Graduate Courses

MUS 200. Music Bibliography (4) Seminar, 3 hours; outside research, 1 hour. Fundamentals of music bibliography. Emphasis on reference materials and other standard bibliographical tools.

MUS 201. Proseminar in the Analysis of Western Music (4) Seminar, 3 hours; individual guided research, 3 hours. Prerequisite(s): graduate standing.  Analysis of selected musical works from various periods exploring different music-theory models.

MUS 206. Proseminar in Musicology (4) Lecture, 3 hours; consultation, 1 hour. Prerequisite(s): MUS 200.  Study of significant issues and recent developments in musicology and criticism. Study and practice of expository writing about music.

MUS 207. Proseminar in Ethnomusicology (4) Lecture, 3 hours; outside research, 3 hours. Prerequisite(s): graduate standing. Explores ethnomusicology as a discipline, focusing on the relationships between ethnomusicology and musicology, and on ethnomusicology as an interdisciplinary field drawing on performance studies, ethnopoetics, postmodernism, translational theories, and postcolonialism.

MUS 250 (E-Z). Seminar in Music Theory (4) Seminar, 3 hours; research, 3 hours. Prerequisite(s): MUS 200 and MUS 201 or consent of instructor. Historical study of the theory of western music. F. History of Theory; G. Neo-Classicism; H. Twentieth Century Theorists. I-Z: topics to be announced.

MUS 251. Music in Computer Gaming (4) Seminar, 3 hours; outside research, 3 hours. Prerequisite(s): graduate standing or consent of instructor. Introduces students to the history and theory of music use in computer games, including the development of classical commercial gaming and game design and the related use of dramatic music. Topics cover adventure game history, narrative underscoring, commercial computer game genres, and contemporary issues related to interactivity, performance, and reception.

MUS 253. Seminar in Advanced Music Theory (4) Seminar, 3 hours; written work, 3 hours. Prerequisite(s): graduate standing or consent of instructor. Presents a survey of serial techniques developed in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries for use both in the composition of new works and analysis of existing repertoire. May be taken Satisfactory (S) or No Credit (NC) with consent of instructor and graduate advisor.

MUS 254. Seminar in Music and Technology (4) Seminar, 3 hours; outside research, 3 hours. Prerequisite(s): graduate standing or consent of instructor. Explores the use of technology in real-time performance and in the making of electronic music, studio music, computer music, and performance art.  Surveys musical technoculture and examines music technology from both creative and consumer points of view. Also investigates the students’ interests in music technology.

MUS 255. Field Methods in Ethnomusicology (4) Seminar, 3 hours; outside research, 1 hour; field, 2 hours. Prerequisite(s): graduate standing. A theoretical and practical introduction to fieldwork in music and performance. Each student focuses on a different performance group and documents its activities.  Covers interviewing, audiotaping, videotaping, transcribing music and dance, and describing performance events.

MUS 256. Computer Music Composition (4) Seminar, 3 hours; laboratory, 3 hours. Prerequisite(s): graduate standing or consent of instructor; MATH 004 or equivalent is recommended. Students learn classic computer music techniques for sound processing in the context of the development of an original piece. Topics include computer music history, digital audio theory and processing, and electronic and computer music composition, including synthesis techniques and realtime instrument design.

MUS 258. Seminar in Free Composition (4) Seminar, 3 hours; consultation, 1 hour. Prerequisite(s): graduate standing or consent of instructor. Individual projects and issues in musical composition. Course is repeatable to a maximum of 12 units.

MUS 259. Musical Semiotics: Approaches to Meaning and Form (4) Seminar, 3 hours; extra reading, 3 hours.  Prerequisite(s): graduate standing or consent of instructor. Study of musical semiotics focusing on recent theories and related areas such as cybernetics, cognitive science, and theory of systems. Examines questions of meaning and form in the domains of aesthetics, musical theory, analysis, composition, performance, and new approaches of digital media and music.

MUS 261. Seminar in Performance Practice (4) Seminar, 3 hours; consultation, 1 hour. Prerequisite(s): MUS 200 and MUS 201, or consent of instructor. Investigations into the historically accurate performance styles of music based on information contemporary with the music. Topics and content will vary each quarter depending on student interest. May be repeated for up to 8 units.

MUS 262 (E-Z). Seminar in Western Music History (4) Seminar, 3 hours; individual study, 3 hours. Prerequisite(s): MUS 206, graduate standing; or consent of instructor. Selected issues in the history of music in the context of social, political, religious and intellectual culture of the West during different periods.

MUS 263 (E-Z). Seminar in Special Topics in Musicology (4) Seminar, 3 hours; individual guided research, 3 hours. Prerequisite(s): MUS 206, graduate standing; or consent of instructor. Addresses such topics as Music and Culture, Music and Poetry, Nationalism, Gender and Sexuality in Music, Individual Genres and Composers. Course is repeatable.

MUS 270. Special Topics in Ethnomusicology (4) Seminar, 3 hours; outside research, 3 hours. Prerequisite(s): MUS 207, graduate standing; or consent of instructor. Focuses on current scholarship in ethnomusicology and related fields. Theme varies, but emphasis is usually on theory and methodology or the study of particular regions or performance traditions.  For further information, see Department. Course is repeatable to a maximum of 8 units.

MUS 271. Area Studies Research in Music (4) Seminar, 3 hours; extra reading, 2 hours; listening, 1 hour. Prerequisite(s): graduate standing or consent of instructor. Focuses on historical and ethnographic literature of particular geographical areas. Discusses scholarly literature on music (and expressive culture generally, including dance, theater, and ritual) of a particular geocultural region. Course is repeatable as topics change to a maximum of 8 units.

MUS 290. Directed Studies (1-6) Graded Satisfactory (S) or No Credit (NC). Course is repeatable.

MUS 291. Individual Studies in Coordinated Areas (1- 6) Prerequisite(s): graduate standing; approval of instructor and graduate advisor. A program of study designed to advise and assist graduate candidates who are preparing for M.A. examinations. A student may take up to 12 units. Graded Satisfactory (S) or No Credit (NC). Does not count toward the unit requirement for the M.A.

MUS 292. Concurrent Analytical Studies in Music (1-4) Prerequisite(s): graduate standing; approval of instructor and graduate advisor. Each 292 course will be taken concurrently with some 100-series course but on an individual basis. It will be devoted to research, criticism, and written work of a graduate order commensurate with the number of units elected. Graded Satisfactory (S) or No Credit (NC). May be repeated for credit.

MUS 297. Directed Research (1-6) Prerequisite(s): graduate status and consent of instructor and graduate advisor. Individual graduate student research under the sponsorship of specific faculty members, on topics and selected problems in theoretical and historical research in music not directly related to student’s thesis. Graded Satisfactory (S) or No Credit (NC).

MUS 299. Research for Thesis or Dissertation (1-12) Graded Satisfactory (S) or No Credit (NC). Course is repeatable.