2009-2010 Music Courses
The Music program is structured to integrate theory and practice. Students select a combination of component courses that together constitute one full course (called a Music Third). A minimal Music Third includes four components:
- Individual instruction (instrumental performance, composition, or voice), the central area of study around which the rest of the program is planned
- Theory and/or history (see requirements below)
- A performance ensemble (see area requirements below)
- Concert Attendance/Music Tuesdays Requirement (see below)
The student, in consultation with the faculty, plans the music program best suited to his or her needs and interests. Advanced students may, with faculty consent, elect to take two thirds of their course study in music.
Seminars and Lecture
The following seminars and lecture with conferences are offered to the College community and constitute one-third of a student’s program. 18th-Century Music and Ethnomusicology of the Americas: Music, Language, & Identity may also be taken as components in a Music Third. (See Components below for specific requirements.)
First-Year Studies: Classical Music
Level: FYS
Semester: FYS
This seminar will be both an introduction to and an in-depth exploration of the world of Western classical music. The ability to read music is not required. We will instead develop a vocabulary, based on careful listening, that we will use to analyze and describe the forms, textures and expressive qualities of the music and of our experience of it. During the course of the year we will have immersed ourselves in music and aesthetics from the ancient Greeks (the concept of music as sounding number) to the present. However, the class will not be organized as a historical survey but around topics designed to foster connections among different periods. For example, some of the music of the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, of J. S. Bach and the postwar modernists seem to share attitudes about music and its role in intellectual and artistic life. How can these eras illuminate each other? How does music both reflect and influence developments in the other arts, in technology and in social structures? Other topics will include subjectivity and personal expression, the radically simple, and the relationship between music and text.
18th-Century Music
Level: Open,Lecture
Semester: Spring
Eighteenth-century music still forms the heart of the classical music repertory; the forms and textures that evolved in that period resonate through the music of the next two centuries. The period begins with the late Baroque, taken to unprecedented heights by Bach and Handel, and leads, as the Enlightenment gets underway, to the formation of a radically new kind of music: the classical style of Haydn and Mozart. These four composers, as well as the early music of Beethoven, will be the focus of the class. They will be represented by works in the major genres: chamber music, symphony, and opera. We will focus on what makes each work powerful and interesting but also examine the changing conception of music and its function in society, as well as the effect that developments in the other arts, in technology, and in social structures have had on the attitudes and experiences of composers and audiences. The goal will be a more multi-faceted understanding and appreciation of this great repertory. The ability to read music is not required, although students with a background in music will have the opportunity to use it in conference work.
This class may be taken either as a lecture with conferences that constitutes one-third of a student's total program or as a component.
Ethnomusicology of the Americas: Music, Language & Identity
Level: Open
Semester: Year
This yearlong course provides students with an introduction to ethnomusicology—the study of the interactive relationship between musical and cultural practices—through an examination of the diverse musical worlds of North America, Central America, South America, and the Caribbean. We will gain a highly specific knowledge of many musical traditions from Cuba, Puerto Rico, Trinidad, Brazil, Peru, Argentina, Mexico, Texas, the American Southwest and Northwest, Appalachia, and New York City. As we become familiar with these diverse musical practices, we will begin to use tools from linguistic and cultural anthropology to examine how music is a communicative process very much like language in some ways, and quite different in others. As the year progresses, we will see how musical communication and expression—what some have called "musicking"—is used dynamically to generate and maintain social identities in complex and ever-changing contexts. Participation in Gamelan Angklung Chandra Buana (fall term) is strongly recommended. Participation in African Percussion Ensemble Faso Foli (spring term) is optional.
This class may be taken either as a seminar with conferences that constitutes one-third of a student's total program or as a component.
