Bard College Community Orchestra

Professor: Erica Kiesewetter, Kathryn Aldous and Zachary Schwartzman

Course Number: MUS 104

CRN Number: 10535

Class cap: 35

Credits: 2

Schedule/Location:

Mon       7:00 PM - 9:30 PM Olin AUDT

Distributional Area:

PA  Practicing Arts   

The Bard College Community Orchestra welcomes all players of orchestral instruments of NYSSMA level 5 and above by audition . We are a full symphony orchestra and play a variety of repertoire. Past programs have included Tchaikovsky's "Little Russian" Symphony, Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition"; and Sibelius Symphony 2. We also hold a solo competition for interested members of the orchestra who perf orm in our spring concert. Once a year we have readings of student composers, and are always open to new ideas. The orchestra meets on Monday nights in Olin Hall, and concerts are held in Frank Gehry's spectacular Fisher Center for the Performing Arts.  If you are interested please contact Josh Tyler at jtyler@bard.edu or Erica Kiesewetter at kiesewet@bard.edu  First rehearsal February 5, 2024, with auditions on January 29, 2024 or by video submission before that date. Concert date: May 13, 7pm with Dress Rehearsal May 12, 7pm.

Bard College Symphonic Chorus

Professor: James Bagwell  

Course Number: MUS 105

CRN Number: 10482

Class cap: 35

Credits: 1

Schedule/Location:

 Tue      7:30 PM - 10:00 PM Olin AUDT

Distributional Area:

PA  Practicing Arts   

First rehearsal - Tuesday, February 6, 2024 - Olin Hall  This course counts as an ensemble requirement.

Ensemble: Chamber Singers

Professor: James Bagwell  

Course Number: MUS 108D

CRN Number: 10483

Class cap: 25

Credits: 2

Schedule/Location:

 Tue  Thurs    5:30 PM - 7:00 PM Olin AUDT

Distributional Area:

PA  Practicing Arts   

Auditions Tuesday, January 30, 2024 - Olin Hall, first rehearsal - Thursday, February 1, 2024.

Ensemble: Electric Guitar

Professor: Matthew Sargent  

Course Number: MUS 108EG

CRN Number: 10563

Class cap: 10

Credits: 1

Schedule/Location:

Mon       12:30 PM - 2:50 PM Blum Music Center HALL

Distributional Area:

PA  Practicing Arts   

Ensemble: Balinese Gamelan

Professor: I Ketut Suadin  

Course Number: MUS 108H I

CRN Number: 10570

Class cap: 20

Credits: 1

Schedule/Location:

Mon       5:00 PM - 7:00 PM Bard Hall

Distributional Area:

PA  Practicing Arts   

Unless otherwise noted, each ensemble is for one credit.  It is possible to participate in more than one ensemble and receive additional credit accordingly.  If private lessons are taken in conjunction with an ensemble, one or two credits may be added.  Private lessons must be separately registered.

Ensemble: Balinese Gamelan

Professor: I Ketut Suadin  

Course Number: MUS 108H II

CRN Number: 10571

Class cap: 20

Credits: 1

Schedule/Location:

Mon       7:00 PM - 9:00 PM Bard Hall

Distributional Area:

PA  Practicing Arts   

Unless otherwise noted, each ensemble is for one credit.  It is possible to participate in more than one ensemble and receive additional credit accordingly.  If private lessons are taken in conjunction with an ensemble, one or two credits may be added.  Private lessons must be separately registered.

Ensemble for Any Instruments

Professor: Patricia Spencer  

Course Number: MUS 108M

CRN Number: 10567

Class cap: 10

Credits: 1

Schedule/Location:

 Tue      7:30 PM - 9:00 PM Bard Hall

Distributional Area:

PA  Practicing Arts   

The large variety of works written “for any instruments” invites exploration of atypical groupings – flute, marimba and tuba have been known to project wonderful blends. Auditions on the first day of classes will determine the best grouping of players.  This repertoire often requires a high degree of responsibility on the part of the performer: not only choosing dynamics and tempos but also instrumentation of various phrases and sometimes overall structure.   Members of this ensemble will engage in musical thinking outside the bounds of “normal” chamber music, and will discover how (or if) that may open a new dimension in their approach to more conventional performance.  The ensemble will meet twice a week, once with the professor and once independently. Repertoire under consideration: Frederic Rzewski, Attica [or Les moutons de Panurge] Arnold Schoenberg, Canon for Thomas Mann, and other canons Judith Shatin, Grito del Corazón John Cage, Living Room Music Kurt Schwitters, Ursonate (selection) Stefan Wolpe, Selections from “Music for Any Instruments” Kenneth Amis, Interludes I - V

Contemporary Jazz Composers Ensemble

Professor: Erica Lindsay  

Course Number: MUS 108N

CRN Number: 10541

Class cap: 10

Credits: 2

Schedule/Location:

Mon       5:30 PM - 7:30 PM Blum Music Center N211

Distributional Area:

PA  Practicing Arts   

This class will involve the interpretation of contemporary composers’ works, ranging from sextet to big band.  This will be an advanced class restricted to instrumentalists (and vocalists) who have the necessary reading, technical, and interpretive skills to perform demanding music.  There will be a featured composer who will visit as a guest artist and perform in concert with the ensemble each semester.  Pieces written by student composers involved in the jazz composition classes will also be performed.  Class size will vary according to the amount of qualified instrumentalists and the instrumentation requirements of the featured composer.  Interested students are encouraged to sign up at registration, although confirmation of participation will only be given after auditions are held. Auditions will be conducted during the first scheduled class meeting.

