67 courses with the subject MUSI, 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.
MUSI 001A1000 Years of Musical Firsts1
Music 001A is an overview of Western musical history, examining 13 pieces of music as works of art and as moments of cultural history through a detailed study of their premiere performances. Case studies date from the Middle Ages to the twenty-first century, and special attention is given to techniques in musical listening. Each week we will study in detail the premiere performance of a specific musical work. Our focus will be distributed between discussions of the musical sonorities as a primary text and the socio-historical circumstances that gave rise to these works. In this vein, our course is equally a history course, and as the semester progresses you will increasingly see the difficulty in truly separating the “music itself” from its cultural contexts. Indeed, these cultural contexts are as much a part of the texts and the way they were created and heard, as the notes on the page. Humanities. 1 credit. Eligible for MDST.
Cross listed with ASAM 005 This course examines Asian American history and life through music that Asian Americans listen to and create. Organized thematically, we will examine how Asian Americans use music to build community, entertain themselves, pass on heritage traditions, earn social capital, make a living, respond to discrimination, fight U.S. imperialism, and create new identities. The course covers music from the late 19th century to today, and all genres from traditional Asian traditions and Western classical to K-Pop and hip hop. The course culminates in a student-curated digital exhibit. Humanities. 1 credit. Eligible for ASAM. Fall 2026. Ouyang.
MUSI 002BReading and Making Music: The Basics of Notation1
An introduction to the elements of music notation, theory (clefs, pitch, and rhythmic notation, scales, keys, and chords), sight singing, and general musicianship. Recommended for students who need additional preparation for MUSI 011 or to join the College chorus. Humanities. 1 credit. Fall 2026. Davis. Fall 2027 Staff.
(cross-listed as DANC 003 , ASAM 002 ) In this course we will examine the origins of Taiko drumming in Japan and consider how the tradition has developed in North America over the past four decades. We will discuss the role of Taiko drumming in the Asian American Movement, explore different styles of contemporary Taiko in Asian America, and gain basic drumming competency. Through the integration of academic and performance study we will consider and experience Taiko drumming as a prominent and dynamic Asian American performing art. Open to all students without prerequisite. No prior performance or musical background is required. Humanities. 1 credit. Eligible for ASIA, Lang Engaged Scholarship Spring 2027. Ouyang. Spring 2028 Ouyang.
An exploration of introductory concepts in music technology including audio production, MIDI sequencing, sampling, synthesis, and other pertinent topics through creative projects using Logic Pro X software. Creative projects will include short “etudes” which focus on specific tasks meant to cultivate the above skills, along with more open-ended final and midterm projects, which will be inclusive of all musical styles and focus on each student’s individual compositional voice. Other activities will consist of group discussion, student presentations of their work in class, and the study of repertoire in many musical genres including but not limited to musique concrète, acousmatic music, drone, noise, electronic dance music, hip-hop, Plunderphonics, electroacoustic improvisation, and vaporwave. This course is open to every student without prerequisite, regardless of their previous experience with music or technology. Humanities. 1 credit. Fall 2026. Collins. Spring 2027. Collins. Fall 2027 Collins. Spring 2028 Collins.
MUSI 003CSound Proof: Black Music’s American Journey from the Civil War to Civil Rights1
This course explores aspects of the origins, style development, aesthetic philosophies, historiography, and contemporary conventions of African-American musical traditions. Topics covered include: the music of West and Central Africa, the music of colonial America, 19 th -century church and dance music, minstrelsy, Black musical theater, music of the Harlem Renaissance, jazz, blues, gospel, hip-hop, and film music. Special attention is given to the ways that Black music produces “meaning” and to how the social energy circulating within it articulates myriad issues about American identity at specific historical moments. The course will also engage other expressive art forms from visual and literary sources in order to better position music making into the larger framework of African American aesthetics. Humanities. 1 credit. Eligible for BLST. Fall 2026. Ramsey.
Do you sometimes enjoy insatiable lust, crazed debauchery, a bit of madness? How about the thrill of revenge, exquisite music and demented theater? If so, then please read on…. This class explores the exhilarating musical, dramatic and cultural tightrope walk that is opera. Before there was Harry Styles there was Farinelli, and way before today’s movement for trans rights there was normalized gender fluidity. We will examine key works from opera’s 400-year history and take a closer look at the unfolding of this deeply human, monumental art form and the forces that have tried, unsuccessfully, to kill it over the last century. This class is intended to demystify what is often seen as an elitist music, and requires no pretentiousness or previous operatic experience. Humanities. 1 credit.
(Cross-listed as SOAN 020D ) In this course we take an ethnomusicological approach to examine music and dance cultures from around the world. We will consider music and dance both in and as culture with attention to social, political, and historical contexts. Topics will include identity, race, ethnicity, gender, class, religion, memory, migration, globalization, tourism, and social and political movements. The course will provide an opportunity to develop critical listening and analytical skills to discuss sound and movement. Humanities. Writing course. 1 credit. Eligible for GLBL - Core, BLST Spring 2027. Stewart. Fall 2027 Stewart.
