A self-contained introduction to functional tonality and related ideas found in jazz, rock, other popular forms, and traditional folk genres. Fundamentals of pitch (e.g., melody, harmony, temperament, voice leading) and time (rhythm and form) are examined through diverse musical examples, from the 17th century Western European canon to Haitian roots music to blues. Concepts ranging from counterpoint to clave are analyzed on their own terms.

Catalog Distribution: (ALC-AS)

Full details for MUSIC 1106 - Introduction to Western Music Theory

Since hip hop first emerged in the South Bronx nearly half a century ago, it has grown into a global movement. Youth around the world not only consume hip hop; they also create their own, adapting hip hop music, texts, dance, and visual culture to local realities. This course traces the ongoing connections between hip hop's roots in the cultural expression of marginalized African American and Latinx youth in the postindustrial urban United States, its contemporary relationship to US popular culture, and its routes around the globe, where diverse practitioners mobilize its beats, rhymes, and visual culture to address experiences of oppression and displacement, celebrate life, and agitate for social justice.

Catalog Distribution: (ALC-AS, SCD-AS) (CA-AG, D-AG, LA-AG)

Full details for MUSIC 2370 - Planet Rap: Where Hip Hop Came From and Where It's Going

This course considers both music and digital games in light of their playability. It aims to provide students with critical frameworks for addressing the diverse roles played by music in digital games as well as the ways in which playing digital games can be considered a musical activity. Focusing on games across an array of genres from first-person shooters to rhythm-action titles, the course will introduce students to recent scholarship on digital games from multiple disciplinary angles. No formal musical training is necessary, but suitably qualified students may take the course as a 3000-level elective by signing up for MUSIC 3901 and completing additional research components involving the creation and/or analysis of specific soundtracks or performances.

Catalog Distribution: (ALC-AS)

Full details for MUSIC 2701 - Music and Digital Gameplay