Music Course Descriptions

Fall, spring. An introduction to perceptive listening. Students are trained to listen analytically and are acquainted with a wide variety of music literature.

This course is designed to introduce non-music majors to representative major works in the Western classical music canon. It will focus on the historical, social and cultural contexts of the works, as well as the fundamental skills needed to hear, understand, analyze and write about music.

Spring. An introduction to opera and musical theater through the study of selected works from the Baroque era to the present. Visual and aural presentation.

Fall, spring. Basic harmonic practice and its practical application to selected media; fundamental concepts and terminology; and introduction to and essays in original composition.

(Same as African American Studies 115.) Fall. Critical and analytic study of jazz idioms from the turn of the century to the present, including the blues, ragtime, Dixieland, swing, bop, and modern jazz. Emphasis on such figures as Armstrong, Ellington, Parker, Monk, and Coleman.

Fall. Diatonic harmony through the dominant seventh chord. Includes partwriting and analysis, and an introduction to compositional skills. Laboratory focuses on sightsinging, melodic and harmonic dictation, and keyboard theory. Enrollment in laboratory is required.

Spring. Prerequisite: Music 121. Continuation of Theory and Analysis I. Partwriting, diatonic seventh chords, secondary function chords, modulation, and binary and ternary forms. Laboratory focuses on sightsinging, melodic and harmonic dictation, harmonization of melodies, and keyboard improvisation. Enrollment in laboratory is required.

Fall, spring. Credit, four hours. Fulfills the freshman seminar requirement of the General Education Requirements. A variety of courses covering a wide range of topics in music. Refer to the Music Department website for a listing of courses currently offered.

Introduces the study of music as historical and cultural practice. Considers essential repertoires of vernacular and art music in both Western and non-Western traditions. Teaches foundational skills needed to research and write critically about musical cultures, repertoires, and practices.

Fall. Development of musical styles from the early Middle Ages through the Renaissance and during the 20th century. Emphasis on repertory of significant and representative musical works. Both major and nonmajor sections offered.

Spring. Development of musical styles from the Baroque period through the nineteenth century. Emphasis on repertory of significant and representative musical works. Music 201 is not a prerequisite. Both major and non-major sections offered.

Fall. This course introduces students to the diverse musical styles of the world. The focus is to examine different musical genres and understand the specific social contexts in which they emerge.

Fall, spring. This course will examine the development of musical traditions in the Asian cultures of India, China, Japan, Korea, and Southeast Asia. The influence of philosophy and aesthetics from India, China, and the West on the development of music, theater, and dance in Asia will be examined as well.

Fall. A survey of the life, music, and influence of Johann Sebastian Bach (1685- 1750), one of the most significant figures in the history of European art music.

Music in Vienna is taught as an elective course in the Emory Summer Abroad Program in Vienna, Austria. The course focuses on classical music repertoire (opera, ballet, orchestral programs, organ recitals, chamber music, lieder recitals) being performed during the summer program in Vienna.

This course for music and dance students to study Argentine tango in Buenos Aires will intersect scholarly studies of tango history and culture with performance practice. It will provide an authentic, holistic learning experience for students to understand how theory and practice inform each other. Music and dance majors and minors only, or by permission of instructor with letter of recommendation by a music or dance professor.

Fall. Prerequisite: Music 122. Continuation of Theory and Analysis II. Eighteenth century counterpoint, eighteenth- and nineteenth-century musical forms, and chromatic harmony. Laboratory focuses on advanced sightsinging and melodic and harmonic dictation, as well as continued development of keyboard theory and improvisational techniques. Enrollment in laboratory is required.

Spring. Prerequisite: Music 221. Continuation of Theory and Analysis III. Analysis of twentieth-century compositions and techniques. Exercises include short original compositions.

This course provides the student the opportunity to create original music in collaboration with students in theater, dance, or film. Music majors, minors, and students from other departments may enroll with the permission of the instructor.

Fall. Prerequisite: Music 121 or permission of instructor. Theoretical and applied study of melodic patterns, chord types, and rhythmic patterns in the jazz idiom; development of aural and technical skills to create jazz styles spontaneously.

This seminar hopes to attract music majors, minors, and those majoring in other disciplines interested in exploring connections among the arts. Emanating from a musical perspective, influences and relationships with other artists and art forms, and entities are studied.

This course concentrates on music written for the wind band, a general description for any musical ensemble consisting of wind (often with percussion) instruments, beginning with the Austro-Germanic tradition of wind bands in Medieval times and conclude with forays into the repertoire of the twenty-first century.

This seminar provides an overview of the vast amount of music composed for solo piano since 1700, including works by J. S. Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, Liszt, Robert and Clara Schumann, Brahms, and Debussy.

Spring. A listening-intensive exploration of orchestral literature with detailed reference to the sociopolitical and cultural contexts of the composers and their music.

Seminar or lecture series of topics in music. May be repeated for credit when topic varies.

A detailed historical examination of Western classical music from 1750 through the 1820s, emphasizing both repertoire and the cultural practice of music-making

Offers a detailed historical examination of Western classical music from 1750 through the 1820s, emphasizing both repertoire and the cultural practice of music-making. Assignments include midterm and final exams and one research paper.

