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  • MUS 273: Dangerous Music

    3.00 Credits
    Williams College

    As a largely non-referential art whose meanings are far from transparent, music might seem to pose little danger. How could mere sounds represent a threat? Yet precisely because its meanings can be obscure, enabling it to achieve its ends surreptitiously, music has intertwined with danger throughout history. With its power to stir the emotions, stimulate bodily movement, encode messages, and foment rebellion, music has often been perceived as an agent of harm. Plato claimed that too much music could make a man effeminate or neurotic, and warned that certain musical modes, melodies, and rhythms promote licentious behavior and anarchic societies. Puritans, Victorians, and Totalitarians, as well as opponents of ragtime, rock 'n roll, and rap, have also accused certain musical genres or styles of exerting dangerous influences, and sought to limit or suppress them. In Afghanistan, the Taliban banned music altogether. While music has often been unfairly accused, its potential for placing people in actual danger is undeniable. Works that are played at ear-splitting decibel levels, that call upon performers to injure themselves, that are used as a form of psychological torture, or that incite violence demand reconsideration of the widely shared view that music is fundamentally a form of entertainment. Part of the Gaudino Danger Initiative, this tutorial course will explore the intersection of music and danger in a broad range of historical, cultural, and global contexts. Prerequisite:    An ability to read music is desirable but not required
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  • MUS 275: The Romantic Piano Tradition

    3.00 Credits
    Williams College

    This course charts the development of the Romantic piano tradition from its beginnings at the end of the 18th century to the present day. With the more adventurous keyboard works of C.P.E. Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven as our starting point, we will then focus our attention on the "Romantic Generation" of Chopin, Liszt, and Schumann. As the semester progresses we will enter the 20th century with the works of Albeniz, Scriabin, and Rachmaninoff. Along the way, we will also examine the works of overlooked composers such as Alkan, Henselt, and Medtner. Topics for discussion will include the technological development of the piano, Romantic ideals of personal expression, the cult of personality surrounding virtuoso performers, formal and technical innovations of the great pianists, piano pedagogy schools, and the changing landscape of performance practice. Genres studied will include sonatas, etudes, character pieces, transcriptions, fantasies, and concertos. Consultation of historic recordings will constitute a major portion of the curriculum. Prerequisite:    Ability to read music
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  • MUS 277: Men, Women, and Pianos

    3.00 Credits
    Williams College

    This course takes the piano, its repertory, and its performers as focal points for a social history of Western music, treating the piano as a locus around which issues of gender, class and race are played out in musical life from the Classical period to our own time. In addition to exploring works by canonical composers such as Mozart, Beethoven and Brahms, we will consider parlor music, virtuoso showpieces, and experimental work by such figures as Louis Moreau Gottschalk, Frank Liszt, and Henry Cowell. The style and technique of a broad range of classical and popular performers will be examined, ranging from Clara Schumann, Vladimir Horowitz, Arthur Rubinstein, and Glenn Gould to the phenomena of Liberace and Yanni. Finally, we will analyze several films in which the piano plays a central role, including Robert Rafelson's Five Easy Pieces from 1970, and Jane Campion's The Piano from 1993. Prerequisite:    Ability to read music
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  • MUS 278: Carmen, 1845 to Now

    3.00 Credits
    Williams College

    The story of the gypsy femme fatale Carmen has endured for over 150 years. In Western culture she exemplifies the seductive, exotic, independent, and forbidden woman who drives an upstanding man to a life of crime and finally murder. This course explores a broad array of treatments of this archetypal narrative, starting with Prosper Merimee's 1845 novella on which Bizet based his beloved 1875 opera Carmen. We will consider various staged and film versions of the opera itself, including Francesco Rosi's stunning 1984 movie, and discuss various other film transformations of the story, from DeMille's 1915 silent film through Hammerstein's 1954 all-black musical Carmen Jones, to the MTV version A Hip Hopera of 2004. Comic approaches will also be assessed, from Charlie Chaplin's Carmen Burlesque of 1915 through Spike Jones' 1952 Carmen Murdered! and The Naked Carmen of 1970. We will explore remarkable dance interpretations ranging from Carlos Saura's 1983 flamenco version through David Bourne's choreography in his 2001 gay reading called The Car Man. This course satisfies the EDI requirement through a critical examination of the way in which the Carmen story has served as a stage on which multifaceted textual and musical constructions and conflicts of individual and group identities, encompassing gender and sexuality, nationality, ethnicity, and class are played out. Prerequisite:    Ability to read music useful but not necessary
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  • MUS 306: Orchestration and Instrumentation

    3.00 Credits
    Williams College

    A practical and historical study designed to develop knowledge and skill when working with the instruments of the orchestra, wind ensemble, and other groups. Includes analysis of examples from the literature as well as projects performed and discussed in class. Prerequisite:    Music 104
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  • MUS 309: Jazz Arranging and Composition

    3.00 Credits
    Williams College

    This is a course designed to acquaint the student with the basic principles of composing and arranging for Jazz Ensemble, beginning with the quintet and progressing through the big band. Intensive score study and some transcription from selected recordings required. Evaluation will be based on the successful completion, rehearsal and performance of original arrangements and/or compositions during the semester, to include at least one transcription of a recorded arrangement, one quintet or sextet arrangement, and one arrangement for big band. Performances by the Jazz Ensembles, as rehearsed and prepared by the students of this course, are also expected. Students must attend small ensemble rehearsals when work is being rehearsed, and end of semester small ensemble recital. Prerequisite:    Music 203 (formerly 212) and permission of instructor
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  • MUS 382: Orchestral Conducting

    3.00 Credits
    Williams College

    This course will introduce and develop a broad range of subjects associated with conducting, including: rehearsal techniques, physical and aural skills, interpretation, and programming. Related areas to be discussed include: balance, intonation, rhythm, articulation, bowings, and complex meters. Weekly conducting and score reading assignments will form the core of the workload. Larger projects may include conducting existing instrumental ensembles, and along with score reading, will be the basis of the midterm and final exams. This course involves a trip to audit a Boston Symphony rehearsal at Symphony Hall. Prerequisite:    Permission of instructor
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  • MUS 394: Junior Thesis: Music

    3.00 Credits
    Williams College

    This course involves independent study in history or theory of music, under the supervision of a member of the department, as preparation for the senior thesis. Prerequisite:    Permission of department
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  • MUS 402: Senior Seminar in Music: The Music of Bela Bartok

    3.00 Credits
    Williams College

    Bela Bartok's activities--as a composer, a comparative musicologist, a performer, a music editor, an essayist--place him at the center of many intersecting trends and issues prevalent in the early twentieth century (e.g., the rise of nationalism, consciousness of tonality's decline, anxiety about musical 'progress' and the search for new means of musical organization). The course will consider Bartok's music in the light of his many activities, and as a lens through which we can explore both the music that shaped his development (music of Brahms, Strauss, Debussy, Ravel, Beethoven quartets, seventeenth-century Italian keyboard music) and the musical developments that he influenced (music of Messiaen, Lutoslawski, his influence on Jazz). We will employ a variety of means to gain insights into Bartok's work, including the exploration of Hungarian folk repertoire through transcription exercises, examination of manuscript drafts, consideration of Bartok's own writings about music, and so on. Prerequisite:    MUS 202, 231, 232, 233
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  • MUS 493: Senior Thesis: Music

    3.00 Credits
    Williams College

    Music senior thesis. Required for all students approved for thesis work in music. Please refer to "The Degree with Honors in Music" for deadlines and other requirements. Prerequisite:    Permission of department
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