Course Descriptions

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Music
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rhest@macalester.edu

Music

MUSI 72 - African Music Ensemble

MUSI 73 - African Music Ensemble

MUSI 74 - Macalester Concert Choir

MUSI 75 - Macalester Choir

MUSI 76 - Highland Camerata

MUSI 77 - Highland Camerata

MUSI 80 - Mac Jazz Band

MUSI 81 - Mac Jazz Band

MUSI 82 - Jazz/Popular Music Combos

Jazz and Popular Music Combos are open to all who wish to concentrate on improvisation and original music. The combos present two concerts each year and record at a professional studio spring semester.

MUSI 83 - Jazz/Popular Music Combos

MUSI 84 - Pipe Band

MUSI 85 - Pipe Band

MUSI 86 - Chamber Ensemble

MUSI 87 - Chamber Ensemble

MUSI 88 - Orchestra

MUSI 89 - Orchestra

MUSI 90 - Mac Early Music Ensemble

MUSI 91 - Mac Early Music Ensemble

MUSI 92 - Other Ensembles

MUSI 93 - Other Ensembles

MUSI 94 - Private Studio Instruction

MUSI 95 - Private Studio Instruction

MUSI 96 - Piano for Proficiency

MUSI 97 - Piano for Proficiency

MUSI 99 - Piano Proficiency Exam

MUSI 110 - Music Appreciation

Focuses on listening to music and making sense of what we hear. Explores diverse musical styles and cultures with an emphasis on concert music of the western world, placing the music within cultural-historical frameworks. Spring semester.

MUSI 111 - World Music

A study of musical cultures from around the world. The place of music within the larger context of world cultures. Fall semester

MUSI 112 - Basic Musicianship

Basic elements of music including scales, intervals, basic music reading and writing skills, ear training and some keyboard. The course is especially designed for the general student and will operate at a slower pace than Theory I. Spring semester.

MUSI 113 - Theory I

Pitch, meters, scales, modes, keys, intervals, triads and seventh chords, elementary diatonic harmony, composition of melody and bass lines; melodic and rhythmic dictation and solfeggio; elementary keyboard skills. Students should already be proficient at reading music. Three lectures and one ear training/keyboard lab per week. Fall semester.

MUSI 114 - Theory II

THEORY II Continuation of written harmony through extended alteration of tertian harmony and modulation; analysis and composition of simple musical forms; continuation of dictation and solfeggio; keyboard harmony. Three lectures and one ear training/keyboard lab per week. Spring semester.

MUSI 131 - African Music

Study of music in various African traditions within a social and historical context. Interrelationships between music and society (function, context, structure, gender roles, political considerations). Instruments, life-cycle rites, genres, musical organizations, traditional musicians, contemporary popular music. Fall semester.

MUSI 153 - Electronic Music

Electronic music composition explores the art of creating experimental sound compositions using analog and digital technology. Although we will survey the historical development of electronic music, the emphasis of the classis on composition, including multi-media and experimental work. The class format includes listening, discussion, lab sessions and a final concert showcasing works created throughout the semester. Enrollment limited to 13 to allow each student sufficient lab time.

MUSI 180 - Music, Race, and Ethnicity

This course examines issues of race and ethnicity in the history and performance of music across world cultures. Students develop an awareness of how racial and ethnic processes are ingrained in the production and consumption of musical sound. Assignments include critical listening, reading, class discussion, and writing projects. No prerequisite. Previous knowledge of musical instrument or notation is not assumed. Alternate years.

MUSI 194 - Topics Course

Varies by semester. Consult the department or class schedule for current listing.

MUSI 213 - Theory III, Form and Analysis

Analysis of musical forms and musical development techniques with emphasis on music of the common practice period; advanced harmonic ear training. Fall semester.

MUSI 294 - Topics Course

Varies by semester. Consult the department or class schedule for current listing.

MUSI 314 - Theory IV, Contemporary Theory and Literature

Survey of contemporary music and modern compositional techniques with emphasis on analytical skills. Spring semester.

