Contemporary Music & Technology

MUSC 150: Private Lesson I. A weekly one-hour private instrumental or vocal lesson is provided for all first year students. Instruction is available on keyboard, woodwinds, saxophone, percussion, guitar, electric and acoustic, bass, and voice. Lessons are designed to increase students technical and musical abilities.

MUSC 154: Basic Keyboard 1. A required course for all students with the exception of keyboard majors. This course is designed to provide practical ''hands-on'' knowledge of the keyboard in today's music industry. Students will gain an understanding of chording (in nearest inversion) and will be required to create musical excerpts using upper structure triads.

MUSC 158: Ensemble I. Ensembles, required of all students, are the focal point of the Music program. All students are placed by audition in one or more ensembles. Students must participate in a minimum of four ensembles to graduate. Types of ensembles offered will focus on contemporary music including rock, funk, fusion, jazz and vocal, with the goal of developing both the student's repertoire and improvisational abilities. Students are encouraged to participate in as many different types of ensembles as possible. A graduation showcase will be required from all students majoring in Music Performance.

MUSC 160: Computer Applications to Music I. This course covers the fundamentals and practical applications of a digital audio system, as well as methods for functioning in an integrated MIDI/digital audio workstation (DAW) studio environment. An emphasis is put on musical projects designed to emulate professional practice and application. MIDI sequencing is done at computer-based workstations in the classroom. Fundamentals of digital audio recording are practiced and auxiliary buss send and return are introduced. Prior experience with Pro Tools or another DAW is not required.

MUSC 162: Instrumental Lab I. This course is designed to help students develop instrumental skills. Grouped by instrument, students learn the fundamentals of reading, articulation, balance, dynamics, styles and technique as related to their particular instrument. This course is taught "instrument-in-hand" and also uses audio and visual aids to explore different techniques and styles. A requirement in all majors, students have weekly assignments.

MUSC 165: History of Jazz. A survey of the music of the jazz idiom from its origins to the present. Included is a chronological study of important soloists, bands, vocalists, and composers. Classes will be partly lecture aided by video clips and partly analysis with intensive listening.

MUSC 170: Arranging I. An introductory course in commercial arranging dealing primarily with the rhythm section. Specific topics will include ranges of instruments, arranging from lead sheets, planning an arrangement as well as detailed analysis of the function and common practice notational systems for the electric bass, guitar, piano, and drums. This course is designed to give students a working understanding of the techniques of writing for the rhythm section, which is essential to arranging all types of popular music. This semester will taper into midi and function as a companion to that course. All assignments will be handwritten. Special attention will be payed to notational considerations.

MUSC 174: Contemporary Harmony I. This course covers basic harmonic theory and common musical notation used in the music industry today. Topics include clefs, note recognition, key signatures, scales, intervals, triad and seventh chord construction, available tensions and basic harmonic functions. Upon successful completion of the course students will have a comprehensive and literate vocabulary of basic musical terms and symbols, and a working knowledge of basic harmonic functions.

MUSC 180: Ear Training I. This course is the first of a four-level program focusing on aural recognition of intervals, triads, seventh chords, rhythms, melodies, diatonic chord progressions and diatonic relative pitch. Students begin to learn the language of solfege and sight singing. This ear training class provides aural perception of the theory learned in MUSC 174, which is taught concurrently. Recorded examples, as well as live playing, are used for developing dictation skills.

MUSC 151: Private Lesson II. A weekly one-hour private instrumental or vocal lesson is provided for all first year students. Instruction is available on keyboard, woodwinds, saxophone, percussion, guitar, electric and acoustic, bass, and voice. Lessons are designed to increase students technical and musical abilities.

MUSC 155: Basic Keyboard II. A required course for all students, except Keyboard majors. This course continues to expand on chords and keyboard techniques. This semester also focuses on musical ''grooves''of various styles requiring more challenging coordination and technical skills

MUSC 159: Ensemble II. Ensembles, required of all students, are the focal point of the Music program. All students are placed by audition in one or more ensembles. Students must participate in a minimum of four ensembles to graduate. Types of ensembles offered will focus on contemporary music including rock, funk, fusion, jazz and vocal, with the goal of developing both the student's repertoire and improvisational abilities. Students are encouraged to participate in as many different types of ensembles as possible. A graduation showcase will be required from all students majoring in Music Performance.

MUSC 161: Computer Applications to Music II. This course develops the student's ability to produce his or her own multi track recordings with Protools digital audio workstation. Fundamentals of auxiliary buss, application of plug-in inserts such as EQ, compression, noise gate, delay, and reverb are applied. Principals of analogue and sample synthesis are applied to the development of projects. Fundamentals of microphone theory and application are introduced. Notation software is introduced and well as workstation components and application.

MUSC 163 Instrumental Lab II. This course is designed to help students develop instrumental skills. Grouped by instrument, students learn the fundamentals of reading, articulation, balance, dynamics, styles and technique as related to their particular instrument. This course is taught ''instrument-in-hand'' and also uses audio and visual aids to explore different techniques and styles. A requirement in all majors, students have weekly assignments.

MUSC 164: History of Rock. A study of the evolution of rock music from its origins to the present. Classes will focus on musical characteristics of the different styles within the genre. Sociological, geographical, literary and other cultural aspects will be discussed. Both audio and video clips will be presented for in-class analysis.

MUSC 171: Arranging II. Expanding on the concepts presented in Arranging I, this course will include writing for small horn sections, and multiple vocal parts with a rhythm section.

MUSC 175: Contemporary Harmony II. This course covers harmonic functions currently in use in all styles of popular music. Extensive use of recorded and written examples are used to show the harmony/melody relationships. Basic harmonic analysis as a tool is presented with an introduction to secondary dominant chords, extended dominant chords, modal interchange chords, and basic minor key and blues concepts. In addition, the application of melodic minor and harmonic minor are applied to these chords. Students are required to demonstrate through written projects, the current uses of these basic contemporary harmonic concepts.

MUSC 181: Ear Training II. A continuation of the skills learned in MUSC 180. The focus is on harmonically based melodies with larger intervallic skips. Rhythms are explored primarily through syncopated eighth notes, triplets and sixteenth notes. This ear training class provides an aural perception of MUSC 175, which is taught concurrently.