Fine Arts: Music Courses

• •  

  • Code

  • Course

  • Credits

• • MUS 101

  • Fundamentals of Music

  • 3
  This course introduces students to the basic elements of music including music notation. Elements will be introduced including; melody, rhythm, harmony, texture, timbre, tempo, and dynamics.
• • MUS 102

  • Class Keyboard

  • 3
  Introduces students to the playing of a keyboard instrument including keyboard technique, repertoire, musical notation, sight-reading, harmony, basic instrumentation, and accompaniments.
• • MUS 103

  • Music Theory I

  • 3
  This course presents students with the opportunity to learn the basics of developing melodies and harmony through the study of chord constructions, chord successions, harmonic analysis, and part-writing. Emphasis is placed on melodic construction (form) and the elements of successful melody-writing. Students will also harmonize melodies and provide their own interpretation of the harmony implied in a melodic line. Prerequisite: Fundamentals of Music or permission of the Instructor.
• • MUS 104

  • Music Theory II

  • 3
  This course is a continuation of Music Theory I. Together, students cover the first year of a two year program in the principles of music theory. Students learn about diatonic harmony, dissonance treatments, secondary dominant harmony, harmonic analysis and part writing. The text further emphasizes the study of melody, including the form of melodic construction and the elements of melodic composition. Theory II will emphasize the creation of harmony, especially the student’s interpretation of harmonies implied by specific melodic lines. Prerequisites: MUS 103 or permission of the instructor.
• • MUS 107

  • Music Appreciation

  • 3
  This course is designed to increase the enjoyment of music through broadened understanding. It includes music theory and history and guided listening to recorded performances by individuals and groups.
• • MUS 108

  • Development of American Jazz

  • 3
  Development of American Jazz is trip through the history of America’s only original art form. This course will trace the development of American jazz from the plantations of the antebellum south, through the mass migration north of southern African Americans and America’s melting pot mentality, to the brothels, bars and concert halls of Kansas City, New Orleans and New York. Jazz is a reflection of an American ideal and the uniqueness of the American experience. We will examine the development of the art through the social, political, cultural and historical events and ideas that shaped the music. This course is a lecture course with an emphasis on listening, analyzing and comparing and contrasting the different periods in jazz history. The student will study the roles of all the different instruments and how they evolved in each period in jazz, biographical material on all the great instrumentalists and composers, the vocabulary of the jazz world as they relate to the evolution of jazz and learn how to listen and appreciate jazz on many different levels. There is no prerequisite required to take this course.
• • MUS 109

  • History of Rock

  • 3
  This course introduces students to the musical styles present in the rock music genre and to historical and social aspects affecting its evolution over the past fifty years. Explore the form, texture, melody, rhythm, lyrics, and instrumentation of selected examples from the historical periods of Rock. Through critical listening, students will analyze music from various Rock periods: Blues Rock, Country Rock, Gospel Rock, Early Sixties Rock, The Beatles, The British Invasion, Folk Rock, Soul Music/Motown, and Rock in the 70s, 80s and 90s, and Jazz Rock.
• • MUS 110

  • Music Across Cultures

  • 3
  This course explores music across national boundaries in its cultural context. At the same time, it enhances the students’ listening, critical, and analytical skills along with their aesthetic ability. It is an excursion in non-western music with an emphasis on the cultures in which it flourished such as the selected music of China, Japan, India, Middle East, Latin America, Ethnic North America, Africa, and Eastern Europe. This course is open to music and non-music majors.
• • MUS 220

  • Band Management & the Music Business

  • 3
  This course will present students with the opportunity to learn about the many facets of the music business including: managing a band, recording and record deals, touring, writing and publishing music, merchandising, knowing pertinent laws, selecting a manager/advisor or attorney, selling music on the internet, and entering the motion picture music field. The course will prepare students to make knowledgeable, practical decisions while pursuing a career in music.