Academics

Undergraduate Music Courses

MU 100 Music Fundamentals
LASC—Creative Arts
An introduction to the rudiments of music theory, including pitch and rhythmic organization. Emphasis is placed on intervals, major and minor scales, reading and writing rhythm, and chord structures.
Offered every year. 3 credits.

MU 101 Fundamentals of Music and Aural Skills
LASC—Creative Arts
An introduction to reading and writing conventional music notation, the fundamentals of music theory, and basic aural skills. Emphasis will be placed on intervals, scales, chords, rhythmic values, sight-singing, melodic dictation, and aural recognition of intervals and chords.
Offered every year. 3 credits

MU 102 Applied Music
Prerequisite: Audition required
Instruments offered: Piano, voice, clarinet, flute, saxophone, trumpet, trombone, French horn, violin, cello, percussion, classical guitar, organ. Instructors for other instruments may be arranged by special request to Music Department.
Private instruction in an instrument or voice, one-half hour lesson per week. Studio fee required. May be repeated.
Offered every year. 1 credit.

MU 115 Music Appreciation
LASC—Creative Arts
A general survey of masterpieces of the major composers of various periods in the history of music.
Offered every year. 3 credits.

MU 125 Jazz Appreciation
Surveys the history of jazz, beginning with the earliest roots in the American South to today.
Offered every year. 3 credits.

MU 140 World Music
LASC—Creative Arts
An introduction to music of various cultures and continents including music of Africa, Asia, Latin America, The Middle East and India.
Offered every year. 3 credits.

MU 150 Opera
Analysis of the masterworks of the standard operatic repertoire.
Offered every year. 3 credits.

MU 175 Music in America
A survey of music history and literature in America including gospel spirituals, jazz, popular and classical music.
Offered every 3 years. 3 credits.

MU 190 Class Piano
Prerequisite: MU 100 or MU 101
Basic piano proficiency. Class topics will include an introduction to the keyboard, hand position, and music theory. Solo literature appropriate to the level will be studied.
Offered every year: 1 credit

MU 193 Special Topics in Music for First-year Students
All "193" classes are approved for LASC but may vary by section. See current course listing for specific LASC area approval.Introductory level course covering topics of special interest to first-year students. Offered only as a First-year Seminar.
Offered every year. 3 credits.

MU 195 Class Guitar
Prerequisite: MU 100 or MU 101
An introduction to playing the guitar, including technique, reading tabs and notation, and harmonization of melodies with chords. Solo literature appropriate to the level will be studied. Students are required to provide an instrument.
Offered every year: 1 credit

MU 200 Issues in Music
This course deals with topics of special interest, in both seminars and applied environments at an introductory level.
Offered every other year. 3 credits.

MU 202 Applied Music
Prerequisite: Audition required
Note: Please refer to instrument listing for MU 102
Private instruction in an instrument or voice, one-half hour lesson per week. Studio fee required. May be repeated.
Offered every year. 1 credit.

MU 204 Composition
Prerequisite: MU 100 or MU 101
An introduction to compositional methods and techniques. Students develop personal expression by creating musical works while exploring use of melody, harmony, timbre, rhythm, texture, and tonality within conventional musical forms.
Offered every other year. 3 credit.

MU 205 Harmony I
LASC—Creative Arts
Prerequisite: MU 100
Analysis and application of harmonization techniques using diatonic chords. Further emphasis is placed on voiceleading, figured bass, melodic construction, and embellishing tones.
Offered every year. 3 credits.

MU 210 Harmony II
LASC—Creative Arts
Prerequisite: MU 205
Analysis and application of harmonization techniques using diatonic and chromatic chords. Emphasis is placed on voice-leading, non-chord tones, secondary chords, and modulation.
Offered every year. 3 credits.

MU 213 Music Technology of MIDI Systems and Digital Audio
Prerequisite: MU 100 or knowledge of notation and department consent
Offers study in MIDI/Digital Audio Systems and electronic music synthesis in a PC environment. Prepares student interested in audio engineering.
Offered every year. 3 credits.

MU 215 Chorus and Music Theory
LASC—Creative Arts
Prerequisite: Audition required
Mixed choral repertoire and performance, covering vocal problems and techniques. Introduction to music theory, rhythms, intervals, basic chordal structures, harmonization. Participation in college chorus required.
Offered every year. 3 credits.

