Graduate Studies in Music Seminars 2023-24

Offerings are organized below by area, but students are encouraged to explore seminars under all headings. You register for seminars on MINERVA. DO NOT REGISTER FOR MORE THAN 2 seminars per semester. If you are interested in more seminars, or seminars which you cannot register for, contact the instructor via email to indicate your interest and attend the first class.

Registration in seminars is usually limited to 12 students per class (14 for Performance Practice (MUPP) and Performance (MUPG) seminars. In cases where too many students have registered for a seminar, some students may be asked to drop the course.

The following priority list will be followed:

  1. Music students in a specific program for whom the seminar is required and who need the seminar to graduate in the year in which it is offered.
  2. Music students in a specific program for whom the seminar is required.
  3. Music students in a specific program for whom the seminar is an elective seminar.
  4. Other McGill students in graduate programs (music and non-music).
  5. Visiting graduate students.
  6. McGill undergraduate music students who have the necessary prerequisites.
  7. Other McGill undergraduate students who have the necessary prerequisites.
  8. Visiting undergraduate music students.
  9. Special Students.


If you cannot register on MINERVA for a course you would like to take, contact the instructor by email to indicate your interest and attend the first class.

DO NOT REGISTER FOR MORE THAN 2 seminars per semester.

 

SEMINARS IN THE DEPARTMENT OF MUSIC RESEARCH:
SUMMER 2024

Music Education

SUMMER 2024

MUGT 611 – CRN 628 | Professors Liliana Araujo and Andrea Creech

Rethinking Methodologies in Performance Pedagogy and Science

This seminar offers a comprehensive exploration of research methodologies within the interdisciplinary areas of Music Performance, Pedagogy and Science. The seminar equips participants with the theoretical foundations, practical skills, and critical perspectives necessary for designing and conducting creative, rigorous and innovative research that responds to practical and meaningful questions in a range of music settings. Topics will include theoretical foundations of empirical research; quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-method paradigms and methods; and ethical considerations. Activities will include interactive lectures, collaborative projects, and self-directed inquiry.

SEMINARS IN THE DEPARTMENT OF MUSIC RESEARCH (COMPLEMENTARY SEMINARS FOR PERFORMANCE STUDENTS):
WINTER 2024

Music Education

WINTER 2024

MUGT 612 (001) Seminar – Music Education – CRN 3624 | Professor Lisa Lorenzino

Global Trends in Formal, Informal, and Non-Formal Music Teaching

This seminar is unique in its international focus as it investigates varied pedagogical practices of music education. Students critically discuss formal, informal, and non-formal music teaching in a range of settings including curricular, extra-curricular, community based, online, and autodidactic learning. Specific topics studied include rote learning, improvisation and the master/apprentice model, among other teaching methodologies.

A focus of the seminar will be the global dissemination of El Sistema, the Venezuelan orchestral training program for disenfranchised youth. Now operating in over 60 nations, El Sistema is providing a new model for music education with a social justice focus. Other models studied, in less detail, will include initiatives such as New Horizons International.

Class sessions may be augmented by guest lecturers. Students wishing to do so will have the opportunity to be involved in the collection of qualitative data via semi-structured interviews in a project of their choice. Evaluation will include 1 research paper and an in-class presentation as well as other small assignments.


WINTER 2024

MUGT 613 (001) Seminar - Music Education - CRN 3625 | Professor Isabelle Cossette

Understanding the Performing Body

This course is designed for students interested in understanding how their body works in optimal, healthy, and efficient way but also in pathological contexts.

Class sessions are intended to provide the opportunity for students to explore a broad range of issues related to the use of the body during music-making. Students will develop their critical thinking on topics such as musculoskeletal injuries, breathing strategies, neuroplasticity, nutrition, well-being approaches, etc. Discussions based on readings, online material, and presentations will allow the students to share knowledge that can be applied to practice.

Evaluation will be based on class preparation/participation including oral and written reflections, discussions and presentations as well as a final blog project associated to either research, performance or learning aspects of the student’s area of study as relates to class content.

Musicology

WINTER 2024

MUHL 681 (001) Seminar in Musicology - CRN 3635 | Professor Dorian Bandy

Music and the Solitary

This seminar will examine the aesthetics of solitude in the history of musical composition and performance, c. 1650-1830. The readings and discussions will move backward in time, beginning from the early 19th century with an engagement of recent turns in the analysis of piano music by Beethoven and Schubert, and moving through the traditions of operatic soliloquys and improvised fantasias in the late 18th century, ultimately ending with a critical examination of the tradition of unaccompanied music for melodic instruments in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. Assessment will be based on in-class presentations, occasional short writing assignments, and a final paper.


WINTER 2024

MUHL 683 (001) Seminar in Musicology – CRN 3636 | Professor Roe-Min Kok

Music and the Home

This seminar analyzes the historical notion of “home” and its multifaceted relationship with music. The western European idea of “home,” for instance, was born of social upheavals following the French Revolution (1789). By the early nineteenth century, the nuclear family – a married heterosexual couple with biological children, in a hierarchically organized household – had become the ideal. Many characteristics of this ideal remain today, including the perception of home as a refuge from external turmoil (“home sweet home”); the culturally charged phrases “coming home” and “homecoming,” etc. Within its walls, and in private, subtle, yet powerful ways, the home spawned practices that were gendered, classed, racialized, and differentiated by age.

What was/is the position of music played, listened to, and shared in the home? The departure point for our seminar is a critical study of Robert and Clara Schumann in the context of the family life they shared for thirteen years (September 1840-February 1854). Notwithstanding the romantic match—so often idealized—Clara and Robert’s life together was severely strained by inadequate income, a fast-growing family, cramped living quarters, and debilitating illness. At the center of these difficulties lay two individuals’ conflicting views of home, particularly their respective gender roles in relation to family finances and the rearing of their children. We shall scrutinize the Schumanns’ music for the domestic sphere, primarily art songs, and ask how these articulate issues of marriage, motherhood, fatherhood, and childhood. Using tools and techniques gained from the Schumann case study and other scholarly fields, seminar participants will pursue projects that analyse relationships between “home” and music.

