Description
This course will examine the various tonalities, meters and compositional structures that characterize the various music styles from the Mediterranean region. This is a survey course focused on the folk music from the Mediterranean with a spotlight on how melody is the defining and dominant feature of the music. Students will explore modal systems with limited harmonic progression and tonalities not always consistent with western tonal systems and metric forms. The influence of religious music, the differing ethnic traditions, and the sociocultural differences of the principal music sources will be reviewed and studied. Listening, performing, songwriting, and sight singing are the main activities of this course.
Electable By
All B.M. and P.D. students
Description
The study of the bass in the styles of Dixieland, swing, bebop, cool, experimental, fusion, and others. In-depth analysis of the function of the bass as part of the rhythm section and as a solo voice. Some of the players heard and discussed are Pop Foster, Walter Page, Jimmy Blanton, Oscar Pettiford, Slam Stewart, Paul Chambers, Charles Mingus, Ron Carter, Richard Davis, Eddie Gomez, and Jaco Pastorius.
Electable By
All B.M. and P.D. students
Course Chair
Steve Bailey
Description
A study of the history of brass instruments (trumpet, trombone, French horn, euphonium, and tuba) in American music. Emphasis is on the performance styles of major players, including Herbert L. Clarke, Arthur Pryor, Louis Armstrong, Bix Beiderbecke, Jack Teagarden, Clifford Brown, Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, J.J. Johnson, Harry James, Julius Watkins, Rich Matteson, and Harvey Phillips. Study will include articles as well as recorded and transcribed musical examples.
Electable By
All B.M. and P.D. students
Description
A survey of contemporary guitar players and styles as well as related doubling instruments. Emphasis on major players and various styles through tapes and transcriptions.
Electable By
All B.M. and P.D. students
Description
In this course students will develop musicianship, ensemble performance, and improvising skills as they play in various sub-styles within the historical timeline of jazz drumming. They will strengthen their critical thinking skills by reading, listening, watching, analyzing, critiquing, and evaluating music performances. They also will be cognizant of the historical, sociological and technological impact of jazz, including its influence on other styles of music and develop a global perspective for music and society. Students will also be urged to apply skills and knowledge acquired in this course into their own experiences in real world musical situations.
Electable By
All B.M. and P.D. students
Course Chair
Yoron Israel
Description
In this course students will develop musicianship, ensemble performance, and improvising skills as they play in various styles within the historical timeline of modern drumming. They will strengthen their critical thinking skills by reading, listening, watching, analyzing, critiquing, and evaluating music performances. They also will be cognizant of the historical, sociological and technological impact of these styles (and their influence on each other): jazz, rock, funk, fusion, Brazilian, Latin, reggae, and other global styles. Through this course, students develop a global perspective for music and society. Students will apply skills and knowledge acquired in this course into their own experiences in real world musical situations.
Electable By
All B.M. and P.D. students
Course Chair
Yoron Israel
Description
A study of the history and development of European/orchestral, African and Afro-Latin/Caribbean percussion styles and instruments. Emphasis will be on all the non-drumset percussion instruments (e.g. timpani, snare drum, glockenspiel, marimba, xylophone, vibraphone, steelpan, etc.) as well as the music and hand percussion instruments of Africa, Cuba, Brazil and the Caribbean.
Electable By
All B.M. and P.D. students
Course Chair
Yoron Israel
Description
A study of the history and development of the music of Latin America and the Caribbean, with particular focus on hand percussion playing. Emphasis will be on the music of Cuba and Brazil, and on the development of Latin American music in New York from the 1920s to the present. Musical relationships to the European and African traditions will be studied as well as specific instruments, song styles and rhythms, composing and arranging styles, and significant artists in the idiom.
Course Chair
Yoron Israel
Description
A study of the history and development of the art of jazz piano and the lives and times of the artists themselves. Through listening to archival and contemporary recordings and analysis and discussions, the rich diversity of the different jazz styles will be examined, along with the artists associated with certain styles. Solo piano and group playing from ragtime to contemporary will be addressed.
Electable By
All B.M. and P.D. students
Description
An overview of the history of contemporary string playing, with special emphasis on the work of major innovators: Joe Venuti, Stephane Grappelli, Jean-Luc Ponty, and others. Recordings and transcriptions used to analyze technique and improvisational skills.
Electable By
All B.M. and P.D. students
Course Chair
David Wallace
Description
This course will survey and analyze a number of styles that form the bedrock of American popular music. These styles include blues, gospel, folk, country, Cajun, tejano, and Native American. Students will learn through transcribing, intensive immersion in listening, and viewing videotape footage.
Electable By
All B.M. and P.D. students
Course Chair
David Wallace
Description
A historical study of the development of the jazz vocalist and jazz vocal styles. Listening and style analysis through use of recordings and assigned student participation and performances. Singers covered include the Rhythm Boys, Bessie Smith, Sippie Wallace, Jimmy Rushing, the Boswell Sisters, the Mills Brothers, Ethel Waters, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughan, Frank Sinatra, Dianne Reeves, Al Jarreau, Bobby McFerrin, and representative contemporary artists.
Electable By
All B.M. and P.D. students
Course Chair
Anne Peckham