Music Electives (MUEL)

Courses

MUEL 1081 (3) Basic Music Theory

Introduction to music notation, meter and rhythm, scales, intervals, triads, seventh chords, fundamentals of harmonic progression, voice leading, aural skills and composition. For nonmusic majors who have little or no previous background in the subject.

Requisites: College of Music (MUSC) majors are excluded from this course.

MUEL 1115 (1) Piano Class 1

Introduces the keyboard and music reading for nonmusic majors with no prior keyboard experience. Studies very easy classical and pop repertoire. No prior keyboard experience or instructor consent required.

Requisites: College of Music (MUSC) majors are excluded from this course.

MUEL 1125 (1) Piano Class II

Continuation of MUEL 1115. Focuses on development of music reading. Studies technical patterns, easy classical and pop repertoire, and improvisation.

Requisites: Requires prerequisite course of MUEL 1115 (minimum grade D-). College of Music (MUSCU) majors are excluded from this course.

MUEL 1145 (2) Guitar Class

A systematic study of the beginning literature and technique of the classical guitar with an emphasis on reading music. Designed for nonmusic majors with no prior musical experience.

Repeatable: Repeatable for up to 4.00 total credit hours. Allows multiple enrollment in term.
Requisites: College of Music (MUSC) majors are excluded from this course.

MUEL 1155 (2) Intermediate Guitar

Studies the intermediate literature and technique of the classical and popular guitar. Emphasis on reading standard notation and chord charts. Designed for non- music majors.

Repeatable: Repeatable for up to 6.00 total credit hours.
Requisites: Requires prerequisite course of MUEL 1145 (minimum grade D-). College of Music (MUSCU) majors are excluded from this course.

MUEL 1184 (1) Voice Class

Involves basic vocal technique and easy solo repertoire taught through a group medium, for beginner and intermediate level students. May be repeated upto 6 total credit hours.

Repeatable: Repeatable for up to 6.00 total credit hours.
Requisites: College of Music (MUSC) majors are excluded from this course.
Recommended: Requisite ability to read music.

MUEL 1416 (2) Introduction to Hand Percussion

Studies the literature and technique of hand percussion. Emphasizes African and Latin percussion techniques. Designed for non-music majors.

Repeatable: Repeatable for up to 6.00 total credit hours.
Requisites: College of Music (MUSC) majors are excluded from this course.

MUEL 1832 (3) Appreciation of Music

Introduces music, including the fundamental elements of music, the history of the Western tradition and its composers, the development of American popular music and aspects of World Music.

Requisites: College of Music (MUSC) majors are excluded from this course.
Additional Information: Arts Sci Core Curr: Literature and the Arts
Arts Sci Gen Ed: Distribution-Arts Humanities

MUEL 2031 (3) Making Electronic Music

Explores the history, scope, and creation of electronic music. Combining scholarly and creative assignments, students will analyze art and popular electronic music genres as well as compose their own works. In the process, they will gain an analytical vocabulary, knowledge of key historical figures, competency with production techniques and tools, and experience thinking and writing critically about music more generally. No previous music experience is assumed or required.

Requisites: College of Music (MUSC) majors are excluded from this course.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade

MUEL 2051 (3) Introduction to Songwriting Techniques

Introduce students to the art and craft of songwriting through (1) the analysis of great songs past and present (2) creative work (3) experimentation (4) collaboration (5) performance and possibly recording. We will examine form, melody, harmony, rhythm, lyric writing (i.e. points of view, logic, use of literary device, etc.), solo and collaborative ensemble performance, style and poise.

Requisites: College of Music (MUSC) majors are excluded from this course.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Additional Information: Arts Sci Gen Ed: Distribution-Arts Humanities

MUEL 2061 (3) Introduction to Music Technology

Surveys the various tools and techniques in the field of music technology. Topics include an introduction to basic synthesis, digital signal processing, MIDI and audio sequencing, music notation and a historical perspective on electronic music.

Equivalent - Duplicate Degree Credit Not Granted: MUSC 2061
Requisites: College of Music (MUSC) majors are excluded from this course.

MUEL 2071 (2) Intro to Audio Recording

Introduces and explores basic concepts in audio recording from microphones to digital audio workstations. Also focuses on development of critical listening skills.

Requisites: College of Music (MUSC) majors are excluded from taking this course.

MUEL 2081 (2) Prepared for the Soundcheck

Provides an overview of the recording process from the performer's perspective from soundcheck through final mastering. Uses recorded material from in-class sessions. Examines differing approaches to recording as well as current technologies. Specifically designed for non-music majors.

Requisites: College of Music (MUSC) majors are excluded from taking this course.

MUEL 2091 (2) Intro to Audio Recording

Introduces and explores basic concepts in audio recording from microphones to digital audio workstations. Also focuses on development of critical listening skills.

Requisites: College of Music (MUSC) majors are excluded from this course.