Components
Components
Kirsten Agresta, Glenn Alexander, William Anderson, Igor Begelman, Chester Biscardi, Susannah Chapman, Barry Crawford, Judith Davidoff, Kermit Driscoll, Oren Fader, Donald Friedman, Martin Goldray, Hilda Harris, Mark Helias, Robert Ingliss, Bari Mort, Patrick Muchmore, Tara Helen O'Connor, Eddye Pierce-Young, Wayne Sanders, Carsten Schmidt, Sungrai Sohn, Jean Wentworth, Cal Wiersma, Matthew Wilson, Daniel Wohl, John A. Yannelli, Jonathan Yates, Thomas Young
Semester: Year
Individual Instruction
Arranged by audition with the following members of the music faculty and affiliate artists:
Clarinet—Igor Begelman
Composition—Chester Biscardi, Patrick Muchmore, Daniel Wohl, John Yannelli
Contrabass—Mark Helias
Flute—Barry Crawford
Guitar—William Anderson (acoustic), Glenn Alexander (jazz/blues), Kermit Driscoll (jazz/blues bass)
Harp—Kristen Agresta
Harpsichord—Carsten Schmidt
Percussion—Matt Wilson (drum set)
Piano—Chester Biscardi, Don Friedman (jazz), Martin Goldray, Bari Mort, Carsten Schmidt, Jean Wentworth
Saxophone—Robert Magnuson
Violin—Sungrai Sohn
Viols—Judith Davidoff
Voice—Hilda Harris, Eddye Pierce-Young, Wayne Sanders, Thomas YoungWith the following members of the Cygnus Ensemble, where appropriate:
Flute—Tara Hellen O’Connor
Oboe and English Horn—Robert Ingliss
Violin—Calvin Wiersma
Violoncello—Susannah Chapman
Guitar, Banjo and Mandolin—William Anderson, Oren FaderThe director of the Music Program will arrange all instrumental study with the affiliate artist faculty, who teach off campus. In all cases, individual instruction involves consultation with members of the faculty and/or the director of the Music Program.
Lessons and Auditions
Beginning lessons are only offered in voice and piano. A limited number of beginning acoustic guitar lessons are offered based on prior musical experience. All other instrumentalists are expected to demonstrate a level of proficiency on their instruments. In general, the Music Faculty encourages students to prepare two excerpts from two contrasting works that demonstrate their musical background and technical abilities. Auditions for all instruments and voice, which are held at the beginning of the first week of classes, are for placement purposes only.
Vocal Auditions, Placement and Juries
The Voice faculty encourages students to prepare two contrasting works that demonstrate the student’s musical background and vocal technique. Vocal Auditions enable the faculty to place the singer in the class most appropriate for his or her current level of vocal production. Students will be placed in either an individual voice lesson (two half-hour lessons per week) or in a Studio Class (there are four different Studio Classes as well as the seminar, Self Discovery Through Singing). Voice Juries at the end of the year evaluate each student’s progress.
Piano Auditions and Placement
The Piano faculty encourages students to prepare two contrasting works that demonstrate the student's musical background and keyboard technique. Piano auditions enable the faculty to place the student with the appropriate teacher in either an individual piano lesson or in the Keyboard Lab, given his or her current level of preparation.
Acoustic and Jazz Guitar Auditions and Placement
The Guitar faculty encourages students to prepare two contrasting works that demonstrate the his or her musical background, guitar technique, and, for jazz and blues, improvisational ability. Guitar Auditions enable the faculty to place the guitarist with the appropriate teacher in either an individual guitar lesson or in the Guitar class.
Composition Lessons
The student who is interested in individual instruction in composition must demonstrate an appropriate background.
Theory and Composition Program
Theory I, Theory II, and Advanced Theory, including their aural skills and historical studies corollaries, make up a required theory sequence that must be followed by all music students unless they prove their proficiency in a given area; entry level to be determined by diagnostic exam that will be administered right after the Music Orientation Meeting that takes place during the first day of registration.
Theory I/Theory II
Theory I: Materials of Music
This introductory course will meet twice each week (two one-and-a-half-hour sessions). We will study elements of music such as pitch, rhythm, intensity, and timbre, and we will see how they combine in various musical structures and how these structures communicate. Studies will include notation and ear training, as well as theoretical exercises, rudimentary analyses, and the study of repertoire from various eras of Western music. Hearing and Singing is taken concurrently with this course. This course is a prerequisite to the Theory II: Basic Tonal Theory and Composition and Advanced Theory sequence.
Theory II: Basic Tonal Theory and Composition
Semester: Year
As a skill-building course in the language of tonal music, this course covers diatonic harmony and voice leading, elementary counterpoint, and simple forms. Students will develop an understanding through part writing, analysis, and composition. The materials of this course are prerequisite to any Advanced Theory course. It is highly recommended, although not required, that students in this course also take Basic Aural Skills.
Advanced Theory
At least one of the following Advanced Theory courses is required after Theory II. Note: With Advanced Theory, students are required to take either a yearlong seminar or two semester-long seminars in music history, which include Ethno-musicology of the Americas: Music, Language, and Identity; Jazz History; Keyboard Literature; Mozart and Beethoven: Music from 1720-1810 (fall semester); Debussy and the French School (spring semester); and Symphony.
Advanced Theory: Advanced Tonal Theory and Composition
Semester: Year
This course will discuss the fundamentals of chromatic harmony and will build on diatonic skills established in Theory II. Students will learn tools in order to enhance their knowledge of chord progressions and musical form. They will also acquire knowledge of essential techniques, such as counterpoint, modulation, mixture, and basic 20th-century practices. This class will emphasize keyboard, writing, and listening skills, as well as score analysis.