Final projects are not restricted in terms of historical eras, cultures, and musical genres, although they must explore private life and identity formation in home (or home-like) settings and incorporate ideas or concepts from at least 2 class readings. Evaluation will be based on presentations about assigned readings, a final project proposal, a final project presentation, a final paper, and professionalism.


WINTER 2024

MUHL 684 (001) Seminar in Musicology – CRN 3637| Professor Steven Huebner

Topics in French Music 1875-1925

The seminar is organized in four units. The first covers the historiographical and critical issues raised by Jann Pasler’s The Composer as Citizen. The second unit considers recent approaches to fin-de-siècle mélodie, with examples by Chabrier, Debussy, Fauré, and Ravel. The third examines French music with a classical orientation that looks back to pre-Beethovenian models and weighs critical categories such as pastiche and parody. Composers studied will include Gounod, Bizet, Saint-Saëns, and Ravel. The fourth unit covers exoticism in French music of the period, with attention to works by Delibes and Saint-Saëns.


WINTER 2024

MUHL 685 (001) Seminar in Musicology – CRN 3638| Professor Lisa Barg

Feminist Jazz Studies

This seminar will engage a variety of theoretical, methodological, and historical lenses to survey current and emerging research in feminist jazz studies, with a focus on gender analysis and the theory and practice of jazz feminism. How has gender, as it intersects with race, ethnicity, class, sexuality, and nation, shaped understandings of jazz history? What does a focus on gender tell us about jazz practices, pedagogies, sounds, meanings, and debates? What happens when we shift the focus from feminist jazz studies to a praxis of jazz feminism? Reading assignments will not be confined to jazz. but will include gender studies in related music genres and histories. Class sessions will be devoted to discussion of the readings and, when appropriate, listening and/or video viewing. Students will collaborate on presentations, write and share commentaries on selected readings, and prepare a seminar project on a topic of their choice that will serve as a basis for a thirty-minute presentation.

Music Technology

WINTER 2024

MUMT 619 (001) input Devices for Music. Expr. - CRN 4069 | Professor Marcelo Wanderley

Basic technologies used in the design of input devices for musical expression, including the most common types of electronic sensors, actuators and associated conditioning circuits and examples of their application to gestural controllers. Evaluation will be based on assignments and a final project.


WINTER 2024

MUMT 621 (001) Mus. Info,Retr.,Acq.,Preserv. - CRN 4070 | Professor Ichiro Fujinaga

This seminar will investigate current research activities in the area of music information retrieval. The goal is to discover ways to efficiently find and retrieve musical information. Although the field is relatively new, it encompasses various music disciplines including music analysis, music education, music history, music theory, music psychology, and audio signal processing.

Each student will be expected to present various music information retrieval topics along with literature reviews. Each presentation should be accompanied by web pages created by the presenter. The final project may consist of software development, a theoretical paper, or an extended review paper. Class format will be presentations followed by discussions.

Potential topics include: Themefinder, MELDEX, Elvis, Cantus, SIMSSA, audio content analysis and search, web crawling, melodic similarities, computer-aided transcription, beat tracking, timbre recognition, speech / music separation, audio and music formats (MPEG-4/7/21, MP3, MEI, MusicXML), and Web API. Students will be evaluated on the quality of the presentations, written assignments, class participation, and the final project.

Evaluation will be based on assignments (50%), class participation (10%), and a final project (40%).

Sound Recording

WINTER 2024

MUSR 692 (001) Music Production Workshop – CRN 4158 | Professor Martha DeFrancisco

A Graduate Seminar for Performance and for Sound Recording Students.

The seminar focuses on the collaborative interaction between performing and recording partners during music recordings. It explores aesthetical questions of performance and recording, and it examines music performance issues in connection with the use of changing technological tools for recording and music production. Discussions are lead regarding the historical development of music production, and an updated analysis of current developments in the recording industry is provided.

The production sessions under the supervision of an expert music producer, realized as part of the seminar, help students acquire insight in the musical, technical and logistical processes that characterize professional music productions, giving both sides suitable tools to enhance their potential as recording artists in the 21st century.

Evaluation will be based on in-class participation and presentations, individual work on the music productions as well as a final research paper or a completed Master of an own production project with a written description/analysis.

Music Theory

WINTER 2024

MUTH 652 (001) Seminar in Music Theory – CRN 4179 | Professor Robert Hasegawa

Exploring Theory Pedagogy through the Instrumental Ensemble

Current theory and musicianship pedagogy tends to focus on written scores, voice, and keyboard, excluding other instrumental performance despite its centrality to most of our students’ musical practice. In this seminar, we will investigate how a theory classroom might operate if we take group instrumental performance as the main activity. Seminar students will regularly be asked to perform, compose, and improvise together and to develop their own assignments, activities, and lesson plans. Topics will draw on a wide range of theoretical concepts from different historical periods, styles, and genres, always presented with the goal of translating abstract ideas into concrete sonic engagements. The final paper/project will focus on the development and presentation of an original set of pedagogical theory exercises involving group performance. Coursework will include regular readings, analyses, and writing, as well as musical practice in preparation for in-class activities. Graduate students in music theory have priority in registration, though participation is welcome from all areas of music research and performance.


