Class Schedules

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.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Fine arts

Course Materials

In this course we explore theoretical concepts of diatonic music, including counterpoint, harmonic progression, and voice leading, always seeking answers to questions about how diatonic music works. Students will develop the ability to discuss and write about music in a sophisticated way. We will accomplish these tasks through written exercises, analysis, composition, and ear training. Specific topics covered include pitch, meter, intervals, scales, keys, triads, seventh chords, diatonic modes, figured bass, lead-sheet (chord) symbols, Roman numeral identification, part writing, cadences, basic harmonic function, sequence, phrases and periods, melody harmonization, non-chord tones, and basic principles of orchestration. Aural activities include sight singing, identification of pitch patterns, identification of scales, rhythmic dictation, rhythm reading, melodic dictation, harmonic dictation, identification of sonorities, identification of cadences, and contextual listening. Three lectures and one lab per week.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Fine arts

Course Materials

In this course we explore theoretical concepts of diatonic music, including counterpoint, harmonic progression, and voice leading, always seeking answers to questions about how diatonic music works. Students will develop the ability to discuss and write about music in a sophisticated way. We will accomplish these tasks through written exercises, analysis, composition, and ear training. Specific topics covered include pitch, meter, intervals, scales, keys, triads, seventh chords, diatonic modes, figured bass, lead-sheet (chord) symbols, Roman numeral identification, part writing, cadences, basic harmonic function, sequence, phrases and periods, melody harmonization, non-chord tones, and basic principles of orchestration. Aural activities include sight singing, identification of pitch patterns, identification of scales, rhythmic dictation, rhythm reading, melodic dictation, harmonic dictation, identification of sonorities, identification of cadences, and contextual listening. Three lectures and one lab per week.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Fine arts

Course Materials

In this course we explore theoretical concepts of diatonic music, including counterpoint, harmonic progression, and voice leading, always seeking answers to questions about how diatonic music works. Students will develop the ability to discuss and write about music in a sophisticated way. We will accomplish these tasks through written exercises, analysis, composition, and ear training. Specific topics covered include pitch, meter, intervals, scales, keys, triads, seventh chords, diatonic modes, figured bass, lead-sheet (chord) symbols, Roman numeral identification, part writing, cadences, basic harmonic function, sequence, phrases and periods, melody harmonization, non-chord tones, and basic principles of orchestration. Aural activities include sight singing, identification of pitch patterns, identification of scales, rhythmic dictation, rhythm reading, melodic dictation, harmonic dictation, identification of sonorities, identification of cadences, and contextual listening. Three lectures and one lab per week.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Fine arts

Course Materials

In this course we explore theoretical concepts of diatonic music, including counterpoint, harmonic progression, and voice leading, always seeking answers to questions about how diatonic music works. Students will develop the ability to discuss and write about music in a sophisticated way. We will accomplish these tasks through written exercises, analysis, composition, and ear training. Specific topics covered include pitch, meter, intervals, scales, keys, triads, seventh chords, diatonic modes, figured bass, lead-sheet (chord) symbols, Roman numeral identification, part writing, cadences, basic harmonic function, sequence, phrases and periods, melody harmonization, non-chord tones, and basic principles of orchestration. Aural activities include sight singing, identification of pitch patterns, identification of scales, rhythmic dictation, rhythm reading, melodic dictation, harmonic dictation, identification of sonorities, identification of cadences, and contextual listening. Three lectures and one lab per week.

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. Enrollment limited to 13 to allow each student sufficient lab time.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Fine arts

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What gives life meaning? What is our purpose? What is our path to fulfillment? These questions have been pondered for a long time, and while clear answers are not always quick to obtain (if ever), you may find yourself, as a beginning college student, embarking on a new life journey where you may ask of yourself questions like these. This course will give us the opportunity to consider how musicians and composers have wrangled with meaning and existence, by examining how various “modes of being” apply to their work. Our study will investigate such domains as individuality and creativity, monumentality, love and reverence beyond the self, homage and remembrance, sublimity and the quest for beauty, revolution, and overcoming adversity. Much of the content in this course is rooted in the historical past, so we will examine works by some of the classic composers like Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, and Schubert; we will also consider more modern repertoire like blues and jazz and much in between. We will read essays and books from across history, view films, and of course, listen to music widely. Students also will gain practice in research and writing skills. It is intended that, in addition to wrestling with lofty existential questions, you will engage in a crash course in music history that fully suffuses itself with the liberal arts tradition of broad, interdisciplinary study. An ability to read music is expected since we occasionally will look at music scores. Any past experience in music performance may be helpful but not required.

General Education Requirements:
Writing WA

Distribution Requirements:
Fine arts

Course Materials

This course explores the multitude of music as practiced and listened to among Chinese-identifying communities by closely studying selected genres, musicians, and styles in various temporal and geographical localities. Course contents cover the musical procedures and performance practices of such genres as operas, chamber instrumental music, folk singing, pop and jazz, film and theatrical music, modern concert repertoire, as well as ancient court and ritual music. Prerequisite(s): No prior knowledge of musical instrument, notation, or Chinese languages is assumed

General Education Requirements:
Internationalism

Distribution Requirements:
Fine arts

Course Materials

Analysis of musical forms and musical development techniques with emphasis on music of the common practice period; advanced harmonic ear training. Prerequisite(s): MUSI 114 or permission of the instructor.

