite: Music 181. Four credit hours.    CLIFTON

[183]    Modal and Tonal Counterpoint    A study of counterpoint--the composition of complementary musical lines--is essential for a thorough understanding of the origins of tonal harmonic practice and of why chords behave as they do. Indeed, no lesser figures than Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven, and Brahms recognized the importance of rigorous counterpoint studies for a musician's development and training. Students will learn the art of this "linear" musical thinking as they develop the aural and technical skills necessary to compose contrapuntal works in two, three, and four voices. Prerequisite: Music 181 (may be taken concurrently). Four credit hours.  A.    

184s    Musicianship    A course aimed at focusing students' musical sensibilities in both listening and performing contexts. Emphasis is on the development of aural skills, including recognition of increasingly complex musical patterns, sight-reading via both instrument and voice, and keyboard skills (including sight-reading of harmonic progressions and chorales, score-reading, figured-bass, and simple improvisation). Primarily for music majors; open to other qualified students with permission of the instructor. Prerequisite: Music 181. Four credit hours.  A.    HELM

191fjs    Lessons: Credit    Instruction in voice and instruments for qualified students. Regular offerings include violin, viola, violoncello, piano, voice, flute, guitar (classical, American traditional, and jazz), and selected brass and woodwind instruments. The student's performance in the course will be evaluated by faculty jury at the end of the semester. For additional information concerning fees, scheduling, and related matters, see the Music Department secretary. May be repeated for additional credit. Prerequisite: Music 153 or 181 (may be taken concurrently). One or two credit hours.    FACULTY

193fjs    Applied Music: Ensemble for credit    Credit for participation in musical ensembles sponsored by the Music Department. In addition to the large ensembles listed below, the department will undertake to form small ensemble groups as the need arises. Interested students should consult the department for additional information before registering. May be repeated for credit. Prerequisite: Music 153 or 181 for graded credit (may be taken concurrently) and permission of the department.

Chorale. The largest choral ensemble, its repertoire includes unaccompanied works of the 18th through 20th centuries by European and American composers as well as major works for chorus and orchestra. Tours and exchange concerts are arranged. Enrollment, open to all students, is through auditions early in the fall semester. MACHLIN

Collegium Musicum. A chamber ensemble, performing music from the Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque periods. Its core consists of a vocal group of about 18 singers to which instruments will be added as needed. Students with experience in recorder, classical guitar, and harpsichord are encouraged to enroll with permission of the instructor. Enrollment for singers is through auditions early in the fall semester. LINFIELD

Jazz Band. The Jazz Band presents a standard Big Band set up performing swing, Latin jazz, funk, soul, R & B, and bebop styles for concert, tour, and college functions. Brass, wind, and percussion players by audition. THOMAS

Orchestra. A symphony orchestra composed of students, local amateurs, and professionals performs four concerts per year of works spanning the entire range of major symphonic literature. Non-competitive auditions are held at the beginning of each semester. HALLSTROM

Wind Ensemble. The Wind Ensemble presents a concert each semester of works drawn from standard literature, symphonic works, movie music, marches, etc. Open to all interested brass, wind, and percussion players without audition. THOMAS One credit hour.    FACULTY

197f    Thinking about Popular Music    British and North American pop musicians from the late 1960s to the present (including the Beatles, Janis Joplin, Bruce Springsteen, Tori Amos, and the Pet Shop Boys) will be studied in the context of their audiences and the social surroundings of the music. Various ways of thinking, writing, and talking about popular music, including sociology, ethnography, analysis, criticism, biography, and fiction, will be employed Four credit hours.  A.    CLIFTON

197Jj    Jazz and Blues Improvisation    Basic jazz theory, with advanced concepts for veteran performers. Tune, scalar, modal and chord-based improvisation. How to interact with and arrange for a jazz group. Learn to imitate the greats in jazz through listening and transcribing. All instrumentalists and vocalists welcome. Three credit hours.  A.    THOMAS

