47 courses with the subject MHL, 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.
MHL 121Music in Culture and History3
A course in appreciating music as an informed listener. Includes an introduction to the basic elements of musical style necessary for understanding music in its cultural and historical context, examination of the great European composers and their masterworks, and topics in popular music, jazz, and/or world music. Ability to read music is NOT expected. Gen Ed Attribute: Arts Distributive Distance education offering may be available.
Guided listening to improve understanding and enjoyment of jazz with emphasis on jazz heritages, chronological development, and sociological considerations, culminating in an analysis of the eclectic styles of the 1960s and 1970s. Not open to music majors. Gen Ed Attribute: Arts Distributive, Diverse Communities
MHL 127Sounds of Philadelphia and its Surroundings3
This course examines the rich musico-cultural life of Philadelphia and its surroundings. Through a focus on music history, students will study music, culture, politics, history and migration of the Philadelphia area. The topics and genre covered in the course would be broad and diverse in genre and styles of music. Distance education offering may be available. Repeatable for credit.
Significant topics in music history and literature presented by faculty members and/or visiting lecturers. Designed for the nonmusic major who has had little or no previous musical experience. Not open to music majors Repeatable for credit.
MHL 180Global Soundscapes: Music, History, and Society3
This course examines musical practices and traditions from around the world and explores how music is interrelated with its historical, cultural and social contexts. It introduces students to academic disciplines that study music: music theory, music history, and ethnomusicology. We will gain a global perspective of music by learning about different musical styles and practices, and how cultures shape the creation, performance and consumption of music. The course will also investigate how certain groups of people and their music have been historically marginalized, and how structural inequalities have manifested in the education, performance, and dissemination of music. Students will particularly focus on groups who have been marginalized due to race, ethnicity, and/or immigrant status. By applying the theoretical framework of ethnomusicology, they will study the ways that music has functioned as a way to assert power and give voice to marginalized groups and suppressed issues.
Relationships between the arts (music, literature, fine arts, and dance) stressed through common principles of form and style. Concentration on the development of skills of critical perception through practical application with reference to various arts. Gen Ed Attribute: Interdisciplinary
A historical survey of music from 1600 to 1825. Analysis of appropriate genres, styles, forms, social contexts, aesthetics, and performance practices will be considered. MHL 211 Prerequisite: Successful completion of MHL 210, with a minimum grade of C-. Gen Ed Attribute: Speaking Emphasis
A historical survey from 1600 to 1825. Analysis of appropriate genres, styles, forms, social contexts, aesthetics, and performance practices are considered. Gen Ed Attribute: Speaking Emphasis
Examines ways in which music parallels at least two other visual, performing, and/or verbal arts in Western and/or non-Western culture. Concentration on the development of skills of critical perception through practical application to music and other arts. MHL 301 Prerequisite: Successful completion of MTC 212, or permission of instructor. Gen Ed Attribute: Interdisciplinary, Writing Emphasis
A chamber ensemble specializing in the use of authentic instruments and performance techniques in the music of the Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque eras. Membership by audition. Repeatable for credit. 450
A survey of the role that women played in the history of music from the Middle Ages to the present. Open to nonmusic majors and music majors without prerequisites. Gen Ed Attribute: Arts Distributive
This course traces the development of 1950s rock and roll from its rhythm and blues and country and western sources through the world music influences of the 1970s and beyond. Gen Ed Attribute: Arts Distributive
An introduction to the study of tribal, folk, popular, and oriental music and ethnomusicology methodology. Open to music majors and nonmusic majors without prerequisites.
Development of plainsong and secular monody and beginnings of early history of polyphony through the 14th century. Consideration of trends in the visual arts, history and literature.
A basic course in the origin and development of opera and its dissemination throughout the Western world. MHL 454 Prerequisite: Successful completion of MHL 212 or MHL 380. Gen Ed Attribute: Writing Emphasis
In this course, students will examine the repertory of orchestral music from the mid- eighteenth century to the early twentieth century. The symphony will be the focus; other orchestral genres such as the symphonic poem and music drama will be considered when pertinent to the development of orchestral music. Students will focus on score study and listening in order to develop skills of musical and stylistic analysis with reference to orchestral music, emphasizing aspects such as instrumentation, orchestration, texture, and form to show the evolution of orchestral music into the twentieth century. MHL 455 Prerequisite: Successful completion of MHL 212 or MHL 380. Gen Ed Attribute: Writing Emphasis
Survey of the development of music and musical styles from 1620 to the present. Analysis of styles, forms, aesthetic concepts, and practices. MHL 459 Prerequisite: Successful completion of MHL 212 or MHL 380. Gen Ed Attribute: Writing Emphasis
Significant topics presented by faculty members and/or visiting lecturers. Designed to meet specific needs of undergraduate music majors. Repeatable for credit.
Completion of research and writing for Music History Senior Project. MHL 499 Prerequisite: Successful completion of MHL 498. 2026-2027 CATALOG - UNDERGRADUATE
This course is designed as an accelerated survey of music history from the medieval period through our modern era and it will emphasize concepts of style, form, and genre within a chronological historical format. The goal for this course is to prepare students for further graduate study of different topics of music history.
A chamber ensemble specializing in the use of authentic instruments and performance techniques in the music of the Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque eras. Open by audition. Repeatable for credit.
Exploration of selected topics in medieval music. Specific topics deal with various aspects of music and musical development during this period. The specific topics and their number will vary with each offering of the course. Taught as a seminar with emphasis placed on student participation and research.
Exploration of selected topics in fifteenth and sixteenth-century music. Specific topics deal with various aspects of music and music development during this historical epoch. The specific topics and their number will vary with each offering of the course. Taught as a seminar with emphasis placed on student participation and research.
Exploration of selected topics in the history of music in the baroque period. Specific topics deal with various aspects of music and musical development during this historical epoch. The specific topics and their number will vary with each offering of the course. Taught as a seminar with emphasis placed on student participation and research.
Exploration of selected topics in the history of music in the classic period. Specific topics deal with various aspects of music and musical development during this historical epoch. The specific topics and their number will vary with each offering of the course. Taught as a seminar with emphasis placed on student participation and research.
Exploration of selected topics in the history of music in the earlier nineteenth century. Specific topics deal with various aspects of music and musical development during this historical epoch. The specific topics and their number will vary with each offering of the course. Taught as a seminar with emphasis placed on student participation and research.
Exploration of selected topics in the history of music from the late Romantic to the Present. Specific topics deal with various aspects of music and musical development during this historical epoch. The specific topics and their number will vary with each offering of the course. Taught as a seminar with emphasis placed on student participation and research.
An introduction to the study of tribal, folk, popular, and oriental music and ethnomusicological methodology. Open to music majors and nonmusic majors without prerequisites.
The composers and their major contributions to the various schools of opera. 2026-2027 CATALOG - GRADUATE DEPARTMENT OF MUSIC THEORY, HISTORY, AND COMPOSITION
This is an advanced topics course in music history and/or musicology. Topics might include specific historical eras, composers, genres, or issues arising in the field. Topics courses may focus on a single topic in detail, or on a series of related topics. Distance education offering may be available. Repeatable for credit.
This course is designed to assist the graduate music history major to focus research pursuits toward formulation of a potentially successful thesis topic.