Advanced Theory: Jazz Theory and Harmony I
This course will study the building blocks and concepts of jazz theory, harmony, and rhythm that will include the study of the standard modes and scales, as well as the use of melodic and harmonic minor scales and their respective modals systems. It will include the study and application of diminished and augmented scales and their role in harmonic progression, partic- ularly the diminished chord as a parental structure. An in-depth study will be given to harmony and harmonic progression through analysis and memorization of tri- ads, extensions, and alterations, as well as substitute chords, reharmonization, and back cycling. We will look at polytonality and the superposition of various hybrid chords over different bass tones and other harmonic structures. We will study and apply all of the above to their characteristic and stylistic genres, including bebop, modal, free, and progressive jazz. The study of rhythm, which is possibly the single most important aspect of jazz, will be a primary focus as well. We will also use composition as a way to absorb and truly understand the concepts discussed.
Prerequisite: Theory II: Basic Tonal Theory and Composition.
Advanced Theory: Jazz Theory and Harmony II
Advanced Jazz Theory and Harmony II will be a continuation of Level I with more in- depth study and application of the same concepts and an emphasis placed on the actual performance of the material. This class will also introduce new concepts in slash chord harmony, super position of pentatonics as both harmonic structures as well as scales for improvisation, back cycling on blues, rhythm changes and standards, extensive chord substitution, reharmonization, exploring Coltrane changes, etc.
Advanced Theory: Symphony
This analysis course will focus on the development of the symphony from the mid-18th century to the end of World War II. In addition to detailed study of seminal works ranging from C.P.E.Bach, Haydn, and Mozart to Shostakovich, Sibelius, and K.A.Hartmann, we will also discuss the origin of the genre and place the symphony’s evolution in a broader historical and cultural context. Completion of the required theory sequence (or equivalent background) is a prerequisite for this course.
This is one of the component courses required for all Advanced Theory students.
Advanced Theory: Theoretical Foundations of Electronic Music
This course will explore a range of topics, including: the physics of sound, acoustics and psychoacoustics, simple wave motion, Fourier’s Theorem, complex periodic waveforms, voltage-controlled synthesis, scoring and notation, interactive perfor- mance, composition, and other topics. Students will work in a laboratory setting. Assignments will be based on individual interests but also include reading, listen- ing, critical evaluation, score reading, and composition projects. Works studied will include electro-acoustic music from all genres and historical periods including the present day. Open to students who have successfully completed Studio for Electronic Music and Experimental Sound, as well as Theory II: Basic Tonal Theory and Composition (or equivalent).
Advanced Theory: 20th-Century Theoretical Approaches: Post-Tonal and Rock Music
This course will be an examination of various theoretical approaches to music of the twentieth century—including post-tonal, serial, textural, minimalist, and pop/rock music. Our primary text will be Joseph Straus’s Introduction to Post-Tonal Theory, but we will also explore other relevant texts, including scores and recordings of the works themselves. This course will include study of the music of Schoenberg, Webern, Pink Floyd, Ligeti, Bartók, Reich, Radiohead, Nine Inch Nails, Corigliano, and Del Tredici, among others. Open to students who have successfully completed Theory II: Basic Tonal Theory and Composition.
Aural Skills
Hearing and Singing
This class focuses on developing fluency with the rudiments of music. It is the required aural corollary to Theory I: Materials of Music. As students begin to explore the fundamental concepts of written theory—reading notes on the staff, interpreting rhythm—Hearing and Singing works to translate these sights into sounds. The use of solfège helps in this process as ear, mind, and voice begin to understand the relationship between the pitches of the scale. Rhythm drills help solidify a sense of rhythm and a familiarity with rhythm patterns. In-class chorale singing supports this process. All incoming students will take a diagnostic test to determine placement. Those students who demonstrate proficiency for this subject may advance directly into Basic Aural Skills.
Basic Aural Skills
Basic Aural Skills tackles written theory concepts from an aural perspective. We will develop the ability to sing and identify intervals and sonorities; perform and transcribe rhythm in simple and compound meters; sing melodies at sight; and dictate melodies and harmonic progression–all of which add dimension and scope to written theory. Those students who have completed Hearing and Singing or demonstrate the equivalent may take this course. Basic Aural Skills is highly recommended, although not required, for those students taking Theory II: Basic Tonal Theory and Composition.