Baroque Ensemble

Professor: Renée Anne Louprette

Course Number: MUS 108P

CRN Number: 10548

Class cap: 25

Credits: 2

Schedule/Location:

      Sun 7:00 PM - 9:50 PM Olin AUDT

Distributional Area:

PA  Practicing Arts   

The Bard Baroque Ensemble, including both College and Conservatory musicians, takes a leading role in an annual series of Bach cantata presentations and collaborates with other Bard ensembles in bringing outstanding musical performances of Baroque repertoire to the wider community. Although the Bach cantatas are a particular focus of the Ensemble’s programming, a diversity of other Baroque and pre-Baroque repertoire is explored to deepen students’ understanding, appreciation, and mastery of a broad range of styles. Baroque bows are provided for string players, and some period-style instruments are available for students’ use through the Baroque Ensemble program.

Mixed Trios, Quartets and Quintets

Professor: Patricia Spencer  

Course Number: MUS 108Q

CRN Number: 10566

Class cap: 8

Credits: 1

Schedule/Location:

  TBA   Bard Hall  

Distributional Area:

PA  Practicing Arts   

Winds, strings, brass, or piano are welcome.  Or acoustic guitar, percussion.  Auditions on the first day of classes will determine the best grouping of players.  Classical repertoire will be chosen to match the levels and preferences of the group.  Examples of composers whose works have studied in the past include: Mozart, Beethoven, Haydn, Danzi, Mel Bonis, Brahms, plus strong works by more recent composers (Astor Piazzolla, John Cage, Stefan Wolpe, and others), contemporary giants such as John Harbison, Thea Musgrave, Nicholas Maw, Joan Tower, Shulamit Ran, and many, many more. Ensembles will meet twice a week, once with the professor and once independently. Meeting times will be set after the opening day auditions.  

The Bard Georgian Choir

Professor: Carl Linich  

Course Number: MUS 108R

CRN Number: 10547

Class cap: 30

Credits: 2

Schedule/Location:

  Wed     3:10 PM - 5:30 PM Bard Hall

Distributional Area:

PA  Practicing Arts   

The Bard Georgian Choir is an all-vocal group that studies and performs traditional polyphonic songs from the Republic of Georgia (former USSR). Most songs are taught orally, and no previous singing experience or music reading skills are required. Special vocal techniques are also explored, including ornamented singing and yodeling. The group performs concerts at the end of each semester. Carl Linich, the choir’s director, has been a scholar, teacher and acclaimed performer of Georgian polyphonic singing since 1990, and is a founding member of Trio Kavkasia. A basic ability to match pitch is required. Please contact the instructor directly: clinich@bard.edu to arrange auditions.

Introductory Afro Caribbean Percussion Ensemble

Professor: Roland Vazquez  

Course Number: MUS 108S I

CRN Number: 10583

Class cap: 10

Credits: 2

Schedule/Location:

    Fri   12:00 PM - 1:15 PM Blum Music Center N211

Distributional Area:

PA  Practicing Arts   

Practice, performance & lecture; exploration of the rhythms & culture of the West African drum choirs, essential drum languages & roots of popular music thriving in our hemisphere today: Afro Cuban Bernbé, Guaguanco; Afro Puerto Rican Bomba; Afro Dominican Merengué etc. Exploration of the"drum as a surrogate for the voice" within Afro, Indigenous, and contemporary culture; ensemble drumming as an articulation of heritage and as Platform for self-expression; also the "3:2 body clock memory in all people. Requirements: attendance, focus & participation (at best level of ability) in weekly Ensemble. This course counts as an ensemble requirement. Placement dependent on prior experience and skills.

Intermediate Afro Caribbean Percussion Ensemble

Professor: Roland Vazquez  

Course Number: MUS 108S II

CRN Number: 10584

Class cap: 10

Credits: 2

Schedule/Location:

    Fri   1:45 PM - 3:00 PM Blum Music Center N211

Distributional Area:

PA  Practicing Arts   

Practice, performance & lecture; exploration of the rhythms & culture of the West African drum choirs, essential drum languages & roots of popular music thriving in our hemisphere today: Afro Cuban Bernbé, Guaguanco; Afro Puerto Rican Bomba; Afro Dominican Merengué etc. Exploration of the"drum as a surrogate for the voice" within Afro, Indigenous, and contemporary culture; ensemble drumming as an articulation of heritage and as Platform for self-expression; also the "3:2 body clock memory in all people. Requirements: attendance, focus & participation (at best level of ability) in weekly Ensemble. This course counts as an ensemble requirement. Placement dependent on prior experience and skills.

Spontaneous Composition Ensemble

Professor: Angelica Sanchez  

Course Number: MUS 108SC

CRN Number: 10560

Class cap: 10

Credits: 2

Schedule/Location:

 Tue      5:10 PM - 7:10 PM Blum Music Center N211

Distributional Area:

PA  Practicing Arts   

This ensemble explores spontaneous composition through improvisation. Students will develop musical language and intuition by developing improvisation that explores motific development, texture, color, inflection, articulation, and rhythm to create dialog and form. Students should be proficient at all major, minor scales and intervals.