213s    Introduction to Computer Music    An introduction to computer music materials and techniques, with emphasis on the role computers are currently playing in the redefinition of musical thought. Topics include the basics of MIDI (the Musical Instrument Digital Interface), various synthesis techniques, sampling, software systems for music generation, etc. Students will create small etudes designed to bring them into practical contact with the new musical horizons made possible by computer technology. Four credit hours.  Q.    HALLSTROM

232s    Jazz History    Jazz between 1900 and 1950: an examination of the music and the cultural and social forces that shaped it. Specific consideration to the development of various forms and styles (the blues, New Orleans jazz, stride piano, big band music, bop), analyses of the music of performers and composers (Louis Armstrong, Bessie Smith, Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis), and a study of the relationship between the vocal and instrumental forces that make the music. Prerequisite: Music 111 or 133 or 153 or 181. Four credit hours.  D.    MACHLIN

[236]    American Musical Theater in the 20th Century    A history of American musical theater in the 20th century, focusing on African-American shows of the pre-Broadway era and the jazz age; cabarets and revues; Broadway's golden years--the works of Berlin, Gershwin, Kern, and Porter; modernist trends, revivals, classics of the second golden age, and post-modernism on Broadway (Sondheim). Prerequisite: Music 111, 133, or 153. Four credit hours.  A.    

[238]    Burnt Biscuits and Green Onions: From Rhythm and Blues to Soul    An examination of African-American popular song during the rhythm-and-blues era, from its origins in the 1930s and '40s in the blues, small band "jump blues," and black swing bands to its transformation into soul in the mid-1960s. A focus on analysis of the musical styles of individual musicians and groups, as well as on a study of the way these styles analyze and comment on the culture(s) in which they are embedded. Prerequisite: Music 111, 133, or 153. Four credit hours.  A, D.    

241f    Music History I: From the Middle Ages Through the Renaissance to the Early Baroque Period    The first in a three-semester sequence for majors acquainting students with the history and literature of Western art music. An investigation of compositional concepts and sociological contexts of the earliest notated music from the Middle Ages (c. 800) to polyphony of the Renaissance (c. 1400 to c. 1600) and the emergence of opera as well as the rise of autonomous instrumental music in the 17th century. Consideration of music within a broader cultural context with its relation, for example, to theology, literature, and the visual arts. Prerequisite: Music 111 and 181. Four credit hours.    LINFIELD

242s    Music History II: From the High Baroque to the Dawn of Romanticism    The second in a three-course music history sequence for majors. The principal genres of the High Baroque, Classical, and Early Romantic periods (including opera, oratorio, cantata, song, sonata, string quartet, concerto, and symphony) as well as major composers (Bach, Handel, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, and Schubert). Theoretical issues and cultural context include music's relationship to literature and the visual arts, the nature of dramatic music, the rise of functional tonality, national styles, and aesthetics. Prerequisite: Music 111 and 181. Four credit hours.    SAUNDERS

[252]    Introduction to World Music    Cultures throughout the world have made their music in bewilderingly diverse ways. Listening to that diversity, students will develop and refine listening skills to enable them to approach world musics as a rich reserve of cultural knowledge; a particularly sonic way of knowing. Music cultures of Africa, India, indigenous America, Indonesia, and Japan are among those explored. Listening lab, selected readings, and writing projects; no knowledge of musical notation necessary. Four credit hours.  A, D.    