WINTER 2024

MUTH 657 (001) Seminar in Music Theory – CRN 4123| Professor Ellen Bakulina

Form theories and 19th-century music

This seminar has a double purpose: to explore the structures in 19th-century music, and to explore the recent literature (mostly 21st-century) on form in this music, with the upper chronological limit roughly at 1910. We will primarily look at large-scale architecture of Romantic works, both instrumental and vocal, but small-scale formal typologies are important too. Prior knowledge presupposes standard tonal harmony; at the beginning of the course, we will review form-analytical methodologies of Caplin and Hepokoski/Darcy. Assessment will be based on written assignments, class participation, and a solo presentation and final paper at the end.

The seminar is meant primarily for theorists and musicologists.

 

PERFORMANCE PRACTICE (OPEN TO PERFORMANCE STUDENTS)
WINTER 2024

Performance Practice

WINTER 2024

MUPP 690 (001) Performance Practice Seminar – CRN 4123 | Professor Mélanie Léonard

Artistic Leadership

This seminar will introduce leadership principles in the context of artistic direction. We will learn about the qualities and skills of great leaders and how it applies to artistic leadership. We will study the scope of responsibilities of an artistic director, including defining an artistic vision, how to build a concert season to reflect the core values of an organization, public speaking, working with a board of directors, building a community presence and provide necessary tools to be an efficient and positive leader. Grading will be based on class participation, class assignments and a final oral presentation of a short concert season.


WINTER 2024

MUPP 691 (001) Performance Practice Seminar – CRN 4124 | Tracy Smith

Mozart to Bellini

This seminar provides an introduction to the major treatises of the Classical and early 19th-century Bel Canto eras with emphasis on the practical application of vocal ornamentation for the modern performer. Through the study and discussion of both primary and secondary sources, students will observe and compare national styles and time periods. Evaluation will be based on active participation in class discussions, one oral presentation in class, the sung performance of 2 pieces (one from the Classical era and one from the Bel Canto era) with ornamentation appropriate to the national style and time period of the work, and a final term paper or written article.


WINTER 2024

MUPP 692 (001) Performance Practice Seminar – CRN 4125 | Professor Isabelle Demers

Performance practice in the music of J.S. Bach

After a brief overview of the life and works of J.S. Bach, whose music is as timely and relevant today as it was 300 years ago, this seminar will explore the various performing traditions associated with Bach, from the earliest recordings to modern-day renditions. Particular attention will be paid to issues of performance practice in Bach’s music and other works of the era. Grading will be based on class discussions, occasional assignments, as well as on a final class presentation and performance.


WINTER 2024

MUPP 693 (001) Performance Practice Seminar – CRN 4126 | Professor Danielle Gaudry

Music and Community in the 21st Century

Musicians are faced with a rapidly evolving social-cultural landscape that is leading to a shift in the nature of their careers, once they find themselves in the world outside the safety of the university campus. A meaningful musical career in the 21st century looks vastly different than it did ten or even five years ago, and the skills and knowledge needed to be successful in these altered circumstances go beyond the musical training students expect to receive. In addition to an expanded skill set, musicians need to alter the lens through which they view their role within the greater population, examining how they can thrive in ways that surpass simply growing passive audiences. How do we create opportunities to collaborate and connect with underserved populations? How can we use our musicianship and creativity to expand and deepen our service to community needs and support the goals of local organizations? How can we engage the public and embrace the task of interacting creatively with the community? This seminar will examine these questions and through some practical activities, will help forge pathways for students to become global, service-minded artist-citizens who can provide diverse communities with meaningful access to, and inclusion in music.


WINTER 2024

MUPP 694 (001) Performance Practice Seminar – CRN 4127 | Professor Stefano Algieri

The Art of Bel Canto / A Dramatic Approach to the Lyrical Art of Singing

This seminar will be focused on the principles of The Art of Bel Canto from Baroque to the present day.

From the advent of recordings, students will have the opportunity to research and analyze Master Singers, and otherwise, perform repertoire within their vocal ranges, a/o their particular field(s) of vocal interest.

Based on the intentions of the Master Composers, the Singers’ implementation of Language (Dramatic Approach/Text), as applied to the Principles of Bel Canto Vocal Technique (Lyrical Art of Singing), will be researched and analyzed.

Reference to major Vocal Treatises will be encouraged.

Students’ working knowledge of vocal technique terminologies will be helpful, though not a prerequisite.

Evaluation will be based on students' in-class research presentations. Students presenting will email (or paper copies) of their presentations to their fellow students before each of their in-class presentations (email it to the Instructor), followed by class discussions. Class participation and students' interaction with the in-class research presentations of their fellow students is important. For the above-mentioned reasons, attendance is essential.


WINTER 2024

MUPP 695 (001) Performance Practice Seminar – CRN 4128 | Professor Jacqueline Leclair

Wellbeing for the Professional Musician

During this seminar, we will research and discuss the following topics as related to musician health, professionalism, performance, and music pedagogy: neuroscience related to music practice and performance, sleep, yoga, Alexander Technique, Feldenkrais, Zen Philosophy, psychology, massage therapy, acupuncture/acupressure, cranio-sacral therapy, Reiki, meditation, breathing exercises, stretching, performance anxiety management, injury prevention and recovery, and efficient practice technique.

Students will develop enhanced abilities to make informed choices about their wellbeing throughout their careers. They will learn to practice with optimum efficiency, safety, and productivity. As future teachers and colleagues, they will develop enhanced abilities to help others with these topics.

Final projects will be a paper about a wellbeing topic chosen in consultation with Prof. Leclair, or the equivalent.

 

DEPARTMENT OF PERFORMANCE SEMINARS (OPEN TO PERFORMANCE STUDENTS) WINTER 2024

Performance Seminars

WINTER 2024

MUPG 590 (001) Vocal Styles and Conventions – CRN 4091 | TBA

This seminar emphasizes vocal performance practices through practical application: text, language, inflection, pronunciation and interpretation considered with the individuality of each student’s voice and technical development. After examining historical treatises, students will discuss and present musical selections using modern performance standards while remaining true to the stylistic demands of each period.