MUSI 005BPopular Music and Masculinities from Rock ‘n’ Roll to Boy Bands1
This course examines the ways in which varying masculinities have been articulated, performed, and marketed in American popular music from the 1950s to the present day. Musical case studies include Rock ‘n’ roll, boy bands, and contemporary Hip Hop. It examines how popular music has facilitated a challenge to gender and sexual norms, or alternatively, how it has served to model or reinforce norms. Particular focus will be given to the intersections of gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity , class, and ability. This course includes musical analysis, music video analysis, scholarly articles in musicology, and theoretical readings in gender studies. It is therefore both a history of popular music and a history of gender and sexuality. Humanities 1 credit. Eligible for GSST
How have contemporary and historical sociopolitical contexts of Philly shaped music making here? How has musical creativity shaped today’s Philadelphia? This course is a history of music in Philadelphia, but also a musical history of Philadelphia. As the first capital of the United States, Philly nurtured a rich musical life, often linked with governing and diplomacy. In the nineteenth century, Philadelphia was home to a vibrant music publishing industry, and many of the institutions that animate our contemporary musical life were founded during this time. The Great Migrations of the early twentieth century brought thousands of African Americans from the rural south to work in the city’s industrial plant, bringing musical traditions that would make Philadelphia a vanguard of popular musical developments. Television shows like American Bandstand brought Philadelphia’s musical youth culture to the living rooms of the nation, and propelled rock ‘n’ roll artists like Chubby Checker to global renown. Artists like Nina Simone made music explicitly political, through involvement in the Civil Rights Movement. Philadelphia International Records brought Philly soul to the market, led by artists like Patti LaBelle and Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes. While historical in orientation, this course also investigates contemporary music making in Philadelphia. We will attend live musical performances, visit local record stores, and interact with scholars and musicians beyond our classroom. No background in music is necessary for success in this course. This class will be taught in Philadelphia as part of the Tri-Co Philly Program . Humanities. 1 credit.
Have you ever heard a movie without a soundtrack? The examples are few and far between. This is because music is an essential tool in shaping the audience’s experience of a film. Especially when moments on screen are hard to believe, like wizards flying, trees walking, and robots talking, we need music to help immerse us in new worlds. In this course, students will learn how to analyze film music and learn how it works together with the visual and narrative elements of film to bring magical scenes to life. The syllabus includes a wide variety of movies, including Encanto , Star Wars , Black Panther , and Wicked . Humanities. 1 credit. Eligible for FMST.
(Cross-listed as LITR 026 , FMST 026 , GMST 026 ) What do classical music, teenie bop, soul, battle rap, and jazz have in common? Philadelphia. This team-taught interdisciplinary course investigates the histories, structures and cultural connections between popular music and other media in the city of Philadelphia. What links sound, image, and place? How do musical expressions and genres interact with urban life at specific junctures in Philadelphia history? How do modes of production and exhibition formats (radio vs. television, club v.s stadium) along with distribution venues (record store vs. Spotify) engage with genre, gender, and race configurations? What lies at the intersection of regional, national, and global fan cultures? How does celebrity culture then and now impact what is popular and how does it affect Philadelphia’s music industry and vice versa? Providing a grounding in music and media history and theory, we will research and analyze mainstream and independent Philadelphia-specific case studies in radio, film, theater, television and social media in order to better understand and engage with the complex webs that characterize contemporary media, its production, and its consumption. Student projects will explore the intersections and interactions between individuals, ethnic and racial groups, established and new Philadelphians, city government, region, empire, and nation that have and continue to shape Philadelphia through the music and media created here. This course will be taught in Philadelphia. Core class in the Tri-Co Philly Program Humanities. 1 credit. Spring 2027. Simon.
(Cross-listed as PEAC 006 ) What is music’s function during wartime? For centuries and across cultures, music has both served war and provided comfort from it; illustrated war’s victories and provided a means of processing terror and death. This course explores the various contexts and motivations for music making during wartime by focusing on the two world wars of the 20th century. Drawing on a wide range of music, from folk songs and popular hit tunes to art music intended for the concert stage, we will consider: what are the moral dimensions of music during wartime? Do wars shape musical styles? Are there enduring lessons to be learned from the music of WWI and WWII? Humanities. 1 credit. Eligible for GMST Fall 2027 Milewski.
MUSI 006CChoral Catalysts: Vocal Music That Affected Change1
Group singing is one of the oldest and most powerful ways that people have connected with one another-and advocated for progress-throughout human history. This course surveys the music, composers, songwriters, and contexts surrounding group singing that has been linked to social and musical change throughout centuries. We’ll examine vocal works and traditions as a visceral and compelling component of national struggles for independence, the fight for LGBTQ+ rights, the pursuit of environmental justice, and as response to the events of 9/11, among many others. We’ll also explore vocal music at the vanguard of musical invention, from the groundbreaking madrigals of Monteverdi to the genre-defying works of Caroline Shaw. Familiarity with music notation is encouraged but not required. Humanities. 1 credit.
