Music (MUSIC-UA)

Students acquire a basic vocabulary of musical terms, concepts, and listening skills in order to describe their responses to musical experiences. Considers the structure and style of influential works in the Western art music repertoire, popular music, or other musical cultures, with attention to the wider social, political, and artistic context. Course does not count towards the Music major. Can be counted toward the minor as an elective.

Over the course of the past hundred years, jazz has been framed variously as an erotic display, a symbol of modernity, an essential expression of the African American soul, the sound of the Black avant garde, "America's classical music," a form of musical cosmopolitanism, a decadent type of bourgeois entertainment, a virtuosic art form, a revolting noise, a radical performance of democracy and freedom, and elevator music. Jazz is, in other words, complicated—its densely textured sound world is entwined with a complex social history. This course immerses you in the sounds of jazz, focusing largely on music made in New York City, the undisputed global capital of the genre. During our regular class and recitation sessions, as well as at a number of evening gatherings, we will listen to recordings, compare notes on the music, work with archival sources, meet musicians, attend concerts, and read a broad array of jazz scholarship and journalism. We will dig into the history of jazz in and beyond the city, and also explore the strange and delightful new shapes jazz is taking in the 21st century. By the end of the term, your understanding of jazz and your understanding of New York will be forever changed.

Explores the underlying principles and inner workings of the tonal system, a system that has guided all of Western music from the years 1600 to 1900. It includes a discussion of historical background and evolution. Focuses on concepts and notation of key, scale, tonality, and rhythm. Related skills in sight-singing, dictation, and keyboard harmony are stressed in the recitation sections.

This course is designed to take advantage of New York's dynamic music community. There are in-class presentations by local musicians and scholars, and students regularly attend performances throughout the city. The focus is on the everyday practices of musical life in New York City by both performers and listeners in a number of the City's musical constituencies: immigrant communities; amateur and professional music-makers; and popular, classical, and avant-garde scenes. Examination of these processes of music-making will be enhanced by a look at the histories of these different kinds of music-making. There will also be a historical discussion of the vibrant musical life of New York in the 19th and early 20th centuries, which will contribute to an understanding of why New York is seen, and sees itself, as a musical city.

Topics and prerequisites vary by semester.

Is writing about music really like dancing about architecture? In this class we will explore the question of effective writing about music and sound in three ways: reading and analyzing outstanding and effective writing about music by others; by thinking and learning about approaches to writing; and by conducting independent research projects.

These courses explore the many ways that musical practices are deeply embedded in social life. Through engagement with histories, politics, economic flows, and individual biographies, students encounter music's and sound's centrality to culture and society. Topics vary by semester.

A study of the relationship between popular music and literature in Latin America. Explores the multiple interactions between the written word, the oral text, and the sonic dimensions of music, both within literary texts and within musical compositions.

This course follows the musical creativity and pathways of Yoko Ono, who brought vibrant creative milieus into contact from Tokyo to London to New York. We will trace an alternative history of late 20th-century music genres and communities via Yoko Ono's pathways of connection. Musical scenes under consideration include opera in World War II-era Tokyo; the postwar downtown New York music scene; Fluxus; free jazz; the British Invasion and Swinging London; and New York cabaret, punk, and new wave.

In this course, students will learn the foundational techniques for MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) and digital audio by composing original music in a Digital Audio Workstation (DAW). Firstly, we will study elements of analog and digital signal processing by creating a simple circuit board for a laptop’s TRRS input/output (aka. headphone jack). We will then practice how to set up a system to record and manipulate samples; place and utilize microphones in a recording studio and a concert hall; and mix and master audio using digital production tools.

Provides a comprehensive introduction to the traditional and contemporary music of the Celtic areas of Western Europe: Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Brittany, and Galicia. Recordings and live performances present the extraordinary range of singing styles and the musical instruments employed in each culture, including harps, bagpipes, and a variety of other wind, free reed, keyboard, and stringed instruments. Forms and musical styles are explored in depth, along with a study of their origin, evolution, and cultural links.

