Music

Proseminar in Music Analysis (MUSI 31400)
This proseminar provides both an active, hands-on workshop in musical analysis as well as an opportunity reflect on the nature of academic musical analysis and its place in the disciplinary landscape of 2017. Readings drawn from the current theoretical literature will introduce students to a range of analytical methods, most of which fall outside the purview of the "canonical" graduate music analysis classes in the music curriculum (i.e., Music 31100-31300). In our weekly analytical work we will seek a balance between comparative breadth-drawing on multiple analytical methods-and mastery of specific analytical techniques. Our aim will be to embrace plural methodologies while at the same time honing our critical and evaluative capacities; indeed, we will be especially interested in exploring the status of analytical validity and "criteria of correctness" (Dunsby) in a pluralistic methodological field. Another central theme will be the "multimedia" of academic music analysis: the interaction of sound, text, image, and performance in the effective communication of analytical insight. Repertories addressed will include early music, non-Western repertories (centering especially on the recent work of Tenzer, Roeder, et al), and popular music, in addition to more familiar common-practice fare. Coursework will involve weekly analytical assignments, presentations, and a final paper.

Late Modernities (MUSI 32702)
This proseminar will engage contemporary musicology's revivification of the elusive concept modernity, engaging some grounding theories of the modern alongside new and imaginative work in music and sound studies, much of it reframing what modernity was and, through narrative and archival revision, might still be. Familiarity with western music history, musical repertoire, and music notation may in some cases help but is not a prerequisite.

Aesthetics of Speed (MUSI 33519)
This graduate seminar is an exploration of creativity in speed. With a particular focus on music, seminar participants will survey various genres, epochs, and styles in order to understand the relationship between musical tempo and the speed of music-making, politics, perception, and culture. Where "speed" may refer to mobility, acceleration, tempo, and technicity, this course offers a thematic look at analyses of speed and acceleration, their ontological characteristics, and theoretical possibilities through a combination of philosophical and theoretical texts (including Deleuze and Guattari, Glezos, Virilio, Moten, and Snead). Topics covered will include fastness and sexuality, technology and musicianship, and tempo acceleration and the racialization of sound. Readings will be paired with examples of accelerated music such as Kittitian wilders, Baltimore club music, and additional sounds chosen based on students' particular interests and knowledge.

A complete listing of offerings is available at the Department’s course page.
 

The MAPH Music Specialization comprises the MAPH Core Course plus five (5) 300-level (or above) music-focused courses (one in each subdiscipline represented in the department plus one additional elective), a thesis, and a workshop participation requirement. Students who complete the following requirements will receive a Music transcript notation:

• MAPH Core Course (Foundations of Interpretive Theory).
• Ethnomusicology:
  • One graduate-level course in Ethnomusicology (e.g., Music Anthropology, Proseminar in Ethnomusicology, or Ethnographic Methods seminar).
• Music Theory:
  • One Music Theory course (e.g., History of Music Theory I or Analysis of Twentieth Century Music).
• Music History:
  • One Music History course (e.g., a seminar in Western music history such as Topics in the History of Western Music I or II, or a history-focused elective).
• Music Composition:
  • One Music Composition course (e.g., an introductory composition seminar or a course in electronic/computer music composition).
• One elective within the Music Department.
• MA Thesis:
  • A thesis on a music-related topic, supervised by a faculty member in the Department of Music (thesis advisor should be chosen by the spring quarter of the first year of study).
• Workshop Presentation:
  • Presentation of a portion of the student’s thesis research in a music-focused workshop (such as the EthNoise! or the Sound and Society workshop).

Please direct any questions you may have about specializing in Music to maph-support@uchicago.edu.
 

“Budapest and Bali: Locating Gamelan in Bartok’s ‘From the Island of Bali’”
Isabella Ortega, MAPH ‘25
Advisor: Thomas Christensen

"The Essentials: Sacred and Secular Music and Poetry from the Abrahamic Traditions of Andalusia, Spain"
Ronnie Malley, MAPH '21
Advisor: Philip V. Bohlman

"Hazy Devotion: A Visual Album in Electronic Music, East Asian Instruments, and Sensory Experience"
Hilary Yarger, MAPH '21
Advisor: Steven Rings