Music

The music program at Simon’s Rock combines a thorough grounding in essential musical skills with explorations of diverse musical languages, including the gamut of Western classical periods and styles, jazz, electronic music, and many “non-Western” forms of music. Students explore music’s connections to other dimensions of human experience, expression, and inquiry.

The program offers historical, theoretical, comparative, and applied course sequences as well as performing opportunities. The historical sequence acquaints students with the trends and literature of Western music and with the stylistic development of jazz. The comparative musicology sequence (ethnomusicology) starts with Music in World Cultures and continues with various special courses (i.e., Cultural Perspectives: Music of India and Cultural Perspectives: The Music of East Asia) which may tie in with subjects such as anthropology. The goal of this sequence is an understanding of music as a universal human activity.

The theory sequence moves through harmonic, contrapuntal, and analytic units. The composition courses may be seen as components of the theory sequence, which is equally relevant to all advanced-level courses and practical musical activities.

The applied sequence offers many opportunities for developing performing skills. Private instruction in piano, voice, string, brass, woodwinds, and percussion is available through the Community Music Program at an additional fee. Students may earn one credit for private instruction. Advanced students may earn one or two additional credits by preparing and performing the major portion of a solo recital. Advanced students planning to take three combined applied performance credits in a semester are also required to file an Independent Music Project Contract at the beginning of the semester, outlining their goals and strategies. Other courses encourage students to pursue additional directions in the world of music, including electronic music using a state-of-the-art MIDI (Music Instrument Digital Interface) laboratory, jazz improvisation, and composition in which students creatively explore many forms, styles, and methods.

Simon’s Rock is the home of South Berkshire Concerts, a series that brings distinguished professional artists to campus several times each semester.

Community Music Program/Private Musical Instruction Simon’s Rock offers private lessons to its students and to residents of Berkshire County through the Community Music Program. The music faculty also provides supplementary enrichment such as group classes and frequent performing opportunities. Qualified music students may work toward one academic credit per term by registering for Music 100/400. Music lessons are graded Pass/Fail. Advanced students who have taken lessons for at least one semester at Simon’s Rock may take lessons on a graded basis by submitting a form to the academic affairs office. Students can earn additional credit for solo performances and advanced study. Instruction is regularly available in voice, guitar, oboe, violin, and piano; lessons on other wind, string, and percussion instruments may also be available. Lessons are arranged through contracts for 13 or 26 lessons, and are offered at an additional fee. To complete registration, a Music Lesson Contract must be submitted. Lesson schedules are arranged with individual instructors.

Hearing Music: A Phenomenology of Listening The act of listening to sound and music is explored through writing, discussion, and assembly of sounds. The psychological and physical aspects of sound are connected to musical gestures, basic forms, and social practices within the shared “sound space.” Related topics may be introduced by students. Key concepts touched on will be the relationships between a) sound and time (rhythm); b) sound and space (pitch and texture); c) sound and society (texture, acoustics); d) sound and self (creativity, expression); and e) sound and technology (mechanical reproduction and historical antecedents).

Musicianship Students without previous experience in notation or those wishing to renew their acquaintance with musical fundamentals should register for this course. It is recommended for all students taking music lessons, as well as those taking music theory or composition courses. The course covers melodic dictation, rhythmic drills, the composition of simple pieces, and instruction on recorders.

The Piano A close look at the piano, from its origin in 1699 to the present, as technological object, artistic vehicle, social phenomenon, and symbol of domesticity, poetry, and sexuality. We will consider the evolution of its physical structure in connection with changes in technology and with the requirements of artists and players; and we will sample music written for it during all phases of its development, from Guistiniani's Sonatas of 1739 through Beethoven, Liszt, Joplin, Nancarrow, Tatum, Cage, Monk, and the computer-controlled Diskklavier. Activities may include field trip to the Frederick Collection of Historical Instruments in Ashburnham and the Mason and Hamlin piano factory in Haverhill. Level: no prerequisites. Assignments: reading notes, responses to assigned listening, and one paper (5-8 pages).

Chorus The rehearsal and reading of works from part-song and choral literature from the Middle Ages to present. Chorus is open to all students and community members by audition. Previous singing experience and some music reading ability are desirable preparation.

Jazz Ensemble This course features the reading and rehearsal of jazz literature in a wide range of styles. It is open to all students and community members by audition. Some ability to read music is required.

Cultural Perspectives: Music in World Cultures This course is an introduction to a variety of traditional and contemporary musical styles from contrasting cultures. It also explores the ways music interacts with religion, philosophy, social systems, and other arts. No previous musical training is required.