MUSI 006DPerforming Resistance: Black Music and Protest in the African Diaspora
This course explores African diasporic music as it’s been used in performative acts of resistance and protest in the United States, the Caribbean, and South America. We will consider instances when music and movement have been deployed in response to political, economic, and social tyranny in the past and in the present. Eligible for GLBL - Paired, PEAC, BLST Spring 2028 Stewart. Catalog chapter: Music Access the class schedule to search for sections.
MUSI 007AMore Than a Drum Line: Exploring the Legacies of HBCU Marching Band Traditions
BLST 007A In this course we will explore the socio-cultural significance of Historically Black College and University marching bands for Black communities across the United States. Using Howard University’s Showtime Marching Band, Texas Southern’s ” Ocean of Soul,” Grambling State University’s “World Famed Tiger Marching Band,” Florida A&M University’s “Marching 100,” Morgan State University’s “Magnificent Marching Machine,” and Bowie State University’s “Symphony of Soul” as case studies, we will consider the histories and development of these institutions and their band programs. This will require us to examine the circumstances under which they evolved, and the culture that has evolved in and around them from the 18th century to the present-day. This course will highlight the impact of HBCU marching bands and music programs on the social, cultural, economic, and political realities of the communities that they serve, and on the students, faculty, and alumni who continue to serve them. We will explore the sounds and styles that differentiate Black collegiate marching bands from those at predominately white institutions, and the characteristics that distinguish Black collegiate marching bands from each other. Students will learn that in addition to being performatively dynamic, HBCU marching bands have consistently had a profound and lasting impact on the lives of their students, faculty, alumni, and communities across generations, throughout the twentieth century and in the present-day. Ethnomusicology credit. Humanities. 1 Eligible for BLST Access the class schedule to search for sections.
MUSI 007CDistinguishing Difference: Music, Memory, and Jamaican Marronage1
(Cross-listed as SOAN 007C ) This course examines music and performance as key elements in articulations of identity, belonging, and difference in the contexts of Jamaican marronage. The Jamaican Maroon community is considered to be a monolith by some, situated firmly in Jamaica’s colonial and pre-emancipation past. This course explores the Jamaican Maroon communities of Charles Town, Scotts Hall, Moore Town, Accompong Town, and Trelawny-Flagstaff whose 17th and 18th century ancestors waged a successful war against the colonial British. These communities are dynamic, diverse, and relevant in discourse related to present-day Jamaica. Students will learn the ways in which the socio-cultural significance of those freedom fighters’ descendants is manifested in their music, dance, cultural icons, and spiritual practice. Jamaican Maroon cultural practices and social and political ideologies can become sites of collaboration, co-optation, and even contestation between and within Jamaican Maroon communities, and between Jamaican Maroons, the Jamaican state, and the global community. Humanities. 1 credit. Eligible for BLST Fall 2027 Stewart.
MUSI 008Music, Politics, and Society in the Modern Middle East: 1922-20161
Home to many of the world’s oldest civilizations and major religions, the Middle East remains a region of remarkable cultural diversity. From the fall of the Ottoman Empire in 1922 to the Arab Spring and the current refugee crisis, this vast territory has experienced extraordinary political and social change over the past nearly one hundred years. While often riven by conflict, the Middle East is also a site of ever-renewing intellectual, artistic, and political movements. The musical soundtrack to this constellation of dynamic forces is rich and complex, animated by shifting social environments and ongoing intercultural encounters. Arabs, Turks, Persians, Jews, Kurds, Greeks, Berbers, Armenians, Assyrians, and many other ethno-linguistic and religious identities all claim unique forms of musical expression, mirroring in many cases their environments-rural, urban, desert, coastal, seafaring, nomadic, antiquated, hypermodern, pious, and defiantly secular. In this course we will examine nearly a century of music making in the Middle East focusing on Turkey, Iran, and the countries of the Eastern Mediterranean and North Africa. Readings, audio examples, films, and in-class music making will address the ways that music of the Middle East intersects with religious practices, nationalism, gender, sexuality, language, ethnicity, migration, and protest movements. Through an exploration of elite, popular, folk, and sacred music among others, we will attempt to make sense of the rich and varied soundscapes of the modern Middle East. 1 credit. Eligible for PEAC
(Cross-listed as BLST 008B ) What is the power of music? How can music empower individuals and groups in the fight for justice? In this course we will investigate contemporary case studies from around the world when groups have employed music to confront racism and classism in pursuit of social justice. Case studies include Apartheid South Africa, Buraku Taiko drummers in Japan, and the Kamehameha Schools Songs Contest in Hawai’i. Students will complete an original community project to share their course experience with other students on campus. Open to all students without prerequisite. Humanities. 1 credit. Eligible for PEAC, BLST, GLBL-Core, ASAM Fall 2027 Ouyang.
LING 008. This course is an examination of the nature of music, approached from a disability perspective. We include music with regard to the ear, the eye, bodily movement, the somatosensory system, and neurodiversity. The issues are to a great extent biological/cognitive, but interpretable via culture. We explore what notions such as rhythm, pitch, timbre, melody, dynamics, and the like mean in a variety of contexts, asking what similarities and differences there are between, for example ordinary expression and artistic expression musical arts and language arts music and poetry music and dance We consider these questions in a context of whether there exists a differentiating line and according to which people: autism, blindness, deafness … how do these ways of being affect musicking? The music vs. poetry differentiation is of particular relevance to the deaf community and the music vs. dance differentiation is of particular relevance in indigenous contexts. Eligible for Global Studies and Interpretation Theory. HU 1 Eligible for GLBL, INTP Spring 2027. Kochavi. Access the class schedule to search for sections.