Intermediate Aural Skills
Semester: Year
This class continues to support the cooperation of senses—ear, eye, and voice—initiated in Hearing and Singing and Basic Aural Skills. The primary emphasis of this course is harmony. This is manifest in the transcription of multipart writing and in a broadening of harmonic language: chromatic harmonies, including a full-range of 7th chords; chromatically altered chords; secondary dominants; and modulation. This will be realized in the singing performed in class, harmonic dictations, and contextual listening exercises. Furthermore, the study of rhythm will take on more challenging aspects incorporating multiple parts. It is recommended, but not required, that this course be taken in conjunction with Advanced Theory: Advanced Tonal Theory and Composition and may be taken by any student who has completed the required theory sequence.
Sight-Reading for Instrumentalists
This course is open to all instrumentalists who are interested in developing techniques to improve their sight-reading skills. Groups from duets to quintets will be formed according to level and will meet once a week. A sight-reading “performance” will be held at the end of each semester.
Music Technology
Studio for Electronic Music and Experimental Sound
The Sarah Lawrence Electronic Music Studio is a state-of-the art facility dedicated to the instruction and development of electronic music composition. The studio contains the latest in digital audio hardware and software for synthesis, recording and signal processing, along with a full complement of vintage analog synthesizers and tape machines. Beginning students will start with an introduction to the equipment, basic acoustics, principles of studio recording, and a historical overview of the medium. Once students have acquired a certain level of proficiency with the equipment and material—usually by the second semester—focus will be on preparing compositions that will be heard in concerts of electronic music, student composers’ concerts, and music workshops.
MIDI, DAWs and Scoring for Media
This course will focus on creating Electronic Music primarily using software based Digital Audio Workstations. Materials covered will include MIDI, ProTools, Digital Performer, Logic, Reason, Ableton Live, MaxMsp, Traction, and elements of Sibelius and Finale (as connected to media scoring). Class assignments will focus on composing individual works and/or creating music and designing sound for various media such as Film, Dance, and Interactive Performance Art. Students in this course may also choose to evolve collaborative projects with students from those areas. Projects will be presented in class for discussion and critique.
Open by permission only to component students (music, dance, theater) as well as film students who wish to take this as part of their lab requirement.
Studio Composition and Music Technology
This component is open to advanced students who have successfully completed Studio for Electronic Music and Experimental Sound, and are at or beyond the Advanced Theory level. Students work on individual projects involving aspects of Music Technology including but not limited to works for Electro-acoustic instruments (live and/or pre-recorded), works involving interactive performance media (laptop ensembles, Disklavier), and improvised or through-composed works.
20th-Century Compositional Techniques
This course is an introduction to the art of composition with a focus on twentieth-century techniques. We will discuss recent compositional techniques and philosophies as well as issues in orchestration and notation. We will explore significant works by a wide variety of major twentieth-century composers, such as Bartók, Berio, Cage, Carter, Debussy, Ligeti, and Stravinsky, as well as recent compositions by established and emerging composers across the world. These will serve as models for original student compositions. It is expected that the students will develop a fluency in using either Finale or Sibelius. Students should have taken Theory I: Materials of Music or its equivalent.
Music History
Survey of Western Music
This course is a chronological survey of Western music from the Middle Ages to the present. It is designed to acquaint the student with significant compositions of the Western musical tradition as well as explore the cyclical nature of music that mirrors philosophical and theoretical ideas in Ancient Greece and how that cycle appears every three-hundred years: the Ars nova of the 14th century, Le nuove musiche of the 17th century, and the New Music of the 20th century and beyond. The course involves participation in listening, reading and discussion, including occasional quizzes about and/or written summaries of historical periods. This component is required for all students taking Theory II: Basic Tonal Theory and Composition and is also open to students who have completed the theory sequence.
18th-Century Music
Level: Open,Lecture
Semester: Spring
Eighteenth-century music still forms the heart of the classical music repertory; the forms and textures that evolved in that period resonate through the music of the next two centuries. The period begins with the late Baroque, taken to unprecedented heights by Bach and Handel, and leads, as the Enlightenment gets underway, to the formation of a radically new kind of music: the classical style of Haydn and Mozart. These four composers, as well as the early music of Beethoven, will be the focus of the class. They will be represented by works in the major genres: chamber music, symphony, and opera. We will focus on what makes each work powerful and interesting but also examine the changing conception of music and its function in society, as well as the effect that developments in the other arts, in technology, and in social structures have had on the attitudes and experiences of composers and audiences. The goal will be a more multi-faceted understanding and appreciation of this great repertory. The ability to read music is not required, although students with a background in music will have the opportunity to use it in conference work.
This class may be taken either as a lecture with conferences that constitutes one-third of a student's total program or as a component.
