Class Schedules

This course surveys traditional, folk, and pop genres from major musical traditions in Africa, Asia, the Americas, Europe, and the Middle East. We approach music as both aesthetic and social processes, and explore the relationship between music making and other domains of human experience. Students will develop basic skills in critical listening, analysis, and writing about music. Course readings and audiovisual examples are designed primarily for non-music majors or minors. Previous knowledge of musical instrument or notation is not required.

General Education Requirements:
Writing WA
Internationalism

Distribution Requirements:
Fine arts

Course Materials

In this course, students will learn the basics of Western staff notation and explore melody, harmony, texture, and rhythm & meter in European classical music, as well as some other tonal genres, including pop, rock, and folk. Students will apply knowledge in written and online exercises, analysis activities, and music composition. In addition, students will learn how to convert sound into notation and notation into sound through ear training activities, including aural exercises, dictation, and sight singing.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Fine arts

Course Materials

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 class is 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.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Fine arts

Course Materials

In this course, students will (1) learn and improve songwriting skills, with equal emphasis on lyrics and musical content, (2) embrace vulnerability and risk taking in their creative practice, (3) develop a consistent, daily practice of creative engagement, (4) engage with the local music community in the Twin Cities, and (5) become more familiar with music business practices related to songwriting. This course is run as a practical, hands-on workshop where all participants take turns sharing and critiquing each other's creative work, in a welcoming and encouraging environment. Experience needed to succeed in the class includes the ability to sing and play an accompanying instrument, such as guitar, ukulele, or piano. Prerequisite(s): Permission of instructor.

General Education Requirements:
Writing WC

Distribution Requirements:
Fine arts

Course Materials

This course will provide the student with an introduction to the creative and technical process of sound design in contemporary theater. Through lecture, demonstration, and projects, students will learn the aesthetic of sound design, the basic science of sound, audio software, and the process of collaboration. Students will acquire the skills to analyze and research a script; to edit, manipulate, and program sound files; and to present and defend design projects.

General Education Requirements:
Quantitative Thinking Q1

Distribution Requirements:
Fine arts

Course Materials

What is involved in claims that music, even music without words, can "express" things, "mean" things, be "about" things? Where did the desire to conceive of music as representation come from, when and where did it emerge historically, and what political, ideological, and aesthetic paradigms does such an idea reflect, reinforce, or reject? In this course, we will trace music's developing sense of autonomy, its changing relationship with words and its eventual freedom from them, from the Middle Ages through the late eighteenth century. We will look closely into musical works in the primary genres of European music in the Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, and Classical eras: mass, motet, madrigal, variation, suite, opera, concerto, symphony. As such, we will engage with modal and tonal repertories, as well as music that exists in the space in between those fixed categories. Course readings in musicology, critical theory, and history will provide a framework for understanding how these repertories responded to changes in intellectual and political life, bringing about profound transformations in what people (composers and performers, patrons and audiences, critics and philosophers) believed music was for and what it could do, what it could say without saying. If in the European Medieval imagination music was fundamentally an adornment of the Word, by the end of the eighteenth century, its powers of signification had developed to the point where commentators would feel justified in claiming that some pieces of music were "about music itself." In this course, we trace that story, in sounds and in words. Prerequisite(s): MUSI 113 or permission of instructor.

General Education Requirements:
Writing WA

Distribution Requirements:
Fine arts

Course Materials

This advanced composition course (limited enrollment) explores the transformation of musical ideas into sound. Through lectures, workshops, and individual lessons, students will compose for both Western and Eastern instruments, engage with performers, and refine their artistic voice. Students will expand their compositional techniques across diverse traditions, experiment with extended techniques and timbral possibilities, collaborate with performers to bring music to life, receive individualized mentorship tailored to their creative vision, and present work in a final performance and recording.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Fine arts

Course Materials

In this course, we will combine the close study of Ludwig van Beethoven’s late works, composed two hundred years ago, with the close reading of contemporary critical writing about this music. The course intends to deepen students’ experience with Beethoven’s music and provide an introduction to the discipline of critical musicology. The musical works we will examine include piano sonatas, string quartets, symphonies, and a setting of the Catholic (Latin) Mass. Our reading will consider these works from aesthetic, phenomenological, ethical, theological, and other critical perspectives. Our questions will include: Does this music put forth a vision of a unified, coherent experience, or an alienated, fractured one? To what extent is this music affirmative, oppositional, critical? How does late Beethoven’s musical language engage with the ideologies of Enlightenment and Romanticism? How might we characterize the ethical dimension of Beethoven’s late work? What is the role of biography in our engagement with these (and any) artworks? How might we speak of the status of Beethoven’s music today, in senses that include but also extend beyond its value as a commodity? Prerequisite(s): MUSI 113