This course will explore the basic elements of musical language from a scientific and mathematical perspective. We will work collaboratively to uncover relationships and features that are fundamental to the way that music is constructed. Although intended for science, mathematics, engineering, and other mathematically minded students, the course will introduce all necessary mathematics; no specific background is required. Some knowledge of musical notation is helpful but not required. This course provides the necessary background to enable students to enroll in MUSI 011. Humanities. 1 credit. Spring 2028 Kochavi.
“Until the lions have their own historians, the history of the hunt will always glorify the hunter.” This African proverb, popularized by Nigerian novelist Chinua Achebe, reflects the absence of the voices of colonized subjects in recorded histories of colonial domination. This course explores the music and oral traditions of African and African diasporic peoples as legible historical records that are valuable and credible receptacles of, and sources for the dissemination and comprehensive production of world knowledge. As receptacles of knowledge, the living archives of song, instrumental music, dance, storytelling, traditional foods, and spiritual practice offer communities a mode for remembrance, and for teaching, learning, and preserving valuable social information. As sources of knowledge production, the records that inhabit these living archives represent colonial histories from the perspective of the colonized, on their terms. During this course, students will use selected case studies to examine how the living archives of colonized African and African diasporic people in continental Africa, the Caribbean, and the Americas have been influential in chronicling past and present struggles. They will consider how these records remain vital to communities’ ability not just to survive, but to thrive in the twenty-first century and beyond. HU 1 credit. Eligible for GLBL - Paired, Lang Engaged Scholarship, BLST Access the class schedule to search for sections.
MUSI 010From Roots to Django: Interpreting the Soundtracks of Black Power, Black Pain, Black Joy, and Retribution.1
“Yes, they deserved to die, and I hope they burn in hell!” - Carl Lee Hailey “A Time to Kill” In this course we will examine the soundtracks of five fictionalized representations of Black life spanning the 17th through the 21st centuries. We’ll examine how music is deployed in ways that move film narratives forward and in some cases how it even becomes an essential character to the story. The soundtracks and screenplays of Roots (1976), Sankofa (1993), Django Unchained (2012), Do the Right Thing (1989), Beloved (1998), and Black Panther (2018) offer us a broad spectrum of witnessing, storytelling, and interpretation. What musical elements enable a soundtrack to contribute to the emotive and socio-cultural value of our cinematic experience? Students will examine each of these films to determine whether or not as well as how and why the soundtrack as a whole or in part is instrumental and effective in compellingly portraying power, pain, joy, and retribution as experienced by generations of Black people - past, present, and future- in Africa, the United States, and throughout the worldwide African diaspora. Ethnomusicology or Elective Humanities. 1 credit. Eligible for PEAC, FMST, BLST Access the class schedule to search for sections.
This course will provide continued work on tonal harmony and counterpoint, largely as practiced in 18th- and 19th-century Europe. Topics include two-voice counterpoint, harmonization of soprano and bass lines in four-part textures, phrase structure, small and large scale forms, modulation and tonicization, and analysis using prolongational reductions. We will also study minuet form in detail, culminating in a final composition project. All MUSI 012 students must register for an appropriate level of MUSI 040B for 0 or 0.5 credit. Keyboard skills lessons are required for all students in MUSI 012. Humanities. 1 credit. Spring 2027. Kochavi. Spring 2028 Staff.
Continues and extends the work of Music 12 to encompass an expanded vocabulary of chromatic tonal harmony, based on Western art music of the 18th and 19th centuries. The course includes analysis of smaller and larger works by such composers as Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Chopin, Liszt, Brahms, and Wagner; in-depth study of such large-scale topics as sonata form; and written musical exercises ranging from harmonizations of bass and melody lines to original compositions in chorale style. All MUSI 013 students must register for an appropriate level of MUSI 040C for 0 or 0.5 credit. Keyboard skills lessons may also be required for some students. Humanities. 1 credit. Fall 2026. Davis. Fall 2027 Staff.
This course provides continued work in chromatic harmony and 18th-century counterpoint, largely as practiced in Europe. It will primarily take the form of a literature survey. For the first half of the semester, our focus will be on short pieces; during the second of the semester we will study keyboard fugues and other larger-scale works. This course includes a service-learning project. All MUSI 014 students must register for an appropriate level of MUSI 040D for 0 or 0.5 credit. Keyboard skills lessons may also be required for some students. Humanities. 1 credit.
Jazz Theory and Analysis will survey the development of tonal and modal jazz theory from the early twentieth century until the late 1960s. During this time, the jazz genre itself metamorphosed extensively, as seen in the chronology of its principal styles: pre-jazz music and ragtime, to early jazz, to swing, to bebop, to modal, and then to postbop. Since the postbop jazz of the 1960s, the theory of its tonal-modal styles and the chord-scale interactions that connect them have achieved relative stability. The evolution of jazz theory along with the analysis of selected jazz compositions and improvisations will be the focus of the class. Upper Level Music Theory Course
MUSI 11 and MUSI 12 or Permission of the Instructor HU 1 Access the class schedule to search for sections.