Ethnomusicology of the Americas: Music, Language & Identity
Level: Open
Semester: Year
This yearlong course provides students with an introduction to ethnomusicology—the study of the interactive relationship between musical and cultural practices—through an examination of the diverse musical worlds of North America, Central America, South America, and the Caribbean. We will gain a highly specific knowledge of many musical traditions from Cuba, Puerto Rico, Trinidad, Brazil, Peru, Argentina, Mexico, Texas, the American Southwest and Northwest, Appalachia, and New York City. As we become familiar with these diverse musical practices, we will begin to use tools from linguistic and cultural anthropology to examine how music is a communicative process very much like language in some ways, and quite different in others. As the year progresses, we will see how musical communication and expression—what some have called "musicking"—is used dynamically to generate and maintain social identities in complex and ever-changing contexts. Participation in Gamelan Angklung Chandra Buana (fall term) is strongly recommended. Participation in African Percussion Ensemble Faso Foli (spring term) is optional.
This class may be taken either as a seminar with conferences that constitutes one-third of a student's total program or as a component.
Jazz History
Jazz music of all styles and periods will be listened to, analyzed, and discussed. Emphasis will be placed on instrumental styles and performance techniques that have evolved in the performance of jazz. Skills in listening to and enjoying some of the finer points of the music will be enhanced by the study of elements such as form, phrasing, instrumentation, instrumental technique, and style. Special emphasis will be placed on the development of modern jazz and its relationship to older styles. Some topics: Jelly Roll Morton, King Oliver, Louis Armstrong, roots and development of the Big Band sound, Fletcher Henderson, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, lineage of pianists, horn players, evolution of the rhythm section, Art Tatum, Bud Powell, Bill Evans, Thelonius Monk, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Charlie Parker, be-bop, cool jazz, jazz of the 60’s and 70’s, fusion and jazz rock, jazz of the 80’s, and modern trends. The crossover of jazz into other styles of modern music, such as rock and R&B, will be discussed, as will be the influence that modern concert music and world music has had on jazz styles. This is a two-semester class; however, it will be possible to enter in the second semester. This is one of the component courses required for all Advanced Theory students.
Keyboard Literature
This seminar is designed to offer participants an introduction to the history of keyboard music from the early 16th century to the present. Our study of important works of this tradition will be complemented by consideration of the social context and performance practices of these works, as well as the evolution of the instruments for which they were composed. Participants are encouraged to bring to the class repertoire they may be working on in private lessons. We will also try to visit at least one important keyboard collection (Metropolitan Museum, Yale Collection of Musical Instruments, and/or Frederick Collection)This is one of the component courses required for all Advanced Theory students (see above). By permission of instructor.
Mozart and Beethoven: Music from 1720-1810
The classical style especially manifest in the music of “divine” Mozart is complemented and sharply opposed by his younger contemporary, Beethoven, and their lives were scarcely more distant from each other than was the Enlightenment from the events of 1789 and the world of Napoleon. We will touch on the source of the classical manner in the reactions of minor figures such as Sammartini, Quantz, and the Bach sons to the learned style of J. S. Bach, and then explore the operatic style that made Mozart possible. His mature works will then be set alongside both the more genteel early period and the combative and partly romantic middle style of Beethoven. Readings in cultural history will be joined by biographical and music score study. Some experience in music theory is necessary and general historical interest is desirable for enrollment in this course. This is one of the component courses required for all Advanced Theory students.
Debussy and the French School
Debussy’s influence on today’s music is incalculable. He has been called the only “universal” French composer, and he is very likely also the greatest. This course will deal with the ambience of the Second Empire, from which he emerged, and with Debussy’s relationships to the impressionist, symbolist, and decadent aesthetics. Allowing for earlier influences, including the contradictory effects of Wagner, we will explore Debussy’s revolutionary musical language in detail, with many references to older and younger contemporaries such as Massenet, Saint-Saëns, Franck, Satie, Ravel, and the group known as Les Six. For approach and qualifications, see Mozart and Beethoven: Music from 1720 to 1810. This is one of the component courses required for all Advanced Theory students.
Advanced Theory: Symphony
This analysis course will focus on the development of the symphony from the mid-18th century to the end of World War II. In addition to detailed study of seminal works ranging from C.P.E.Bach, Haydn, and Mozart to Shostakovich, Sibelius, and K.A.Hartmann, we will also discuss the origin of the genre and place the symphony’s evolution in a broader historical and cultural context. Completion of the required theory sequence (or equivalent background) is a prerequisite for this course.
This is one of the component courses required for all Advanced Theory students.
Performance Ensembles and Classes
All performance courses listed below are open to all members of the Sarah Lawrence community, with permission of the instructor.
Ensemble Auditions
Auditions for all ensembles will take place at the beginning of the first week of classes.