WINTER 2024

MUPG 677 (054) Seminar in Performance Topics 2 – CRN 6782 | Professor Jacqueline Leclair

Expanding Professional Opportunities as a Performer and Collaborator by Developing Contemporary Music Skills

Students will be building new-music knowledge and skills to maximize their marketability (money-making) potential in the freelance marketplace, complementing their existing musical knowledge and skills.
Open to all Classical and Jazz students, each student will spend the semester researching solo and chamber repertoire for their instrument/voice that utilized unusual musical languages and techniques. Course content is tailored to each individual student.
We will play/sing in most seminar meetings and discuss strategies for understanding, learning, and successfully performing works with unfamiliar musical language and techniques.
Learning and performing new musical skills will make this seminar very practical and applied in nature.
Evaluation will include readings, videos, and a short weekly journal entry. The final project will be developed during the semester and will likely be a combination of a paper and a video recording of a solo or chamber music composition studied during the semester.


WINTER 2024

MUPG 677 (088) Seminar in Performance Topics 2 – CRN 4112 | Professor Jean-Michel Pilc

Improvisation in all languages

The goal of this seminar is the acquisition of fluency in improvisation, in all musical idioms (classical, jazz, pop, world etc.) and on all instruments. More generally, it will address the subject of how to make music in a natural and idiomatic way, regardless of the style.

The process at work will be based on the way spoken language is learnt and mastered, and also rooted in my own experience discovering music, improvising, and learning jazz and other kinds of music through oral tradition. We will show that improvisation, often and wrongly seen as the difference between classical and jazz, is, on the contrary, the main bridge between all styles of music, and the essential ability to perceive and express music organically, naturally and spontaneously, and to communicate musical ideas instantaneously when playing the instrument - the latter being, in the spoken language analogy, the musician’s “speech organ.”

We will explore the specificities of each musical idiom – its own “words”, rhythms, accents etc. – and will learn how to develop practicing methods and a personal approach by deep listening, imitation, playing along, manipulation, trial and error, self-editing, assimilation and evolution through time. "Fluency tests" will be used and experimented with, as well as exercises devised to become better at these tests. Hence we will develop the ability to fully experience the musical act and speak the language of music freely and meaningfully at the instrument, while still being creative away from it.

Many other topics will be covered, such as ear training and tuning, the 3 “bookends” of music (rhythm, melody, and bass), feeling, tempo, swing and groove, phrasing and articulation, internalization, and using the multitasking ability of the human brain in order to become a successful improviser / instant composer / storyteller. We will draw inspiration from many different styles of music, and the students will be exposed to a wide selection of musical pieces (from recordings and also from live performances by teacher and students).

Taking example on masters such as Mozart or Charlie Parker, we will realize that improviser, composer, interpreter and performer are actually different sides of the same entity; and also, transcending the cliché of “classical player who can’t play jazz” (or vice versa), we will discover that the many languages of music can be understood and spoken by all those who are willing to embrace their authenticity and their richness.

This class, like any language learning experience, will require the active participation of each student, as a listener, performer, and practitioner. Evaluation will be based on the participation, progress, motivation and creative energy of each student, presentations and special projects, which will be an essential component of the seminar.


WINTER 2024

MUPG 677 (389) Seminar in Performance Topics 1 – CRN 4113 | Professor Ira Coleman

Music from Mali

The music of Mali is one of the supremely great traditions. Transmitted from generation to generation for centuries, it has had an immense impact on the global musical community. This course is designed to bring students as close to this tradition as possible.

The rhythmic vocabulary of Malian music is immediately infectious and also extremely challenging for a musician who has not been raised in this tradition. Students will listen intensely to great recordings, and we will form an ensemble in the class to become as conversant as possible with the inner workings of this music. Just learning to hear where “one” is, can prove to be extremely challenging! We will play along with recordings and also perform ourselves. The class will become familiar with the historical background of the Empire of Mali, (a far more expansive territory than current-day Mali).

The primary emphasis will be on developing a familiarity with traditional Malian music. But we will also explore modern developments, as the musicians of Mali confront and are confronted by Europe and the West. We will consider the conflict between dynamic growth versus commercial dilution.

Evaluation will be based on class participation, listening, and reading assignments. While there will not be a formal listening exam, students are expected to become conversant with a wide selection of Malian music. Each student will develop their final research project in collaboration with the instructor. Students may write a short paper, transcribe a traditional Malian composition, create an original composition employing elements of Malian music, create a group project adapting a Malian song to their own instrumental and vocal abilities. In short, the final project should be based on each students’ interests and abilities.


WINTER 2024

MUPG 677 (390) Seminar in Performance Topics 1 – CRN 4114 | Professor Darrell Green

Introduction To The Drum Set As Applied To Jazz Drumming

The history of Jazz from the perspective of the drums, exploring the evolution of jazz drumming, the intersection of culture and community, and how the drum set has shaped Jazz and popular music from the early 1900s to the present. This exploration will be through literature, audio/video recordings, and interviews. Upon completion of this course, the student will understand the origin of jazz drumming, be able to distinguish between the varying rhythmic styles of drumming throughout the 19th century and know their importance to the evolution of the music. We will identify significant historical figures in jazz drum history and their contributions. Course requirements include assigned readings, listening, analysis, class discussions, a midterm exam, and a final exam.


REGISTRATION

Registration in seminars is usually limited to 12 students per class (14 for Performance Practice (MUPP) and Performance (MUPG) seminars. In cases where too many students have registered for a seminar, some students may be asked to drop the course. The following priority list will be followed:

1. Music students in a specific program for whom the seminar is required and who need the seminar to graduate in the year in which it is offered.
2. Music students in a specific program for whom the seminar is required.
3. Music students in a specific program for whom the seminar is an elective seminar.

