Music

Music, and ideas about music, are shaped by technology. Long before the invention of the electric guitar or the iPod, instrument makers created new opportunities for composers and performers, and enterprising publishers popularized the first song books. Surveying the interaction between musical culture, instruments, and technologies from early times until the present day, students learn how such influences affect the conventions and creative possibilities available to musicians and society. The course explores instrument design and acoustics and the social histories of music printing and sound recording, among other topics. Students do not need to be able to read or write music notation to take this course.

This course is designed to give practical lessons to various aspects of opera, such as breathing methods, voice production, direction, singing, acting, and costumes. The emphasis is placed on learning how to project voice using the force of diaphragm, rather than using throat for singing. The course is conducted in English, but other languages such as Italian, German, and French are also used to sing in the opera. The course examines how to sing with expression, how music and language are linked, conducting and performance.

This course covers music civilization in Europe from 1600 to early twentieth century. Topics: art of listening, homophony (chant) versus polyphonic songs; Baroque Grandeur I: Instrumental music of Bach & Vivaldi; Baroque Grandeur II: Vocal music of Bach & Handel; Classicism in Music I: Haydn's instrumental music & oratorios; Classicism in Music II: The Wonder of Mozart; Beethoven's Symphonies; Romanticism in Vocal Music: Schubert, Schumann, Brahrms & Faure; Romanticism in Instrumental Music: Schubert, Schumann, Brahms, Chopin & Liszt; French-Romanticism in Music II: Saint-Saens, Bizet & Berlioz; Romanticism in Operas: Wagner, Verdi &.Puccini; Nationalism in Music: Dvorak, Mussorgsky, Tchaikovsky & Rachmaninoff R. Strauss & Mahler.

Students develop performance skills on the tin whistle.

This course covers how music functions in various political contexts. After examining the idea of "politics" in general, students explore examples from so-called classical music. Students analyze case studies of political usages of various forms of popular music in Europe, the United States, and Australia.