MUEL 2184 (1) Voice Class

Continuation of MUEL 1184, with more advanced repertoire and vocal techniques.

Repeatable: Repeatable for up to 6.00 total credit hours.
Requisites: Requires prerequisite course of MUEL 1184 (minimum grade D-). College of Music (MUSCU) majors are excluded from this course.

MUEL 2742 (3) Wild West Soundscapes

Explores major historical theories of the American West in relationship to music from 1800 to the present. The musical traditions of marginalized groups are used as a variegated lens to explore Western U.S. history. The class may explore a wide range of musical genres and styles from chant to hymns to folk to rock to opera to the Hollywood soundtrack.

Requisites: College of Music (MUSC) majors are excluded from taking this course.
Additional Information: Arts Sci Gen Ed: Distribution-Arts Humanities

MUEL 2752 (3) Music in American Culture

Explores the role of music as a powerful cultural agent from the Colonial Period to the present. Focuses on influences from normative and marginalized musicians throughout American history. A wide range of musical styles and genres are studied to demonstrate themes of appropriation, appreciation, and syncretism. Teaches students to think critically about the relationships between culture, power, and identity.

Requisites: College of Music (MUSC) majors are excluded from this course.
Additional Information: Arts Sci Core Curr: United States Context
Arts Sci Gen Ed: Distribution-Arts Humanities

MUEL 2762 (3) Topics in Music and Drama

Explores techniques used in combining music and dramatic arts, exploring a range of examples from musical and dramatic literature of the West or other world regions from circa 1000 to present. Specific course topics could cover any or all of these styles. Offered spring only.

Requisites: College of Music (MUSC) majors are excluded from this course.
Additional Information: Arts Sci Core Curr: Literature and the Arts

MUEL 2772 (3) World Musics: Asia and Oceania

Highlight music in Asia and Oceania using current ethnomusicological materials.

Requisites: College of Music (MUSC) majors are excluded from this course.
Additional Information: Arts Sci Core Curr: Human Diversity
Arts Sci Gen Ed: Diversity-Global Perspective
Arts Sci Gen Ed: Distribution-Social Sciences

MUEL 2782 (3) World Music: Africa, Europe, and the Americas

Highlights music in Africa, Europe and the Americas using current ethnomusicological materials.

Requisites: College of Music (MUSC) majors are excluded from this course.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade
Additional Information: Arts Sci Core Curr: Human Diversity
Arts Sci Gen Ed: Diversity-Global Perspective
Arts Sci Gen Ed: Distribution-Social Sciences

MUEL 2832 (3) Musical Mavericks: Misfits and Geniuses

Discover a range of avant-garde composers from the 20th and 21st centuries that challenged the essence of how music is made, the way music is heard, and the way art defines our current culture. Investigate a great body of music that pushes boundaries, redefines genres, and pioneers new directions in music. Explore ten composers who changed the musical landscape.

Requisites: College of Music (MUSC) majors are excluded from this course.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade

MUEL 2842 (3) American Musical Theatre

Provides an overview of the role of musical theatre in U.S. culture, emphasizing the 20th century Broadway musical.

Requisites: College of Music (MUSC) majors are excluded from this course.

MUEL 2852 (3) Music in the Rock Era

Examines Rock music and its subgenres, primarily as a fusion of African-American and European-American musical styles. Considers precursors to Rock style (e.g. Blues, Folk) and their contributions. Traces the development of Rock as an art form as well as its cultural significance and saturation from the 1960s to the end of the 20th century. Offered fall and spring semesters.

Requisites: College of Music (MUSC) majors are excluded from this course.
Additional Information: Arts Sci Core Curr: Literature and the Arts
Arts Sci Gen Ed: Distribution-Arts Humanities

MUEL 2862 (3) American Film Musical

Examines the development of filmed musicals from the beginning of sound movies through the Golden Age of Musicals. Emphasizes analysis and relationships of characters, songs, and incidental music.

Requisites: College of Music (MUSC) majors are excluded from this course.
Additional Information: Arts Sci Core Curr: Literature and the Arts
Arts Sci Gen Ed: Distribution-Arts Humanities

MUEL 2872 (3) Heavy Metal

Explores, discuss, debate and develop deeper understanding of Heavy Metal. Included are study of musical style characteristics and lyrical content, innovative performers, unifying elements of Heavy Metal culture and the diversity within it, and its role in the larger Rock and societal contexts. Issues of gender, religion, and sexuality in the Heavy Metal construct are also discussed.

Requisites: College of Music (MUSC) majors are excluded from this course.
Additional Information: Arts Sci Gen Ed: Distribution-Arts Humanities

MUEL 3051 (2) Basic Composition

Introduces the processes, materials, and forms of composition through the writing and performance of short musical works. Open to any student who already has rudimentary musical knowledge.

Requisites: College of Music (MUSC) majors are excluded from this course.

MUEL 3642 (3) History of Jazz

Surveys the distinctly American art form of jazz music from its origins to the present, including the various traditions, practices, historical events and people most important to its evolution. Offered fall and spring.