MUSI 017Introduction to Orchestral Conducting1
This course aims to give students a basic foundation in orchestral conducting. Each week, we focus on new elements of score study and conducting technique, building from four part chorales to complex orchestral scores. We explore the role of the conductor through history and work to develop a personal philosophy of conducting and musical interpretation in the 21st century. We also work to develop fluency in score reading (including C clefs and transposing instruments), both through singing and at the piano. Students will have the opportunity to conduct small ensembles of student musicians several times during the semester.
MUSI 012, or permission of the instructor Humanities. 1 credit. Fall 2026. Hauze. Catalog chapter: Music Department website: http://www.swarthmore.edu/music Access the class schedule to search for sections.
MUSI 018Conducting and Orchestration1
This course approaches the understanding of orchestral scores from a variety of perspectives. We will study techniques of orchestration and instrumentation, both in analysis of selected works, and in practice, through written exercises. The history, and philosophy of conducting will be examined, and we will work to develop practical conducting technique. Score reading, both at the piano and through other methods, will be practiced throughout the semester.
MUSI 012 , or permission of the instructor. Humanities. 1 credit. Catalog chapter: Music Department website: http://www.swarthmore.edu/music Access the class schedule to search for sections.
MUSI 019Composition1
This course focuses on creating original music and consists of private composition lessons and a group seminar. Composition lessons are individual meetings with the instructor, centered on each student’s creative vision regardless of musical genre, where both notated and non-notated approaches and work with acoustic and electronic media are encouraged. Seminar activities include group discussion, masterclass-style work shares, student and faculty presentations on a variety of musical topics, group improvisation sessions, and talks by guest artists. Students are expected to have prior experience equivalent to MUSI 011 for those creating notated music, and MUSI 003A for those working with electronics. Repeatable course.
permission of the instructor. Humanities. 1 credit. Fall 2026. Collins. Spring 2027. Collins. Fall 2027 Collins. Spring 2028 Collins. Catalog chapter: Music Department website: http://www.swarthmore.edu/music Access the class schedule to search for sections.
MUSI 020Medieval and Renaissance Music1
Cross listed with MDST 020 A repertory based course that discusses the history of music in Europe from the beginnings of musical notation to the birth of opera. (c. 800 - c. 1600). Mus 20 considers this varied repertory through lenses of race, gender, and identity, nationalism and post-colonial theory. Topics include musical rituals, music and magic, music and Elizabethan global politics, music, piety, & sacrilege, sexual discourse in music, relationships between music and architecture, development of musical instruments, and history of theory.
MUSI 011 or permission of the instructor. Humanities. Writing Course. 1 credit. Spring 2027. Blasina. Catalog chapter: Music Department website: http://www.swarthmore.edu/music Access the class schedule to search for sections.
MUSI 021Music in Europe and the Americas in the 17th and 18th Centuries1
This course will survey European art music from the 16th-century Italian madrigal to Haydn’s Creation. Relevant extramusical contexts will be considered.
MUSI 011 or the equivalent. Humanities. Writing Course. 1 credit. Fall 2027 Milewski. Catalog chapter: Music Department website: http://www.swarthmore.edu/music Access the class schedule to search for sections.
MUSI 02219th-Century Music in Europe and the U.S.1
This survey considers European art music against the background of 19th-century Romanticism and nationalism. Composers to be studied include Beethoven, Schubert, Chopin, Berlioz, Robert and Clara Schumann, Wagner, Verdi, Brahms, Dvorak, Musorgsky, and Chaikovsky.
MUSI 011 or the equivalent. Humanities. Writing course. 1 credit. Eligible for GLBL-Paired; GMST Fall 2026. Milewski. Catalog chapter: Music Department website: http://www.swarthmore.edu/music Access the class schedule to search for sections.
MUSI 02320th-Century Music in Europe and the U.S.1
A study of the various stylistic directions in music of the 20th century. Representative works by composers from Debussy, Stravinsky, and Schoenberg through Copland, Messiaen, and postwar composers such as Boulez and Crumb, to the younger generation will be examined in detail.
MUSI 011 or the equivalent. Humanities. Writing course. 1 credit. Catalog chapter: Music Department website: http://www.swarthmore.edu/music Access the class schedule to search for sections.
