Courses
The Creative Flame
This course looks at proven methods that help individuals chisel out their own system in order to ignite their creative flame and sustain their creativity.
Music Application and Theory
A study of popular music. This study begins with the aural analysis of contemporary songs, including bass motion, chord function, and aspects of the rhythm section.
John, Paul, George, and Ringo: The Solo Years
This course will give a musical view of the solo careers of each member of the Beatles.
World Music Materials and Concepts for the Contemporary Musician
An introduction to the musical elements of several non-Western musical systems will provide alternative approaches to contemporary composition and improvisation.
The Music of the Yellowjackets
A study of the music of this popular jazz fusion ensemble.
Advanced Modal Harmony
Modal chord progression and melody using traditional, synthetic, and other modes. Analysis of modal jazz compositions. Modal voicings using characteristic tones and spacing considerations.
Advanced Harmonic Concepts
Emphasis on newer harmonic concepts to enable students to write and analyze tunes in the style of Mike Gibbs, Chick Corea, and others.
Reharmonization Techniques
Functional, extended, and bass line reharmonization. Incomplete chord structures and reharmonization of diminished chords.
The Music of the Beatles
Songs written and recorded by the Beatles, as well as songs written by the Beatles and recorded by other artists, will be analyzed for their harmonic content, melodic construction, modal focus, rhy
Blues: Analysis and Application
A study of the evolution of the blues, combined with compositional application of various blues styles.
Harmony in Brazilian Song
A study of how harmony interacts with melody, lyric, rhythm, style, and form in Brazilian popular song, accomplished through examining the works of the principal songwriters of three major styles o
Harmonic Analysis of Rock Music
Identification and analysis of rock harmonies and melodies. Examples from the mid-1950s to the present day will be studied.
Harmony 4
Continuation of principles of modern chord progression: deceptive resolutions of secondary dominants; dominant seventh chords without dominant function; contiguous dominant motion.
Harmony 3
Continued analysis and application of major and minor key harmony; continued elaboration of subdominant minor and modal interchange; chord scale theory.
Harmony 2
Continued exploration of major key harmony: secondary and extended dominant relationships. Continued study of melodic construction and motif development.