Music
The Department of Music offers programs of study leading to the Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Music and the Master of Arts (MA) in Music, with concentrations in either musicology or music theory. Each graduate program combines a course of advanced studies in one area of music studies with supporting studies in related fields of music. The number of graduate students admitted each year is small so that each student is assured individual attention. There are traditionally close rapports and mutually supportive interactions among graduate students in all areas of study.
The MA and PhD programs' concentrations in musicology offer focuses in historical musicology and ethnomusicology. Department faculty interests cover all eras of European art music, American popular musics, film and theatre music, jazz, and African and African diasporic musics. Methodological approaches cover a range of critical perspectives, placing music within its cultural and historical contexts and developing the student's ability to think and write about music and music-making. Intensive study in music theory is a required component of the programs, and diverse opportunities for performance are offered.
The MA and PhD programs' concentrations in music theory focus on the creative analysis and critical examination of assumptions about music and musical discourse. The graduate program prepares students to undertake research in musical analysis and in the language and methodology of music theory. Preparation includes guiding each student in developing their own modes of thought and expression. Faculty interests include improvisation and intermedia, texture and form, music cognition and computational modeling, composition, Schenker, and the interplay of text and music in German art song.
Contact Info
| Contact: | Jessica Flannigan |
| Phone: | 314-935-5566 |
| Email: | flanniganj@wustl.edu |
| Website: | http://music.wustl.edu/graduate |
Chair
Patrick Burke
Professor
PhD, University of Wisconsin
Director of Graduate Studies
Paul Steinbeck
Associate Professor
PhD, Columbia University
Director of Undergraduate Studies
Esther Viola Kurtz
Assistant Professor
PhD, Brown University
Department Faculty
Vicente Atria
Assistant Professor
DMA, Columbia University
Todd Decker
Paul Tietjens Professor of Music
PhD, University of Michigan
Christopher Douthitt
Lecturer
MFA, Princeton University
Ben Duane
Associate Professor
PhD, Northwestern University
Lauren Eldridge Stewart
Assistant Professor
PhD, University of Chicago
Amanda Kirkpatrick
Senior Lecturer
MM, University of Missouri-Columbia
Jeffrey Kurtzman
Professor
PhD, University of Illinois
William Lenihan
Professor of Practice
BMus, University of Missouri-Columbia
John McDonald
Lecturer
DMA, University of Missouri-Kansas City
Robert Snarrenberg
Associate Professor
PhD, University of Michigan
Christopher Stark
Associate Professor
DMA, Cornell University
Alexander Stefaniak
Associate Professor
PhD, Eastman School of Music
Vince Varvel
Lecturer
BM, Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville
Emeritus Faculty
Hugh McDonald
Avis H. Blewett Professor Emeritus of Music
PhD, Cambridge University
Craig Monson
Paul Tietjens Professor Emeritus of Music
PhD, University of California, Berkeley
Dolores Pesce
Avis Blewett Professor Emerita of Music
PhD, University of Maryland
MUSIC 5010 Independent Study
Supervised independent study in areas in which there are no course offerings. Students must submit to the department chair an outline of work to be covered, the number of hours of credit requested, and the name of the instructor to supervise the research. Prerequisites: permission of the department chair and the instructor. Class hours variable, depending on credit. Refer to **section/faculty list at start of this departmental entry for faculty selections for this course.
Credit 6 units.
Typical periods offered: Fall, Spring
MUSIC 5011 Elementary Technique of Electronic Music: Synth Lab
Individual and small group instruction in classical procedures and relevant electronic technology. Prerequisite: open to music majors; to others by permission of instructor. Credit contingent upon completion of Mus 402.
MUSIC 5020 Introduction to Musicological Research I
An introduction to research techniques, including library skills and the mechanics of scholarly writing and documentation. Prerequisite: graduate standing or permission of instructor.
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM BU: HUM
Typical periods offered: Fall
MUSIC 5022 Introduction to Musicological Research II
Introductory course in Musicological Research.
Credit 3 units.