Charles Ives: Imagining America Pioneering American composer Charles Ives (1874-1954) composed his musical portrait of an America rich in historical, philosophical, and mythological overtones. Eccentric and experimental, Ives came to see his music as a continuation of the work of the Concord Transcendentalists, especially Emerson and Thoreau. His biographers also see it as a continuation of the musical explorations of his father, a village band-master. His works combine European influences with American folk and popular music in an approach that prevented his music from reaching a larger audience until after his death, but which has steadily gained acceptance as a singular, oracular American voice. Students consider both his music and writings. No prerequisites.

Independent Music Projects Intensive private study is available through a limited number of independent music projects. These expanded lessons include an additional component, such as public performance, applied theoretical study, or repertory expansion. Prerequisite: permission of the instructor and the music program.

Medieval Music The music of the church (ca. 600-1400) in chants and early forms of harmony, the rich variety of secular forms which address the broad range of the medieval experience, the evolution of musical notation, the role of music in society: these topics are explored not only through recordings, readings, and discussions, but through performances by the members of the class. No prior experience is necessary, but those who do read musical notation can assist those who do not.

Renaissance Music “Nothing worth listening to was written until forty years ago,” wrote Tinctoris, ca. 1500. At the apex of the aristocracy, unhindered by a fragmented church, individual creativity was released in a continuous celebration of human capacity and human experience by means of a new-found technical sophistication in the arts. Music underwent a profound transformation as musicians discovered the power of sensuously appealing tones to convey the intimacy and intensity of their private experiences. The course covers the period from 1450 to 1600.

Earlier Baroque Music The modern musical era was born in a concentrated period of revolutionary activity focusing on the creation of opera and of free-standing instrumental forms. This module explores music written between the beginning of the 17th century and the birth of Bach (1685). In addition to opera and monody, it focuses on the creation of sonatas, fugues, concerti, and music built around the Lutheran chorale. Composers include Monteverdi, Gabrieli, and Schütz.

Later Baroque Music (Bach and Handel) This course focuses on the music of the later baroque period (ca. 1680-1750) which was dominated by the two contrasting German masters Johann Sebastian Bach and George Frederick Handel. We will become familiar with the musical languages, styles, genres, forms, and social functions of the music of this era; develop listening skills; and learn about the artistic standards and expectations of the times. This will be set against the background of the biographies of the two composers as well as of the other arts (literature, painting), philosophy, religion, science, technology, politics, and social life in contemporary Europe.

Theory I and II: Introduction to Tonal Harmony Theory I introduces the tonal system through the composition and analysis of simple melodies. The course gradually builds the picture of harmonized melody by developing bass-lines and inner voices utilizing triads in all inversions. It also builds basic musical skills, emphasizing interval identification and minimal keyboard familiarity. Theory II introduces the use of dissonance in the form of suspension and seventh chords, and chromaticism in the form of secondary harmonies and modulatory progressions. Chromatic harmonies (Neapolitan and augmented sixth chords) and enharmonic relations complete the tonal picture. Short whole pieces from the Baroque period are used as first examples of whole-piece analysis.

Composition Students present original compositions for examination, discussion, and performance by the class. Course work includes writing for combinations of instruments or voices, with the possibility of public performance available. Exercises in counterpoint and arranging are included. Where relevant, contemporary compositions are studied through scores and recorded performances.

Introduction to Electronic Music An introduction to the processes of sound synthesis and sound assembly through the structure of a computer-controlled MIDI studio with backup sequencing and notational software. The course covers digital and sampling synthesis, compositional structures that can be programmatically manipulated through editing and real-time intervention, and many other facets of creating music with the studio-as-instrument. Prerequisites: musical background comparable to one semester of Theory and permission of the instructor. Enrollment is limited due to constraints on studio access.

Introduction to Electronic Music II Using a Macintosh-based MIDI system, students explore new composing software for electronic music, explore new rationales for composition in the electronic medium, and review important events, trends, and aesthetic considerations in the history of electronic music. The focus is on composition, with a strong emphasis on sound design and perceptions of sound. Compositions using students’ unique libraries of sounds are encouraged. Prerequisite: Music 211.

Haydn and Mozart Emphasizing listening and the development of individual responses, this course explores the work of two pivotal figures in late 18th century music, one of whom changed the direction of European music decisively toward instrumental forms (sonata, quartet, symphony) while the other mastered these forms with astonishing speed and also brought the older form of opera to its historical pinnacle. Individual works are examined in depth but with attention to the larger historical context. Student work includes response journals and one paper/project on a self-selected topic. Either an acquaintance with musical notation or some historical or literary background are suggested but not required.