Choral Ensembles
Chamber Choir
Early madrigals and motets and contemporary works especially suited to a small number of voices will form the body of this group’s repertoire. The ensemble will perform winter and spring concerts. Chamber Choir meets once a week. Students may qualify for membership in the Chamber Choir by audition.
Women’s Vocal Ensemble
Repertoire may include both accompanied and a cappella works from the Renaissance to the contemporary, specifically composed for women’s chorus. The ensemble will perform winter and spring concerts. Women’s Vocal Ensemble meets once a week. Students may qualify for membership in this ensemble by audition.
Jazz Studies
The Blues Ensemble
This performance ensemble is geared toward learning and performing various traditional as well as hybrid styles of blues music. The blues, like jazz, is purely an American art form. Students will learn and investigate Delta Blues, performing songs by Robert Johnson, Charlie Patton, Skip James, and others; as well as Texas Country Blues by originators such as Blind Lemon Jefferson; and Chicago Blues, beginning with Big Bill Broonzy and moving up through Howlin’ Wolf and Buddy Guy. Students will also learn songs and stylings by Muddy Waters, Albert King, and B.B. King and how they influenced modern blues men such as Johnny Winter, Stevie Ray Vaughn, and pioneer rockers such as Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, and Jimi Hendrix. By audition only.
Jazz Colloquium
This ensemble will meet weekly to rehearse and perform a wide variety of modern jazz music and other related styles. Repertoire in the past has included works by composers Thelonius Monk, Duke Ellington, Miles Davis, and Herbie Hancock as well as some rock, Motown, and blues. All instruments are welcome; an audition is required.
Jazz Performance and Improvisation Workshop
This class is intended for all instrumentalists and will provide a “hands-on” study of topics relating to the performance of jazz music. The class will meet as an ensemble, but the focus will not be on rehearsing repertoire and giving concerts. Instead, students will focus on improving jazz playing by applying the topic at hand directly to instruments, and immediate feedback on the performance will be given. The workshop environment will allow students to experiment with new techniques as they develop their sound. Topics include jazz chord/scale theory; extensions of traditional tonal harmony; altered chords; modes; scales; improvising on chord changes; analyzing a chord progression or tune; analysis of form; performance and style study, including swing, Latin, jazz-rock, and ballade styles; and ensemble technique. The format can be adapted to varying instrumentation and levels of proficiency. A placement audition is required.
Jazz Vocal Ensemble
No longer do vocalists need to share valuable time with those wanting to focus primarily on instrumental jazz and vice versa. This ensemble will be dedicated to providing a performance-oriented environment for the aspiring jazz vocalist. We will mostly concentrate on picking material from the standard jazz repertoire. Vocalists will get an opportunity to work on arrangements, interpretation, delivery, phrasing, and intonation in a realistic situation with a live rhythm section and soloists. They will learn how to work with, give direction to, and get what they need from the rhythm section. It will provide an environment to learn to hear forms and changes and also work on vocal improvisation if they so choose. This will not only give students an opportunity to work on singing solo or lead vocals but to work with other vocalists in singing backup or harmony vocals for and with each other. This will also serve as a great opportunity for instrumentalists to learn the true art of accompanying the jazz vocalist, which will prove to be a valuable experience in preparing for a career as a professional musician. By audition.
Vocal Studies
Character Development for Singers
Semester: Fall
This course will ask the following questions: What does a singer need? How does a singer process information? How does a singer communicate the information that he or she has processed? How does a singer prepare? How does a singer select material? We will try to find the answers to these questions together with the understanding that different solutions must necessarily be tailored to the individual performer. Enrollment is limited.
Jazz Vocal Seminar
Semester: Spring
An exploration of the relationship between melody, harmony, rhythm, text, style, and how these elements can be combined and manipulated to create meaning and beauty. A significant level of vocal development will be expected and required. Audition necessary for consideration.
Diction for Singers
The course intends to discuss the basic rules of pronunciation and articulation for German, French, and Italian as used in lyric diction. Language-specific aspects such as purity of open vs. closed vowels, formation of mixed vowels and diphthongs, treatment of single consonants, especially plosives, and consonant clusters will be studied through both spoken and written exercises using the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). Students will get a chance to experience the languages through analytical listening as well as by being coached in song repertoire and recitatives. The course further intends to deepen the student’s understanding of the three languages by introducing basic aspects of grammar. Required for all Music Thirds in voice during their first year in the vocal program.
Self-Discovery Through Singing
This course will develop the student’s knowledge and awareness of her or his vocal potential through experience in singing. Basic vocal technique will be explored, and individual vocal needs will be addressed. Repertoire will be chosen to enhance the strengths of each student as well as to present vocal challenge.