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Fine arts

Course Materials

The Macalester Wind Ensemble performs music in a wide variety of styles, from as early as the 17th century to the classics of band literature, to music composed within the last few years. It is open without audition to wind and percussion students with at least high-school level performance skills.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

Study of traditional African music through performance modes of drumming, singing, flutes, marimba, gyil, and dancing. Instrumental and vocal pieces will be selected from a variety of musical styles such as unaccompanied vocal chants, songs, music from life cycle events, royal music and music for social and other festive occasions. The repertoire includes music from Ghana, Guinea, Nigeria, Tanzania and Zimbabwe.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

The Concert Choir is the advanced, select vocal ensemble of Macalester College. Members are held to an exceptional standard of musicianship and commitment. The choir draws its repertoire from music of the last six centuries and tours annually through the United States or abroad. The ensemble commissions and premieres at least one new work every year. Membership is open to all Macalester students by audition. Three 90-minute rehearsals per week.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

The Chorale is the large choral ensemble of Macalester College. The choir’s repertoire includes a cappella and accompanied music from various Western and non-Western vocal traditions. The Chorale and Concert Choir combine annually to perform a major work with orchestra. Membership is open to all Macalester students by audition. Two 90-minute rehearsals per week.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

The Chorale is the large choral ensemble of Macalester College. The choir’s repertoire includes a cappella and accompanied music from various Western and non-Western vocal traditions. The Chorale and Concert Choir combine annually to perform a major work with orchestra. Membership is open to all Macalester students by audition. Two 90-minute rehearsals per week.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

The Macalester Asian Music Ensemble performs chamber genres and repertoires from across Asia. Students may choose to specialize in one or more of the music traditions represented by the department's instrument collections and faculty expertise. These include, but are not limited to, Javanese gamelan, East and Southeast Asian chamber instrumental music, as well as Indian, Middle Eastern, and Central Asian traditions. We perform two major concerts (fall and spring) every academic year, and take part in a number of College and outside events and performances.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

Jazz and Popular Music Combos are open to all who wish to concentrate on repertoire, improvisation and original music. Students will focus on developing their composition and performance skills while exploring many different styles of contemporary music. The combos present two concerts each year.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

Bagpipe and highland drum lessons are available free of charge to all students. Beginners and musicians of any experience level are encouraged to participate in lessons and/or ensemble.  We perform traditional and modern music at concert and competitions.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

The Chamber Music program offers an opportunity for students to explore and perform repertoire for small ensembles. All instrumentalists and vocalists are eligible to participate and entrance is by audition or by arrangement with Mr. Mandarano. Students who are accepted into Chamber Music are placed in various ensembles and over the course of the semester immerse themselves in learning a challenging and varied repertoire. Rehearsal times are arranged based on schedule availability and individual practice is required. Ensembles receive periodic coaching from department faculty or professional studio instructors and there is least one performance required per semester. Examples of chamber ensemble include: string quartet, piano trio, woodwind quintet, brass sextet, piano trio, flute and clarinet choirs.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

The Macalester Symphony Orchestra prepares and performs a wide range of repertoire for symphony orchestra from the time of Bach to the present day, including the music of living composers. Playing in the orchestra blends individual and group achievement to build toward several challenging, rewarding performances each semester. Social interaction among the members of the orchestra is facilitated by various events, including orchestra dinners and a brief tour. In the spring semester, there is a concerto competition concert, featuring student soloists. Auditions for orchestra are held at the start of the fall semester. Space permitting, a limited number of students may be able to join at the start of the spring semester.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

Historical performance has changed the aesthetic and musical experiences of audiences all over the world. The new ways to interpret music before 1750 has changed the way the audiences listen to this kind of music. Macalester Early Music Ensemble approaches instrumental and vocal music from Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque period. No audition needed.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

Development of keyboard (piano) technique and performance/analytical skills complementary both to the music theory curriculum and the general study of music. Technical foundations and repertoire study. 1 credit awarded upon successful completion of the semester. May be repeated for credit.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

Formerly "Music Appreciation". This course will explore Western Art Music (a.k.a. "Classical Music") in order to better understand how music is constructed, what music means, what social history brought it about, what instruments are used in performance and what this music has in common with other art forms. No previous musical instruction is required. Fundamentals of music will be addressed in class to establish the ability to grasp musical forms, various styles and music history. Music from J. S. Bach to the present day will be heard, compared and, to a limited degree, analyzed.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Fine arts

