MUSIC
2013-2014

Professors: Anthony Braxton, Neely Bruce, Eric Charry, Mark Slobin

Associate Professors: Jane Alden, Chair; Yonatan Malin; Su Zheng

Assistant Professor:  Paula Matthusen

University Professors: Ronald Kuivila, Sumarsam

Adjunct Professors: Abraham Adzenyah, Jay Hoggard

Adjunct Assistant Professor: B. Balasubrahmaniyan

Artists-in-Residence: Ron Ebrecht, I. Harjito, David Nelson

Private-lessons teachers: Pheeroan Aklaff, Drums; John Banker, Tuba; Garrett Bennett, Bassoon/Saxophone; Carver Blanchard, Guitar/Lute; Eugene Bozzi, Percussion/Drums; Nancy Brown, Classical Trumpet; Susan Burkhart, Guitar; Taylor Ho Bynum, Jazz Trumpet; Bill Carbone, Drums; Edwin Cedeno, Conga Drum, Taino Log Drumming, Afro-Cuban Percussion; Cem Duruoz, Guitar; Craig Edwards, Fiddle; Perry Elliot, Violin; Priscilla Gale, Voice; Giacomo Gates, Jazz Vocals; Peter Hadley, Didjeridu; Robert Hoyle, French Horn; Kyunghee Kang, Korean Drumming; Larry Lipnik, Viol, Recorder, and Early Music Performance; Qi Liu, Piano; Tony Lombardozzi, Jazz/Blues Guitar; Sarah Meneely-Kyder, Piano; Lisa Moore, Piano; Julie Ribchinsky, Cello; Wayne Rivera, Voice; Ruben Rodriguez, Trombone; Erika Schroth, Piano; Stan Scott, Banjo/Mandolin/Hindustani Vocal; Megan Sesma, Harp; Fred Simmons, Jazz Piano; Peter Standaart, Flute; Charlie Suriyakham, Clarinet; Libby Van Cleve, Oboe; Marvin  Warshaw, Viola; Kaoru Watanabe, Taiko Drumming; Matthew Welch, Bagpipes; Roy Wiseman, Bass; Chai-Lun Yueh, Voice

Undergraduate Program

Undergraduate Departmental Advising Expert 2012-2013: Yonatan Malin

Department/Program Home Page

The Music Department offers course work and performing opportunities in music from around the world at undergraduate and graduate levels. Students considering a music major should come to the department office where they will be given an in-house concentration form and assigned a major advisor. Students design their own individualized program of study and complete the concentration form in consultation with their advisor, listing all music courses previously taken and those planned for the future. Because the program proposal must be approved by the director of undergraduate studies and ratified by the entire music faculty, prospective majors are urged to complete this form two weeks before the deadline for declaration to allow for music faculty action.

Major requirements. Music majors take four courses in each of three capabilities: theory/composition, history/culture, and performance. Two additional courses from the 300-level Seminars for Music Majors bring the number of music credits to 14. The required senior project or senior honor project brings the total number of music credits to 15 or 16, respectively. Prerequisites to the major are one year of music theory (MUSC103, MUSC201) or passing the equivalent by exam, one course in the history/culture capability, and one performance course. Private lessons taken before the junior year (MUSC405) will satisfy the prerequisite but will not count toward the course requirements for the major. Diversity of musical experience is a core value of the Music Department and is expected of all music majors. To move toward this goal, at least two of the 14 music credits must be outside the student's main area of interest.

The Music Department expects its majors to continue to refine and extend their performance skills throughout their undergraduate careers, which may mean accumulating more than 15 or 16 credits in music. No more than 16 credits in music may be counted toward the 32 credits required for graduation, however, and students must therefore complete 16 credits outside of music.

All music majors are required to complete a senior project by the end of their final year. The purpose of the project is to give focus to the major by means of independent, creative work and to encourage independent study with the close advice and support of a faculty member. Students who choose to undertake an honors thesis may count this as their senior project.

Special activities. The department supports a number of unusual activities, many of which are available to the student body in general as well as to music majors. Among them are ensembles in various Asian, African, American, and European traditions, as well as a variety of chamber ensembles.

The possible foci of study include Western classical music; new music with an emphasis on acoustical explorations; African American, Indonesian, Indian, and African musics; and European and American music outside the art tradition. These and other possibilities are not mutually exclusive but can be studied in combinations that reflect the interests of individual students. The music profession is international. In many areas of music study, at least one foreign language is essential.