A detailed historical examination of Western classical music composed since 1900, emphasizing both repertoire and the cultural practice of music-making

Fall, spring. Credit, one hour. Group instruction in instrumental and/or vocal music and the performance of selected repertoire. Enrollment in the ensembles is open to all students by audition only. May be repeated for credit; a maximum of eight hours may be applied toward graduation. The four principal ensembles that fulfill the requirement for the music major are: University Chorus; Emory Symphony Orchestra; Emory Wind Ensemble; Piano Accompanying. (Students majoring in music with a piano emphasis are required to enroll in MUS 300M their junior and senior years and may choose 300G, 300J, 300K, or 300M to fulfill their ensemble requirement during their freshman and sophomore years.) Interested students are encouraged to participate in more than one ensemble. Membership in all other ensembles must be corequisite with enrollment in a principal ensemble. Fall: To schedule a ensemble audition online please go to: www.music.emory.edu/undergrad/auditions.html Spring: Contact the ensemble director.

Dr. Eric Nelson, director. (Permission of instructor is not required.) The Emory University Chorus is a large mixed choir numbering between 130-175 singers. The ensemble performs at the annual Lessons and Carols concert in December and with the Emory Symphony Orchestra in the spring.

An ensemble that specializes in repertoire for women's voices. Female singers from any division of the University and from all levels of vocal experience are welcome

Dr. Richard Prior, director. The Emory orchestral experience is designed to provide a musical environment of the highest caliber, nurturing individual artistic excellence and ensemble performance. The ESO presents performances of repertoire embracing music from the Baroque to the twenty-first century.

Dr. Scott Stewart, director. The Emory Wind Ensemble is a select ensemble dedicated to the study and performance of literature for wind band. It sponsors an active commissioning program, hosts guest artists, and tours nationally and internationally.

Mr. Jody Miller, director. The Early Music Ensemble, comprised of Emory students, faculty, and members of the Atlanta community, performs songs and dances from the renaissance and baroque periods.

Prof. Deborah Thoreson, director. Collaborative Piano provides an opportunity for pianists to become acquainted with the wide range of repertoire written for the piano and another instrument or voice. Pianists are paired with other students and prepare repertoire for performance on departmental recitals. Open to all qualified pianists.

Dr. Eric Nelson, director. The Concert Choir is a select chamber choir of forty to fifty voices. Membership is open to all students in the university, undergraduates and graduates, and is determined by audition. Considered to be one of the finest collegiate choirs in the country, it has performed at the National Convention of the American Choral Directors Association and in major halls throughout the world.

Dr. Richard Prior, director. The Emory Chamber Ensembles include a number of standing ensembles along with various trios, quartets, quintets, and septets of different instrumentation. Membership is by audition only.

Fall. Spring. Ensembles may include South Indian classical music, North Indian classical music, Central Javanese gamelan, West Javanese gamelan, Indonesian angklung, and Korean percussion. No auditions necessary; requirements for prior musical experience may vary for each ensemble.

Brian Luckett, director. A classical guitar ensemble that studies and performs music for guitar duos, trios, and quartets. The repertoire includes music from the Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, Romantic, and twentieth and twenty-first centuries. An audition is required.

Gary Motley, director. The Emory Big Band is a select ensemble that performs all periods of jazz repertoire. Members learn to improvise and perform the techniques unique to the jazz idiom. Membership is by audition only.

Gary Motley, director. The jazz combos allow students the opportunity to perform in small groups of four to six players. Membership is by audition only.

Designed to introduce the student to the music associated with the so-called Harlem Renaissance. The course will examine African American and American works, composers, and performers referred to in the famous essays and controversies of this important period.

Fall, spring. Credit, one hour. Prerequisite: permission of instructor. The study of applied music involves the understanding of music literature through performance on a specific instrument. One-hour private instruction weekly; students perform a final jury exam. Contact the instructor to arrange an audition. Lesson fees apply; refer to the departmental website (www.music.emory.edu) for current information.

Fall. Instrumental and choral conducting technique and theory, including manual techniques, score study, ensemble rehearsal methods, and preparation for performance.

Fall, spring. Credit, two hours. Prerequisite: permission of instructor. The study of applied music involves the understanding of music literature through performance on a specific instrument. One-hour private instruction weekly, attendance and performance at Perspectives on Performance class required; students perform a final jury exam. Contact the instructor to arrange an audition. Lesson fees apply; refer to the departmental website (www.music.emory.edu) for current information.

Spring. This course offers an in-depth study of improvisation in the jazz idiom. Topics include the study of form, patterns, vocabulary style analysis, and transcription techniques. Principles include melodic and harmonic analysis, phrase construction, and ear training.

Fall. Techniques and principles of electronic music and computer applications in music.

Fall. Work in original composition, focusing on the application and analysis of smaller musical forms.

Spring. Prerequisite: Music 348 or permission of instructor. Work in original composition, focusing on the application and analysis of larger musical forms.