This two-credit, half-semester course introduces students to music and sound archives and the questions of memory, historical evidence, and preservation they raise. Relying on archives at NYU and beyond, this course focuses on contrasting collections documenting specific social groups and historical situations through sound. We will interrogate the many ways we continually retrieve, lose, and transform the past through informal daily habits and more systematic methods of preserving memory. We will also address technical and ethical dilemmas that surround archival sound collection and preservation in the digital age. Students will dig collectively in the archives in and outside of class meetings. They will discuss the significance of archival findings in weekly short essays and verbal presentations, which engage arguments from relevant secondary literature.

This two-credit, half-semester music seminar teaches students to write historical research papers on music and sound, with the aim of preparing them for future independent studies, thesis projects, and other general academic and professional writing. We will study questions of historiography, archive, evidence, argument, and writing style. We will also address the challenges that music and sound’s effervescence presents to research and writing. In consultation with the instructor, students will choose individual research projects and submit final research papers at the end of the course. The course will unfold as a collaborative writing workshop, with students helping one another to formulate research questions, develop bibliographies, strengthen arguments, and refine prose

Topics vary by semester.

Students study principles of tonal music composition including 18th and 19th century harmonic, formal, and contrapuntal practices. Exercises in four-part voice-leading and species counterpoint are supplemented by analyses of music from around the world and from a variety of genres, including concert and popular music. Weekly lab sections are devoted to skills in musicianship and are required throughout the sequence.

Music Major Distribution Requirement. Chromatic harmony as developed and practiced by composers of the 19th century and beyond. Introduction to score reading and principles of musical analysis applied to larger musical structures. Continuation of species counterpoint and an introduction to invertible counterpoint and fugue.

Analysis of music of the late 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries, and the creation of imitative compositional models based on works studied as well as on principles acquired earlier in the sequence. Additional topics will include whole-tone and octatonic scale systems, atonality, serialism, and an introduction to post-modern and spectral techniques. Weekly lab sections are devoted to skills in musicianship and are required throughout the sequence.

Students will study and learn to perform works from various periods of music, with a focus on interpretation and analysis. The works may be studied as individual or group projects (solo pieces or chamber music), and regular coachings will be supplemented with sessions delving into analysis of the music. A brief audition is required to establish proficiency on an instrument, and students should contact the music department to set up an audition time. May be repeated for credit.

Explores various compositional techniques, with an emphasis on modern-day writing procedures. Students write music regularly and receive suggestions from the instructor intended to foster the development of their individual compositional voices. Students also study specific musical scores corresponding to their areas of interest.

This ensemble will gather interested students into an open, supportive community space for collective vocalizing and music-making. Students will be invited to propose repertoires, as well as engage with works from a variety of eras, styles and approaches. In addition to tutti projects, solos and small groups will break apart from within the class and will share their work for one another’s feedback. Several performance opportunities will be provided for participants, including an end-of-semester showcase performance.

Continuation of MUSIC-UA.0505-0506

The Afro Cuban ensemble will focus on the different popular styles and genres of the rich Cuban repertoire. Focusing on the best-known composers and traditional forms to get an understanding of the nuances and complexity of the music. (Open to all)

Topics vary by semester

Music majors and minors are eligible to participate in an internship, worth 2 or 4 points. For details on internship guidelines, please consult the department Web site.

Music majors are eligible to participate in an internship, worth 2 or 4 points toward the degree. For details on internship guidelines, please consult our department Web site.

Open only to music majors in the junior or senior years or others, with permission. Prerequisite: written approval of the director of undergraduate studies. 2 or 4 points per term. Please consult the department Web site for guidelines for independent study proposals.

A journey through the different styles of Latin American Popular Music (LAPM), particularly those coming from Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay. Their roots, influences and characteristics. Their social and historical context. Their uniqueness and similarities. Emphasis in the rhythmic aspect of folk music as a foundation for dance and as a resource of cultural identity. Even though there is no musical prerequisite, the course is recommended for students with any kind and/or level of musical experience. The course explores both the traditional and the contemporary forms of LAPM Extensive listening/analysis of recorded music and in-class performing of practical music examples will be primary features of the course. Throughout the semester, several guest musicians will be performing and/or giving clinic presentations to the class. A short reaction paper will be required after each clinic. These clinics might be scheduled in a different time slot or even day than the regular class meeting, provided that is no time conflict with other courses for any of the students.

Topics vary by semester