Private-lessons program. Private lessons are available for many instruments and voice in Western art music, African American music, and a variety of other musics from around the world. Lessons are considered one-credit-per-semester courses. An additional fee, $795 per semester, is charged for these private lessons (financial aid may be available to students eligible for University financial aid). Approved music majors in their junior and senior years are eligible for partial subsidy when taking one (1) private lesson, per semester, for academic credit with a private-lessons teacher.

Departmental colloquium. An ongoing departmental colloquium is intended for the entire music community. It includes presentations by Wesleyan faculty, students, and outside speakers and encourages general discussion of broad issues in the world of music.

The study facilities include a working collection of musical instruments from many different cultures; a music-instrument manufacturing workshop; a 45-piece Javanese gamelan orchestra; a large formal concert hall and a small, multipurpose concert hall; an electronic music studio coupled to a professional recording studio; a computer-arts studio capable of producing electronic music, video art, and environmental simulations; a music and record library; an electronic keyboard lab; and an archive of world music.

The following is a listing according to capabilities of courses offered by the department:

Theory Prerequisites

• MUSC103 Materials and Design
• MUSC201 Tonal Harmony

History/Culture Gateways

• MUSC106 History of European Art Music
• MUSC108 History of Rock and R&B
• MUSC109 Introduction to Experimental Music
• MUSC110 Introduction to South Indian Music
• MUSC111 Music and Theater of Indonesia
• MUSC113 The Study of Film Music

FYI Courses

• MUSC122 Introduction to Folk Music Studies
• MUSC123 Escaping Purgatory: Music and Devotion in Medieval Europe
• MUSC125 Music and Downtown New York, 1950--1970

Theory/Composition

• MUSC202 Theory and Analysis
• MUSC203 Chromatic Harmony
• MUSC204 20th-Century Compositional Techniques
• MUSC206 18^th Century Counterpoint
• MUSC209 Readings in Music Theory: Reimagining Tonality
• MUSC210 Theory of Jazz Improvisation
• MUSC211 Language of Jazz Orchestra
• MUSC212 South Indian Music--Solkattu
• MUSC220 Composing, Performing, and Listening to Experimental Music
• MUSC223 Music, Recording, and Sound Design

History/Culture

• MUSC241 Medieval and Renaissance Music
• MUSC242 Baroque and Classical Music
• MUSC243 Music of the 19th Century
• MUSC244 Music of the 20th Century
• MUSC261 Music and Modernity in China, Japan, and Korea
• MUSC265 African Presences I: Music in Africa
• MUSC266 African Presences II: Music in the Americas
• MUSC269 Sacred and Secular African American Musics
• MUSC270 Music of Coltrane, Mingus, and Coleman
• MUSC271 Music of Lennie Tristano, Miles Davis, and Max Roach
• MUSC274 Hymnody in the United States Before the Civil War
• MUSC276 History of Musical Theater
• MUSC280 Sociology of Music in Social Movements
• MUSC285 Wagner and Modernism
• MUSC290 How Ethnomusicology Works
• MUSC291 The Gendering of Music in Cross-Cultural Perspective
• MUSC295 Global Hip Hop
• MUSC296 Music and Public Life
• MUSC297 Yiddish Cultural Expression: Theater, Literature

Major Seminars

• MUSC300 Seminar for Music Majors
• MUSC304 Arranging and Composing for Jazz Orchestra
• MUSC308 Composition in the Arts
• MUSC316 Special Topic in Contemporary Pop Music