MUSI 026Ballet & Modern Dance in Europe & North America 1789-19601
(Cross listed as DANC 022 ) This survey covers theatrical dance in Europe and North America from the French Revolution through the late twentieth century, examining ballet and modern dance within the greater performance contexts. We will also consider ways in which race, gender, sexuality, and politics affect dance creation, performance, and dissemination. Humanities. Writing course. 1 credit. Eligible for GLBL- Paired
An introduction to selected musical traditions from the vast diversity of Asian cultures. Principal areas will include classical music of India, Indonesian gamelan from Bali and Java, ritual music of Tibet, ancient Japanese court music, Turkish classical music and others. These music will be studied in terms of their technical and theoretical aspects as well as their cultural/philosophical backgrounds. Western musical notation and terminology, including scale types and intervals, will be used. This course fulfills the World Traditions component of the music major. Humanities. 1 credit. Eligible for ASIA
The Elements of Musicianship courses explore music making from a variety of perspectives and across many styles and genres of (mostly) Western music. Among the skills developed are: sight-singing melodies and arpeggiated harmonic progressions; singing and playing the piano simultaneously; part singing in choral works; taking musical dictation; transcription of recorded music; basic conducting; beginning keyboard harmony; and transposition. The first semester, Music 40A, provides an introduction to scale degree solmization; singing major and minor scales (all forms); fluency in all keys and time signatures; rhythmic subdivision; conducting patterns; intervals within the major/minor scales and primary triads; passing and neighboring tones; decontextualized perfect intervals; and diatonic keyboard skills. Required for all MUSI 011 students, with or without 0.5 credit. The instructor will place students at appropriate levels. 0.0 or 0.5 credit. Fall 2026. Reiff. Fall 2027 Staff. Access the class schedule to search for sections.
The Elements of Musicianship courses explore music making from a variety of perspectives and across many styles and genres of (mostly) Western music. Among the skills developed are: sight-singing melodies and arpeggiated harmonic progressions; singing and playing the piano simultaneously; part singing in choral works; taking musical dictation; transcription of recorded music; basic conducting; beginning keyboard harmony; and transposition. The second semester, Music 40B, explores the use of triads in inversion; tonicizations of closely related key areas; chromatic non-harmonic tones; the dominant seventh chord; syncopation and cross-rhythm; and complex subdivision. Required for all MUSI 012 students, with or without 0.5 credit. The instructor will place students at appropriate levels. 0.0 or 0.5 credit. Spring 2027. Staff. Spring 2028 Staff. Access the class schedule to search for sections.
The Elements of Musicianship courses explore music making from a variety of perspectives and across many styles and genres of (mostly) Western music. Among the skills developed are: sight-singing melodies and arpeggiated harmonic progressions; singing and playing the piano simultaneously; part singing in choral works; taking musical dictation; transcription of recorded music; basic conducting; beginning keyboard harmony; and transposition. The third semester, Music 40C, introduces atonal melodies using seconds, thirds, fourths, and fifths and continues to explore closely related modulation and chromatic tonicization; sequences; advanced triplets and irregular meters; advanced transposition; the “church” modes; the whole tone scale; and the octatonic scale. Required for all MUSI 013 students, with or without 0.5 credit. The instructor will place students at appropriate levels. 0.0 or 0.5 credit. Fall 2026. Reiff. Fall 2027 Staff. Access the class schedule to search for sections.
The Elements of Musicianship courses explore music making from a variety of perspectives and across many styles and genres of (mostly) Western music. Among the skills developed are: sight-singing melodies and arpeggiated harmonic progressions; singing and playing the piano simultaneously; part singing in choral works; taking musical dictation; transcription of recorded music; basic conducting; beginning keyboard harmony; and transposition. The fourth and final semester, Music 40D, explores advanced atonal melodies; distant chromatic modulation; diminished seventh chords; Neapolitan and augmented sixth chords; and mixed meters. Required for all MUSI 014 students, with or without 0.5 credit. The instructor will place students at appropriate levels. 0.0 or 0.5 credit. Spring 2027. Staff. Spring 2028 Staff. Access the class schedule to search for sections.
The Jazz Ensemble rehearses Tuesday evenings in Lang Concert Hall. Additional sectional and jazz combo rehearsals will be scheduled as necessary throughout the semester. There are no auditions to register. Background in jazz is helpful, not not mandatory. Repeatable course. 0.0 or 0.5 credit. Fall 2026. Neu. Spring 2027. Neu. Fall 2027 Neu. Spring 2028 Neu.
Performance of traditional and contemporary music from different regions of China and the Chinese Diaspora. Students perform on traditional Chinese instruments including the guzheng (zither), erhu (bowed fiddle), pipa (plucked lute), yangqin (hammered dulcimer), dizi (flute), and percussion. Students will choose 1-2 instruments to focus on for the semester based on instrument availability, interest, repertoire, and ensemble needs. Students with no prior musical experience (of any tradition) are welcome to attend the first rehearsal and discuss your interests with Professor Ouyang. Instruments will be provided by the Department and the class will present a public performance at the end of the semester. Weekly (Tuesday afternoon) rehearsals in Lang Concert Hall, plus an additional 30 minutes per week in smaller groups (“sectional”). Graded CR/NC. Repeatable course. 0.0 or 0.5 credit Eligible for ASIA Fall 2026. Ouyang. Wang. Spring 2027. Ouyang. Wang. Fall 2027 Ouyang. Wang. Spring 2028 Ouyang. Wang.