MU 220 Chorus
Prerequisite: MU 215
Mixed chorus repertoire. May be repeated.
Offered every semester. 1 credit .

MU 225 Band
LASC—Creative Arts
Prerequisite: Audition required
Study and experience in repertoire and performance. May be repeated.
Offered every year. 1 credit.

MU 226 Band and Music Theory
LASC—Creative Arts
Prerequisite: Audition required
Study and experience in music notation and style of instrumental music. Participation in college band required.
Offered every year. 3 credits.

MU 230 New England Jazz Artists
To enhance the student's knowledge of jazz by studying and analyzing the music of the great jazz artists and venues of the New England area.
Offered every year. 3 credits.

MU 231 Women in Music
LASC—Creative Arts; Thought, Language and Culture
A survey of the role of women in music, particularly the great women composers from Medieval to Contemporary times.
Category1. 3 credits.

MU 234 Music of the Baroque Period
The period 1600-1750 with emphasis on Bach and Handel.
Offered every 3 years. 3 credits.

MU 235 Music of the Classical Period
The period 1750-1827; Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven.
Offered every 3 years. 3 credits.

MU 237 Music in the Elementary School
LASC—Creative Arts
Discover the benefits of using music to enrich general education from preschool through high school. Develop your own musicianship through learning to use your singing voice, learning to play the recorder, learning to read notation and gaining an overview of western music history.
Offered every year. 3 credits.

MU 240 Music of the Romantic Period
A survey of nineteenth-century music beginning with Beethoven.
Offered every 2 years. 3 credits.

MU 245 Twentieth-Century Music
A comprehensive study and general listener’s approach to contemporary music beginning with Impressionism.
Offered every 2 years. 3 credits.

MU/CM 250 Music of the Cinema: Spectacle, Splendor, and Spielberg
LASC—Creative Arts
An introduction to the role, impact, and importance of music in motion pictures from silent movies through contemporary film.
Offered every 2 years. 3 credits.

MU 255 The Golden Era of Piano Music
LASC—Creative Arts
A survey of piano music beginning with Beethoven and continuing through the Romantic tradition to the early twentieth century.
Offered every year. 3 credits.

MU 260 Symphonic Music
LASC—Creative Arts
A survey of symphonic music beginning with the classical period.
Offered every year. 3 credits.

MU 265 The Concerto
LASC—Creative Arts
The concerto from the eighteenth to the twentieth century with emphasis on the development of the piano concerto.
Offered every 2 years. 3 credits.

MU 270 Music in Horror Films
A survey of scores composed for horror films. Emphasis is placed on the role of music in the genre and the composer's interpretation of various components of screenplays, including narrative, characters, and emotional content.
Offered every other year. 3 credits.

MU 281 Music History I
LASC—Creative Arts
A general survey of western art music from the Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque periods.
Offered every year. 3 credits.

MU 282 Music History II
LASC—Creative Arts
A general survey of western art music from the Classical and Romantic periods, and the twentieth century.
Offered every year. 3 credits.

MU 300 Chorale
Prerequisites: MU 215 or MU 220 and audition
Study and performance of a cappella choral literature from the Middle Ages to contemporary times. May be repeated.
Category 1. 1 credit .

MU 302 Applied Music
Prerequisite: Audition required
Note: Please refer to instrument listing for MU 102
Private instruction in an instrument or voice, one-half hour lesson per week. Studio fee required. May be repeated.
Offered every year. 1 credit.

MU 310 The American Musical in Performance
Study, rehearsal and performance of a great American musical. Music, acting and dance will all be skills which are developed.
Offered every other year. 3 credits.

MU 380 Form and Analysis
Prerequisite: MU 210
An introduction to and analysis of the formal structures of music.
Offered every 3 years. 3 credits.

MU 400 Independent Study in Music
Prerequisite: Consent of instructor
An opportunity for further study in a special field of interest under faculty supervision.
Offered every year. 1-6 credits.

MU 402 Applied Music
Prerequisite: Audition required
Note: Please refer to instrument listing for MU 102
Private instruction in an instrument or voice, one-half hour lesson per week. Studio fee required. May be repeated.
Offered every year. 1 credit.

MU 410 Special Topics in Music
This course will allow members of the music faculty to develop courses of special interest. This would include seminars on specific composers or compositions, in both classroom and applied studio environments.
Offered every 3 years. 3 credits.