Course Materials

In this course, students will learn the basics of Western staff notation and explore melody, harmony, texture, and rhythm & meter in European classical music, as well as some other tonal genres, including pop, rock, and folk. Students will apply knowledge in written and online exercises, analysis activities, and music composition. In addition, students will learn how to convert sound into notation and notation into sound through ear training activities, including aural exercises, dictation, and sight singing.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Fine arts

Course Materials

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 class is 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.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Fine arts

Course Materials

In this course, students will study chromatic harmony based in European classical and romantic music and some popular musical genres and learn about some common large-scale form designs, such as binary, ternary, song form, and forms associated with pop & rock music. Students will apply knowledge in written and online exercises, analysis activities, and music composition. In addition, students will develop skills in converting sound into notation and notation into sound through ear training activities, including aural exercises, dictation, and sight singing. Prerequisite(s): MUSI 113

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Fine arts

Course Materials

Language and music are two uniquely human enterprises with a number of parallels: both rely on sound and convention, display hierarchical organization and culturally-specific practices, and can convey both communicative and social meaning. This course examines the intersection of language and music from a linguistic perspective. We will engage with questions such as: How can syntax, phonology, and morphology change between spoken and sung language? How do speakers of tone languages understand lyrics in sung melodies? Is hip hop different in different languages? What does it mean to study melody and rhythm in speech? Can music help people learn languages? How do drum- and whistle-languages work? How does music contribute to language revitalization? No musical ability is required.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Social science

Course Materials

From E. M. Forster's Lucy Honeychurch, who "entered into a more solid world when she opened the piano," to James Baldwin's Sonny, who "moved in an atmosphere which wasn't like theirs at all," fictional musicians encounter trouble when negotiating the conflicting realms of art and society. Experts in one kind of expression, they fail in others. What draws these characters to music? What does it offer them? What is its value to us? In the musical novel and short story, we encounter music as an agent of violence, of consolation, of transcendence and redemption as well as damnation. We witness empathy through music, but we also learn that shared feeling can be both beautiful and dangerous, that music unites and divides. This course combines the close reading of literary texts (as well as works of literary theory and musicology) with the examination of the musical contexts that inform and inspire them. We will explore, for example, the relationship between Kazuo Ishiguro's novel The Unconsoled and Richard Wagner's music drama Parsifal. We will talk about syncopation in "jazz" by Charles Mingus and Toni Morrison. We will watch Marguerite Duras and Katherine Mansfield turn innocuous music lessons into spaces of wretchedness. We will try to understand what David Mitchell's young composer Robert Frobisher means when he says, "One writes music because winter is eternal and because, if one didn't, the wolves and blizzards would be at one's throat all the sooner."

General Education Requirements:
Writing WA

Distribution Requirements:
Fine arts

Course Materials

This course provides an interdisciplinary introduction to Uyghur history, culture, and the arts. It examines Uyghur literature, society, music, and language in their Central Asian, Turkic, Islamic and modern Chinese contexts. Course materials offer critical perspectives on minoritized identities, cultural representation, state suppression, and forms of resistance and resilience.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Fine arts

Course Materials

This course explores music of the European nineteenth century from two perspectives that together define the era. Romanticism is an aesthetic orientation that pits itself against Enlightenment and Classicism. Unlike the refined music of the eighteenth century, Romantic music (piano music, operas, even symphonies) sold itself to bourgeois audiences as wild, tuned to the supernatural, the transcendent, touched by madness, intoxicated by drugs, obsessed with sex. Meanwhile, these same cultural consumers, the bourgeoisie, were driven to identify themselves as national subjects, citizens of unique and independent cultural and political nations. National music sold itself as an expression of the spirit of a language community. In class, guided by listening and reading assignments, we will discuss the ways in which these two framing ideas shaped musical composition, performance, and audience listening habits, leading to changes in the way music was discussed in philosophical and political discourse. Prerequisite(s): MUSI 113 or permission of instructor.