Chronotransduction Ensemble; The Music of Carla Bley

Professor: Angelica Sanchez  

Course Number: MUS 108W

CRN Number: 10561

Class cap: 10

Credits: 2

Schedule/Location:

 Tue      2:00 PM - 4:00 PM Blum Music Center N211

Distributional Area:

PA  Practicing Arts   

Chronotransduction is an invented term by composer and visionary Carla Bley. It is meant to mean "a transference of time," and references her most well known piece, "Escalator Over the Hill," which is also considered a Jazz/Rock Opera. Widely considered Bley's greatest achievement, the musically unclassifiable Escalator over the Hill is an epic work one that nourished Bley's proclivity toward musical boundary crossing and her genuinely collaborative nature. This ensemble explores the compositions of Carla over her long and impressive career. Interested students are encouraged to sign up at registration, although confirmation of participation will only be given after auditions are held. Auditions will be conducted during the first scheduled class meeting.

Jazz Standards Ensemble I

Professor: Gwendolyn Laster  

Course Number: MUS 108Z

CRN Number: 10539

Class cap: 10

Credits: 2

Schedule/Location:

Mon       1:30 PM - 3:30 PM Blum Music Center N211

Distributional Area:

PA  Practicing Arts   

There is a body of repertory songs commonly known by Jazz musicians forming a shared set of chord structures they can use to create improvisations. These are commonly referred to as "Real Book" tunes. Jazz artists routinely have the experience of meeting musicians for the first time on bandstands all over the world and playing songs from this reservoir wit h which every musician there is familiar. This ensemble introduces these songs as well as songs from the American song book. The Jazz faculty instructor will lead the students through that repertoire and make them aware of well-known recorded performances by Jazz masters in the past. Students may register with permission of the instructor.

 Introduction to Music Theory

Professor: Isabelle O'Connell  

Course Number: MUS 122

CRN Number: 10556

Class cap: 16

Credits: 4

Schedule/Location:

  Wed     1:30 PM - 2:50 PM Bard Hall

   Thurs    10:10 AM - 11:30 AM Bard Hall

Distributional Area:

PA  Practicing Arts   

This course will serve as an introduction to reading, notating, studying, and analyzing music. Introduction to Music Theory is geared toward non-music majors as well as potential music majors who have had little or no exposure to reading music. We will begin with the basics of musical notation, progressing to the identification of major/minor keys, triads, and seventh chords. The class will have an ear-training component that allows for practical reinforcement of the aural concepts presented. Grading will be based on weekly written and listening assignments, along with a mid-term and final project/assignment. There are no prerequisites.

Genre and Beyond: 150 Years of American Popular Music

Professor: Franz Nicolay  

Course Number: MUS 124

CRN Number: 10553

Class cap: 22

Credits: 4

Schedule/Location:

Mon  Wed     10:10 AM - 11:30 AM Blum Music Center N119

Distributional Area:

AA  Analysis of Art   

Crosslists: American & Indigenous Studies

After the cultural and artistic upheaval of the 1960s, the landscape of American popular music settled into a genre map whose borders- based on aesthetics, race, class, and technology- were policed both by the music business who needed them as marketing labels and the communities who used them as markers of collective and individual identity. Or did it? Using extensive listening and texts by Ellen Willis, Hanif Abdurraqib, Jessica Hopper, Kelefa Sanneh, and others, this survey course explores the prehistory and foundations of American popular music between the Civil War and WWII, and the changing role of taste and identity over the last fift-yyears of rock, R&B, country, punk, hip-hop, dance, and pop music.

Jazz Fundamentals II

Professor: John Esposito  

Course Number: MUS 172

CRN Number: 10489

Class cap: 15

Credits: 4

Schedule/Location:

Mon  Wed     10:10 AM - 11:30 AM Blum Music Center N211

Distributional Area:

PA  Practicing Arts   

Crosslists: Africana Studies

This course will include acquisition of the basic skills that make up the Foundation of all Jazz styles. We will also study the Jazz Language from the Bebop Era up to the 60's and how an improvised melody can be spontaneously created based on an underlying chord progression. This includes how one chooses notes and the phrasing with which they are expressed. The class utilizes several compositions and solos by Charlie Parker and focuses on his interpretation of Blues and Rhythm Changes. Prerequisite: Jazz Fundamentals I or permission of the instructor. This course fulfills a music theory requirement for music majors.

Jazz Through the Prism of History II

Professor: Angelica Sanchez  

Course Number: MUS 177B

CRN Number: 10692

Class cap: 20

Credits: 4

Schedule/Location:

Mon  Wed     11:50 AM - 1:10 PM Blum Music Center N210

Distributional Area:

AA  Analysis of Art   

Crosslists: Africana Studies

This course will explore the history of the black American art form called jazz from 1958 to the present day against the backdrop of American History. We will explore and gain a deeper awareness of the provocative history of jazz from an economic, social, and political perspective. Students will identify key jazz players and examine how their lives and their innovative contributions have often reflected societal inequalities. In addition to surveying the history of jazz, students will also gain listening skills that will enable them to identify style, instrumentation, historical and musical content within the jazz idiom.