253f    Music and the Visual Image    A composition class examining the role of music in film, television, and commercials. Explores representative samples of music/video pairings; the ways in which the composer and visual director influence and manipulate the listener/audience; and relationships between visual and musical elements. Students compose music for a number of individual video projects using basic video editing technology and MIDI (the Musical Instrument Digital Interface) skills. Prerequisite: Music 182. Four credit hours.  A.    HALLSTROM

[255]    Music, Sexuality, and Gender in Opera    Representative operas from the 17th through the 20th centuries, among them Monteverdi's Coronation of Poppea, Handel's Orlando, Verdi's Otello, and Strauss's Salome or Berg's Lulu. Evaluation of the literary texts as sources for the libretti as well as analysis of the operas as a synthesis of libretti and music texts. Contemporary theoretical issues for a study of eroticism, homoeroticism, construction of gender, and history of the castrati. Prerequisite: Music 111 or 152. Four credit hours.  A, D.    

[256]    The Romantic Generation    A close study of mid-19th-century piano music, song, and chamber music, with special attention to the music of Schubert, Schumann, Chopin, and Liszt. The relationship of biography to compositional style, cultural context, performance practice as well as historical and analytical issues. Frequent in-class performances by faculty and the Portland String Quartet. Prerequisite: Music 181. Four credit hours.  A.    

[275]    Music and Art in Japanese Culture    Despite its high profile in the world, much about Japan remains largely misunderstood in the West. A study of the materials, forms, and social roles of four major genres of Japanese traditional music to posit an overall Japanese aesthetic and world view. The musically based interpretation of Japan and its people used as a means of developing an interdisciplinary "lens" through which to explore elements of Japanese literature, visual art, social customs, history, religious beliefs, and the Japanese language in both its spoken and written forms. Four credit hours.  A, D.    

[278]    Opera As Theater    A historical study of principles of opera production, with laboratory experience in staging scenes from several periods. Prerequisite: Permission of the instructor. Four credit hours.  A.    

281f    Music Theory III    Form and structure, harmony, and an introduction to chromatic harmony. Primarily for music majors. Prerequisite: Music 182. Four credit hours.    HALLSTROM

282s    Music Theory IV    Post-Romantic harmony and contemporary techniques, focusing on representative works of 20th-century composers. Primarily for music majors. Prerequisite: Music 281. Four credit hours.    CLIFTON

297f    Music and Culture: Paris in the Early 20th Century    The music of Francis Poulenc (1899-1963) will serve as a window through which to view broader cultural movements of early 20th-century Paris, such as cubism, dada, and surrealism. Prerequisite: MU111, 181. Four credit hours.    CLIFTON

341f    Music History III: Music of the 19th and 20th Centuries    The third in a three-course music history sequence for majors. A survey of the music of Western Europe and America beginning with Hector Berlioz and continuing to the present. Issues include the evolution of symphonic, operatic, solo piano, and solo song styles during the mid- and late-19th century and the subsequent impact these genres had on the wide-ranging stylistic, philosophical, and technological directions music has taken since the early 20th century. Prerequisite: Music 111 and 182. Four credit hours.    MACHLIN

[371]    Composition    Utilization of skills acquired through the study of theory, harmony, and musical analysis in the creation of small and large forms. Individual assignments will be made on the basis of each student's ability, training, and experience. Prerequisite: Music 182. Three credit hours.    

[374]    Conducting and Score Reading    Basic conducting techniques and their application to stylistic interpretation, designed to develop the student's ability to read, rehearse, and perform a full instrumental or choral score with fluency and insight. Analysis and preparation of scores from different eras in music history, involving basic principles of score reduction for keyboard rendition. Prerequisite: Music 281. Four credit hours.    

491f, 492s    Independent Study    Individual topics in areas where the student has demonstrated the interest and competence necessary for independent work. Primarily for senior music majors. Prerequisite: Permission of the department. One to four credit hours.    FACULTY

493s    Senior Seminar in Music: Fools and Clowns in Music and Culture    An examination of fools and clowns in music and musical theater. An investigation of visual and literary as well as musical expression inspired by these funny, bawdy, crude, and often wise characters. The musical repertory will span from the beginnings of the commedia dell'arte in the 16th century to modern times. Prerequisite: Senior standing as a music major or minor. Four credit hours.    LINFIELD