Music

This course explores social themes in Taiwan’s recent history through the concept of “musicking.” It seeks to discover the communal meanings and effects created through a variety of sonic activities by people living on this island in recent history and contemporary times. Through careful listening and participation, the course aims to gain different perspectives and a more reflexive, embodied, and affective understanding of the social organizations and changes over the last 150 years that shape Taiwanese society today. 

This course does not to fully cover or define “Taiwanese music," but rather endeavors to understand how various themes--including community building, migrations and rights, settler-colonialism, colonial-modernity, politics and economy, ethnic identity, multi-culturalism and indigenous sovereignty, gender and sexualities, space and environments, and social activism--are voiced and enacted through diverse genres of music and dance, by the indigenous, Han, newly immigrated and visiting communities of people living in Taiwan. 

This course examines the dynamic between music and politics from the Haitian and French Revolution until Black Lives Matter, or, alternately, from Beethoven to Beyoncé. Large thematic topics will include the Enlightenment, liberalism, nationalism, fascism, the Cold War and globalization. Musical case studies will include opera, symphonic tone poems, ballet, film scores, folk and pop songs, hip hop and punk, as well as global genres such as Afrobeat and Tropicalia. 

This course examines song writers and performers from the USA. In the process of studying American popular song lyrics, students will learn about such musical genres as “the blues,” “gospel,” “tin pan alley,” “folk,” “country,” and “rock and roll” as well as the elements of American history that give rise to each of these types of musical lyrics. Since one of the course elements is the relationship of musical lyrics to musical sound, we will spend considerable class time listening to popular songs , paying attention to the way a lyric’s meaning is conveyed through such elements as vocal style and musical arrangement.

This course examines elements of music, musical style and the major musical forms. It covers the structure and composition of music with an emphasis on learning to become an active listener. 

This course provides a broad introduction to the history of Western classical music by representative composers, examining the styles and structures of this music and its relationships within historical contexts.  

Students will learn about the lives of and listen to major works by composers such as Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Chopin, Brahms, Liszt, Tchaikovsky, Debussy and others to be announced.  

This is a special studies course involving an internship with a corporate, public, governmental, or private organization, arranged with the Study Center Director or Liaison Officer. Specific internships vary each term and are described on a special study project form for each student. A substantial paper or series of reports is required. Units vary depending on the contact hours and method of assessment. The internship may be taken during one or more terms but the units cannot exceed a total of 12.0 for the year.

This course examines the fundamentals of mixing and audio production through lectures, workshops and creative participation. Weekly assignments may include the analysis, mixing and remixing the music of a wide variety of artists ranging from Radiohead, Coldplay, Lady Gaga, Linkin Park and the Red Hot Chili Peppers to Queen, the Beatles, and Led Zeppelin. The course also introduces the students to the industry-standard Digital Audio Workstation software (e.g. Logic Pro X) and makes regular use of the School of Music’s own cutting-edge music technology labs and other facilities.