An exploration of later twentieth and twenty-first century compositional styles; analysis of representative works with specific focus on the areas of musical language, structure and influences.

Explains the intersections of musical creativity and Romantic aesthetics in the nineteenth century. Topics considered include the nature of musical expressiveness, relationship between art and religion, and theories of musical narrative.

This course examines the music of Wagner, Mahler, Strauss, Schoenberg, and contemporaries in light of trends in literature, the visual arts, politics, and philosophy, ca. 1870-1914.

This seminar examines the main tenets of Orientalism and exoticism in exploring the hybridization of cultural practices in musical, theatrical, and cinematographic genres from the eighteenth century to the present.

Spring. Composition and performance in the digital studio; projects involve synthesis, sampling, sequencing, MIDI and digital recording and editing, and algorithmic composition. Focuses on the use and design of computer-based synthetic instruments and compositional software.

Explores encounters by Austro-German Jewish musicians and writers with ideas of modernity from 1900 through the 1950s, including responses to the Weimar Republic, the Holocaust, and postwar emigration. Cases studied include Gustav and Alma Mahler, Freud, Arthur Schnitzler and Arnold Schoenberg

Selected topics in Music.

This course explores how music creates differences between countries in East Asia and, at the same time, ties them together to create a distinct East Asian identity.

Fall. Open to all students regardless of Chinese language ability, basic language skills will be taught. This course examines the historical, social, and individual aspects of Chinese musical cultures through the use of English and Chinese sources.

Fall. Open to all students regardless of Chinese language ability, basic language skills will be taught. This course examines the historical, social, and individual aspects of Chinese musical cultures through the use of English and Chinese sources.

This seminar explores various theories of narrative and myth from a cross-cultural perspective and traces the development of narrative styles or forms of storytelling in different musical genres that include opera, musical theater, and film.

Credit, none. Prerequisite: permission of instructor.

Spring. A basic course in performance practice of the music of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Focus will be primarily on the music of the courts, including the popular dances of the day. Examples from facsimile manuscripts will be examined, discussed within the context of performance practice of the era, transcribed into modern notation, compared with modern editions, and performed.

Spring. Designed for singers who wish to develop their understanding and coordination of performance skills on the lyric stage. Public performance of staged works is scheduled.

A study of musical styles as they evolved, circa 400 to 1600. Representative works from the genres of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance will be studied.

History of music from 1600 to 1750. Characteristic works by Monteverdi, Schütz, Corelli, Vivaldi, and others. The synthesis of baroque styles in the works of J. S. Bach and Handel.

Principal styles and genres of the classic period, from the music of C. P. E. Bach and D. Scarlatti through the major works of Haydn, Mozart, and the early Beethoven.

Fall. Principal styles and genres of the romantic period, from the later works of Beethoven through the major works of Verdi, Wagner, Strauss, and Mahler.

Spring. Breakdown of traditional systems (Debussy); neoclassicism (Stravinsky and Bartok); atonality and twelve-tone music (Schoenberg, Berg, and Webern); and electronic music and the avant-garde.

Fall. This course surveys the principal performance genres, instruments, compositional and improvisational forms, and theoretical structures of art, folk music, and dance from both south and north India. Emphasis is placed on developing the ability to listen sensitively and critically to recorded and live performances. The social and religious context of the music and dance will be examined.

An examination of compositional strategies used by twentieth- and twenty-first century composers who use cross-cultural and cross disciplinary traditions in the creation of new "art" music.

Fall, spring. This course provides instruction in diction usage by solo singers and includes the study of Introduction to International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) as applied to English and Italian. It focuses on the special needs and considerations for diction utilized by singers.

Spring. Explores skills to effectively and successfully combine singing, facial expression, gestures, interpretation, movement, and interaction with other performers without tension and self-judgment. Repeatable without music major credit. Instructor approval required.

Analysis and writing in both the Renaissance-modal and eighteenth-century tonal styles. A composition project demonstrating contrapuntal skills will be required for each of the two style periods.

Prerequisite: Music 122 or permission of instructor. Addresses the styles of orchestration in the Baroque, Classic, Romantic, and modern eras. In addition to readings and brief written assignments, an orchestral reduction project and a piano orchestration project will be required in the style of each era. Other media, such as vocal or wind ensembles and jazz bands, will be discussed.

This course examines the theories and methodologies in the field of ethnomusicology, with a focus on how it intersects with other disciplines and the broader social content.

How does sound organize the space we inhabit? This course examines different types of music to understand how sounds are incorporated into different facets of human expression.

Fall. This course explores the relationship between two broadly held concepts' black music and race. Using principal texts, representative musical examples, and intense discussion, the student will discover the dynamics of our racial imagination.

Credit, none. Prerequisite: permission of instructor.

Credit, eight hours for sequence. Open by invitation to candidates for honors in the senior year. Must be taken in addition to the major requirements.

Credit, eight hours for sequence. Open by invitation to candidates for honors in the senior year. Must be taken in addition to the major requirements.

Student arranges internship location with member of music department faculty prior to registration for this course.

Credit, two to four hours. May be repeated for maximum credit of eight hours. Primarily for majors in the senior year.