Typical periods offered: Spring
MUSIC 5023 Advanced Techniques in Electronic Music: Studio Songwriting
How does the act of recording and manipulating sound change the way we write songs? How can the tones and moods of a recording interact with notes and rhythms and words? We'll look for answers through experiments in composition, collaboration, and critical listening. Topics will include beatmaking, sound collage, vocal manipulations, sampling, and virtual spaces. Formal training is not required, though we will engage (and learn) basic music theory concepts. PREREQ: permission of instructor.
MUSIC 5030 Introduction to Popular Music Studies
This seminar offers an introduction to popular music studies from the perspective of the discipline of musicology. The course provides a background to the current state of scholarship, engages ongoing debates and methodological questions, and offers a starting point for research and teaching in this expanding area. Topics include: historiography of popular music studies, bibliography and discography, canon-making, academic and popular scholars and readers, genre definitions, interdisciplinary challenges and opportunities, approaches to institutions and technologies particular to the history of popular music (such as record labels and recording studios), and the study of mixed-media topics. The ability to read music is not required and students from across the disciplines are most welcome.
Credit 3 units.
Typical periods offered: Fall
MUSIC 5040 Notation I
This course is designed to provide students with the skills needed for transcribing the black and white mensural notation in use from the 14th through 16th centuries. Prerequisite: graduate standing or permission of instructor.
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM BU: HUM
Typical periods offered: Fall
MUSIC 5041 Notation II
This course provides students with the skills needed for transcribing polyphonic notation from the late 14th through 16th centuries, as well as lute tabluture. The latter part of the course is devoted to the principles of editing 16th/17th and 18th/19th century repertories, with sample projects. Prerequisite: Music 503 or permission of instructor.
MUSIC 5050 Introduction to Schenker's Analytical Method
Heinrich Schenker's interpretive theory takes as its object the musical mind as manifested in the western European tradition of the 18th and 19th centuries. This introduction to Schenker's approach is based on close reading of Schenker's theoretical and analytical texts as well as contemporary redactions. The course also includes work in the analytical application of Schenker's ideas and systematic study of Shenker's mature theory. Prerequisite: Music 423.
Credit 3 units.
Typical periods offered: Fall
MUSIC 5051 Seminar: Schenker's Analytical Methodology
A continuation of Mus 5061. Students will refine their understanding through analysis of more complex works and continued reading in Schenkerian literature. Class time will be devoted to discussion of student analyses and of conceptual issues that arise from Schenker's analytical perspective. The final project will be a paper on a symphony movement or other piece of comparable breadth. Prerequisite: Mus 5061.
Credit 3 units.
Typical periods offered: Fall
MUSIC 5060 Introduction to the Analysis of 20th Century Music
An introduction to theory and analysis of music from the 20th-century repertoire. In-class analysis and individual assignments emphasize aural understanding and tools for modeling pitch structures in post-tonal and twelve-tone works. In the latter portion of the course focus turns toward works in which pitch structures play a smaller role. Prerequisite: Music 222 (for undergraduates) or Music 423 (for graduates).
Credit 3 units.
MUSIC 5070 Introduction to Contemporary Music Theory
An introduction to the concepts, idealogies, methods and musical issues of contempory music theory. Intensive reading and discussion of significant writings from the 1960s to the present. Prerequisite: Graduate standing or permission of instructor.
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM BU: HUM
Typical periods offered: Fall, Spring
MUSIC 5080 Introduction to Ethnomusicology
This seminar will provide an introduction to the discipline of ethnomusicology through an examination of the historical literature and a review of recent scholarship. In keeping with the field's multidisciplinary orientation, we will observe ethnomusicology as a part of wider trends in intellectual inquiry. As such, our discussions of major issues in ethnomusicology will be informed by consideration of related fields, including anthropology, historical musicology, literary theory, folklore, and cultural studies. Seminar members will have the opportunity to explore in depth those issues that are most germane to their own research interests while gaining a broader understanding of ethnomusicology as an academic discipline.
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM BU: HUM
Typical periods offered: Spring
MUSIC 5090 Music Ethnography and Fieldwork Methodologies
Ethnography and Fieldwork Methodologies in Music
Credit 3 units.
Typical periods offered: Fall
MUSIC 5110 Seminar in Music of the Classic Period
This seminar will cover music from the classical period.
