CFA MH 106 (2 credits)

T Th 3:30 – 4:45pm | Prof. Leland Clarke

This course introduces music across history, genre, and cultures, examining music’s relationship to politics, race, religion, and identity. Students approach music from different genres, cultures, and historical periods as a human activity enmeshed in social, political, economic, philosophical, religious, ecological, and individual contexts, and learn how to ask questions about its meaning and its social function from different vantage points.

CFA MH 212 (4 credits)

T Th 12:30 – 1:45pm | Prof. Victor Coelho

Historical survey of music from 1750 to the present. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Historical Consciousness.

CFA MH 407 (4 credits)

T Th 11:00am – 12:15pm | Prof. Miki Kaneda

This is a course about music as sonic and visual culture. Focusing on East Asian cultures in the Boston Area, students in the course will explore a diverse range of sounds, images and ideas across geographies. Effective Spring 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Social Inquiry I, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Research and Information Literacy.

CFA MH 430 (4 credits)

W 2:30 – 5:15pm | Prof. Victor Coelho

Rhythm and Blues, Gospel, Motown, Soul, and Funk are seminal in the development of rap, hip hop, fusion, and contemporary urban and R&B styles. These styles provided the soundtrack for African American identity, empowerment, and protest from the civil rights struggle of the late 1950s and early ’60s to the Black Power commentary of the 1970s, and, eventually into the hip hop era. This course places these styles within their cultural and historical contexts and examines their musical characteristics in detail. This course does not require previous training in music. Effective Spring 2022, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Historical Consciousness.

CFA MH 561 (1 credit)

Th 6:30 – 9:15pm | Prof. Brita Heimarck

In this ensemble, students will learn to play traditional Balinese xylophone music (gender wayang) with a rich array of syncopated, interlocking patterns, shimmering resonances, and beautiful melodies. Weekly practicing and participation will assist the class to learn at least one complex gender wayang piece in both the polos (basic melody) part and the sangsih counterpart during the semester. In addition, class members may develop their own compositions and arrangements for the concerts this semester. Students will have opportunities to experiment with other world music instruments in our collection and to explore a variety of timbres, textures, melodies, and rhythms. Participants in this ensemble may also create world music fusion pieces using their own instruments in combination with world music elements. Shadow puppets and theatrical elements may also be incorporated. All students are welcome to join with no prerequisites.

CFA MH 105 (2 credits)

T Th 3:30 – 4:45pm | Prof. Leland Clarke

The primary aim of this survey course is to help students discover and respond to the great expressive power of music. By equipping students with the concepts and vocabulary of music, this course will challenge students to become active, critical listeners. Music Appreciation is, secondarily, a study of the musical styles and lives of many of the world’s greatest composers. Emphasis is placed on the elements of music, terminology, composers, form, and style within a historical perspective. Upon completion, students should be able to demonstrate skills in basic listening and understanding of the art of music. Third, students will explore their own music creativity by playing English handbells, African drums, and rhythm instruments from around the world and singing and playing traditional folk songs and games.

CFA MH 409 (4 credits)

T Th 12:30-1:45pm | Prof. Leland Clarke

The course will study genres of Music of Black Americans in the United States and their appearance in and fusion with literature by African Americans. Emphasis on listening, live performances, student presentations, readings, and discussions. Topics include spirituals, ragtime, blues, jazz, popular music, rhythm and blues, rap, and classical music. Effective Spring 2022, this course fulfills a single unit in the following BU Hub area: Aesthetic Exploration.

CFA MH 211 (4 credits)

T Th 12:30-1:45pm | Prof. Victor Coelho

Historical survey of music tracing the history, performance, cultural significance, and development of musical styles from the Middle Ages to approximately the end of the Baroque. Required for all students in the BM and BA Music routes. Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Historical Consciousness, Research and Information Literacy.

CFA MH 413 (4 credits)

M W 2:30-3:45pm | Prof. Rachana Vajjhala

In this course, we will investigate both the whats and whys of productions by choreographers who entirely reimagine canonical ballets such as Swan Lake, Giselle, Copplia, and The Rite of Spring among others. To that end, we work to understand the political as well as the aesthetic implications of these remade productions. Said another way, this course rethinks what ballet (with its musical as well as its danced components) can – and perhaps should – do. Effective Fall 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Writing-Intensive Course, Aesthetic Exploration, Creativity/Innovation.

CFA MH 408 (4 credits)

T Th 12:30-1:45pm | Prof. Jeremy Yudkin

This course examines Bob Dylan’s music and lyrics from 1962 to 1975 in the context of his life, artistic influences, and milieu. We will explore the wealth of criticism and reaction his songs have inspired, paying special attention to questions concerning the nature of his art–for example, his dependence on musical tradition or the relationship between song lyrics and poetry–and past and current critical discussion about his legacy. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Writing-Intensive Course.

CFA MH 436 (4 credits)

W 2:30-3:15pm

This course offers both an introductory look at four selected regions/countries among the diverse musical cultures around the world: West Africa, Bulgaria, Brazil, and Korea. Through these musical practices, we will investigate the ways in which many of these styles are the product of long running intra/intercultural dialogues, struggles, and negotiation processes that continue to produce new hybrid forms. Because of the vast array of people and cultures within each selected area, this course is necessarily selective and introductory. A variety of scholars and performing artists will be invited to give a workshop on music/dance and discuss their lives as musicians. Over the course of the semester, you will gain an understanding of the myriad ways people use music to construct individual group identities, the diverse ways groups incorporate music into their lives, and how to understand music within a broader historical, political, and economic context. You will also be introduced to basic musical concepts and terminology, and acquire listening skills that will enable you to better encounter and understand music in this course and beyond. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Research and Information Literacy.

CFA MH 426 (4 credits)

T Th 11-12:15pm | Prof. Miki Kaneda

This course engages with salient issues and developments in experimental music and related practices. Importantly, course topics also challenge existing ideas about who and what counts in historic and recent discussions of experimental music. Course readings and activities will emphasize critical and creative engagements with current aesthetic and political issues as they relate to the increasingly global and diverse field of contemporary music.

CFA MH 561 (1 credit)

Th 6:30-9:15pm | Prof. Michael Birenbaum Quintero

The Afro-Latin American Music of the Americas Ensemble (ALMA) is dedicated to the ancestral music, cultural legacy and social realities of Afro-Latin Americans. Students will learn to play a repertoire of traditional Afro-Latin American secular and spiritual genres, potentially including Afro-Colombian currulao, gaita, and bullerengue; Afro-Cuban rumba, batá, son, and güiro; Puerto Rican plena, Peruvian landó, and Dominican palos and merengue, and be exposed to their historical, social, and cosmological aspects in part through visits from master musicians resident in Massachusetts.

NO MUSICAL EXPERIENCE REQUIRED.