Quantum Listening: Music & Meditation

Professor: Sarah Hennies and Angelica Sanchez

Course Number: MUS 178

CRN Number: 10534

Class cap: 30

Credits: 4

Schedule/Location:

Mon  Wed     10:10 AM - 11:30 AM Bard Hall

Distributional Area:

AA  Analysis of Art   

In 1988 composer Pauline Oliveros coined the term “Deep Listening” to refer to a way of listening and making music that combines the principles of improvisation, electronic music, and meditation, an artistic practice designed to heighten one’s awareness of their minds, bodies, and environment and to increase sensitivity in one’s relationship to sound/music and among musical collaborators. In 1999 Oliveros broadened the scope to “Quantum Listening,” which she defined as, “listening in as many ways as possible simultaneously - changing and being changed by listening.” This course uses Oliveros’ work as a jumping off point to explore various methods of meditation and awareness exercises that can benefit creativity, musical performance practice and intellectual and sensorial understanding of sound and music. The course will include in-class performances of works from Oliveros’s “Sonic Meditations” and Deep Listening exercises, Annea Lockwood & Ruth Anderson’s “Hearing Studies” and a number of other performance activities alongside regular reading and writing assignments.  Although this is not an ensemble class, students are expected to make sounds with their instruments. All skill levels are welcome but beginners and those who consider themselves non-musicians should contact Professors Sanchez and Hennies prior to enrollment.

Social Media and Music

Professor: Whitney Slaten  

Course Number: MUS 180

CRN Number: 10564

Class cap: 20

Credits: 4

Schedule/Location:

 Tue  Thurs    10:10 AM - 11:30 AM Blum Music Center N210

Distributional Area:

AA  Analysis of Art   

Influencers, followers, AI, trolls, feeds, algorithms, platforms, streams, hashtags, memes, reach, viral, and FOMO (fear of missing out) are terms that circulate in descriptions of social media. This course investigates how such media animate specific social patterns that construct contemporary encounters with the production, circulation, and consumption of music. The commensurate mediations of group identity, personhood and selfhood, among musicians, presenters, and audiences shall inform the primary inquiry for students of the arts, humanities, and social sciences who enroll in the course. They will read, present, and discuss writing about the relationship between social media and music. Lectures will situate specific social media portrayals of music across folk, popular, and art contexts. Discussions and coursework aim to foreground the operations of corporate structures and individual and group agencies, in sound. Following a midterm proposal and bibliographic assignment, students will identify examples of race, ethnicity, gender, class, nationality, generation, and intersections with social media and music to be the focus of the final research paper assignment.

Music Theory and Ear Training II

Professor: Kyle Gann and David Sytkowski

Course Number: MUS 202

CRN Number: 10530

Class cap: 22

Credits: 4

Schedule/Location:

Mon  Wed     11:50 AM - 1:10 PM Blum Music Center N217 (Gann)

Tue  Thurs    11:50 AM - 1:10 PM Blum Music Center N217 (Sytkowski)

Distributional Area:

PA  Practicing Arts   

Continuation of Music Theory I, introduction to harmony, various seventh chords, secondary dominants, basics of modulation, four-part writing and voice-leading. End result: ability to write a hymn, song or brief movement of tonal music. Theoretical work will be complemented by an ear-training segment focused on developing the ability to sing and recognize secondary dominants, modulations, and so on. Prerequisite: Music Theory I or equivalent (knowledge of scales and keys). This course fulfills a music theory requirement for music majors.

Topics in Sound Art

Professor: Sarah Hennies  

Course Number: MUS 214

CRN Number: 10533

Class cap: 20

Credits: 4

Schedule/Location:

Mon  Wed     3:30 PM - 4:50 PM Blum Music Center HALL

Distributional Area:

PA  Practicing Arts   

Coined in the early 1980s, “Sound Art” is a term typically used to describe sound-based art that does not follow the rules of traditional music (melody, harmony, gesture, etc.) by focusing on the physical characteristics of sound, experimental methods, and human perception. Since the early 1980s, artists working with sound have expanded the practice in limitless conceptual and technological directions and the field’s growth continues in the present day. The course will examine the disparate and prominent approaches to contemporary sound art, with a particular focus on composers who are active today. Classes will consist primarily of hands-on performances of existing major works and original student compositions; grading will be based on class participation, weekly composition and listening assignments, and an end-of-semester final project. A public class concert may be included, as well with sufficient student interest. No previous musical skill or ability is required.

The interaction between Music and Film

Professor: James Bagwell  

Course Number: MUS 230

CRN Number: 10484

Class cap: 20

Credits: 4

Schedule/Location:

 Tue  Thurs    11:50 AM - 1:10 PM Blum Music Center N211

Distributional Area:

AA  Analysis of Art   

Crosslists: Film and Electronic Arts

This course will trace the use of music in film beginning with silent films in the early twentieth century through the present.  We will examine how music was incorporated into such films as Citizen Kane (Welles), Rapsodia Satanica (Oxilia), King Kong (Cooper), Black Orpheus (Camus) Singing in the Rain (Donen), On the Waterfront (Kazan), Forbidden Planet (Wilcox), A Woman is a Woman (Godard), 2001: A Space Odyssey (Kubrick), Easy Rider (Hopper), and Pulp Fiction (Tarantino), among others.  While the main focus of the course will be historical, we will analyze specific techniques that composers and directors use to heighten storytelling through music.  Course projects will include three short scene analysis papers and one research paper due at the end of the term.  This course is open to both upper level music majors and non-majors and will satisfy a music history requirement for music majors.