MUSIC 5120 Seminar in Romantic Music
This is a seminar on music from the romantic period.
MUSIC 5130 Selected Areas for Special Study I
This course allows students to explore special areas of music study. Topics may change from semester-to-semester.
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM BU: HUM EN: H
Typical periods offered: Fall, Spring
MUSIC 5150 Selected Areas for Special Study II
This course allows students to explore different areas of music studies. Topics may change from semester-to-semester.
Credit 3 units.
Typical periods offered: Fall
MUSIC 5160 Selected Areas of Special Study II
This course will cover various genres of music. Genre changes each semester
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM BU: HUM
Typical periods offered: Fall, Spring
MUSIC 5170 Seminar in Music Theory
The Chamber Music of Brahms. Close readings of selected works using a variety of analytical approaches. Emphasis on crafting written communication of interpretive results. PREREQUISITE: Graduate standing or permission of the instructor. Credit 3 units.
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM BU: HUM
Typical periods offered: Fall, Spring
MUSIC 5189 Composition, Advanced
Individual training in free composition for various media, plus group technical projects. Prerequisite: permission of instructor.
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM BU: HUM
Typical periods offered: Fall
MUSIC 5190 Sound Theory
The word sound in this course title carries three meanings: 1) solidly made, 2) ethical, and 3) pertaining to the experience of sonic phenomenon of all sorts. The word theory indicates the discourse of philosophers, historians, and scholars (academic and popular). Among the writers who may be included in the course are: Abdurraquir, Adorno, Attali, Auslander, Barthes, Benjamin, Berlant, Biancorosso, Butler, Chion, Chow, Cook, Derrida, Donnelly, DuBois, Foucault, Kittler, Murray Schafer, Ngai, Plato, Proust, Said, Sloterdijk, and Sterne. The class will be useful to graduate students concerned with the phenomenon of sound broadly speaking.
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM BU: HUM
Typical periods offered: Fall
MUSIC 5200 Seminar in Undergraduate Teaching
This seminar will cover the teaching of undergraduate Music students.
Credit 1 unit.
MUSIC 5220 Theory Qualifying Project I
An extended, detailed analysis of a single piece. While enrolled in Music 423, the student will choose, in consultation with the examination committee, a musical work for close analysis from either the tonal or the post-tonal repertoire. Analytical methodology should be determined in response to the issues raised by the piece. The student will prepare a lecture for a graduate-level audience, to be delivered in Music 502. The purpose of the presentaion is to demonstrate competence in intensive analysis and in the oral presentation of analytical materials.
Credit 1 unit.
Typical periods offered: Fall, Spring
MUSIC 5221 Theory Qualifying Project II
A project dealing with theoretical systems designed for understanding a particular repertoire of music. The music should be drawn from the repertoire (tonal or post-tonal) not chosen for Qualifying Project I. The purpose of the project is to demonstrate familiarity, competence, and flexibility in the use of theoretical systems. In contrast with the project described in Qualifying Project I, any musical analyses should illustrate the points made about theoretical systems under consideration. Ideally this project will also demonstrate the ability to extrapolate and extend existing systems. OR A project on a more abstract methodological or speculative topic. The purpose of the project is to demonstrate an ability to address the critical and philosophical issues that form the conceptual underpinning of analytical and theoretical work.
Credit 2 units.
Typical periods offered: Fall, Spring
MUSIC 5222 Theory Qualifying Project III
A project dealing with theoretical systems designed for understanding a particular repertoire of music. The music should be drawn from the repertoire (tonal or post-tonal) not chosen for Qualifying Project I. The purpose of the project is to demonstrate familiarity, competence, and flexibility in the use of theoretical systems. In contrast with the project described in Qualifying Project I, any musical analyses should illustrate the points made about theoretical systems under consideration. Ideally this project will also demonstrate the ability to extrapolate and extend existing systems. OR A project on a more abstract methodological or speculative topic. The purpose of the project is to demonstrate an ability to address the critical and philosophical issues that form the conceptual underpinning of analytical and theoretical work.
Credit 3 units.
