COURSE OFFERINGS
Last modified: Thursday, 24-Apr-2003 04:00:57 EDT

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. Jan Plan cost: $210. 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

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

[117]    Music and the Divine    Recent and classic scholarship in the fields of quantum physics and chaos theory, Eastern and Western theologies and myths, literary, cultural, and music theory, and gender studies (among others) will be used as vehicles to hear how multi-dimensional and non-linear realities describe, influence, and determine how we hear and make music. Lectures, discussions and student projects will all consider the "quantum-theological" certainty that, like charged electrons or Catholic bread and wine, musical things and thoughts too can be simultaneously here and there, this and that, before and after. Prerequisite: Music 182. Four credit hours..    

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

[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.    GRIVES

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..    NUSS

183f    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: Ability to read music. Four credit hours.  A.    NUSS

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

191fs    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

193fs    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

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

[232]    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.    

[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.    

241s    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

242f    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

252s    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.    NUSS

[253]    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 181. Four credit hours.  A.    

[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.    

[257]    The Art of Song Composition    The musical grammar and mechanics of some famous examples from the Western classical and contemporary song literature will serve as the means for exploring and unraveling some of the mysteries of song composition. Students will become proficient in setting text, composing convincing melodies and idiomatic keyboard accompaniments, and producing professional quality, computer-generated piano-vocal scores of their work. Prerequisite: Music 182. Four credit hours.  A.    

258s    In Search of Bach    An examination of Johann Sebastian Bach's life and works with special attention to the many genres in which he worked--orchestral music, cantatas, keyboard music, and dramatic works. We will listen carefully to this music and uncover his ingenious compositional tricks. Although Bach supposedly led an uneventful life, we will consider his music in the context of his fascinating cultural moment. Finally, we will assess his influence on subsequent composers, from Mozart to The Beatles. Four credit hours.  A.    LINFIELD

271f    Music and Contemplative Practice    The relationships between specific types of contemplative practice (Rinzai Zen meditation (zazen), hatha yoga, Hindu mantra chanting and asceticism, Greek Orthodox "psychosomatic prayer", etc.) and the musics and theologies of the cultures in which they are practiced. Special attention will also be given to explorations of how a knowledge of and participation in these contemplative practices and traditions may enhance and inform hearings of whatever music we are about most. Four credit hours..    NUSS

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..    NUSS

[341]    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..    

358s    Imagining Music    An introduction to recent trends in the disciplines of musicology and music theory through reflections on the ways that we think about and use music. Topics include theories of musical meaning (what music means, and how such meanings are communicated); absolute vs. constructed meanings (fixed or immutable vs. created uniquely by each listener); referentialism vs. formalism (music as representing objects, emotions, or ideas in the material world vs. music as a closed, self-referential system); music's ontological status (its ways of existing; for example, can music can exist apart from notation and performance?); music as a universal language; and musical values (including differences between music of diverse styles and cultures). Prerequisite: Music 182 or a 200-level music course. Four credit hours.  A.    SAUNDERS

[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

493f    Seminar: The Musical Avant garde    An examination of a wide range of post-World War II composers, their diverse (and often quirky) compositional approaches, and their relationship to the musical mainstream. Where possible, connections will be made with parallel efforts in other arts. Prerequisite: Senior standing as a music major or minor. Four credit hours..    HALLSTROM