MUSI 342 - Medieval to Mozart

This course traces the development of Western art music from its beginnings in the monophonic chant of early Christianity, through the development of polyphonic vocal genres in the Renaissance (mass, motet, madrigal), to the emergence of opera in Italy around 1600 and the stylistic revolution that we now call the Baroque (including the musical life of the extravagant court of France's Louis XIV and Johann Sebastian Bach's synthesis of multi-national Baroque styles), to the multi-movement instrumental works and operatic genres of the later Baroque and Classical styles. Its central aims are: 1) to understand the place of music in social and cultural life in these particular times and places, 2) to gain an appreciation of the musical style and rhetorical devices that characterize each of the periods we study, and 3) to develop students' abilities in communicating, in writing and the spoken word, what they learned about this music and the culture in which it was produced. Course activities will include lectures, musical analyses, performances, and discussion of assigned listening and reading. Lectures will introduce key terms and concepts and will address broader concerns of social-cultural life. In-class analysis and performance will lead to a more detailed understanding of key works. Examinations will test students' retention of course listening and lecture/reading material. The course assumes no historical knowledge of the periods in question. However, basic skills in score reading and musical analysis are necessary in order to get the most possible out of it. Fall semester.

MUSI 343 - Western Music of the 19th Century

Study and analysis of music written from the late 18th to the 20th century focusing on the stylistic shift from classicism to romanticism to modernism, including music from Beethoven to Mahler. Spring semester.

MUSI 350 - American Pop, Rockabilly, and Soul, 1954-64

This course provides an in-depth look at one crucial period in American popular-music history, addressing in particular the roles that racial categories played in the production, dissemination, and reception of music in three dominant streams within the culture of American popular music. Topics for close study will include: Sam Philips's practices of recording of black and white musicians for Sun Studios in Memphis during the 1950s; the early "crossover" hits of such recording arts as Chuck Berry and Elvis Presley; the doo wop repertory and theories of whiteness; issues of race, gender, and sexuality in the music of the "girl groups"; and a comparison of white-owned Stax Records and black-owned Motown in the early-mid 1960s. The course will move from a broad overview of the era at the beginning of the semester, through a discussion of conceptual, critical, and methodological issues, and into more detailed case studies of various recording artists, institutions, and repertories. The course aims to examine ways in which social and historical constructions of race operated on many levels, from the national industry (e.g., the Billboard charts), to regional and local scenes (e.g., the studio and "space/place" theory), to performative, technological, and aesthetic realms that intersect directly with issues of subjectivity and identity. This course is intended for upper-level majors and minors in Music and American Studies. It is designated as a seminar and not a lecture course; students will be responsible for leading class on a regular basis, coming prepared with handouts and sets of questions/topics for discussion. Generally offered alternate years.

MUSI 361 - Composition

Instruction in composition starting with exercises in motific and harmonic manipulation of materials, and leading to directed composition for available performers. Meetings will be as a group and as individuals. Composers will have at least two works performed on scheduled evening concerts. Fall semester.

MUSI 370 - Conducting

Emphasizes basic techniques, including beat patterns, baton techniques, score preparation and rehearsal techniques. Alternate years.

MUSI 394 - Topics Course

Varies by semester. Consult the department or class schedule for current listing.

MUSI 425 - Seminar in Composers/Genres

Intended for upper-level majors and minors in Music, this course provides the opportunity for in-depth study of the works of a single composer, or of several works within a given genre or historical era. Topics will change regularly, and might include such examples as Beethove, Shostakovich, Verdi, Twentieth-Century Opera, Musical Nationalism, and Modernism. In addition to close analysis of significant works, course readings from the from the musicological literature will also introduce students to both classic and current scholarship in these topics. Skills in musical analysis are a must for this course. This course may be taken twice and counted both times toward the Music major or minor if the topic is different. Alternate years.

MUSI 488 - Senior Project

MUSI 494 - Topics Course

Varies by semester. Consult the department or class schedule for current listing.

MUSI 601 - Tutorial

Tutorials are available for advanced study. Typical areas include counterpoint, composition, advanced choral or instrumental conducting, orchestration, and research. See the Independent Study section of this catalog. Every semester.