General Education Requirements:
Writing WA

Distribution Requirements:
Fine arts

Course Materials

The contemporary period (20th-21st centuries) in music history is a complex epoch characterized by progressive growth across multiple domains:  harmony, rhythm, texture, style.  This course investigates the ideologies behind the many new ways of thinking about and creating modern music, and surveys the major music-makers of the period (Debussy to Miles Davis and beyond) and their works. Prerequisite(s): MUSI 113

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

An introductory course in techniques of music composition.  Students will compose a portfolio of several short works for a variety of instruments and voices.  Topics of study include instrumentation, thematic expansion and development, enlargement of harmonic vocabulary, analysis, study of contemporary music repertoire, frequent listening, and score study.  A class concert will be organized for works to receive their world premiere by visiting guest artists. Prerequisite(s): MUSI 113 or permission of the instructor.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Fine arts

Course Materials

The Macalester Wind Ensemble performs music in a wide variety of styles, from as early as the 17th century to the classics of band literature, to music composed within the last few years. It is open without audition to wind and percussion students with at least high-school level performance skills.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

Study of traditional African music through performance modes of drumming, singing, flutes, marimba, gyil, and dancing. Instrumental and vocal pieces will be selected from a variety of musical styles such as unaccompanied vocal chants, songs, music from life cycle events, royal music and music for social and other festive occasions. The repertoire includes music from Ghana, Guinea, Nigeria, Tanzania and Zimbabwe.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

The Concert Choir is the advanced, select vocal ensemble of Macalester College. Members are held to an exceptional standard of musicianship and commitment. The choir draws its repertoire from music of the last six centuries and tours annually through the United States or abroad. The ensemble commissions and premieres at least one new work every year. Membership is open to all Macalester students by audition. Three 90-minute rehearsals per week.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

The Chorale is the large choral ensemble of Macalester College. The choir’s repertoire includes a cappella and accompanied music from various Western and non-Western vocal traditions. The Chorale and Concert Choir combine annually to perform a major work with orchestra. Membership is open to all Macalester students by audition. Two 90-minute rehearsals per week.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

The Chorale is the large choral ensemble of Macalester College. The choir’s repertoire includes a cappella and accompanied music from various Western and non-Western vocal traditions. The Chorale and Concert Choir combine annually to perform a major work with orchestra. Membership is open to all Macalester students by audition. Two 90-minute rehearsals per week.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

The Macalester Asian Music Ensemble performs chamber genres and repertoires from across Asia. Students may choose to specialize in one or more of the music traditions represented by the department's instrument collections and faculty expertise. These include, but are not limited to, Javanese gamelan, East and Southeast Asian chamber instrumental music, as well as Indian, Middle Eastern, and Central Asian traditions. We perform two major concerts (fall and spring) every academic year, and take part in a number of College and outside events and performances.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

Jazz and Popular Music Combos are open to all who wish to concentrate on repertoire, improvisation and original music. Students will focus on developing their composition and performance skills while exploring many different styles of contemporary music. The combos present two concerts each year.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

Bagpipe and highland drum lessons are available free of charge to all students. Beginners and musicians of any experience level are encouraged to participate in lessons and/or ensemble.  We perform traditional and modern music at concert and competitions.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

The Chamber Music program offers an opportunity for students to explore and perform repertoire for small ensembles. All instrumentalists and vocalists are eligible to participate and entrance is by audition or by arrangement with Mr. Mandarano. Students who are accepted into Chamber Music are placed in various ensembles and over the course of the semester immerse themselves in learning a challenging and varied repertoire. Rehearsal times are arranged based on schedule availability and individual practice is required. Ensembles receive periodic coaching from department faculty or professional studio instructors and there is least one performance required per semester. Examples of chamber ensemble include: string quartet, piano trio, woodwind quintet, brass sextet, piano trio, flute and clarinet choirs.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

The Macalester Symphony Orchestra prepares and performs a wide range of repertoire for symphony orchestra from the time of Bach to the present day, including the music of living composers. Playing in the orchestra blends individual and group achievement to build toward several challenging, rewarding performances each semester. Social interaction among the members of the orchestra is facilitated by various events, including orchestra dinners and a brief tour. In the spring semester, there is a concerto competition concert, featuring student soloists. Auditions for orchestra are held at the start of the fall semester. Space permitting, a limited number of students may be able to join at the start of the spring semester.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

Historical performance has changed the aesthetic and musical experiences of audiences all over the world. The new ways to interpret music before 1750 has changed the way the audiences listen to this kind of music. Macalester Early Music Ensemble approaches instrumental and vocal music from Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque period. No audition needed.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

Development of keyboard (piano) technique and performance/analytical skills complementary both to the music theory curriculum and the general study of music. Technical foundations and repertoire study. 1 credit awarded upon successful completion of the semester. May be repeated for credit.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

Development of keyboard (piano) technique and performance/analytical skills complementary both to the music theory curriculum and the general study of music. Technical foundations and repertoire study. 1 credit awarded upon successful completion of the semester. May be repeated for credit.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

Development of keyboard (piano) technique and performance/analytical skills complementary both to the music theory curriculum and the general study of music. Technical foundations and repertoire study. 1 credit awarded upon successful completion of the semester. May be repeated for credit.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials