68 courses with the subject MUSC, each shown exactly as we captured it from the college's catalog, with every element we hold. Where the wording looks broken, that is our reading of the catalog, not the college's text.
Group and individualized instruction in piano and basic music theory, designed to accommodate beginners, as well as students with intermediate abilities. Lecture, demonstration, and laboratory. Fall and Spring.
Group and individualized instruction in guitar and related instruments, and basic music theory, designed to accommodate beginners, as well as students with intermediate abilities. Lecture, demonstration, and laboratory. Fall and Spring.
Group and individualized instruction in voice production, including breath support, articulation, voice placement and fundamental repertoire, and basic music theory, designed to accommodate beginners, as well as students with intermediate abilities. Lecture, demonstration, and laboratory. Fall and Spring.
Group and individualized instruction in percussion and basic music theory designed to accommodate beginners, as well as students with intermediate abilities. Lecture, demonstration, and laboratory. Fall and Spring.
This placeholder course allows students to register for an ensemble course prior to auditions and final ensemble assignments. All registration in this course will be dropped prior to census date (10th day of the semester). Fall and Spring.
These performance courses emphasize the coordination of musical expression with others, acknowledging the socially interactive nature of the art form. Course sections comprise, among other possibilities, Chorale, Orchestra, Jazz Standards, World and Wind Ensembles. Open to all students by audition during the first week of classes. Students are placed into sections at the discretion of the faculty.
These intermediate ensembles are designed to ensure directed, expressive growth, through the acquisition of an acknowledged repertoire. Course sections comprise, among other possibilities, Jazz Band, Big Band, Roots, Rock/Pop, Experimental and Percussions Ensembles. Open to all students by audition and permission of instructor.
These ensembles engage the wider Asheville community, through such entities as the Blue Ridge Orchestra, the Asheville Choral Society, or the UNCA Pep Band. By audition only and permission of the department chair and conductor.
This course cultivates a comprehensive basic music literacy of the rudiments of music (including fluency in staff notation, key signatures, scales, triads, seventh chords, time signatures, rhythm, and meter) through both written and aural skills. This course prepares students for MUSC 231 (Music Theory I) and MUSC 201 (Aural Skills I). Fall.
An introduction to music for non-music majors. Covers a wide range of musical genres and includes cultural and social context. Spring.
This introductory course addresses the historical and cultural forces that affect a particular musical literature and performance practice, through the close consideration of a specific repertoire from the Western and World canons. This course prepares students for 300 level Music History courses (MUSC 343, 344, 345, 346, 347, 348, 349, 350, 357, 366, 367, 368).
A survey of the theories, practices, and tools used in digital audio production. Students develop the knowledge and skills to operate a digital audio workstation. Students learn to create recordings in a variety of contexts, using contemporary digital tools. This course prepares students for MUSC 385 (Recording Studio Practicum I) and/or for MUSC 263 (Studio Musicianship I).
Course not otherwise included in the catalog listing but for which there may be special needs. May be repeated for credit as often as permitted and as subject matter changes. See department chair.
Laboratory for ear training and sight singing.
Laboratory for ear training and sight singing.
Group and individualized instruction in piano and intermediate music theory, designed to accommodate students with intermediate abilities. Lecture, demonstration, and laboratory.
Emphasizes basic through refined conducting skills for both choral and orchestral conducting.
Individual weekly lessons and a weekly group meeting.
A study of music from the common practice period and of popular music from the 19th century to the present that may include four-part voice leading, diatonic harmony, cadences, and phrase structure.
A study of music from the common practice period and of popular music from the 19th century to the present that may include counterpoint, chromatic harmony, modulation, and larger forms.
This highly collaborative course focus on the artistic and interpersonal elements of the music production process. Topics include stylistic analysis of songs, making and interpreting demo recordings, working with MIDI and analog demos, helping another artist develop their ideas, creating parts for instruments in different genres, chart writing, planning and managing projects, and communication skills in a studio setting. Limited to declared Music Technology majors.
This highly collaborative course focus on the artistic and interpersonal elements of the music production process. Topics include stylistic analysis of songs, making and interpreting demo recordings, working with MIDI and analog demos, helping another artist develop their ideas, creating parts for instruments in different genres, chart writing, planning and managing projects, and communication skills in a studio setting. Limited to declared Music Technology majors.
Course not otherwise included in the catalog listing but for which there may be special needs. May be repeated for credit as often as permitted and as subject matter changes. See department chair.
The first class in the Harmony and Improvisation sequence. Theory, performance practice, ear training, composition, piano skills, and rhythm skills in a variety of jazz and improvisational styles, beginning with the blues and 32-bar song forms. Topics include 7th and 9th chords, modes of the major scale, diminished scales, and the ii-V-I progression.
Building on Harmony and Improvisation I, this class includes theory, performance practice, ear training, composition, piano skills, and rhythm skills in a variety of jazz and improvisational styles, exploring more complicated blues and popular song forms. Topics include 9th, 11th, and 13th chords, modes of the major and melodic minor scale, and common jazz and contemporary chord progressions.
Introduction to the current tools and practices involved in concert sound reinforcement. Students will gain hands-on experience through planning, setting up, and operating sound reinforcement systems for music department events. Prerequisite or
Laboratory for ear training and sight singing.
These advanced ensembles are intended to allow students to refine their expressive skills in formal and professional contexts. Course sections comprise, among other possibilities, a Jazz Combo, a Chamber Consort, a Vocal Ensemble and a Composers Circle. By audition.
Individual weekly lessons and a weekly group meeting.
A study of music from the late Romantic and early twentieth centuries that may include extended chromatic harmony, chromatic modulation, Impressionism, atonal pitch class sets, and serialism.
Rotating topics from popular, classical, and contemporary music. This seminar-style course teaches students to interpret articles in current music theory though reading assignments and discussion, develop advanced analytical techniques through short assignments, and refine writing and research skills in the discipline through the development of an undergraduate research paper. Students may repeat the course as content varies for a total of eight hours.
Surveys the unique musical languages created by African Americans during the period from the arrival of the first African slaves in colonial America (1619) to the flowering of swing in the 1930s. The listening examples, readings, discussions and assignments are designed to illuminate historical African American musical practices while highlighting the relevance of African American musical history to today’s musical cultures. Each week, students will be expected to participate in challenging discussions, and to engage in group music making. Odd years Fall.
Surveys the unique musical languages created by African Americans during the postwar era and focuses on four distinctive and durable styles: R&B, Soul, Funk, and Hip-Hop. The listening examples, readings, discussions and assignments are designed to illuminate the connections between historic and contemporary African American genres. These connections are traced broadly by focusing on four themes present in each genre: ownership, community, technology and sex. Each week, students will be expected to participate in challenging discussions, and to engage in group music making. Even years Spring.
Explores the musical and cultural history of the Beatles, paying particular attention to the role different media have played in defining their image. By examining music, literature (print media, biography, criticism and original writing by the Beatles) and video/film, this course investigates how the parties involved (e.g. record companies, critics, biographers, the audience, the Beatles themselves) have shaped the Beatles phenomenon and defined their legacy. This course involves extensive reading, writing, listening, and class discussion. Students will complete a research paper and corresponding presentation. Even years Fall.
Explores the musical and cultural world of the Grateful Dead. Using music, literature and film, this course investigates the unique qualities of the Grateful Dead in order to discover why the group has had a profound and lasting impact on the world of contemporary musical culture. This course involves extensive reading, writing, listening, and class discussion. Students will complete a research paper and corresponding presentation. Odd years Spring.
Chronicles the interaction of African American, American and European jazz perspectives over the past century of accelerating transatlantic musical and cultural exchange. Students will use a number of case studies to examine these interrelated perspectives in the context of geopolitical developments that have structured (and continue to structure) their interaction. Accordingly, the course is divided into three chronological periods: interwar, cold war, and post-cold war. Discussions will focus upon source readings, recordings and other materials and also important theories of transatlantic cultural exchange drawn from American, European and African and African American studies. The course is structured as a seminar, with students taking turns leading discussions and presenting on challenging readings. See department chair.