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Fine arts

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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. No prerequisite required.

General Education Requirements:

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Social science

Course Materials

This course traces the development of Western art music from its beginnings in the monophonic chant of early Christianity, through the development of polyphonic 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 musical life in the extravagant court of Louis XIV in France and Johann Sebastian Bach's masterful synthesis of Baroque styles), to the sophisticated, multi-movement sonata structures of late 18th century Viennese classicism. Its central concerns are: (1) to understand the place of music in social and cultural life, (2) to gain an appreciation of the musical style and rhetoric that characterizes each of the periods we study, and (3) to develop students' abilities in communicating, in writing and the spoken word, what they have learned about this music and the culture in which it was produced. Course activities will take several forms, including lectures, musical analyses, and performances. Lectures will introduce key terms and concepts and will address broader concerns of cultural life (including composer biographies). 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/discussion/reading material. Essays will give students the opportunity to delve deeper into critical and musical analysis, and to sharpen their prose, specifically with respect to writing about music. The course assumes no historical knowledge of the periods in question. However, basic skills in the analysis of music are necessary. Prerequisite(s): MUSI 113 or permission of instructor.

General Education Requirements:
Writing WA

Distribution Requirements:
Fine arts

Course Materials

This course will provide instruction in basic conducting technique. Topics will include score preparation, beat patterns, cuing, the expressive and independent use of both arms, and control of musical elements such as dynamics, tempo, and phrasing. This offering of the course will have a choral emphasis; issues specific to instrumental conducting will also be addressed. The course is designed principally for music majors and minors, though others with appropriate musical background are most welcome, including first-year students. Concurrent enrollment in a Music Department ensemble is strongly encouraged.

General Education Requirements:
Writing WP

Distribution Requirements:
Fine arts

Course Materials

In this course, we will combine the close study of Beethoven’s late works, composed around two hundred years ago, with the close reading of contemporary critical writing about this music. The course intends to deepen students’ experience with and understanding of Beethoven’s work and the discipline of critical musicology. The works we will examine include five piano sonatas, five string quartets, one setting of the Latin (Catholic) Mass, and one symphony. 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? How might we speak of the continued relevance of Beethoven’s music today, in senses that include but also extend beyond its value as a commodity?

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Distribution Requirements:
Fine arts

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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:

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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.

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The Concert Choir is the advanced, select vocal ensemble of Macalester College, directed by Michael McGaghie. 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.

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The Chorale is the large choral ensemble of Macalester College, directed by Michael McGaghie. 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.

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The Macalester Asian Music Ensemble performs traditional and modern music from East and Central Asia. Core instruments include a variety of plucked lutes and zithers, bowed fiddles, bamboo/reed flutes, hammered dulcimer, and percussion from Chinese music and traditions across the Silk Road.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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:
Internationalism

Distribution Requirements:
Fine arts

Course Materials

In this course we explore theoretical concepts of chromatic music, including harmony, voice leading, and form, always seeking answers to questions about how chromatic music works. Students will develop the ability to discuss and write about music in a sophisticated way. We will accomplish these tasks through written exercises, analysis, composition, and ear training. Specific topics covered include review of diatonic harmony and voice leading, secondary dominants, modulation to closely related keys, small forms (binary, ternary), mode mixture, chromatic mediants, modulation by common tone, Neapolitan sixth chords, augmented sixth chords, descending tetrachord bass line, enharmonic modulation, extended tertian chords, altered chords, and an introduction to sonata form. Aural activities include sight singing, identification of pitch patterns, melodic dictation, harmonic dictation, identification of sonorities, identification of intervals, harmonic substitution, modulating harmonic dictation, three-chord progressions, and contextual listening. Three lectures and one lab per week. Prerequisite(s): MUSI 113 or permission of the instructor.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Fine arts

Course Materials

In this course we explore theoretical concepts of chromatic music, including harmony, voice leading, and form, always seeking answers to questions about how chromatic music works. Students will develop the ability to discuss and write about music in a sophisticated way. We will accomplish these tasks through written exercises, analysis, composition, and ear training. Specific topics covered include review of diatonic harmony and voice leading, secondary dominants, modulation to closely related keys, small forms (binary, ternary), mode mixture, chromatic mediants, modulation by common tone, Neapolitan sixth chords, augmented sixth chords, descending tetrachord bass line, enharmonic modulation, extended tertian chords, altered chords, and an introduction to sonata form. Aural activities include sight singing, identification of pitch patterns, melodic dictation, harmonic dictation, identification of sonorities, identification of intervals, harmonic substitution, modulating harmonic dictation, three-chord progressions, and contextual listening. Three lectures and one lab per week. Prerequisite(s): MUSI 113 or permission of the instructor.