Introduction to Electronic Music

Professor: Danielle Dobkin  

Course Number: MUS 240

CRN Number: 10488

Class cap: 20

Credits: 4

Schedule/Location:

Mon Tue      11:50 AM - 1:10 PM Blum Music Center N119

Distributional Area:

PA  Practicing Arts   

This hands-on course will serve as an introduction to music technology and will focus on the creation of original work, including a final project, through the use of digital and analog tools and processes. Students will be introduced to foundational practices in electro-acoustic sound production and their contemporary/digital analogues, with particular emphasis on signal processing, studio and field recording, and modes of diffusion, including multichannel installation and live performance, and instruction in digital audio workstation software (Logic Pro, Pro Tools, and others). Examples from the history of electronic music will assist students in exploring contemporary approaches to electronic music software and technology. Enrollment in the course automatically gives students access to the Bard electronic music studios.

Ethnography: Music & Sound

Professor: Whitney Slaten  

Course Number: MUS 247

CRN Number: 10565

Class cap: 20

Credits: 4

Schedule/Location:

 Tue  Thurs    11:50 AM - 1:10 PM Blum Music Center N210

Distributional Area:

SA  Social Analysis   

Crosslists: Anthropology

 How have recent ethnomusicologists and anthropologists written about traditional and popular musics around the world? How does this writing respond to representing culture, locally and globally? How does this writing about musics’ social contexts respond to changing academic attitudes within the humanities and social sciences, as well as the interdisciplinary development of sound studies? Students will read, present, and discuss chapters from recent book length examples of musical ethnography. Lectures and discussions will focus on the writing strategies of ethnographers, continually assessing how writing represents and analyzes local and global practices of production, circulation, and consumption, as well as how such works participate in emergent scholarly traditions. The course will culminate in a written comparative ethnography analysis paper in which students will compare two ethnographic monographs.

Orchestration Workshop

Professor: George Tsontakis  

Course Number: MUS 256

CRN Number: 10580

Class cap: 12

Credits: 4

Schedule/Location:

   Thurs    12:30 PM - 2:50 PM Blum Music Center HALL

Distributional Area:

PA  Practicing Arts   

Students will learn how to score for instrumental combinations beginning with small ensembles up to full orchestra. There will be live demonstrations of orchestral instruments, listening and score study of orchestral literature, chord voicing and notation of bowings, breathing, articulations, and special orchestral effects as well as practice of basic conducting patterns and skills. Prerequisites:  Fundamentals of Music and composition workshop. There will be a reading of the orchestrations by the Bard College Orchestra.

Production and Reproduction

Professor: Thomas Mark  

Course Number: MUS 257

CRN Number: 10550

Class cap: 12

Credits: 4

Schedule/Location:

   Thurs    10:10 AM - 12:30 PM Blum Music Center N117

Distributional Area:

PA  Practicing Arts   

This course will focus on the theory and practice of sound recording. Students will learn the use of recording equipment including digital tape recorders, mixing consoles, signal processing devices, and microphones. A/B listening tests will be used to compare types of microphones, microphone placement and many different recording techniques. ProTools software will be available for digital editing and mastering to CD. Assigned projects will include both multitrack and direct to stereo recordings of studio and concert performances.

Topics in Music Software: Introduction to Max/Msp

Professor: Matthew Sargent  

Course Number: MUS 262

CRN Number: 10562

Class cap: 15

Credits: 4

Schedule/Location:

 Tue  Thurs    1:30 PM - 2:50 PM Blum Music Center N119

Distributional Area:

PA  Practicing Arts   

Crosslists: Computer Science; Experimental Humanities

This course will introduce students to Max/Msp, an object-oriented programming environment for real-time audio processing, digital synthesis, algorithmic composition, data sonification, and more. Students will learn fundamental concepts of digital audio and computer programming while engaging in creative projects and in-class performances. The class will include examples of Max patches found in major works of 20/21st century electroacoustic music and sound art repertoire. The course will also explore connectivity between Max and other software applications, including Max4Live. The course will conclude with a final project. Introduction to Electronic Music, or a 100-level course in Computer Science, is recommended as a prerequisite.

American Popular Song II 1930-1950

Professor: John Esposito  

Course Number: MUS 266B

CRN Number: 10490

Class cap: 10

Credits: 4

Schedule/Location:

Mon  Wed     11:50 AM - 1:10 PM Blum Music Center N211

Distributional Area:

PA  Practicing Arts   

Crosslists: Africana Studies; American & Indigenous Studies

This performance-based course is a survey of the major American popular song composers of the Tin Pan Alley era, whose work forms the core of the Jazz repertoire. Composers studied will include Gershwin, Berlin, Porter, Ellington, Warren, Rodgers, and others. The course will include readings, recorded music, and films. The students and instructor will perform the music studied in a workshop setting. Students learn a system for learning the melody and chords for a song and creating an introduction, solo, accompaniment and ending. We find how a song can be expressed 111 different styles, feels and that the lyrics can be reimagined. Prerequisite: Jazz Fundamentals II or permission of the instructor. This fulfills a music history requirement for music majors.

