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Music Courses
The Music Department offers a rich and diverse curriculum:
- Music theory, including a fundamentals of music course (MUS 101) designed within the liberal-arts tradition, a one-year tonal theory sequence (MUS 201 & 202), and a seminar in form and analysis (MUS 302)
- Music history, including an introduction to music in Western civilization (MUS 121), an in-depth one-year survey of Western music (MUS 325 & 328), and upper level courses on topics such as Aaron Copland, Modernism/Postmodernism (MUS 271),
- Composition, from an Introduction to Composition (MUS 261), through Songwriting and Transcription (MUS 262), Composition in Non-Western Styles (MUS 263), to Advanced Studies in Composition (MUS 361). Compositional work can also be done in the Electronic Music Studio, along with digital sound processing and recording.
- Music in the United States (MUS 122), and other courses on American music such as U.S. Culture of the 1950s (MUS 229), Jazz (MUS 232)
- World music, ranging from a broad introductory survey (MUS 141), to more narrowly focused courses such as Music of Latin America (MUS 241), Music of Asia (MUS 242), Music in World Religions (MUS 245), and Music of Brazil (MUS 246)
- Film music, a course that counts towards Davidson College’s new concentration in Film and Media Studies
Students and faculty often team up in independent studies, where students can immerse themeselves in topics not typically found in the classroom. Some recent independent studies include counterpoint, composition, Schenkerian theory and analysis,
Music study at Davidson College culminates with a Senior Seminar. The topic of the Senior Seminar changes yearly. Some recent topics are: Pulitzer Prize Winning Compositions, War and Music, Herrman and Hitchcock, and Borrowing in Twentieth-Century Music. Go to the Senior Seminar page to learn more about it and see some student’s projects…