Music Course Descriptions

In this course we will explore multiple ways of conceptualizing and experiencing music. We will examine many elements of different musickings—such as time, rhythm, structure, pitch, tuning, and timbre—in specific contexts across different cultures, communities, traditions, and practices. We will explore ways of listening, embodying, analyzing, valuing, and making meaning in relation to music. In addition to reading, writing, discussion, and reflection, experiential learning will be a key component of this course. Students will participate in regular musicking workshops led by guest faculty, from a wide array of music practices, such as dance, deep listening, Balinese gamelan, and improvisation. We will explore what music can be and how it can matter.

"How to Practice" is a one credit, S/U, one hour once a week seminar course for students who regularly practice a musical instrument (including voice). Visiting "practitioners" will teach applicable practice methods, and lectures on managing motivation, practice in group and individual formats, and self-compassion in the practice room . Students will be graded on attendance, and participation in integrating weekly concepts into their daily practice.

Discover music therapy's transformative power by delving into its history, professional requirements, and diverse clinical applications. Gain hands-on experience in therapeutic treatments spanning physical, cognitive, emotional, psychological, and social domains. Designed (?) for those exploring music therapy as a potential career.

In this course we will explore musical concerts from multiple perspectives as we consider concert practices, cultures, structures, meanings, and significances. We will touch on concert practices in different genres, historical moments, and global contexts, with a special focus on the genres and concert cultures we experience here at Lawrence. In addition to reading, writing, discussion, and reflection, experiential learning will be a key component of this course. Students will attend Lawrence concerts and reflect on and with them.

In this hands-on studio course, we will discover what it means to actively and deeply listen, and how expansive listening encourages one's creative impulse. using the works of Pauline Oliveros, John Cage, John Muir and others as a starting point, we will explore the vast yet nuanced world of sound, deep listening, and the creative act. Open to all creative explorers.

Groove, entrainment flow; all various descriptions for how individuals and groups find conditions for optimal performance in a wide variety of endeavors. This seminar, utilizing experts, discussion, and hands-on experiences , will explore a wide range of activities including music, meditation, athletics, and other arenas, all of which benefit from intentional efforts to be "in the groove." Accessible and useful to students of all majors and backgrounds.

This immersive, experiential topics course will explore specific musical topics through a variety of approaches and methodologies. Critical listening and analysis of musical works, class visits from culture bearers, research and class readings, along with song writing, composing, improvisation, performing, and recording will all play a part in the exploration of a particular music tradition. Learning will be assessed through active participation, written assignments, creative assignments and a final project. May be repeated when topic is different.

Using various songwriting styles, students will explore their musical artistry through prompts, artistic ideas and creative explorations. By taking some time and space to honor their creativity, students will be able to write songs that deepen their relationship to themselves and the world around them. Students will work as individuals or in small groups. All students are welcome and no previous experience needed.

Using various American Roots traditions as models, students will explore their own musical roots and use their musical histories as inspirations to collaboratively create new songs. This is a course that focuses on and celebrates the process of collaborative creativity through songwriting, The course culminates in the professional recording and producing of the new songs the class creates. No previous experience needed. All are welcome.

Fundamentals of audio recording, providing a basic knowledge of essential recording theory, skills, and techniques.

This class will introduce students to the skills, knowledge, and passion required for a career in arts management and non-profit arts leadership. Lectures, projects, and presentations will address topics including programming, marketing, fundraising, finance, crisis management, arts advocacy, community engagement, and board management. Field trips to local arts organizations and visits from arts professionals will provide networking opportunities and enable students to explore career paths. Students will engage with the challenges facing the arts industry, including the urgent need to diversify organizations and programming and to increase audiences and support for the arts.

