Elective Music Courses for Non-Majors

Dear Students,

The department of music is offering the following courses to non-music majors. If you are looking for ways to broaden your musical understanding and knowledge, we invite you to our courses.

MSC 174 Music History II – Opera and Instrumental Music in the Baroque Period Florentine Camerata. Birth of Opera. Early Baroque vocal music genres. Early Baroque instrumental music genres. Monteverdi Operas. Opera in Rome, Venice and Naples in seventeenth century. Development of keyboard music in the late seventeenth century. The evolution of sonata. Genesis of Orchestral Music during the late seventeenth century. The evolution of concerto.

MSC 274 Music History IV – 19th Century Music and Modernity
Beethoven. Opera trends in the early nineteenth century. Hector Berlioz. Chamber and orchestral musical innovations of the nineteenth century. Nineteenth century Italian Opera. Verdi Operas. Birth of romantic German Opera. Richard Wagner. The German, Austrian and French composers of the late nineteenth century. French naturalism in Opera. Verismo opera. Nationalism in music and its new trends during late nineteenth century. Debussy. Important note: Please do not forget to fill a prerequisite override form to enroll this course

MSC 386 “Introduction to Composition”
This course explores what a composer does when s/he writes a piece of music. Open to students with little or no prior experience in composition, MSC386 will explore ways of thinking about and organizing basic compositional elements such as line (melody), harmony, counterpoint, rhythm, timbre (instrumental color), and form. The primary emphasis is on a process of learning through feedback, via individual and group meetings, as well as frequent opportunities to hear compositional exercises performed and recorded. Knowledge of basics of musical concepts and notation is a prerequisite for this course. Ideally, students should have minimum 2 years of formal or informal music education.

MSC 487 Introduction to Electroacoustic Music (New Course)
Basic techniques of electroacoustic music composition, including recording, sound editing, synthesis, MIDI, sequencers and sampling. Projects realized using recording gear and computers; study of relevant aspects of acoustic and electronic theory; repertoire since 1948 of musique concrète, acousmatic, and live-electronic music; Hands-on work will culminate in a final performance of individual projects.
Open to students in all departments. No prerequisite but knowledge of basics of musical concepts and notation is required.