Music Department Course Descriptions

MUSC-107.  Class Piano.   1-2 Hours.  Class instruction in Keyboard.  Instruction in piano is designed to develop musicianship and technical proficiency, and to further the ability to sight read and to assimilate music without guidance.  Prerequisite:  Consent of instructor. 

MUSC-111.  Concert Choir.  1 Hour.  The Concert Choir sings many styles of choral literature from the Baroque Era to the present, and a public concert culminates each semester.  This course is open to all students who enjoy singing and will enable them to better understand and appreciate the aesthetics of choral music.  May be taken for credit four times.  Prerequisite:  Student needs to be able to match pitches, sing a diatonic five-note scale, and sing the first three phrases of "My Country 'Tis of Thee". 

MUSC-114.  Concert Band.  2 Hours.  The Concert Band performs many styles of wind band literature, and a public concert culminates each semester.  May be taken for credit two times.  Prerequisite: Student needs to have a minimum two years of band experience. 

MUSC-115.  Jazz Ensemble.  1 Hour.  This is a small auditioned ensemble.  It prepares and performs several concerts of music primarily of the jazz style.  The Jazz Ensemble performs music which emphasizes the art of improvisation, and a public concert culminates each semester.  May be taken for credit four times.  Prerequisite:  Consent of instructor. 

MUSC-116.  Marching Band.  2 Hours.  An instrumental music unit emphasizing performances, drilling and coordination of drills with suitable music as the basis of the course.  It also functions as a "pep band."  May be taken for credit two times.  Prerequisite:  Consent of instructor.  Student needs to have a minimum two years of band experience.

MUSC-117.  Applied Music.  1-2 Hours.  Private instruction in Piano, Voice, Brass, Percussion, Woodwind, Composition and Conducting will be offered.  May be taken for credit four times.  Prerequisite: Consent of instructor. 

MUSC-118.  Sight Singing & Ear Training I.  3 Hours.  This course is designed for students who plan to major in music.  It begins with an introduction to musicianship to help students learn to read music with a particular emphasis on the basic skills of reading music at sight and the mental recognition of phrases and melodies so they can be transcribed to staff paper. The course includes singing and dictation of rhythms in simple and compound meters, scales and diatonic melodies; study and analysis of representative music literature are included. 

MUSC-119.  Sight Singing & Ear Training II.  3 Hours.  This course is a continuation of aural skill training with introduction to modulating melodies and elementary harmonic dictations, with studies of related music literature.  Keyboard work will include the playing of major scales using key signatures.  Prerequisite:  Sight Singing and Ear Training I. 

MUSC-120.  Vocal Ensemble.  1 Hour.  The singers in this ensemble, known as the Raven Soundsations, are selected by audition.  This ensemble performs more contemporary literature and utilizes choreography in its performances.  The Raven Soundsations are in demand for performances for civic clubs and conventions, and tour each semester.  May be taken for credit four times. 

MUSC-122.  Music Appreciation.  3 Hours.  This course intends to develop a capacity for critical listening and an appreciation for the various musical styles.  Special attention is given to works from the standard musical repertoire of the Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, Romantic and Contemporary eras of music history.  This class is designed exclusively for the non-music major. 

MUSC-123.  Music Theory I.  3 Hours.  The content of this course includes the study of major and minor scales, key signatures, triads of the principal harmonies and basic rhythmic structure.  Notational practices, part-writing and manuscript writing are included.  The course is grounded in the basic tonal functions of the common practice period. 

MUSC-124.  Music Theory II.  3 Hours.  The second semester theory course resumes the study of the common practice period, including root position triads, their doubling, spacing and connection of first and second inversion triads; phrase structure and cadences; progressions; non-harmonic tones; dominant and non-dominant seventh chords and secondary dominants.  Prerequisite:  Music Theory I. 

MUSC-180.  Choreography.  2 Hours.  This course will teach the student basic choreography dance steps and body movement.  Students will learn choreography to a complete musical show.  This course will require much physical endurance and intense concentration.  The purpose of this course is to add movement to enhance a choral performance.  Prerequisite:  Consent of the instructor and chosen for Raven Soundsations. 

MUSC-218.  Advanced Sight Singing & Ear Training I.  3 Hours.  Students' aural and reading abilities will be increasingly challenged by problems of rhythm, meter and pitch through specific exercises and studies of related musical literature.  The student is required to spend a minimum of one hour per week in the Music Lab and must pass or exceed Level 10 of the Advanced Music Lab Series.  Prerequisite:  Sight Singing and Ear Training II.

MUSC-219.  Advanced Sight Singing & Ear Training II.  3 Hours.  This course includes reading of two or more melodic lines, score reading and preparation, and aural analysis of melodies and harmonic progressions as played or sung. 

This course is the fourth course in a sequence of four sight singing and ear training courses designed for the student who is majoring in music and is recommended to be taken in conjunction with Music Theory IV.  It is a continuation of the learning of musical skills taught in Advanced Sight Singing and Ear Training I.  This course includes material to further develop the students' skills in sight singing.  Extensive series of rhythmic reading drills are presented.  In addition to the classroom skills, the student is required to work in the Music Computer Lab and pass level 18 of the Music Lab Series (MLS) program.  Prerequisite:  Advanced Sight Singing and Ear Training I. 

MUSC-223.  Music Theory III.  3 Hours.  This course continues the study of the common practice period including modulation to closely related keys, borrowed chords, augmented sixth chords, Neapolitan sixths, chromatic mediants, modulation to foreign keys, ninth, eleventh and thirteenth chords.  Prerequisite:  Music Theory II. 

MUSC-224.  Music Theory IV.  3 Hours.  This course begins with a study of impressionistic composers, and is concluded with a study of twentieth century harmonic devices.  Prerequisite:  Music Theory III.