Chorus is a mixed-voice choir comprising about 75 students, faculty, staff, and community members. The ensemble rehearses on Wednesday evenings in the Lang Music Concert Hall, with each vocal section meeting approximately one additional Thursday evening per month for sectional rehearsals. Chorus performs repertoire including small-scale works from throughout history and around the globe. Members are eligible to participate in free Skills for Singing course aiming to help develop vocal technique, rehearsal skills, music reading, and related abilities. Low-pressure auditions are held the first week of each semester. Repeatable course. 0.0 or 0.5 credit. Fall 2026. Reiff. Spring 2027. Reiff. Fall 2027 Reiff. Spring 2028 Reiff.
Orchestra rehearses on Monday nights from 7-10 pm in Lang Concert Hall. Admission by (low-key) audition. Repeatable course. 0.0 or 0.5 credit. Fall 2026. Hauze. Spring 2027. Hauze. Fall 2027 Hauze. Spring 2028 Hauze.
MUSI 045Critical Mass Medieval-Renaissance Vocal Chamber Ensemble
Critical Mass is a mixed-voice, smaller scale (“chamber”) ensemble of select singers and meets Thursday afternoons in the Concert Hall, with one additional sectional hour per week. Music making focuses on 500 years of choral music from the twelfth to seventeenth centuries. This process is highly collaborative and members will sing their voice part with 1 or 2 other singers. Admission by audition. Audition required. Repeatable course. 0.0 or 0.5 credit. Eligible for MDST. Fall 2026. Bier. Spring 2027. Bier.
Wind Ensemble rehearses on Thursday evenings in Lang Concert Hall, with occasional sectional rehearsals. Admission by (low-key) audition to determine seating assignments during first week of semester. Repeatable course. 0.0 or 0.5 credit. Fall 2026. Hauze. Spring 2027. Hauze. Fall 2027 Hauze. Spring 2028 Hauze.
(See guidelines for this course earlier.) Repeatable course. 0.0 or 0.5 credit. Fall 2026. Hauze. Spring 2027. Hauze. Fall 2027 Hauze. Spring 2028 Hauze.
Please consult the MUSI 048 guidelines and video on the Music Department website for information on auditions, subsidies, and other requirements of the private instruction program. Audition required. Repeatable course. Course is open to Swarthmore students only (not Tri-Co).
Participation in an approved performance ensemble. 0.5 credit. Fall 2026. Milewski. Spring 2027. Milewski. Fall 2027 Staff. Spring 2028 Staff. Catalog chapter: Music Department website: http://www.swarthmore.edu/music Access the class schedule to search for sections.
MUSI 049ABalinese Gamelan
Performance of traditional and modern compositions for Balinese Gamelan (Indonesian percussion orchestra). Students will learn to play without musical notation. No prior experience in Western or non-Western music is required. The course is open to all students. Rehearsals are Monday afternoons in the Presser Room of Lang Music Building, with additional individual instruction available Monday and Wednesday afternoons. Repeatable course. 0.5 or 0.0 credit. Eligible for ASIA Fall 2026. Whitman. Suadin. Spring 2027. Whitman. Suadin. Fall 2027 Whitman. Suadin. Spring 2028 Whitman. Suadin.
MUSI 049BPerformance: Balinese Gamelan (Embedded Study Abroad)
A two-week study abroad trip to Indonesia during winter break 2023-4, featuring immersion in the rich performing arts and cultural traditions of Bali. There will be nine days of instruction and rehearsals in Gamelan leading to a performance in collaboration with local artists. In addition, the course includes one day of temple visits; one day of excursions to important historical and cultural sites; and a free day for students to explore on their own. Course enrollment is limited to ten of the students who were enrolled in MUSI 049, fall 2023. 0 or 0.5 credit. Fall 2026. Whitman.
Garnet Singers is a select, mixed-voice ensemble of approximately 24-28 students. The ensemble rehearses Monday afternoons and Thursday evenings; Garnet Singers are strongly encouraged to enroll simultaneously in Chorus. This ensemble focuses on works that are more intimate than those sung by Chorus, typically either a cappella or with piano accompaniment, and spanning many centuries, languages, and musical styles. It also regularly premieres pieces by student and faculty composers. Audition required. Repeatable course. Registration for Garnet Singers will be open following auditions during the first week of classes. 0.0 or 0.5 credit. Fall 2026. Reiff. Spring 2027. Reiff. Fall 2027 Reiff. Spring 2028 Reiff.
Come, Shred, and Strum! This course focuses on the essential elements of guitar playing: melodic playing (guitar solos) and harmonic playing (chord strumming). Students will learn solo and ensemble pieces and rudimentary music theory; culminating in an ensemble performance. Prior experience is optional; guitars are provided for students by the college. 0.5 credits. Fall 2026. Good. Spring 2027. Good. Fall 2027 Staff. Spring 2028 Staff. Access the class schedule to search for sections.
THEA 012B This course provides foundations for opening possibilities in the full range of the human voice-from speaking to singing to raw sound expression-to help students cultivate an integrative personal practice, unlock creative potential, and connect with what their unique voices have to say. Themes to explore: vocal mechanics and self-care; the voice as a bridge between body, emotion, and imagination; working with song and text; tools for improvisation and composition. The class is strongly recommended to all acting students and may be taken without prerequisite. Cross-listed with THEA 012B. 0.5
MUSI 095Independent Study: Advanced Orchestral Conducting
Students who have successfully completed MUSI 017 (Introduction to Orchestral Conducting) may, with permission of the instructor, continue to explore orchestral conducting in a repeatable Independent Study. Students meet with the instructor for one hour per week of score study and technical practice, and are expected to devote a significant amount of time preparing these skills for each meeting. Once a student is sufficiently advanced, they may become eligible to conduct the Swarthmore Lab Orchestra, a chamber orchestra of student musicians. Repeatable course.