Literature and Language of music—20th and 21st centuries

Professor: Sima Mitchell  

Course Number: MUS 268

CRN Number: 10551

Class cap: 15

Credits: 4

Schedule/Location:

Mon  Wed     3:30 PM - 4:50 PM Blum Music Center N217

Distributional Area:

AA  Analysis of Art   

This course explores Western music from 1900 to present day. We will address the works of contemporary composers, including those whose world premieres take place today (Steve Reich, John Adams, David Lang, Joan Tower) along with the oeuvre composed more than a hundred years ago, but still considered to be ultra-modern by the concert audience (Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring, Schoenberg's Pierrot lunair, Ives' Three places in New England, Varese' Ameriques). How did this music respond - and is still responding - to such upheavals of the 20thand 21st centuries as wars, revolutions, and political terror? How have its genres, instruments, and language changed over the course of time? We will discuss how composers made noise and silence their musical material, transformed opera into digital art, and initiated revolutions in music themselves. One of the questions we will debate is the strategies of keeping the listener's attention developed by musicians in competition with rock and popular music, as well as with classical music of the previous eras. In pursuing these subjects, we will read and discuss texts by composers and critics, philosophers and music scholars - from Theodor Adorne's "Philosophy of New Music," to John Cage's "Lecture on nothing" and from Milton Babbitt's "Who cares if you listen?" to Alex Ross' "Why do we hate modern classical music?" There will be two short papers, an oral presentation, and a longer paper assigned at the end of the semester.The course counts toward Music History requirement for majors and conservatory students. You do not have to know how to read music to take it, and there is no Music History prerequisite.

Music of the Black Atlantic Part 2

Professor: Roland Vazquez  

Course Number: MUS 278B

CRN Number: 10582

Class cap: 16

Credits: 4

Schedule/Location:

Mon  Wed     1:30 PM - 2:50 PM Blum Music Center N217

Distributional Area:

AA  Analysis of Art   

Lectures, listening, viewing, and dialogue centered on the culture, history, and formal music evolutions of music originating in the West African and Indigenous American Diasporas, (an historical time-line continuing "after" MUS278. l - via the evolution & fusion with Indigenous Native and European cultural & music forms as evidenced in the US within and around the Great Migration; beginning pre- l 920' s; the invention and explosion of radio & records; music including work songs, blues, gospel and soul music, but mostly considering Jazz, as a multi-cultural, multi-generational fundament & "spine bone" of modern music, where the dignity of independent individuality is clear and "at work" evolving music language and form as a "secular gospel." Requirements include attendance, class participation, 2 comparative recording or concert 2-3 pp "reviews", a 10-15 min midterm & also final presentation project (TBA).

Myth and Modernity in Wagner's Ring Cycle

Professor: Peter Laki  

Course Number: MUS 286

CRN Number: 10537

Class cap: 20

Credits: 4

Schedule/Location:

 Tue  Thurs    10:10 AM - 11:30 AM Blum Music Center N217

Distributional Area:

AA  Analysis of Art   

Crosslists: German Studies

Richard Wagner's (1813-83) four-opera cycle The Ring of the Nibelung is one of the longest and most complex pieces of music ever written. Using a large number of medieval literary sources, Wagner- who always wrote his own librettos- created a large cast of compelling characters and put his theories about an entirely new kind of opera into practice. We will study this landmark work in considerable detail, analyzing both the poetry and the music. Readings will be handed out in class, but the main emphasis will be on becoming familiar with the work itself. There will be a midterm quiz and a final paper.

Arithmetic of Listening

Professor: Kyle Gann  

Course Number: MUS 304

CRN Number: 10520

Class cap: 22

Credits: 4

Schedule/Location:

 Tue  Thurs    3:30 PM - 4:50 PM Blum Music Center N217

Distributional Area:

MC  Mathematics and Computing   

The human ear can distinguish about 250 pitches per octave; why do we satisfy ourselves with only twelve? This introduction to the mathematics of harmony and the history of tuning will ponder and explore that question. First we will study the development of scales and harmony from the ancient Greeks onward, through the tuning arguments of the 15 th  through 18 th  centuries, including the various meantone systems (such as Mozart’s 55-step octave) and temperaments that preceded the bland homogeneity prevalent today. In the second half we will explore modern experimental tunings, including quarter-tone music, 72-tone music, and the just intonation of Ben Johnston, La Monte Young, and other microtonal composers, plus pitch tendencies of Indian, Thai, Indonesian, and Arabic musics. Basic ability to read music is recommended, though it may be compensated for by a background in mathematics or acoustics. Class will be graded on two small exams, a midterm project, a final project, occasional smaller assignments, and active class participation. The student will need a calculator for class with logarithmic functions. This course fulfills a mathematics distribution requirement and also either a theory or history requirement for music majors, and is especially recommended for those interested in early music performance.