Examination of the tonal practice period in Europe designed to familiarize students with basic tonal literature. Students will learn how to confront this musical material as it was composed and heard in its original historical and cultural context. Additionally, students will consider how the significance of this music has changed since its composition, and what its relevance is to our lives in the 21st Century. The course begins with a broad overview of the development and deconstruction of tonal harmony, considering primary documents, and then allows for in-depth examination of selected topics from the Medieval period through the Early Romantic period. Fall.
Examination of tonal and post-tonal harmony in Europe and the U.S. over the 19th and 20th centuries designed to familiarize students with basic late- and post-tonal literature. Students will learn how to confront this musical material as it was composed and heard in its original historical and cultural context. Additionally, students will consider how the significance of this music has changed since its composition, and what its relevance is to our lives in the 21st Century. The course begins with a broad overview of the development and deconstruction of tonal harmony over four centuries, considering secondary documents, and then allows for in-depth examination of selected topics from the Romantic Period through the Modern Period and into the 21st Century. Spring.
Explores the many so-called “roots musics” of North America. It also serves as an introduction to basic concepts of ethnomusicology—the study of the interactive relationship between musical and cultural practices. The concept of race as an analytical, expressive, and interpretive, and analytical cultural category is foregrounded. Case studies in Native American vocal and instrumental performance and in Mexican border balladry illustrate the establishment and contestation of racial identity and activism. In Appalachian musical traditions, the dynamic genre called “the Blues” will explore the concept of the “invention of tradition” in all its cultural, historical and political complexity. A sustained ethnographic project will engage a living musical community in the local Western North Carolina region. Odd years Spring.
Examination of the history of jazz from its African roots in early 20th century New Orleans to the multiplicity of styles in the present day. In addition to establishing the who, what, and when of jazz history, students will build a meta-narrative of jazz history that will foster analysis and criticism of the primary narrative as it is being constructed. Over the course of the semester, students will engage in diversity-centered discussions that will focus on the power relationships that have traditionally defined jazz history, particularly in the areas of race, class and gender. Students will be encouraged to think critically about jazz history and the practices in which jazz musicians have engaged. Even years Fall.
A study of the techniques, history, literature and aesthetics of classical analog and digital electronic music synthesis and composition; hands-on introduction to techniques. A composition project is required.
Conceptualizes film, television, and video game music as complex cultural, artistic, and technological forms and modes of entertainment. By viewing films and film segments, listening to film scores, guided writing reflections, and forum discussions, students engage with issues of diversity, race, gender, religion, age and nationalistic trends throughout the tumultuous history of the Hollywood film industry and specifically, the development of musical elements, both live and recorded. Through close examination of musical composition for film, students gain an understanding of music’s use in filmmaking, bias and manipulation in the industry, stereotyping and the appropriating of gender, race and identity, and similar salient concepts within the art of film music design and implementation. Fall.
An introduction to ethnomusicology—the study of the interactive relationship between musical and cultural practices. Students will see how musical communication and expression—what some have called “musicking”—is used dynamically to generate and maintain social identities in complex cultural, historical, and political contexts. Considering case studies from many cultures around the world, students will learn to use analytic tools from linguistic and cultural anthropology to examine how music is a communicative process, in some ways very much like language, and quite different in others. Odd years Fall.
Careful consideration of the connections between the ways a culture’s music is organized and the ways its society is structured. Students will examine musical patterns that have emerged from within a given culture, as well as ones that have resulted from powerful social forces imposed from without. Further, students will consider the changing significance of musics that have been “re-located” whether through migration and diaspora, or through sampling and media circulation. Even years Fall.
Individual weekly lessons and a weekly group meeting, culminating in a Junior or Senior Recital, depending on major.
Course not otherwise included in the catalog listing but for which there may be special needs. May be repeated for credit as often as permitted and as subject matter changes. See department chair.
Examines the fundamentals of the industry, such as record deals, copyright, touring, management, and publishing, focusing in particular on how these topics are relevant today. Students spend a substantial portion of class time discussing and analyzing the “new music business.” Odd years Fall.
Continued study of the music business through community‐based project learning. Students complete several real‐world based projects and discuss their experiences with colleagues in a seminar‐style classroom setting.
Theoretical foundations of modern recording including the study of microphones, recording consoles, loudspeakers, signal processors, equalizers and filters. Enrollment limited to formally declared Music Technology majors.