Performance/Study Groups

• MUSC405 Private Music Lessons (nonmajors)
• MUSC406 Private Music Lessons (majors)
• MUSC413 Korean Drumming Ensemble - Beg
• MUSC414 Korean Drumming Ensemble - Adv. I
• MUSC415 Korean Drumming Ensemble - Adv. II
• MUSC416 Beginning Taiko-Japanese Drumming
• MUSC417 Intermediate Taiko - Japanese Drumming
• MUSC418 Advanced Taiko - Japanese Drumming
• MUSC427 Yiddish Music/Klezmer Band
• MUSC428 Chinese Music Ensemble
• MUSC430 South Indian Voice--Beginning
• MUSC431 South Indian Voice--Intermediate
• MUSC432 South Indian Voice--Advanced
• MUSC433 South Indian Music Percussion
• MUSC434 Improvisational Techniques in South Indian Music
• MUSC436 Wesleyan Singers
• MUSC437 Singing to Your Instruments
• MUSC438 Wesleyan University Collegium Musicum
• MUSC439 Wesleyan University Orchestra
• MUSC440 Conducting: Instrumental and Vocal
• MUSC441 Pipe Organ: Theory and Practice
• MUSC442 Chamber Music Ensemble
• MUSC443 Wesleyan Wind Ensemble
• MUSC444 Opera and Oratorio Ensemble
• MUSC445 West African Music and Culture—Beginners
• MUSC446 West African Music and Culture—Intermediate
• MUSC447 West African Music and Culture—Advanced
• MUSC448 Ebony Singers: Gospel Music
• MUSC450 Steel Band
• MUSC451 Javanese Gamelan—Beginners
• MUSC452 Javanese Gamelan—Advanced
• MUSC453 Cello Ensemble
• MUSC454 World Guitar Ensemble
• MUSC455 Jazz Ensemble
• MUSC456 Jazz Improvisation Performance
• MUSC457 Jazz Orchestra I
• MUSC458 Jazz Orchestra II
• MUSC459 Materials and Principles of Jazz Improvisation I
• MUSC460 Materials and Principles of Jazz Improvisation II
• MUSC461 Balinese Gamelan - Anklung
• MUSC464 Laptop Ensemble

Graduate Courses

• MUSC500 Graduate Pedagogy
• MUSC506 Reading Ethnomusicology
• MUSC507 Practicing Ethnomusicology
• MUSC508 Graduate Seminar in Composition
• MUSC509 Special Studies in Contemporary Music
• MUSC510 Graduate Proseminar in World Music Studies
• MUSC513 Improvisation in Cross-Cultural Perspective
• MUSC516 Seminar in Indonesian Music
• MUSC519 Current Issues in Ethnomusicology
• MUSC520 Explorations in Musicology
• MUSC521 Seminar in Interdisciplinary Studies
• MUSC522 Seminar in Comparative Music Theory
• MUSC530 Colloquium

Graduate Program

Director of Graduate Studies in Music:  Sumarsam

The World Music Program offers degrees at both the master's and doctoral levels. The MA in music has concentrations in scholarship (ethnomusicology/musicology), experimental music/composition, and performance. The PhD is in ethnomusicology only. Many musics are represented by faculty members through teaching and performing African American, Indonesian, West African, the Caribbean, East Asian, South Indian (Karnatak), Euro-American, and experimental music, and there are many opportunities for individual and ensemble study/performance.

Requirements for the degree of master of arts

• Courses. A total of 11 credits of course work. Students are required to take the Graduate Proseminar in World Music Studies (MUSC510), four graduate seminars other than MUSC510 (two in the area of concentration); two performance courses; a course outside the department; a two-semester thesis tutorial (MUSC591/592), and four semesters of MUSC530 the Music Department Colloquium.

• Language. One foreign language is required for the MA. All incoming students are required to take the language examination administered by the department at the beginning of their first term.

  Thesis and defense. The thesis must constitute an archivable product displaying mastery of and an original contribution to the understanding of an aspect of world music. The MA thesis may follow various formats and modes of musical investigation, but performance per se does not constitute a thesis without substantial written ancillary materials. Work such as bibliographies, translations, and journals do not normally constitute theses. After completing all department requirements and acceptance of the thesis by the committee, the candidate is scheduled for an oral thesis defense administered by the committee.

Requirements for the degree of doctor of philosophy

• Courses.Satisfactory completion of courses totaling at least 12 credits. Students are required to take three core seminars (MUSC519, 521, 520/522), three elective graduate-level seminars other than the core seminars (two of which may be satisfied with appropriate courses already taken at the master's level), two credits of performance (in different musics), one course outside the department, two credits of thesis tutorial (MUSC591/592), and four semesters of MUSC530, the Music Department Colloquium.

• Language. Two foreign languages are required for the PhD: one field language and one research language. All incoming students are required to take the language examination administered by the department at the beginning of their first term.

• Qualification. At the conclusion of the second year in residence, students take a qualifying examination consisting of a set of essays and a follow-up oral examination.

• Dissertation and defense. The dissertation must constitute an archivable product displaying mastery of and an original contribution to the understanding of an aspect of world music. After completing all department requirements and acceptance of the dissertation by the committee, the candidate is scheduled for an oral dissertation defense administered by the committee.