Musicology

MUCO 120: Introduction to Jazz History

An exploration of the musical development and cultural impact of jazz from its origins to the present for students not majoring in music. Lectures, films, and readings provide historical details. Does not satisfy course requirements for any music major.

MUCO 133: Perspectives on Genius: The life and musical impact of Beethoven

Ludwig van Beethoven, arguably one of the most famous composers of all time, is a compelling and fascinating figure in classical music. He occupies a central position as the architect of musical Romanticism and his influence continues today. In additions to studying his music from the perspective of his own time, we will discuss his extraordinary creative personality and the reception of his music by subsequent composers and listeners. A number of concerts and outside visits will be organized, and students will be encoursaged to attend relevant performances in London, for which they will be prepared in class. The course will be general in scope, and no prior musical knowledge will be expected. The course does not satisfy requirements for any music major. Not open to students who have received or need to receive credit for MUCO 433.

MUCO 160: Advance of the American Musical

A study of this uniquely American theatrical form as it develops in response to our culture throughout the 20th century and into the 21st. Ability to read music helpful, but not required.

MUCO 191: Directed Study in Musicology

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.

MUCO 210: Topics in Musicology for the Non-Major

This course will enable non-music majors to engage with the discipline of music history. May be repeated when topic is different. Does not satisfy course requirements for any music major.

Topic for Fall 2020: Music and the Great War
World War I killed millions and destroyed empires while demonstrating the gruesome potential of modern, mechanized warfare. We will look at the roles music played during the Great War and explore ways the conflict affected the creation and performance of music of all types, from the concert hall and the home front to the trenches. By looking back through the lens of the 21st century, we will consider how the music was originally created and experienced and how musical meaning and perception can change due to differing contexts and perspectives.
Topic for Fall 2020: The Rise of Rock and Roll
Growing out of the need for the young generation to have a voice separate from the influence of their parents, Rock-and-Roll will be studied from its genesis in the mid-50s, combining influences from R&B, Country, and Pop, through the variety of sub-genres in the 60s to the punk and disco movements in the 70s that attempted to return R/R to its simpler origins and functions. Movers and shakers who shaped the growth and acceptance of R/R as a popular artistic culture as well as the multitude of social, political, and racial challenges that influenced popular music will be the basis of discussions in class. Prerequisite sophomore standing.

MUCO 212: Introduction to Musicologies II

This course is the second in a two-term sequence that takes an interdisciplinary approach to the study of music, drawing upon fields such as ethnomusicology, music history, popular music studies, sound studies, cultural studies, music hermeneutics, gender studies, critical race theory, post-colonial studies, historiography and performance studies. We will explore musical styles, practices, functions, meanings and values in cross-cultural and transhistorical contexts. We will develop--and think critically about--the power of engaging actively, intensively and creatively with questions, ideas and sources.

MUCO 223: Music & Mystical Experience

What is mystical experience? And how does music evoke, induce, or otherwise bring us into relation with it? These questions motivate a cross-cultural, multi-disciplinary, and diachronic exploration of the ways in which human beings experience the numinous through music. In the spirit of its title, the course also introduces specific contemplative practices in order to cultivate qualities of mind conducive to contemplative engagement with music and sound. Not open to students who have received, or need to receive, credit for MUCO 423.

MUCO 232: Signifying Identity: The Semiotics of Embodying Musical Genre Affiliations

The exploration of how people embody and display their identities as they relate to musical genres. From Doc Martens to zoot suits, body mod to makeup, we will learn about the semiotics of musical genre affiliations, paying attention to how embodied expressions of affiliation intersect with different aspects of identities such as ethnicity, queerness, or race. Class includes discussions, projects, and speakers.

MUCO 391: Directed Study in Musicology

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.

MUCO 399: Independent Study in Musicology

Students considering an honors project should register for independent study for one or more terms.

MUCO 421: Music and Gender

This course will explore the relationship between music and gender in the Western world from the Middle Ages to the present. Considering classical and popular music, including music videos and film, as well as writings about gender and music, we will explore music's role as a reflection of, reaction to, and active participant in gender construction.

MUCO 423: Music and Mystical Experience

What is mystical experience? And how does music evoke, induce, or otherwise bring us into relation with it? These questions motivate a cross-cultural, multi-disciplinary, and diachronic exploration of the ways in which human beings experience the numinous through music. Readings from contemporary and historical sources in eastern and western philosophy, psychology, and the history and theory of music provide intellectual and aesthetic contexts in which to engage with a variety of musical practices and traditions. In the spirit of its title, the course also requires a commitment to specific contemplative practices—not bound to any particular belief system—that are introduced in an effort to cultivate qualities of mind conducive to contemplative engagement with a work of music or the experience of sound. Not open to students who have received credit, or need to receive credit, for MUCO 223.