4. Other McGill students in graduate programs (music and non-music).
5. Visiting graduate students.
6. McGill undergraduate music students who have the necessary prerequisites.
7. Other McGill undergraduate students who have the necessary prerequisites.
8. Visiting undergraduate music students.
9. Special Students.

If you cannot register on MINERVA for a course you would like to take, contact the instructor by email to indicate your interest and attend the first class.

DO NOT REGISTER FOR MORE THAN 2 seminars per semester.

Offerings are organized below by area, but students are encouraged to explore seminars under all headings. You register for seminars on MINERVA. DO NOT REGISTER FOR MORE THAN 2 seminars per semester. If you are interested in more seminars, or seminars which you cannot register for, contact the instructor via email to indicate your interest and attend the first class.

SEMINARS IN THE DEPARTMENT OF MUSIC RESEARCH (COMPLEMENTARY SEMINARS FOR PERFORMANCE STUDENTS):
FALL 2023

Composition

FALL 2023

MUCO 635 Seminar in Composition – CRN 4034 | Professor Brian Cherney

The Music and Legacy of R. Murray Schafer

R. Murray Schafer (1933-2021), composer, writer, music educator, and environmentalist, was one of the most important creative figures Canada has produced. In this seminar, his music and writings about music will be examined, with special attention to the string quartets and the Patria cycle. Students will be evaluated on the basis of an oral presentation during the seminar and also a final written paper.

Music Education

FALL 2023

MUGT 610 (001) Seminar - Music Education – CRN 4128 | Professor Isabelle Cossette

Breathing: From theory to practice

Respiration, at the core of any living activity, is a very complex while fundamental aspect of our life. This course is designed for students who are interested in the theoretical underpinnings of their respiration and how it applies to various aspects of their life.

Students will learn the fundamental mechanisms of the respiratory system by consulting the scientific literature. Class sessions are intended to develop a broad and interdisciplinary knowledge with applications in areas of interest such as pedagogy, practicing strategies and stress management, etc. Classes will include lectures, surveys of recent research, students’ oral presentations, discussions, and visits to laboratories.

Evaluation will be based on class preparation/participation and may include a take-home exam, an annotated bibliography and a final project/paper on a topic related to practical aspects of the student’s skill enhancement.


FALL 2023

MUGT 611 (001) Seminar - Music Education – CRN 4129 | Professor Liza Lorenzino

Leadership for Performers and Pedagogues

This seminar will look at theories and practices related to leadership as related to the field of music. Students will be introduced to topics such as democratic leadership, goal setting, and motivation in an attempt to learn how they can become effective, innovative leaders in the classroom, on the podium, or within a large or small ensemble setting.

Class sessions may be augmented by guest lecturers. Evaluation will include one research paper and an in-class presentation as well as other small assignments.

Musicology

FALL 2023

MUHL 680 Seminar in Musicology – CRN 4144 | Professor Julie Cumming

Women and Music in the Renaissance

We know with certainty the names of only a few women composers of polyphonic music in the Renaissance (1400-1600): Maddalena Casulana and Vittoria Aleotti. More names are gradually coming to light, as is information on the many ways in which women were involved in music during the period. We will look at women involved in the creation and performance of music as lyricists, nuns, singers, instrumentalists, courtesans, family members, and patrons. Topics will include the following.

  • modern scholarly assumptions that have hidden women musicians from view
  • social mores in the Renaissance that enabled and/or hindered women’s participation in music making, both in the home and in the larger public
  • music attributed to women
  • anonymous music that could have been by women
  • music associated with nuns and female monasteries
  • the complex figure of the courtesan musician, especially in Venice and Rome
  • Renaissance ideas concerning sexuality and gender identity
  • poetry by women that was set to music, and the nature of the “woman’s voice” in poetry and music
  • patrons of music, including Isabella d’Este, Lucrezia Borgia, and members of the Este family of Ferrara
  • the rise of professional women’s ensembles, such as the concerto di donne in Ferrara, Mantua, and Florence

Activities in the seminar will include: singing and analysis of works associated with women; presentations on manuscripts, prints, and individual musical works; relevant readings, and podcasts on articles; and a final paper, in several stages, each of which will receive feedback: development of a paper topic; power-point presentation for the class; the first draft of the final paper, and a final draft. Grading is based on the quality of presentations, podcasts, class participation, and the final paper.


FALL 2023

MUHL 681 Seminar in Musicology – CRN 7712 | Professor Guthrie P. Ramsey, Jr.

Seeing Is Believing: The American Music Documentary and Bio-Pic

This course surveys the American music bio-pic and documentary, spanning subjects from the Jazz Era of the 1920s to the contemporary moment. The British musicologist Christopher Small wrote a fundamental question guiding the work of music studies scholars: “Why are these people making this music at this time in this place?” This course considers the various ways that filmmakers have attempted to answer this question. At the same time, we’ll take this question and ask it of the filmmakers’ practice: why and to what end are they using the medium of film to shed light on musicians, their music, history, geography, and society? What possibilities of discovery and “truth” are espoused in the film? What issues of ethnicity, race, class, and gender organize the narrative of the film? What is musical labor in the life of these subjects? What structural and formal conventions organize these films? What does the film teach the viewer about the social contracts of musical genre? How do they intervene in historical conversations about the relationship of music to social identity? Students will be evaluated by weekly written participation responses, the development of an original syllabus on musical documentaries, and the completion of an individualized project related to course content.