Vocal Pedagogy

Professor: Teresa Buchholz  

Course Number: MUS 309

CRN Number: 10485

Class cap: 12

Credits: 4

Schedule/Location:

 Tue      10:10 AM - 12:30 PM Bard Hall

Distributional Area:

PA  Practicing Arts   

This course is designed for students with teaching ambitions as well as for serious singers who would like to deepen their exploration of their own instrument. Even though the emphasis of the class will be on practical application, during the first weeks we will cover basic anatomy and physiology. The student will learn to listen differently to the voice, will be able to identify physiological influences while producing sound, and will learn how to remedy imbalances through posture and positions of head and tongue. The main physiological aspects to be covered are breathing, vocal registers, Valsalva maneuver and vibrato production.

Electroacoustic Composition Seminar

Professor: Sarah Hennies  

Course Number: MUS 352

CRN Number: 10532

Class cap: 10

Credits: 4

Schedule/Location:

 Tue      3:10 PM - 5:30 PM Blum Music Center N119

Distributional Area:

PA  Practicing Arts   

This course, intended primarily for music majors, will be focused on the individual creative work of the students enrolled. The course will serve as a workshop environment for student work: participants will be expected to regularly present and discuss their ongoing compositional projects. These will be examined by the instructor and other class members. Students may also take on collaborative works, installations, and intermedia projects. Analyses and class presentations of contemporary electroacoustic repertoire will also be expected of the students during the semester. This fulfills a music theory requirement.

Advanced Contemporary Improvisational Techniques I

Professor: John Esposito  

Course Number: MUS 366A

CRN Number: 10691

Class cap: 10

Credits: 4

Schedule/Location:

 Tue  Thurs    10:10 AM - 11:30 AM Blum Music Center N211

Distributional Area:

PA  Practicing Arts   

Crosslists: Africana Studies

This course introduces methods for the Jazz improviser to deconstruct and reorganize the basic harmonic and rhythmic elements for a composition. Issues addressed will include reharmonization, re-metering, metric modulation, variations in phrasing, tempo, and dynamics; that is, the arrangement and reorganization of compositional elements. This is a performance oriented class and repertoire will include Jazz standards and compositions of the instructor. This class is open to moderated upper college students who have successfully completed Jazz Fundamentals I and II, and previous Jazz repertory classes or with permission of the instructor. This course fulfills an upper level music theory requirement for music majors.

Jazz Composition II

Professor: Erica Lindsay  

Course Number: MUS 367B

CRN Number: 10542

Class cap: 10

Credits: 4

Schedule/Location:

  Wed     5:40 PM - 8:00 PM Blum Music Center N211

Distributional Area:

PA  Practicing Arts   

This class will focus on the various techniques used in jazz ensemble writing, from sextet to big band ensembles. Classic tertiary voicings, cluster, quartal and line part writing will be covered. Final projects ranging from Sextet to Big Band will be recorded or performed live at the end of the semester. This is an advanced seminar class for moderated music majors. Prerequisite are Jazz Composition I and II or the permission of the instructor.

Chamber Music Workshop

Professor: Marka Gustavsson, Blair McMillen and Raman Ramakrishnan

Course Number: MUS WKSH GMR

CRN Number: 10531

Class cap: 12

Credits: 2

Schedule/Location:

    Wed    1:00 PM - 3:30 PM Blum Hall

Distributional Area:

PA  Practicing Arts   

Coaching assignments and schedule will be determined.

Advanced orchestral audition preparation workshop

Professor: Erica Kiesewetter  

Course Number: MUS WKSH EK

CRN Number: 10536

Class cap: 8

Credits: 2

Schedule/Location:

    Fri   4:00 PM - 5:30 PM Bito Conservatory Bldg. 202

Distributional Area:

PA  Practicing Arts   

This class is for advanced orchestral instrumentalists who would like to learn orchestral excerpts for festival and orchestra auditions. The student is expected to prepare 5 excerpts in the semester, play in class most weeks, participate in feedback for fellow students, and present on one chosen excerpt. The class will involve detailed coaching on the excerpts including a focus on understanding the work in context and the composer's style, advice on preparation and performance anxiety and mock audition practice. Final is a screened mock audition in Olin Hall.

Workshop: Performance Class: Evidence of Things Not Seen

Professor: Rufus Müller  

Course Number: MUS WKSHB RM

CRN Number: 10552

Class cap: 15

Credits: 2

Schedule/Location:

Mon       12:30 PM - 2:50 PM Bito Conservatory Bldg.

Distributional Area:

PA  Practicing Arts   

American composer Ned Rorem was commissioned in 1997 by the New York Festival of Song to compose an extended cycle of songs for four singers and piano, and the result was Evidence of Things Not Seen,  described by the New York Times as "probably the composer's finest musical creation". This workshop will study the songs and present them in a public recital at the end of the semester. Interested singers should contact Prof. Müller (muller@bard.edu).

Sight Reading Workshop

Professor: Michael DeMicco  

Course Number: MUS WKSHD MD

CRN Number: 10487

Class cap: 14

Credits: 2

Schedule/Location:

 Tue      12:00 PM - 1:00 PM Blum Music Center HALL

Distributional Area:

PA  Practicing Arts   

Workshops carry 2 credits, unless otherwise noted.