Requisites: College of Music (MUSC) majors are excluded from this course.

MUEL 3772 (3) West African Music and Culture in Ghana

Provides hands-on and experiential enrichment for students to interact at several levels with a local community in Ghana. Classroom lectures will be combined with direct participation in drumming and dancing, field trips to participate in festivals and court ceremonies, field trips to kente weaving village, adinkra cloth making, wood carving villages, and museums.

Equivalent - Duplicate Degree Credit Not Granted: MUSC 3772
Requisites: Requires prerequisite courses of MUSC 2782 and MUEL 2772 (all minimum grade D-). Restricted to students with 27-56 credits (Sophomore) non-College of Music majors only.

MUEL 3822 (3) Words and Music

Explores the interaction between words and music in song. Students will consider how such features as rhyme, rhythm, tone, and the connotations of particular words contribute to meaning in poetry; how rhythm, tempo, dynamics, mood, and instrumentation contribute to meaning in music; and how words and music coalesce in song to make a new meaning.

Requisites: College of Music (MUSC) majors are excluded from this course.
Additional Information: Arts Sci Core Curr: Literature and the Arts
Arts Sci Gen Ed: Distribution-Arts Humanities

MUEL 3832 (3) Music in Literature

Addresses literature that seeks either to explore the meaning of music or to make music out of words. Students will consider how musical concepts and techniques can be incorporated into poetry and prose, and will analyze the roles that writers have attributed to music in society, politics, and the life of the individual.

Requisites: College of Music (MUSC) majors are excluded from this course.
Additional Information: Arts Sci Core Curr: Literature and the Arts
Arts Sci Gen Ed: Distribution-Arts Humanities

MUEL 3862 (3) Music and Global Health

Explores the ways in which music relates to health in different cultures including: Western art and popular music; ritual healings in Africa, Asia and Native and South America peoples; in relation to contemporary global health challenges.

Requisites: College of Music (MUSC) majors are excluded from this course.

MUEL 3872 (3) Music in the Rock Era: Special Topics in Heavy Metal

Explore, discuss, debate and develop deeper understanding of Heavy metal. Included are study of musical style characteristics and lyrical content, innovative performers, unifying elements of Heavy Metal culture and the diversity within it, and its role in the larger Rock and societal contexts. Issues of gender, religion, and sexuality in the Heavy Metal construct area also discussed.

Requisites: College of Music (MUSC) majors are excluded from this course.

MUEL 3882 (3) Music and Violence

Explores the role of music in generating, sustaining and contesting acts of violence. Focuses on conflicts occurring throughout the globe during the late 20th and early 21st centuries, with case studies that treat terrorism, warfare, revolution, street violence, domestic abuse, reconciliation and peace. Helps students to build an understanding of music's motivational powers and the nature of violence, as well as the role of expressive culture in mediating social conflict more generally.

Requisites: College of Music (MUSC) majors are excluded from this course.
Additional Information: Arts Sci Core Curr: Contemporary Societies
Arts Sci Gen Ed: Distribution-Social Sciences

MUEL 3892 (3) Music and Space

Explores the ways that outer space inspires and is portrayed in musical sound. Introduces literature and media from historical musicology, ethnomusicology, music theory, anthropology, physics, geography and planetary science, with case studies ranging from Ancient Greece, to classic and modern Western art music, to contemporary popular music.

Requisites: College of Music (MUSC) majors are excluded from this course.
Additional Information: Arts Sci Gen Ed: Distribution-Arts Humanities

MUEL 4012 (3) African Music

Studies music cultures of Africa and the Black Diaspora, including folk and art music traditions, religious and popular music genres. Specific course topics could cover any or all of these styles, including exploring interconnections of musical stylistics of Africa and the Black Diaspora.

Equivalent - Duplicate Degree Credit Not Granted: MUSC 4012 and MUSC 5012
Requisites: College of Music (MUSC) majors are excluded from this course.

MUEL 4111 (2) Composing at the Computer

Discover strategies and techniques for generating and manipulating sound at the computer. Student projects will include compositions, soundscapes, ambient environments and soundtracks for multimedia. Available to students without prior experience with computer music or composition.

Requisites: Requires prerequisite course of MUEL 2061 (minimum grade D-). College of Music (MUSC) majors are excluded from taking this course.
Grading Basis: Letter Grade

MUEL 4121 (3) Topics in Music Technology

Exploration of issues, techniques and tools of music technology. Topics vary from term to term and may include: interactive system for performance, teaching and learning; computer music instrument design; digital synthesis and signal processing; music in intermedia; sound design and analysis. Lectures and work sessions will support student projects.

Repeatable: Repeatable for up to 9.00 total credit hours. Allows multiple enrollment in term.
Requisites: Requires prerequisite course of MUEL 2061 (minimum grade D-). College of Music (MUSC) majors are excluded from this course.