FALL 2023

MUHL 683 Seminar in Musicology – CRN 4146 | Professor David Brackett

Musical Genres in Theory and Practice

This seminar will provide an introduction to genre-related studies of music by presenting representative writings on music in conjunction with background readings from other disciplines. These readings will address questions both of genre and of larger issues about the function of categories in human activity. The seminar may also serve as an introduction to current trends in the fields of popular music studies, communications/media studies, and interdisciplinary musicology. Coursework will consist of weekly readings, participation in class discussions, weekly reading-response papers, a final paper and a 20-30 min. presentation based on this paper.


FALL 2023

MUHL 682 Seminar in Musicology – CRN 4145 | Lloyd Whitesell

Queer and Trans Aesthetics

Does gender or sexuality make a difference when people perform or compose? What happens when we switch from a universal to a socially-situated approach toward musical expression and taste? In this seminar we will learn about the contested field of LGBTQ2S aesthetics, applied to music as well as other artforms. We will acquaint ourselves with a range of cultural producers from both elite and popular genres and trace stylistic and thematic traditions. Though the field of queer aesthetics began to emerge fifty years ago, many issues are still in the speculative, exploratory stage. Should we be talking about stable marginalized identities or an expanded field of gender and sexuality? Does pigeonholing someone as a queer artist reduce their expressive reach? Is it a bad idea to lump all queer people together? Can anyone adopt a queer style? Is queer art/performance always subversive or does it have a place in the mainstream? Are audiences open to diverse, non-binary bodies and voices, or do they need to be wooed and won over? The goal is to balance big ideas with case studies and practical applications. Evaluation will be based on class participation, occasional short assignments, and a final paper/presentation.

Music Technology

FALL 2023

MUMT 605 (001) Digital Sound Synthesis & Audio Process – CRN 4617 | Professor Philippe Depalle

Most digital sound synthesis methods and audio processing techniques are based on the spectral representation of sound signals. This seminar starts with a theoretical and practical study of spectral representation, spectral analysis, and spectral modification of sound signals. Digital sound synthesis and sound processing techniques are then presented as specific spectral modeling or alterations from which their capabilities, properties, and limitations are deduced. Techniques explored in this context include the phase-vocoder, additive synthesis, source-filter synthesis, and audio effects. Available Computer Music software and ad hoc pieces of software are used as examples and illustrations. Evaluation will be based on two assignments (25% each), one in-class presentation (15%), and a final project (35%).


FALL 2023

MUMT 616 (001) Timbre Form-Bearing Dim. In Music – CRN 4618 | : Drs. Ben Duinker and Andrés Gutíerrez Martínez

This seminar covers a variety of interdisciplinary analytical topics concerning timbre: its role as a structuring force in music, the perceptual "representation" of timbre in the auditory system, the use of timbre as an expressive device in musical performance, the cultural, racial, and gender-based dimensions of timbre in individual and collective listening practices, multidimensional models of timbre as predictors of perceptual and musical effects, and the limits of perception and memory for absolute timbre (sound source recognition) and timbral relations. In general, these topics will engage discussions of musical form—its appeal as a context for timbral analysis, its limitations, and its role in musical understanding. Class meetings will be largely discussion-based and student-led. A major group project forms a substantial part of the final grade, and there is no final paper.


FALL 2023

MUMT 620 (001) Gestural Control of Sound Syn. – CRN 4619 | Professor Marcelo Wanderley

This seminar examines the use of computers as part of novel digital musical instruments, including physical gestures and actions, design and evaluation of new interfaces for musical expression, and mapping strategies between gestures and sounds. Evaluation will be based on summaries of papers, student presentation, project proposal, and a project presentation.


Music Theory

FALL 2023

MUTH 654 (001) Seminar in Music Theory – CRN 4744 | Professor Christoph Neidhöfer

Form in Post-1945 Serial Music

The proliferation of serial compositional techniques after 1945 led to a rapid expansion of approaches to musical form. In this seminar we will explore how composers thought about form in serial music and how they developed new kinds of forms in response to particular expressive needs and broader historical factors. Topics include: post-WWII reception of the Formenlehre tradition and new forms in Schoenberg’s late music, serially generated form, serialism and aleatory forms, and various critiques of formal conventions in serial music. We will analyze music by Norma Beecroft, Luigi Dallapiccola, Luo Zhongrong, Elisabeth Lutyens, Bruno Maderna, Ursula Mamlok, Barbara Pentland, Camillo Togni, and George Walker, among others, and study source texts by Theodor W. Adorno, Milton Babbitt, Ernst Křenek, René Leibowitz, and others, as well as the secondary literature on form in serial music. Course requirements include weekly assigned readings, listening, and analysis, two in-class presentations, a midterm essay, and a final paper.


FALL 2023

MUTH 656 (001) Seminar in Music Theory - CRN 4745 | Professor Peter Schubert

Music Theory and Practice

Music theory embraces a wide range of concerns. At one extreme, these are at the level of basic language learning (spelling, grammar, syntax, model composition), and at the other they are like linguistics (properties of scales, sets) or literary criticism (analysis, compositional process, cultural significance). In the real world of the academy, music theorists are asked to teach basic four-part harmony and at the same time engage in cutting-edge research on a lofty topic (post-war serialism, Rameau, gender). How do we mediate these extremes?

Students in this course will choose an area (from any historical period) in which to explore the extremes between “speculative” and practical music theory. They will write a short report on a reading assigned by the professor (20%); choose a reading for the rest of the class and run one class discussion (20%); take a quiz on terms and concepts that have come up in class (20%); and write a final paper on a topic of their choice (40%).


FALL 2023

MUTH 659 (001) History of Music Theory 2 - CRN 4746 | Professor Robert Hasegawa

Selected topics in the history of music theory from 1700 to the present through readings of primary and secondary literature.

 

PERFORMANCE PRACTICE (OPEN TO PERFORMANCE STUDENTS)
FALL 2023

Performance Practice

FALL 2023

MUPP 690 (001) Performance Practice Seminar – CRN 4688 | Professor Patrick Hansen

Shakespeare Goes to the Opera!