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Distribution Requirements:
Fine arts

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This songwriting course is a hands-on workshop, in which the instructor will provide weekly song prompts, students will share songs they are writing in progress, and all participants will learn how to provide useful feedback. Established singer-songwriters active in the Twin Cities will lead guest workshops and provide practical information about some aspects of the music business, such as how to market one’s music, get connected to a local or regional music scene, and shape a long-term plan for a music career. In addition, students will be introduced to local resources for singer-songwriters in the Twin Cities. The course will culminate in a final performance in Mairs Concert Hall, showcasing the best work of each student at the end of the semester. This elective is open to any student who has some musical experience singing and playing guitar, piano, or ukulele and interest in songwriting. It will also count as an elective toward the music minor and major. Interested students must contact the instructor (vmalawey@macalester.edu) to express interest and obtain permission to enroll.

General Education Requirements:
Writing WC

Distribution Requirements:
Fine arts

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This course will explore the concept of the record album in popular music (primarily in the United States). Originally made from vinyl with microgrooves that vibrate a stylus (needle), this type of record spun at thirty-three and one-third revolutions per minute, resulting in thirty to forty-five minutes of recorded sound. Over time, the critical community agreed that the record album became a medium for making a coherent artistic statement with nuanced overtones on a variety of subjects: teenage angst, anti-war, racial inequality, gender issues and more. Students will be encouraged to interpret what they hear and differentiate the strata through which a message is being delivered – in lyrics, instruments, effects, vocal styles, production techniques, musical style and more. Students will also be encouraged to follow the thread of the themes they discover to wherever they may lead. In this class, we will listen extensively to diverse examples of this medium ranging from Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan and The Beatles to David Bowie, Public Enemy, Radiohead and Lady Gaga. Selected readings will enhance the understanding of history, background and reception.

General Education Requirements:
Writing WA

Distribution Requirements:
Fine arts

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This is a course about adaptation, translation, and the relationship between drama and music. It is also a course about the history and politics of these two art forms. Like many people in the nineteenth century, Giuseppe Verdi adored Shakespeare. He adapted three of Shakespeare’s plays—Macbeth, Othello, and The Merry Wives of Windsor—for the Italian operatic stage. Today, Verdi’s Macbeth, Otello, and Falstaff are beloved and frequently produced, yet few grasp the revolutionary spirit behind Verdi’s adaptations let alone the political undertow of Shakespeare’s texts. Using “Adaptation” as our theoretical framework, we’ll tackle the problem of translation, reception, and the politics of art by asking such questions as: for whom was this art created and under what cultural, religious, and political conditions? How does the text imagine a multiplicity of subjectivities (inflected by racial, gender, and religious difference)? How do these fictional subjectivities challenge the expectations of audiences? What national and international artistic traditions influenced Shakespeare and Verdi? What is gained or lost through adaptation?

General Education Requirements:
Writing WA
Internationalism

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

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This course aims to advance three goals: (1) a general historical survey of jazz's development, through primary source and scholarly readings, (2) a study of the stylistic evolution of jazz (repertoire study and recordings), and (3) analytical studies of significant jazz solos and compositions. As such, it is a hybrid of jazz history and theory. Prerequisite: ability to read music is required.

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Survey of contemporary music and modern compositional techniques with emphasis on analytical skills. Prerequisite(s): MUSI 213 or permission of the instructor.

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Fine arts

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This course provides a survey of Western art music from the early works of Ludwig van Beethoven, composed in the mid-1790s, to the symphonic works of the generation of modernist composers born around 1860 (Gustav Mahler, Jean Sibelius, Giacomo Puccini, Richard Strauss). One principal aim of the course is to expose students to a large quantity of multi-national Western music in a variety of genres and styles, thus leading students to a deeper understanding of the development of musical style in the nineteenth century. In addition to the musical works themselves, and no less importantly, the course stresses the contexts surrounding the musical texts. Lectures address the political, cultural, and intellectual history that directed the path of musical style in this period. Students are therefore expected to become familiar not only with specific works and the stylistic footprints of many composers, but also with the significant cultural-historical events and trends that informed composition during this period--the pan-European revolutions of 1848, the aesthetic ideology of autonomous music, the public music culture of the European bourgeoisie, the relationship between musical reception and various strains of European nationalism, and so on. Classroom activities include lectures, directed listening of pieces on the listening list (and sometimes, for comparison, other works), some formal and stylistic analysis, and discussion. Prerequisite(s): MUSI 113 or permission of instructor.

General Education Requirements:
Writing WA

Distribution Requirements:
Fine arts

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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. Prerequisite(s): MUSI 213 or permission of the instructor.

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Fine arts

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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:

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The Concert Choir is the advanced, select vocal ensemble of Macalester College, directed by Michael McGaghie. 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.

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The Chorale is the large choral ensemble of Macalester College, directed by Michael McGaghie. 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.

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Course Materials

The Macalester Asian Music Ensemble performs traditional and modern music from East and Central Asia. Core instruments include a variety of plucked lutes and zithers, bowed fiddles, bamboo/reed flutes, hammered dulcimer, and percussion from Chinese music and traditions across the Silk Road.

General Education Requirements:

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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.

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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:

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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.

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