A tutorial is a primarily student-driven course of study undertaken by an individual student or small group of students in collaboration with one or more faculty members. The primary goal of a tutorial is expansion, refinement, and synthesis of knowledge and abilities through in-depth exploration of a specific topic. Tutorials supplement regular course offerings, especially in the junior and senior years, by extending the curriculum in depth or breadth according to the intersecting interests of students and faculty members. A tutorial may be undertaken to satisfy personal academic interest, to prepare for advanced or graduate study, or to lay the groundwork for an independent study, senior experience, or honors project. PREREQUISITES: Student Initiated Course Form Required for Registration

Directed study follows a syllabus set primarily by the instructor to meet the needs or interests of an individual student or small group of students. The main goal of directed study is knowledge or skill acquisition, not research or creative work. PREREQUISITES: Student Initiated Course Form is Required for Registration.

Students considering an honors project should register for independent study for one or more terms. PREREQUISITES: Student Initiated Course Form is Required for Registration

This is a continuation of MUSI 110. Songwriting. Using various songwriting styles as inspiration, students will explore their own musical artistry through various creative prompts, artistic ideas and creative explorations. This course deepens the skills of individual and small group songwriting built in MUSI 110. Our class will record and/or perform the songs we create over the course of the term. PREREQUISITES: MUSI 110 Songwriting I or permission of instructor

This is a continuation of MUSI 111, Collaborative Songwriting. Using various American Roots traditions as models, this course expands and deepens the skills of collaborative songwriting built in MUSI 111. The art of production will be a central focus of this class. The course culminates in the professional recording and production of the new songs the class creates. PREREQUISITES: MUSI 111 Collaborative Songwriting or Permission of Instructor

This course explores acoustic concepts in application to the manipulation of sound. Physical principles of sound are examined with activities, readings, and discussions. Each topic is paired with a learning experience that relates the concept to the act of creating and modifying sound in the physical world. There are no prerequisites for this course.

Study of temporal, timbral, and dynamic signal processing, digital audio editing and mixing techniques. PREREQUISITES: MUSI 120 or MUEP 120 and instructor approval

A broad introduction to entrepreneurship for musicians, dancers, thespians, visual artists, and other interested students. This course aspires to give students the tools and the mindset to become agents of innovative, entrepreneurial change, social entrepreneurs or entrepreneurial artists. After presenting a social science view of entrepreneurship, the course will feature faculty from a variety of disciplines as well as visiting entrepreneurs. This is a project-oriented course with extensive speaking that will challenge convention, push you to new realms of creative thought, and stretch the boundaries of collaborative learning. Are you ready to unleash the power of the liberal arts?

The Alexander Movement Technique (AMT) is an educational method for finding easier use of self in daily activity. The technique offers us insight into our own mental processes and perceptions of our body’s structure, and allows us to replace faulty habits with coordinated movement. PREREQUISITES: Instructor approval is required. The instructor will talk with each student about the hands-on aspects of the technique and the code of ethics that governs the work.

The course will highlight how sensory and motor systems function from the practical perspective of neural anatomy and how we, through the application of cognitive psychology and perceptual-motor skills may optimize our performance in an ideal performing state. Required for the vocal pedagogy minor, but relevant for both vocal and instrumental majors. PREREQUISITES: Junior standing

A more specialized and intensive focus on a specific element or practice related to songwriting. Students will hone a distinct skill or creative area established in MUSI 110 and will integrate their learning into their artistic and musical vision. May be repeated when the topic is different.

Studio-based exploration of audio mastering techniques, to include: corrective equalization, limiting, metadata generation, and master file creation. Critical listening exercises to develop a production-based paradigm for analyzing audio and thinking critically to create competitive audio files in multiple genres. PREREQUISITES: MUSI 220 or MUEP 220 and instructor approval

A tutorial is a primarily student-driven course of study undertaken by an individual student or small group of students in collaboration with one or more faculty members. The primary goal of a tutorial is expansion, refinement, and synthesis of knowledge and abilities through in-depth exploration of a specific topic. Tutorials supplement regular course offerings, especially in the junior and senior years, by extending the curriculum in depth or breadth according to the intersecting interests of students and faculty members. A tutorial may be undertaken to satisfy personal academic interest, to prepare for advanced or graduate study, or to lay the groundwork for an independent study, senior experience, or honors project. PREREQUISITES: Student Initiated Course From Required for Registration

Directed study follows a syllabus set primarily by the instructor to meet the needs or interests of an individual student or small group of students. The main goal of directed study is knowledge or skill acquisition, not research or creative work. PREREQUISITES: Student Initiated Course Form is Required for Registration.

An experience-based project in music developed in consultation with a designated supervisor and a conservatory faculty member, comprising a work component and an academic component. The academic component of the internship, carried out under the supervision of the faculty member, may include readings related to the substance of the internship, discussions with the faculty member, and a written report or other culminating project appropriate to the discipline. PREREQUISITES: To register student must complete the Student Initiated Course Form with consultation of supervising instructor

Students considering an honors project should register for independent study for one or more terms. PREREQUISITES: Student Initiated Course Form is Required for Registration

In this course, Bachelor of Arts students majoring in music will come together in their final year of their studies to share, listen, discuss, and reflect on their work for the music major, including the cohesion and potentialities of their chosen pathways through the major and their senior experience projects. Additional activities will include the collaborative exploration of topics related to music’s world-making power.

This studio-style class applies Alexander Movement Technique (AMT) to performance broadly defined as an activity completed for an audience. Students will work on performance and rehearsal/practice techniques with hands-on guidance from the teacher and will also serve as trained observers for their colleagues. May be taken for 3 or 6 units. PREREQUISITES: THAR 310

For this advanced seminar on songwriting, students will do independent work on a project and come together weekly for sharing and interaction and feedback. PREREQUISITES: MUSI 110 or permission of instructor

In this course we will explore the multiplicities, ambiguities, and potentialities of video game music. We will examine functions of music, ways of listening, and sites and processes of meaning making. Through multiple forms of interactive practice, we will pursue music's entanglements with the many interactivities and pleasures of video game play and the porous boundaries between realities, identities, feeling, embodiments, and imagination. We will explore issues of identity and representation with conscious awareness of ways of knowing related to analysis and experience, especially as connected to systems of power. We will also examine composition processes and components of video game music fandom. PREREQUISITES: Sophomore standing

A tutorial is a primarily student-driven course of study undertaken by an individual student or small group of students in collaboration with one or more faculty members. The primary goal of a tutorial is expansion, refinement, and synthesis of knowledge and abilities through in-depth exploration of a specific topic. Tutorials supplement regular course offerings, especially in the junior and senior years, by extending the curriculum in depth or breadth according to the intersecting interests of students and faculty members. A tutorial may be undertaken to satisfy personal academic interest, to prepare for advanced or graduate study, or to lay the groundwork for an independent study, senior experience, or honors project. PREREQUISITES: Student Initiated Course Form required for Registration.

Directed study follows a syllabus set primarily by the instructor to meet the needs or interests of an individual student or small group of students. The main goal of directed study is knowledge or skill acquisition, not research or creative work. PREREQUISITES: Student Initiated Course Form Required for Registration

Students considering an honors project should register for independent study for one or more terms. PREREQUISITES: Student Initiated Course Form Required for Registration

A tutorial is a primarily student-driven course of study undertaken by an individual student or small group of students in collaboration with one or more faculty members. The primary goal of a tutorial is expansion, refinement, and synthesis of knowledge and abilities through in-depth exploration of a specific topic. Tutorials supplement regular course offerings, especially in the junior and senior years, by extending the curriculum in depth or breadth according to the intersecting interests of students and faculty members. A tutorial may be undertaken to satisfy personal academic interest, to prepare for advanced or graduate study, or to lay the groundwork for an independent study, senior experience, or honors project. PREREQUISITES: Student Initiated Course Form Required for Registration.

Directed study follows a syllabus set primarily by the instructor to meet the needs or interests of an individual student or small group of students. The main goal of directed study is knowledge or skill acquisition, not research or creative work. PREREQUISITES: Student Initiated Course Form Required for Registration