MUCO 433: Perspectives on Genius: The life and musical impact of Beethoven

Ludwig van Beethoven, arguably one of the most famous composers of all time, is a compelling and fascinating figure in classical music. He occupies a central position as the architect of musical Romanticism and his influence continues today. In additions to studying his music from the perspective of his own time, we will discuss his extraordinary creative personality and the reception of his music by subsequent composers and listeners. A number of concerts and outside visits will be organized, and students will be encoursaged to attend relevant performances in London, for which they will be prepared in class. This course is a seminar involving independent research. Not open to students who have received credit for MUCO 133.

MUCO 440: Topics in Musicology: Life and Works

A study of a composer’s career, emphasizing the relationship between composer and society. Topics in this series vary from year to year. May be repeated when topic is different.

MUCO 450: Topics in Musicology: Genre History

An examination of the historical development of a single genre, stressing the effects of societal changes. Topics in this series vary from year to year. May be repeated when topic is different.

Topic for Fall 2020: A History of Music Revivals
This course will examine when, where, how and why musicians have revived musical works and practices from the period roughly encompassing 800-1750 AD. In addition to studying early musicking moments and movements, students will explore issues of performance practice and presentation by performing early musical works of their own choosing.

Topic for Fall 2020: Music and Disability
In this course we will pursue the multifaceted relationship between music and conceptions, constructions, and experiences of disability. Grounded in the field of Disability Studies, our exploration will involve performers, composers, and hearers; multiple musical genres, traditions, and practices; and issues of meaning, value, and difference. We will consider music’s power to reflect and configure bodies, attitudes, and ideas—to limit, but also to provide access to extraordinary possibilities.

Topic for Winter 2021: Cultural Histories of Sound Recordings
In this course we will examine the relationships of technologies of recorded sound to practices of composing, performing, preserving, archiving, consuming, and listening to music. Topics include: early ethnographic recording projects; the early history of the record industry; the use of historical recordings in musicological research and performance studies; magnetic tape as a medium of composition; easy listening and background music; multitrack recording and other techniques of studio recording; the cultural history of the long-playing record; the preservation and archiving of tape music compositions; mixtapes and mashups; sampling; and turntablism.

Topic for Spring 2021: Music and Memory
An exploration of the diverse ways that musical creation, practice, and reception are bound up with memory. We will examine music and ideas from the Middle Ages to the present, focusing on the ways music can function as, be affected by, create, invoke, and interrogate memory.

Topic for Spring 2021: Authenticity and Artifice in Popular Music
In this course we will explore topics related to authenticity and artifice in past and present genres of popular music in the U.S. and around the world, focusing on sound recordings and audiovisual media such as music videos and filmed concerts. We will examine concepts and constructions of sincerity, originality, fidelity, and superficiality in folk, blues, country, singer-songwriter, rock, disco, punk, metal, grunge, hip hop, electronica, and indie pop. Course is writing intensive.

MUCO 452: History of the Wind Band

This course will be an examination of the history and development of the wind band as an artistic medium, focusing on repertoire and instrumentation development and cultural influences. The growth of the modern concert wind ensemble will be studied as a part of the evolution beginning with Gabrieli and proceeding through classical, romantic, and contemporary musical trends.

MUCO 455: Jazz History

A study of the contributions of select jazz artists through analysis of recordings, historical films, solo transcriptions, scores, and readings from texts.

MUCO 470: Topics in Ethnomusicology - Regions

An examination of music of a particular geographic region or diasporic group. Topics and prerequisites may vary from year to year. May be repeated when topic is different.

Topic for Fall 2019: Music of India
We will explore aspects of North and South Indian classical musics and dance in this course, and touch on folk and popular musics as well. Students will become familiar with Indian tuning systems, rhythmic patterns, formal structures, and performance practices. We will examine music’s role in society in India as well as among diasporic populations, and investigate music’s connections to other areas of artistic, social, spiritual, and political life.

MUCO 490: Topics in Ethnomusicology - Issues

An examination of a particular issue in ethnomusicological study. Topics and prerequisites may vary from year to year. May be repeated for credit when topic is different.

MUCO 493: Music and Gender in Cross-Cultural Perspective

This course examines the relationship between the constructions of gender identities and music performance and practice, and looks at history and development of approaches, theories, and studies regarding this relationship. Each week contains theoretical readings from gender studies, women’s studies, or feminist scholarship as well as ethnomusicological case studies from a variety of locations around the world.

MUCO 495: Methods, Theories, and Debates in Ethnomusicology

This course will cover the history of the field of ethnomusicology, key debates, influential scholars, and significant case studies. Important concepts will include fieldwork methods, organology (the study of musical instruments), tuning systems, transcription, and issues in applied ethnomusicology. This course will be particularly helpful to students considering graduate work in ethnomusicology.

MUCO 591: Directed Study in Musicology

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.

MUCO 599: Independent Study in Musicology

Students considering an honors project should register for independent study for one or more terms.

MUCO 691: Directed Study in Musicology

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.