2007–2008 Music Curriculum
All courses are year long except those listed(F) = Fall/First semester or (S) = Spring/Second semester
- Individual Instruction (Composition, Piano, Voice, Instrument)
- A student may elect to study in two areas, thereby creating a “split”; e.g., a full lesson in voice and a half lesson in piano
- Theory and Composition:
- Required for all students; entry level determined by diagnostic exam:
- Theory I: Materials of Music (required), taken along with Hearing and Singing
- Theory II: Basic Tonal Theory and Composition (required), taken along with Basic Aural Skills as well as Survey of Western Music
- One of the following Advanced Theory courses is required after Theory II (Either Studies in Music and Culture or Idea of a New Style is taken along with Advanced Theory):
- Advanced Theory: Advanced Tonal Theory and Harmony
- Advanced Theory: Jazz Theory and Harmony I
- Advanced Theory: Jazz Theory and Harmony II
- Advanced Theory: Sonata Form(s)
- Advanced Theory: Twentieth-Century Theoretical Approaches: Post-Tonal and Rock Music
- Sight Reading and Aural Skills
- Hearing and Singing (required with Theory I)
- Basic Aural Skills (required with Theory II)
- Advanced Aural Skills
- Sight Reading for Instrumentalists
- Music Technology:
- Music Software Lab
- Studio for Electronic Music and Experimental Sound
- Studio for Electronic Music and Experimental Sound II and III
- Sound and Music for the Theater I and II (F)
- Twentieth-Century Compositional Techniques
- Required for all students; entry level determined by diagnostic exam:
- Music History Courses:
- Survey of Western Music (required with Theory II)
- The Idea of a New Style (required with Advanced Theory)
- Baroque Opera (F)
- The Traditions of Opera: Mozart, Verdi, Wagner, Berg (S)
- Mozart and Beethoven: Music from 1770-1810 (F)
- Debussy and the French School (S)
- Jazz History
- Studies in Music and Culture (required with Advanced Theory)
- Performance Classes:
- Choral Ensembles:
- Chamber Choir
- Women’s Vocal Ensemble
- Jazz Ensembles and Classes:
- The Blues Ensemble
- Jazz Composition and Arranging
- Jazz Colloquium
- Jazz Performance and Improvisation Workshop
- Jazz Vocal Ensemble
- Voice Classes:
- Jazz Vocal Seminar (S)
- Character Development for Singers (F)
- Diction for Singers (required)
- Seminar in Vocal Performance (required)
- So This is Opera?
- Studio Class
- World Music Ensembles:
- Gamelan Angklung Chandra Buana (F) (required for students taking Studies in Music and Culture as a component)
- African Percussion Ensemble (S) (required for students taking Studiesin Music and Culture as a component)
- Other Ensembles and Classes:
- Awareness Through Movement for Musicians
- Bluegrass Performance Ensemble (S)
- Chamber Music
- Chamber Music Improvisation (F)
- Collegium Musicum
- Conducting
- Evolution of a Performance
- Guitar Class
- Sarah Lawrence Orchestra (required for instrumentalists)
- Senior Recital (S)
- Choral Ensembles:
- Concert Attendance/Music Tuesdays
- Courses offered to the College community that constitute one-third of a student’s total program:
- Studies in Music and Culture
- The Traditions of Opera: Mozart, Verdi, Wagner, Berg (S)

