Arts and Design Courses

Introduction to interpretation of drama through art of actor. Development of individual insights, skills, and disciplines in presentation of dramatic material to audiences.

Beginning-level study of ballet as movement practice.

Introduction to guitar techniques, accompanying, and arranging for guitar; coverage of note reading and tablature. May be repeated for credit without limitation.

This course is a Beginning study of Streetdance, focusing on the foundation and technique of Hip Hop (party dances) and Locking. This level course will focus on the basic grooves of each dance style, while also exploring rhythmic isolated muscle movements & movement precision for several vocabularies. The history and understanding of these Street Dance Styles will be discussed in class to fully understand the essence of all styles learned and its importance and connection to community, specifically how it all began within the POC communities within USA.

Simple keyboard skills together with basic aspects of music theory and its practical application to keyboard: sight-reading, tonality, chords, scales, cadences, simple compositions, and improvisations. May be repeated for credit without limitation.

Introduction to development of rap music and hip-hop culture, with emphasis on musical and verbal qualities, philosophical and political ideologies, gender representation, and influences on cinema and popular culture. P/NP or letter grading.

Focused study on K-pop–South Korea’s most significant cultural export. Close attention is paid to global influences that have shaped Korean popular music in earlier decades and in turn, unprecedented global reach of K-pop in recent history. Study is divided into three units: contextualizing K-pop, transnational flows in K-pop, and critical takes on K-pop. Each unit features distinctive case studies, and lectures draw out some of broader linkages between units as they relate to modern Korean history, Cold War geopolitical formations and legacies, modern South Korean state and economy, and spread of Korean popular culture. Study draws on wide array of scholarly articles, journalistic pieces, music videos, webinars, and online resources while foregrounding larger issues that emerge through cultural analysis. P/NP or letter grading.

Development of world music or world beat, including its meaning and importance to contemporary culture as well as its history and impact.

Lecture, four hours; discussion, one hour. Analysis of forms, practices, and meanings of rock and roll music, broadly conceived, from its origin to present. Emphasis on how this music has reflected and influenced changes in sexual, racial, and class identities and attitudes. Credit for both courses 5 and 185 not allowed. Letter grading.

Exploration of major aspects of society, history, and culture in India through music. There is abundance of incredibly rich musical culture in this region. Introduction to as much diversity as possible, spanning villages to cities and global contexts; high- and low-brow musics; those spanning problematic categories of folk, classical, and popular; and those from powerful as well as oppressed and marginalized peoples. Music as lens to look more deeply into social and cultural world and to explore layers of history ranging form Persianate empires, British Empire, nationhood, and contemporary globalization. Highlights lines of power in particular, notably, those of caste, class, gender, colonialism, and nationalism. Minoritized and disenfranchised people and their music are as prominent as dominant styles and provide contextualization and critique. Satisfies Writing II requirement. Letter grading.

Lecture, four hours; discussion, one hour. Survey of music of Western classical tradition, with emphasis on historical context, musical meanings, and creation of tradition itself. P/NP or letter grading.

Learning and employment of craft of songwriting. Examination, analysis, and implementation of song structure, lyric and melody writing, arranging, orchestrating, and recording techniques. Evolution of songwriting in modern society since advent of phonograph player/radio; how songs and society affect and reflect one another; how this has informed songs and songwriters. Letter grading.

Lecture, three hours; discussion, one hour. Introduction to current music industry. Overview of career paths, monetization strategies, organizational behavior, and entrepreneurial thinking. Designed to serve as gateway for music industry degree programs. Students familiarize themselves with basic functions of industry that are covered in greater detail in upper-division coursework. Letter grading.

Survey of traditional and contemporary musical culture.

Exploration of techniques, methods, and process of music production and larger issues in art of making music. Students learn how to foster and capture performance and emotion in music through variety of methods and tools, including artistic direction in studio and choices made in sound, arrangement, and application of technology.

Musical experience helpful, but not required. Brief historical survey of film music, with strong emphasis on recent development: Japanese animation, advertising, and MTV, as well as computer tools and digital scoring methods. Designed to inspire and inform those interested in movie music.

Voice instruction for singers at beginning to intermediate level. Exploration of fundamentals of vocal technique, including overview of basics of proper breath control, resonance, care of voice, diction, and interpretation. Beginning vocal repertoire used as vehicle for understanding these concepts. May be repeated for credit without limitation.

Lecture, four hours; laboratory, one hour. Emphasis on learning specific skills, incorporating technical description, historical contextualization, subjective reaction, and certain stylistic conventions necessary in writing about music. Satisfies Writing II requirement. Letter grading.