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Maymester/Summer Courses

The Department of Music offers several courses during Maymester and Summer sessions that satisfy humanities requirements. Students can explore the Spoleto Festival USA, music of the Beatles, and even enroll in a Distance Education course.

Course Listings

Course Descriptions

Music and the Arts in the Spoleto Festival USA

SPOL 150 (8 sections) Maymester: MTWRF 8:30 am - 12:00 pm
An interdisciplinary survey of the performing and visual arts at the Spoleto Festival USA. Guest lectures and demonstrations by Spoleto and Piccolo Spoleto participants. Coursework includes attendance at events and written reviews. This course will be team taught by faculty from the School of the Arts.

Music Appreciation

MUSC 131-01 Summer I: MTWRF 9:45 am - 11:30 am
MUSC 131-02 Summer II: MTWRF 9:45 am - 11:30 am
Introduction to the fundamentals of music necessary for intelligent listening. Musical terminology and historical data are presented as needed, but central to the course is the development of more perceptive listening habits through guided listening to a variety of works.

Music Appreciation On-line

MUSC 131-03 Summer II: Distance Education Course
This course will be offered as part of the College's Distance Education program. You will receive the same high quality instruction and content as in a traditional classroom setting, but you choose the time and location – home, workplace, school – wherever you have access to a computer and the Internet.

New Wave: Music of the 1980's

MUSC 222-01 May Evening: TR 5:30 pm - 8:30 pm

New Wave: Music of the 1980’s will examine the short but highly influential pop phenomenon of the early 80’s known as New Wave. Artists and bands examined will include The Police, Elvis Costello, The Cars, The B52’s, The Clash, and others. Special attention will be given to the musical and cultural influences that led to this movement including Punk, Glam, and World Music. The emergence of important women artists such as Chrissie Hynde, Debbie Harry, and The Go Go’s will also be studied.

Like a Rolling Stone: History and Development of Rock Music (1950-2010)

MUSC 222-02 May Evening: Distance Education Course
"Like A Rolling Stone" will trace the origins, development and stylistic nuances of Rock music from its folk and blues beginnings via Elvis, Bob Dylan and the British invasion through the Woodstock, Motown, California surf, Psychedelic, Hippie culture, Heavy Metal, and Grunge movements, exploring the integration of Jazz, Country, Soul, Punk, Reggae & Ska, Pop, Disco, Classical, Rap, Hip-Hop and Electronica. The course will follow the transition of rock from obscure counterculture to mainstream and superstardom, from clubs to arenas and MTV, through shifts in recording technology, industry and modes of distribution, and examine its sociopolitical context, role and influence in global culture.

Music of the Beatles

MUSC 222-03 May Evening: MW 5:30 pm - 8:30 pm
The Beatles have remained popular and culturally relevant for fifty years, through changes of style, fashion, and generation. Why do their songs remain meaningful and popular? What makes a Beatles song “work”? This course explores the phenomenon of The Beatles from multiple perspectives: their early influences in blues, folk, and rock ‘n’ roll, the development of their style from album to album, their complex and provocative engagement with the culture of the 1960s, and the songs themselves as individual works of artistic expression.

All That Jazz: A Guided Tour of America's Music

MUSC 222-04 Summer I: Distance Education Course
This online course examines the rich tapestry of Jazz Music and its contributions to the historical and cultural development of our nation and beyond. Students will be introduced to its aesthetic nuances through the different styles that jazz music comprises, from the blues, ragtime, swing, bebop, through the big-band era, modal and cool jazz, the Brazilian and Afro-Cuban influences and bossa-nova, to fusion, jazz-rock, free jazz and acid jazz, as it developed from its humble beginnings in New Orleans and exploded to St. Louis, Chicago, New York and the West Coast, to Europe and the rest of the world.