Foundational Academic Courses
MUS 2, Careers in Music
2 units, offered in Fall
Through lectures, discussions, and guest speakers, this course introduces students to various career options in music and the arts, including a practical overview of the skills, knowledge and paths to pursue these goals, culminating in students developing a career portfolio.
MUS 3C, Structures of Music
4 units, usually offered in Spring
Looking at a variety of music traditions from different parts of the world, the class will survey varying approaches to issues of compositional structure, rhythm, intonation, scales, etc. The class will have listening and practical components. This series of classes may be currently be taken out of order. For permission to enroll in this class as a non-major, contact the undergraduate advisor.
MUS 11, Fundamentals of Music
4 units, GE: Area F, usually offered every quarter including Summer
The study of notes, scales, triads, inversions, rhythm, harmony, and musical terminology. Laboratory activities include keyboard orientation, sight-singing, and ear training. This class is required for all majors and minors. It is possible to test out of this requirement with the Music Theory exam, offered each Fall quarter.
MUS 12, Thinking Historically about Music
4 units, offered in Winter
This course reflects on the process of crafting narratives about the musical past and its impact on our understanding of music in the present. Students learn to analyze diverse sources and practice the construction of music historical narratives.
MUS 15, Music Appreciation
4 units, GE: Area F & Writing, usually offered every quarter including Summer
This class does not apply to any major in the department. A selective survey of music of western civilization; the evolution of forms, styles, media. Designed to enable the student to listen with understanding.
MUS 16. Listening to Jazz: Demystifying America's Musical Art Form
4 units, GE: Area F & Writing, availability varies
Aims to unravel the mystery of Jazz's allure, importance, and performance process, in a manner mostly divorced from technical musical terminology or music theory, through targeted readings, listening assignments, written projects, in-class visits, and concert attendance.
MUS 17, World Music
4 units, GE: Area F, offered every quarter including Summer
An introductory course surveying the unity and diversity of folk, traditional, and classical music of the non-western world. Emphasis given to dance, theatre, musical instruments, and the role of music in society.
MUS 112A-C, History of Western Music and its Global Circulations
4 units per class, GE: Writing & European Traditions, usually A offered in Fall, B in Winter, C in Spring
Prerequisites: Music 12 and/or 15; Western music notation experience required.
Topics include: (112A) - musicians’ careers and social life; spirituality; gender, race, emerging subjectivity; music for public stages; commercialism; colonialism; popular music practices; (112B) - a range of composers/performers/listeners and how conceptions of musical practices were shaped by socio-political context, colonialism, class, gender, race, religion, economics; (112C) - nationalism; late romanticism and limits tonality; modernism; impact of popular music on western classical music; neoclassicism.
MUS 114, Music and Popular Culture in America
4 units, GE: Area F & Writing, offered every quarter including Summer
A survey of the relationships between music and popular culture in America. Music to be discussed includes blues, jazz, and rock, as well as classical music. Emphasis is on cultural, rather than technical aspects of music. Upper-division standing is required.
MUS 115, Symphonic Music
4 units, GE: Area F & Writing, availability varies
Prerequisites: MUS 15, concurrent enrollment is possible. Contact the undergraduate advisor for an approval code.
A study of selected symphonic works.
MUS 116, American Music History: From the Colonial Period to the Present
4 units, GE: Area F, availability varies
An overview of the varieties of American musical experience from the Colonial period to the present. Representative works from several genres are studies with a view to placing them in their cultural context and identifying major aesthetic issues.
MUS 119A, Music and Politics
4 units, GE: Area F & Writing, availability varies
A study of the interaction between music and politics from the fourteenth century to the present. Includes discussion of relevant art from each period.
MUS 175F, Music Cultures of the World: The Middle East
4 units, GE: Area D, Writing & World Cultures, availability varies
Arab, Turkish, and Persian music traditions from historical, cultural, and musicological perspectives. Emphasis given to the position of music in Islam, present-day performers, and modal and rhythmic structures.
MUS 175G, Music Cultures of the World: India
4 units, GE: Area D, Writing & World Cultures, availability varies
A survey of music traditions of the Indian subcontinent from classical to folk and popular. Emphasis on the position of music in Hindu philosophy, the role of music in society, musical instruments, and modal and rhythmic structures (Raga and Tala).
MUS 175I, Music Cultures of the World: Indonesia
4 units, GE: Area D, Writing & World Cultures, availability varies
Introduces Indonesian musical and cultural practices through folk, classical, popular musics; religious traditions, theater and dance. Topics include interconnection of sonic and social structures, historical conditions of colonial and postcolonial relationships with the West, and transitions to contemporary transnational circulations.