Typical periods offered: Fall, Spring
MUSIC 5224 Computational Models of Music Theory and Cognition
We will study computational models that simulate the perception of several aspects of music: phase structure, meter, melody, key, harmony, counterpoint, and texture. In addition to reading about and discussing these models, students will work with them directly by running them on their own. We will also spend some class time on perceptual experiments related to the models we study. Although the course will focus on models of perception, emphasis will be placed on ones that are also pertinent to music theory, and these connections will be discussed.
Credit 3 units. A&S IQ: HUM Arch: HUM Art: HUM BU: HUM EN: H
MUSIC 5230 Analysis I
A study of structural principles underlying music of all periods: motivic usage, melodic shape, varieties of texture and structure with an emphasis on fugue, variation forms and proportional forms such as rondo and sonata-allegro. Prerequisite: graduate standing or permission of instructor.
MUSIC 5231 Graduate Keyboard Skills
Graduate Keyboard Skills prepares students to take the Keyboard Skills exam.
Credit 0 units.
Typical periods offered: Fall, Spring
MUSIC 5233 Analysis I
A study of structural principles underlying music of all periods: motivic usage, melodic shape, varieties of texture and structure with an emphasis on fugue, variation forms and proportional forms such as rondo and sonata-allegro. Prerequisite: graduate standing or permission of instructor.
MUSIC 530 Composition, Advanced
Individual training in free composition for various media, plus group technical projects. Prerequisite: permission of instructor.
Credit 3 units.
Typical periods offered: Spring
MUSIC 5311 Black Experimental Music
Founded on the South Side of Chicago in 1965, the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) united dozens of African American artists who were interested in experimental approaches to composition and improvisation. Their creative work, often described as black experimental music, would transform black-identified musical styles like jazz as well as white-identified styles of experimental concert music from which African Americans were often excluded-until the AACM intervened. In this course, we will investigate the Association's history by reading and discussing a wide range of texts about the organization, including books and articles written by AACM members themselves. We will also examine a number of important recordings and musical scores created by AACM artists, including Muhal Richard Abrams, Fred Anderson, Anthony Braxton, Joseph Jarman, George Lewis, Nicole Mitchell, Roscoe Mitchell, and Wadada Leo Smith.
Credit 3 units.
MUSIC 5701 Jazz Winds and Percussion
Credit 2 units.
Typical periods offered: Fall, Spring
MUSIC 5705 Jazz Piano
Individual Applied Music -Jazz Piano
Credit 2 units.
Typical periods offered: Fall
MUSIC 5750 Guitar
Individual Applied Music -Guitar
Credit 2 units.
MUSIC 5751 Organ
Organ
Credit 2 units.
MUSIC 5752 Piano
Individual Applied Music -Piano
Credit 2 units.
Typical periods offered: Fall, Spring
MUSIC 5753 Strings
Individual Applied Music -Strings.
Credit 2 units.
Typical periods offered: Fall, Spring
MUSIC 5754 Voice
Individual Applied Music -Voice
Credit 2 units.
Typical periods offered: Spring
MUSIC 5755 Winds and Percussion
Individual Applied Music-Winds and Percussion
Credit 2 units.
Typical periods offered: Fall, Spring
MUSIC 7000 Research in Music
(Master's level). Credit variable, maximum 6 units. Refer to **section/faculty list at start of this departmental entry for faculty selections in this course.
Credit 6 units.
Typical periods offered: Fall, Spring
MUSIC 7883 Master's Continuing Student Status
This course is for continuing students in the Music Master's program.
Credit 0 units.
Typical periods offered: Fall
MUSIC 7885 Masters Nonresident
This course is for non resident students in the Music Master's program.
Credit 0 units.
Typical periods offered: Fall
MUSIC 8000 Research in Music
(Doctoral level). Credit variable, maximum 9 units. Refer to **section/faculty list at start of this departmental entry for faculty selections in this course.
Credit 9 units.
Typical periods offered: Fall, Spring
MUSIC 8884 Doctoral Continuing Student Status
This course is for continuing students in the Music Doctoral program.
Credit 0 units.
MUSIC 8886 Doctoral Nonresident
This course is for non resident students in the Music Doctoral program.
Credit 0 units.