Chamber Music Sight Reading Workshop

Professor: Patricia Spencer  

Course Number: MUS WKSHD PS

CRN Number: 10569

Class cap: 10

Credits: 2

Schedule/Location:

 Tue      3:00 PM - 4:30 PM Bard Hall

Distributional Area:

PA  Practicing Arts   

Sight-reading skill will be developed in a musical atmosphere – playing with others and exploring new repertoire.  The newly donated Meyersohn Chamber Music and Flute Music Library will provide wind quintets, quartets and trios, some string quartets, and a wealth of Baroque chamber music.  Present day chamber music repertoire will be provided from the extensive collection of the Da Capo Chamber Players.  Class participants will sight read several works per session and will be provided with a score to follow if a selected piece does not include their instrument.  In addition to the Tuesday class sessions, participants will meet weekly in independent sessions (tba).

Opera Workshop

Professor: Teresa Buchholz, David Sytkowski and Rufus Müller

Course Number: MUS WKSHL

CRN Number: 10486

Class cap: 10

Credits: 2

Schedule/Location:

        -  

Distributional Area:

PA  Practicing Arts   

Workshops carry 2 credits, unless otherwise noted.

Jazz Improvisation Workshop

Professor: Erica Lindsay  

Course Number: MUS WKSP3

CRN Number: 10543

Class cap: 10

Credits: 2

Schedule/Location:

   Thurs    3:00 PM - 6:00 PM Blum Music Center N211

Distributional Area:

PA  Practicing Arts   

This class is an ensemble performance workshop focused on developing improvisational skills within the harmonic context of both jazz harmony and free improvisation. The goal is to develop facility in being able to improvise over harmonic structures from the blues to more free form styles of improvisation. Students are assigned to an ensemble that is appropriate to the level of their experience.

Jazz Vocal Workshop I

Professor: Pamela Pentony  

Course Number: MUS WKSP7

CRN Number: 10557

Class cap: 25

Credits: 2

Schedule/Location:

 Tue      3:00 PM - 6:00 PM Olin 104

Distributional Area:

PA  Practicing Arts   

Beginning level course:  The Jazz Vocal Workshop is a performance workshop designed to familiarize the beginning singer with the components of a successful jazz performance.  How to begin a song (intros) and how to end a song (outros and turnarounds), how to pick a key, a song and a tempo.  How to utilize simple (and not so simple) arrangements.  Particular attention is paid to phrasing.  The language of scat singing, with emphasis on practice in every class.  The forms of the blues, rhythm changes and 32 bar song form, and practical applications taken from The Great American Songbook.  There is one (or more) concert(s) scheduled during the semester and students are encouraged to seek out and perform in many local venues.  There is a final exam in this class.

Diction Workshop – Italian and French

Professor: Erika Switzer  

Course Number: MUS WKSPD ES

CRN Number: 10572

Class cap: 12

Credits: 2

Schedule/Location:

    Fri   12:00 PM - 3:00 PM Bard Hall

Distributional Area:

PA  Practicing Arts   

This performance workshop offers a practical exploration of Italian and French repertoire with a focus on language and style. It corresponds with MUS254B, which is a prerequisite. Students can expect to perform in class, bi-weekly, and to present a public performance at the semester's end.

Musical Theater Performance Workshop

Professor: David Sytkowski  

Course Number: MUS WKSPM

CRN Number: 10575

Class cap: 25

Credits: 4

Schedule/Location:

   Thurs    5:30 PM - 8:30 PM Fisher Performing Arts Center RESNICK

Distributional Area:

PA  Practicing Arts   

Crosslists: Theater and Performance

In Spring 2024, we will collaborate with the Theater and Performance Program on a fully staged musical to be performed in April 2024 in the LUMA Theater at The Fisher Center. We will be working with a guest director and design team, along with Fisher Center staff. In order to thoroughly prepare the material, we will meet as a full group Thursday evenings 5:30-8:30pm, as well as some weekends through March 3, 2024. There will also be smaller ensemble coachings scheduled during the week. Staging rehearsals are weeknights and weekends March 4-April 5, 2024 (there will be a weekly day off); we will not meet over Spring Break. Tech week is April 6-11, and performances April 12-14. Auditions will be held Friday, December 1, 2023 with callbacks Monday, December 4, 2023. You must audition. There will be a more specific schedule available at your audition. Email dsytkowski@bard.edu if you have any further questions.

Jazz Piano Workshop

Professor: Francesca Tanksley  

Course Number: MUS WKSPZ

CRN Number: 10577

Class cap: 10

Credits: 2

Schedule/Location:

   Thurs    1:30 PM - 2:50 PM Blum Music Center N211

Distributional Area:

PA  Practicing Arts   

This course is designed for students to gain proficiency in basic Jazz piano skills and is open to those with some previous music theory and/or piano experience. Students will develop proficiency in the harmonic and rhythmic foundation of Jazz piano and the American songbook. Topics include chord voicings, Jazz and Blues improvisation, basic technique, listening, Jazz feel, comping styles, and melodic interpretation. The music of mid-20^th century pianists like Red Garland, Shirley Horn, Horace Silver, Bill Evans, Herbie Hancock, and Chick Corea will be explored. Students who are interested in expanding their knowledge of harmony, who wish to learn to accompany themselves, and/or deepen their Jazz theoretical knowledge should take this course.