MUSI 017 (Introduction to Orchestral Conducting) or permission of the instructor Humanities. 0.5 or 1 credits. Fall 2026. Hauze. Spring 2027. Hauze. Fall 2027 Hauze. Spring 2028 Hauze. Catalog chapter: Music Department website: http://www.swarthmore.edu/music Access the class schedule to search for sections.
Permission of instructor. Humanities. 0.5 or 1 credits. Fall 2026. Reiff. Spring 2027. Reiff. Fall 2027 Reiff. Spring 2028 Reiff. Catalog chapter: Music Department website: http://swarthmore.edu/music Access the class schedule to search for sections.
MUSI 099Senior Honors Recital1
Honors music majors who wish to present a senior recital as one of their honors preparations must register for MUSI 099, after consultation with the music faculty. See Honors Program guidelines. 1 credit. Spring 2027. Staff. Spring 2028 Staff.
(Cross-listed as SOAN 100 ) Ethnomusicology is an academic discipline that examines music in and as culture. This course examines how the interdisciplinary field has developed over the 20 th and 21 st centuries through an investigation of its origins, approaches, methodologies, and contemporary theoretical questions. Course readings will address the relationships between music and a variety of conceptual themes including race, ethnicity, identity, nationalism, Diaspora, globalization, and gender. The music cultures we will examine in this course represent a wide range of cultures, geographic regions, musical genres, and historical periods. Students will complete introductory exercises in research, transcription, analysis, ethnographic fieldwork, & performance. Humanities. 1 credit. Eligible for GLBL-core, ASAM Spring 2027. Ouyang.
This course will provide an in-depth historical study of Chopin’s music. We will examine the full generic range of Chopin’s compositions, taking into account the various socio-cultural, biographical and historical-political issues that have attached to specific genres. Throughout the semester we will also consider such broader questions as: why did Chopin restrict himself almost entirely to piano composition? How might we locate Chopin’s work within the larger category of 19th-century musical romanticism? What does Chopin’s music mean to us today?
MUSI 011. Humanities. 1 credit. Fall 2027 Milewski. Catalog chapter: Music Department website: http://www.swarthmore.edu/music Access the class schedule to search for sections.
MUSI 107Sound, Salvation, and Statecraft under the Tudors
MUSI 011 or Permission of the Instructor Humantities 1 Access the class schedule to search for sections.
MUSI 108Analysis of Pop Music1
This course explores theoretical orientations and analytical techniques for popular music. This course has three learning objectives: 1) to become familiarized with repertoire in the popular music genre, including multiple styles both recent and traditional; 2) to become familiarized with published theoretical and analytical literature on popular music; and 3) to acquire skills and experience analyzing popular music. Students will listen to multiple styles within the vast repertoire of popular music, examine scholarly literature as it applies to the analysis of popular music and/or its production, apply analytical methods to works selected by both the instructor and individual students, and compose original songs. This course focuses on written and oral communication of ideas, analyses, and critiques based on the reading of scholarly literature and analysis of select repertoire. Students will participate throughout the course via class discussions of music and readings, analytical and critical essays, presentations on articles or individual analyses, and performances of original songs. Students will apply a wide range of analytical approaches to music in a variety of styles and produce close original analyses of popular music repertoires of the student’s choosing.
MUSI 013 Humanities. 1 credit. Catalog chapter: Music Department website: http://www.swarthmore.edu/music Access the class schedule to search for sections.
MUSI 109Music, Race, and Politics: 19th- and 20th-Century Jazz in the US1
This course employs the methodologies of historical-ethnomusicological, a sub-genre of ethnomusicology, to examine the role of race and politics in shaping the multifaceted genre known broadly as ‘jazz’ between the late 19 th and 20 th centuries. Students will use oral histories, biographies, sound and video recordings, original interviews (if possible), and other archival data to consider music and music-making during that time. These resources will enable students to think critically about the factors that contributed to the evolution of jazz over more than 100 years. They will consider the musicians, their music, and the public’s reception of both, in relation to the themes of respectability, gender, race, physical and non-physical forms of racial violence, nationalism, and citizenship. Students will complete short assignments designed to familiarize them with research ethics, archival research, close listening, data collection and analysis, and ethnography. Each of these assignments will contribute to the final project: an original ethnography based on course-specific music and musicians.
Exploration of a number of advanced concepts in music theory including: the study and analytical application of post-tonal theory (including set theory and neo-Riemannian theory), the structure of the diatonic system, applications of theoretical models to rhythm and meter, and geometric models of musical progression.
MUSI 013 Humanities. 1 credit. Spring 2028 Kochavi. Catalog chapter: Music Department website: http://www.swarthmore.edu/music Access the class schedule to search for sections.