Seminar in Vocal Performance
Voice students will gain performance experience by singing repertoire selected in cooperation with the studio instructor. Students will become acquainted with a broader vocal literature perspective through singing in several languages and exploring several historical music periods. Interpretation, diction, and stage deportment will be stressed. During the course of their studies and with permission of their instructor, all Music Thirds in voice are required to take Seminar in Vocal Performance for two semesters. For further information, see Ms. Pierce-Young.
So This Is Opera?
Eddye Pierce-Young, Wayne Sanders
This is an introductory course in opera production. Open to students enrolled in any performing art (music, dance, and theatre thirds) as well as to the college community at large. Repertoire will be selected from the standard traditional and contemporary operatic expression in English and Italian languages. There will be one production per year. Attendance is required for every session. Audition required.
Studio Class
Hilda Harris, Eddye Pierce-Young, Wayne Sanders, Thomas Young
Semester: Year
Studio Class is a beginning course in basic vocal technique. The voice faculty strongly feels that classes in voice for the beginner are supportive and educationally sound ways of approaching individual vocal needs. Placement in this course is determined by audition at the beginning of the year.
World Music Ensembles and Courses
Gamelan Angklung Chandra Buana
Jonathan King, Nyoman Saptanyana
Semester: Fall
The gamelan is an “orchestra” that includes four-toned metallophones, gongs, drums, and flutes. This gamelan angklung was specially handcrafted in Bali for the College and was named Chandra Bawana, or “Moon Earth,” at its dedication on April 16, 2000 in Reisinger Concert Hall. Required for all students taking Ethnomusicology of the Americas: Music, Language & Identity as a component; strongly recommended for those taking it as a full seminar with conferences. Any interested student may join; no previous experience with music is necessary.
African Percussion Ensemble Faso Foli
Semester: Spring
The African Percussion Ensemble Faso Foli performs music of West Africa on balafons (a type of xylophone) and djembe drums. “Faso Foli” is a Mande phrase that translates loosely as "Playing to my Father's Home". It refers to the West African origin of our djembes and balafons, which were built for the college in Guinea in 2006. Optional for all students taking Ethnomusicology of the Americas: Music, Language & Identity as either a component or a full seminar with conferences. Any interested student may join; no previous experience with music is necessary.
Other Ensembles and Courses
Awareness Through Movement™ for Musicians
This course will offer a selection from the thousands of Awareness-Through-Movement™ lessons developed by Moshe Feldenkrais. The lessons consist of verbal instructions for carefully designed movement sequences. These allow the students to better sense and feel themselves, and thereby develop new and improved organizational patterns. These gentle movements are done in comfortable positions (in lying, sitting, and standing), and many instrumentalists and singers have found them to be hugely helpful in developing greater ease, reducing unwanted tension and performance anxiety, and in preventing injuries. Another benefit is the often increased capacity for learning and, perhaps most importantly, an increased enjoyment of music-making and the creative process. Throughout the year, students will also have the opportunity to work in additional, individualized conferences if they choose to do so.
Baroque Ensemble
This performance ensemble focuses on music from roughly 1600 to 1750, and is open to both instrumentalists and singers (by audition). Using modern instruments, we will explore the rich and diverse musical world of the Baroque. In the fall we will prepare a recital focusing on such genres as solo and trio sonatas, harpsichord duos, continuo songs and solo cantatas. In the spring we will prepare for the performance of a larger work, likely Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas. Regular coachings will be supported by sessions exploring a variety of performance practice issues such ornamentation, notational conventions, continuo playing, and editions.
Bluegrass Performance Ensemble
Semester: Spring
Bluegrass music is a 20th century amalgam of popular and traditional music styles that coalesced in the 1940s in the American southeast, emphasizing vocal performance and instrumental improvisation. This ensemble will highlight through performance many of the influences and traditions that bluegrass comprises, including ballads, breakdowns, “brother duets,” gospel quartets, Irish-style medleys, “modal” instrumentals, “old time” country, popular song, and rhythm and blues, among many possible others. Though experienced players will have plenty of opportunities to improvise, participants need not have played bluegrass before. The ensemble should include fiddle, 5-string banjo, steel string acoustic guitar, mandolin, resophonic guitar (Dobro®), upright (double) bass.
Chamber Music
Various chamber groups—from quartets or even quintets to violin and piano duos—are formed each year depending on the number and variety of qualified instrumentalists who apply. They are weekly coaching sessions. An important part of the program is the chamber music workshop, generally held twice monthly, when all groups meet for performance and discussion of works-in-progress.