The theory and practice in Theatrical to Musical transformation. Shakespeare plays and source materials for the plays that themselves are transformed into source material for operas based on his works. What happens to an art form when it changes from one modality, theatre, into another: opera?
Students will focus on 7 plays by Shakespeare and the 10 operas based upon those works.
Bibliography:
Shakespeare: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Romeo and Juliet, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Othello, Much Ado About Nothing, Macbeth, and Hamlet
Operas: Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette, Bernstein’s West Side Story, Bellini’s Capuletti e i Montecchi, Verdi’s Falstaff, Otello, and Macbeth, Garner’s Much Ado!, Thomas’ Hamlet, and Shostakovich’s Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District.


FALL 2023

MUPP 690 (001) Performance Practice Seminar – CRN 7851 | Professor Isabelle Demers

The Ballets Russes

Between 1909 and 1929, Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes was the most influential ballet company in the world. Featuring the best dancers of the era, among them Vaslav Nijinsky, Diaghilev and his company introduced Russian music and ballets to audiences across the world. However their role went far beyond the mere dissemination of Russian works; by their dissolution in 1929, they were behind the creation of countless masterpieces from some of the best composers and artists of the era, among them Stravinsky, Debussy, Ravel, de Falla, Strauss, Picasso, and Matisse. Perhaps more than any other artistic group at the time, they ushered in modernity and significantly shaped the development of artistic trends in the twentieth century. This seminar will explore the works presented by the Ballets Russes, among them Stravinsky’s three early ballets (Firebird, Petrushka, Rite of Spring), Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé, Debussy’s Jeux, and Milhaud’s Le Train Bleu. Grading will be based on class discussions and assignments, as well as on class presentations.


FALL 2023

MUPP 691 (001) Performance Practice Seminar – CRN 4689 | Professor Marina Thibault

Exploration in Creative Processes and Performance Enhancement Techniques

This course explores artistic legacies and missions, approaches for effective practicing, rehearsal techniques, creative performance practice, and interdisciplinary connections. This weekly seminar comprises dynamic class discussions, workshops with guest presenters, and student projects. Its diverse content is aimed at developing skills and philosophical perspectives for the 21st century Western classical musician, and will be reflective of the student’s input. Through this course, students will be led by their instructor to select a variety of topics identified in the first class and throughout the semester. Reading assignments will be related to the topics chosen together with the students. Students will be asked to choose a research topic for an article to be written individually, or in teams of two or three if topics are comparable or complementary. Students will gain experience with public speaking by presenting their findings in a presentation of 15 minutes. Research writing skills will also be developed with a 8-10 pages article to be submitted by the penultimate class. Each article will be unique and meant to make a significant contribution for the music community.


FALL 2023

MUPP 692 (001) Performance Practice Seminar – CRN 4588 | Professor Jacqueline Leclair

Wellbeing for the Professional Musician

During this seminar, we will research and discuss the following topics as related to musician health, professionalism, performance, and music pedagogy: neuroscience related to music practice and performance, sleep, yoga, Alexander Technique, Feldenkrais, Zen Philosophy, psychology, massage therapy, acupuncture/acupressure, cranio-sacral therapy, Reiki, meditation, breathing exercises, stretching, performance anxiety management, injury prevention and recovery, and efficient practice technique.

Students will develop enhanced abilities to make informed choices about their wellbeing throughout their careers. They will learn to practice with optimum efficiency, safety, and productivity. As future teachers and colleagues, they will develop enhanced abilities to help others with these topics.

Final projects will be a paper about a wellbeing topic chosen in consultation with Prof. Leclair, or the equivalent.


FALL 2023

MUPP 693 (001) Performance Practice Seminar – CRN 4691 | Professor Liliana Araujo

Understanding and managing emotions in performance

Based on psychological frameworks of emotion and emotion regulation, and existing research on emotions in music, this seminar focuses on recognizing the role of emotions in music, understanding emotions and emotional responses in music practice and performance, and ways to manage emotional states that can contribute to better music practice, performance and wellbeing. At the end of the seminar, you will be able to understand how emotions affect your music making and contribute to optimal performance and wellbeing, and will gain new understanding and experience of emotional regulation strategies used in music practice and performance. Assessment will consist of a portfolio of individual and group tasks based on class participation, readings, experiential learning, and reflective writing.


FALL 2023

MUPP 694 (001) Performance Practice Seminar – CRN 4692 | Dr. Elinor Frey

The Galant Style and the Culture of Improvisation in the 18th Century

The course is a survey of performance practice approaches to early to mid-18th century European music commonly known as Galant. Topics will include partimenti and schemata (and the conservatories of Naples), galantries, variation writing, cadenzas, planned and improvised ornamentation, salon culture, and the chordal accompaniment of recitative and other genres (in particular for bass instruments), among others. Course participants will study historical approaches in treatises, manuscripts, and secondary literature, and will survey mid-18th century music from Italian, French, English, and German musicians with the goal of becoming familiar with historical issues as well their musical context. The course will be designed to help participants develop a critical ability to discuss and write about Galant music and will include readings and listening related to the topics under discussion. The course will strongly emphasize practical application of new knowledge through both composition and in-class exercises.


FALL 2023

MUPP 695 (001) Performance Practice Seminar – CRN 4693 | Professor Jean-Sébastien Vallée

History and Literature of Large Vocal Forms

This seminar offers a comprehensive examination of the literature of large choral and vocal forms, spanning from the Renaissance period to the 21st century. Students will delve into specific examples and gain an understanding of the historical, stylistic, and analytical elements that define these works. By the end of the seminar, students will have the ability to trace the development of various vocal/choral genres such as cantata, oratorio, mass, and requiem. Additionally, students will learn about the performance practices required to give historically accurate interpretations of selected repertoire within these genres. The course will encourage students to deepen their understanding of the literature of large vocal forms, as well as to develop analytical and critical thinking skills. Upon completion of the seminar, students will have a comprehensive understanding of the development of large vocal forms, and the ability to analyze, interpret, and perform works from a variety of eras.