Application of modern recording techniques with hands-on experience in a multitrack recording studio, covering microphone technique, digital audio workstation (DAW) operation, session procedures, and basic production techniques. Enrollment limited to formally declared Music Technology majors.
A continuation of MUSC 384, including the theoretical foundations of digital audio, MIDI and sound synthesis.
A continuation of MUSC 385, with emphasis on the application of modern recording techniques, including digital recording, digital editing, MIDI and sound synthesis.
Internship with a participating firm or organization relevant to the student’s degree emphasis. Internships are available in Asheville and other cities in North Carolina, as well as cities such as New York, Nashville, and Los Angeles. Specific information is available from the department chair. MUSC 390 and 490 may be repeated for a combined total of 6 hours.
An immersive introduction to American styles, exposing students to a broad range of musical forms including blues, dixieland, ragtime, swing, gospel, R&B, doo-wop, rock, soul, funk, punk, experimental, avant-garde, tin pan alley, musical theater, singer-songwriter, Americana, house, techno, and hip-hop/rap. Styles are introduced in a group setting, with students focusing on their chosen instrument(s). Harmonic, rhythmic, melodic and other features are explored in the context of group performance of representative literatures. Alongside this repertoire, students undertake collaborative projects, focused listening, composition exercises, transcriptions, and a final research project into a chosen American musical style not covered in the curriculum.
An immersive introduction to global styles, exposing students to a broad range of musical forms including those of South America, the Caribbean, Africa, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. Styles are introduced in a group setting, with students focusing on their chosen instrument(s). Harmonic, rhythmic, melodic and other features are explored in the context of group performance of representative literatures. Alongside this repertoire, students undertake collaborative projects, focused listening, composition exercises, transcriptions, and a final research project into a chosen global musical style not covered in the curriculum.
An immersive introduction to classical musical styles, exposing students to a broad range of literatures including those of the Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, Romantic, and Modern eras. Styles are introduced in a group setting, with students focusing on their chosen instrument(s). Harmonic, rhythmic, melodic and other features are explored in the context of formal performance of representative literatures. Alongside this repertoire, students may undertake collaborative projects, focused listening, composition exercises, transcriptions, and a final research project into a chosen classical musical style not covered in the curriculum.
A jazz-oriented substitute for Theory III and Aural Skills III. Theoretical concepts introduced will enable students to read lead sheets fluently and to understand “what” to play over particular chord progressions. Performative elements will allow students to put aural skills developed over the course of the semester into practice.
Bridging educational and professional settings, the course stresses career preparedness, professional etiquette, and the creation of a musical portfolio. Individual consultation and group workshopping culminate in a senior recital and senior recording project, undertaken in conjunction and coordination with BFA, BA and BS students in the music department. Even years Spring.
Individual weekly lessons and a weekly group meeting.
Individual weekly lessons and a one-hour weekly group meeting, culminating in a Senior Recital and Recording.
Course not otherwise included in the catalog listing but for which there may be special needs. May be repeated for credit as often as permitted and as subject matter changes. See department chair.
A continuation of MUSC 386 with emphasis on the electronic principles (impedance, power, signal interfacing, synchronization, and grounding) which are fundamental to operating a recording studio or live sound reinforcement system.
A continuation of MUSC 387, including field-experience in on-location recording, analog tape recording, advanced production and post-production techniques.
A continuation of MUSC 484, with emphasis on studio acoustics and emerging technologies.
A continuation of MUSC 485, with emphasis on surround recording techniques and individually assigned studio and fieldwork.
Individual recording, computer music and research projects realized in the UNCA music technology studios. May be repeated for a total of 6 hours credit.
Internship with a participating firm or organization relevant to the student’s degree emphasis. Internships are available in Asheville and other cities in North Carolina, as well as cities such as New York, Nashville, and Los Angeles. Specific information is available from the department chair. MUSC 390 and 490 may be repeated for a combined total of 6 hours.
Independent research under the supervision of a faculty mentor. An IP grade may be awarded at discretion of instructor. May be repeated for a total of 8 hours credit. See department chair.
Source: University of North Carolina Asheville's catalog, linked per course · table learning_unit · CourseShelf publish 61