Chamber Music Improvisation
This is an experimental performing ensemble that explores a variety of musical styles and techniques including, free improvisation, improvisational conducting and various other chance based methods. The ensemble is open to all instruments (acoustic and electric), voice, electronic synthesizers, and laptop computers. Students must be able to demonstrate level of proficiency on their chosen instrument. Composer-performers, dancers, and actors are also welcome. Performance opportunities will include; concerts, collaboration with other programs such as dance, theater, film and performance art as well as community outreach. Open to a limited number of students by audition.
Evolution of a Performance
This advanced seminar presents a unique resource designed to help students develop well-informed and inspired performances. The content of this course will be carefully tailored to participants’ interests, needs, abilities, and chosen repertoire. It will include a combination of the following: textual criticism and possible creation of a performance edition; consideration of performance practices, drawing on historical documents and recent scholarship; study of historical instruments (with possible field trips to the Yale and Smithsonian Instrument Collections); review of pertinent analytical techniques and writings; analytical, compositional, and ear-training assignments; readings that explore the cultural, artistic, and emotional worlds of the composers studied; in-class performances and coaching; and discussion of broader philosophical issues relating to authenticity in performance. This course is for accomplished and highly motivated performers who have a theory background commensurate with completion of at least the first semester of Advanced Theory: Advanced Tonal Theory and Composition. It is especially suitable for instrumentalists and singers who are preparing for a recital or performances of major chamber music works. Permission of instructor required.
Guitar Performance Class/Ensemble
This class offers informal performance opportunities on a weekly basis as a way of exploring guitar solo, duo and ensemble repertoire. The course will seek to improve sight-reading abilities and foster a thorough knowledge of the guitar literature. Recommended for students interested in classical guitar. Approval of instructor required.
Keyboard Lab
This course is designed to accommodate beginning piano students who take the Keyboard Lab as the core of their Music Third or as part of a music “split” (e.g. a full lesson in voice with a half lesson in piano). This instruction takes place in a group setting, with eight keyboard stations and one master station. Students will be introduced to elementary keyboard technique and simple piano pieces. Placement arranged by the piano faculty.
Sarah Lawrence Orchestra
The Sarah Lawrence Orchestra is required for all instrumentalists taking a Music Third. The Orchestra performs at least once each semester. Recent performances have included Stravinsky’s L’histoire du Soldat with dancing and narration, Satie’s film score Entr’acte performed live with a screening of the film, and a concert version of Bernstein’s Candide. Open to all students as well as to members of the College and Westchester communities by audition.
Sarah Lawrence String Orchestra
The Sarah Lawrence String Orchestra will meet one and a half hours once a week and will be open to music third students as well as other students who are interested in playing in a string orchestra. Auditions will be held at the beginning of each semester; there will be one performance each semester. Each performance will highlight a soloist from the orchestra. Auditions will be held at the beginning of each semester.
Senior Recital
Semester: Spring
This component offers students the opportunity to share with the larger College community the results of their sustained work in performance study. During the semester of their recital, students will receive additional coachings by their principal teachers. By audition.
Concert Attendance/Music Tuesday Requirement
The music faculty wants students to have access to a variety of musical experiences. Therefore, all Music Thirds are required to attend all Music Tuesday events and three music department-sponsored concerts on campus per semester, including concerts presented by music faculty and outside professionals that are part of the Concert Series.
Music Tuesdays consist of various programs including student/faculty town meetings, concert presentations, guest artists’ lectures and performances, master classes, and collaborations with other departments and performing arts programs. Meetings, which take place in Reisinger Concert Hall on selected Tuesdays from 1:30-3:30 p.m., are open to the community.
Schedule to be announced each semester.
Residencies and Workshops
The Cygnus Ensemble: Artists-in-Residence
William Anderson, Susannah Chapman, Oren Fader, Robert Ingliss, Tara Helen O'Connor, Cal Wiersma
The Cygnus Ensemble is a contemporary music ensemble in residence at the College. Along with presenting concerts of new music on the Concert Series, the members of the ensemble work individually with instrumental students and participate in readings of new works by student composers.
Master Class
A series of concerts and instrumental and vocal seminars as well as lecture/demo presentations of music history, world music, improvisation, jazz, composition, and music technology. Master Classes take place on Wednesdays from 12:30-1:30 p.m. in either Reisinger Concert Hall or Marshall Field House Room 1. They are open to the College community.
Music Workshop
Approximately twice monthly music workshops are held in which a student or student ensemble, with consent of his or her teacher, may participate as performer(s). The College community is welcome to attend. Since the only limitation is that the composition(s) should be fully prepared, these workshops serve as important opportunities for students at all levels to share their playing, singing, or composing work with others and to have a significant way to trace their own development.