 

DEPARTMENT OF PERFORMANCE SEMINARS (OPEN TO PERFORMANCE STUDENTS) FALL 2023


Performance Seminars

FALL 2023

MUPG 675D1/D2 Special Project in Performance – CRN 7716 | Professor Mélanie Léonard

Introduction to Conducting

This seminar is offered to graduate performance and composition students who are looking to acquire technical and theorical knowledge related to orchestra conducting. This seminar is offered over two semesters. Topics covered will include score preparation, transposing instruments, score reading in different keys and learning all technical and expressive aspects of the gesture. Classes will include a theory portion and practice exercises. Students will in turn be performing in the class ensemble or conducting the ensemble. These sessions are meant as a laboratory to practice and learn the conducting technique. Students will be evaluated on class participation, development of basic skills and progress through various exercises and assignments, conducting the ensemble during the semester and for their final exam.

This seminar is not open to conducting students.


FALL 2023

MUPG 677 (001) Seminar in Performance Topics 2 – CRN 7877 | Professor Fabrice Marandola

Analyzing and performing Iannis Xenakis’ works for percussion

This performance seminar will be centred around seminal works for percussion by Iannis Xenakis. It is open to percussion students, and to a limited number of composition students. Class time will combine lectures, musical analyses, discussions, and chamber musical rehearsals.

  • Percussion students will give one presentation on a solo or small chamber piece in a short lecture-recital format.
  • Composition students will present the analysis of a solo or chamber work for percussion and compose a short piece based on a similar instrumentation; this composition will then be workshopped during the seminar.
  • All students will participate in the analysis, preparation, and discussion of all works studied in the seminar, and have to write a short essay based on their presentation.

The list of works to be studied will be comprised of solo works such as Psappha and Rebonds, percussion ensemble works (Persephassa, Pleiades, Idmen B, Okho), as well as various works in which percussion plays a predominant role (Aïs, Dmaathen, Idemn A, Komboï, Kassandra, Okho, Oophaa, O-Mega, Zythos). Works written by other composers, for the same instrumentation and during the same period, may also be presented and discussed during the seminar.

Evaluation will be based on 1/ the preparation of course material (reading, listening, analysis, music to be performed, composition), attendance and participation in class discussions (50%) 2/ a short lecture-recital or oral presentation (30%), which will be accompanied by a written paper of 10-15 pages (20%).


FALL 2023

MUPG 678 (001) Seminar in Performance Topics 2 - CRN 4673 | Professor John Hollenbeck

Concentration and Ensemble Practice

The primary exercise used throughout this course seems very simple: to play short quarter notes with the ensemble, while subdividing the beat at a very slow tempo with eyes closed. The shortness of the notes and slow tempo makes it easy to hear if the musicians are together or not. Eyes closed makes it impossible to use visual cues to help the musicians play together. This way, you must rely on your own internal time and subdividing. The simplicity of the exercise is why it is an excellent path to improve concentration skills.

Added to the primary exercise is the additional of long notes, accents, dynamics, specific pitches on specific beats, individual playing and singing of the subdivisions (one at a time), improvisation on the subdivisions, ensemble inclusion of 1-5 extra notes on the subdivision. Each student is expected to practice the basic exercise as a solo exercise in between classes. Throughout the course, there will be class discussions, to talk about the internal experience and issues that come up in the practice. Students will also maintain a journal, detailing their practice and thoughts on the class and individual practice.

To break up the potential monotony of the primary exercise, other exercises involving improvisation will be practiced.

Benefits of the course:

1) Increased awareness and practice of concentration.

2) Increased awareness and insight into sound production.

3) Increased rhythmic awareness and strengthening of internal time.

4) Practice of pinpoint listening skills.

5) Ensemble listening and playing.

6) Understanding and experiencing the power of unison tutti playing.

7) Body awareness and posture.

8) Awareness and practice of the efficiency "between the notes”.

9) Increased ability to be “still".

Evaluation will be based on participation (30%), preparation (30%), 3 book reports (20%), and class journal (20%).


FALL 2023

MUPG 691 (001) Vocal Ornamentation - CRN 4676 | Professor Tracy Smith

Baroque Vocal Ornamentation

This seminar introduces the major treatises of the Baroque era (1600-1750) with emphasis on the practical application of vocal ornamentation for the modern performer. Through the study and discussion of both primary and secondary sources, students will observe and compare national styles. Evaluation will be based on active class discussions, one oral presentation in class and the performance of five pieces with ornamentation appropriate to the national style and time period of the work. One piece from each of the following will be presented: Italian Monody, German Baroque Recitative, English Baroque song or aria, French Baroque Aria or Air de cour, and Handel Opera Seria (da capo aria).


FALL 2023

MUPG 695 (001) Graduate Jazz Improvisation Seminar – CRN 4677 | Professor Rémi Bolduc

Advanced Improvisation Seminar

The goal of the seminar is to help students develop their own musical voice by researching the improvisational ideas and approaches of various jazz artists. With approval of the instructor, students will choose the artists to be studied and will be responsible for transcribing compositions and improvised solos by these musicians. Students will also have the opportunity to play the music in class and receive feedback from the instructor and their peers, with approximately one third of class time spent performing. The instructor will begin the seminar by presenting his own ideas and insights about specific mentors. There will be at least three transcriptions and written analyses required from each student, as well as weekly practice assignments derived from the material. Evaluation will be based on the quality of the analyses, transcriptions and ideas the students bring to the seminar, and on their ability to incorporate those ideas into their playing.

 

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