Music of the Romantic Era Music developing in post-revolutionary Europe was influenced by both Napoleonic artistic politics and the rising middle class; it reflected a new flexibility of social class and social roles. It courted and sometimes won the mass public with a style that alternated erratically between the intimate, privileged space of the visionary and the inflated rhetoric of the virtuoso. Good taste and good marketing jockeyed for position; the outcome can be seen in the overwhelming influence of Wagner, affecting those who reacted against him even more than those who set out to follow him. All students are encouraged to love or hate any of the music we study as long as they have fun doing so and saying so. Prerequisite: some music-reading ability.

Music Since World War I This course invites students to treat music written in the 20th century as an open text and to write their own histories of it based on their perceptual and aesthetic interactions with a wide variety of musical gestures, while considering the views of such writers as Adorno, Benjamin, McLeary, Nattiez, and Attali. The class focuses especially on the “loose canon” of early 20th-century masters, particularly exploring the values influencing the continual reassessment of the works of Schoenberg. The issue of relationship to audience is investigated. The class views videos of modern operas and attends a concert in New York or Boston. Students do listening/reading assignments and three self-generated investigations (paper/projects). Some music-reading ability is recommended.

Cultural Perspectives: Jazz: An American Encounter This course explores the historical development, artistic traditions, and cultural meanings of jazz. Jazz is studied both as a musical phenomenon and as a vehicle for an ongoing cultural dialogue that continues to have a profound impact upon many dimensions of American life. The course is organized around the emergence and continuation of dynamic styles such as ragtime, New Orleans, swing, be-bop, polymodal, fusion, and free-form. Individual musicians are studied in the context of historical trends in music and culture. Course work includes listening assignments, readings, and research projects.

Jazz Improvisation Workshop I and II This course develops essential skills in jazz, with particular focus on improvisation. Activities include application of melodic and harmonic concepts to a broad range of standard professional repertoire, harmonic analysis, and possible public performances. Prerequisite: performing experience, music theory at the level of Musicianship (Music 103) or higher, or permission of the instructor.

Jazz Composing and Arranging Jazz composition is an art that requires a delicate balance between the planning of events and the creation of possibilities for unplanned events. The jazz composer or arranger sets up an ongoing partnership with the improvising performers. Successful jazz arrangers are familiar with the stylistic and formal conventions of jazz, with the instruments to be used, and with the capabilities and personalities of the performers. To acquire some of this knowledge, the class learns formal conventions by studying and writing pieces using blues, rounded binary, and open forms, and writes using both the “swing” and “Latin” rhythmic inflections. Students arrange original and “standard” pieces for the instrumentation available in class. The course includes a lab that coincides with rehearsals of the Jazz Ensemble, which performs some of the repertoire studied in class as well as some student compositions.

Beethoven and Schubert A continuation of MUS 215A which can also be taken separately, this module explores the outcome of 18th-century developments in the early 19th century through the works of two contrasting figures: Beethoven (1770-1827), a composer of concert music who worked in the public eye, and Schubert (1797-1828), whose most successful works were meant for homes and salons, and whose moment of fame arrived several generations after his death. Both composers’ innovations were built on the solid foundations of the classical forms and classical tonality, but each created a highly personal style. Individual works are examined in depth but with attention to the larger historical context. Student work includes response journals and one paper/project on a self-selected topic. Either an acquaintance with musical notation or some historical or literary background are suggested but not required.

Vocal Performance: Opera and Musical Theater This course has an emphasis on performance technique, and focuses on various styles of vocal repertoire, including operatic and musical theater. We will discuss the elements that singers need to integrate, such as vocal range, care of the voice, breathing technique, the physiology of singing, different styles and how to approach them. The work will be on an individual basis, with each student presenting a prepared song or aria, as well as in groups working on duets, trios, or scenes. Students should have some background in singing, the ability to learn and memorize music independently, and be ready to work in front of the class. We will be working toward a performance workshop at the end of the semester. Prerequisite: performing experience and permission of the instructor.

Opera and Musical Theater in Concert This course offers students the opportunity to improve their performance skills in opera, operetta, and musical theater in a music-focused environment. Each year, one work by a significant composer will be selected for intensive study, leading to a concert-style production at the end of the module. Each student will prepare one or more roles in the production as his or her primary performance experience. Beyond the single work chosen for performance, students will study other works by that composer, as well as that of related composers whose work emerges out of a similar musical and cultural milieu. In addition, students will explore the relationship between drama and music inherent in all of the music drama genres, and they will develop their skills in realizing dramatic situations through musical choices. This course is intended for experienced singers who are capable of learning music independently, and who are strong in both solo and harmony singing. Prerequisite: Theater 115, a 200-level Theater course, and an audition.

Collegium The Collegium (early music ensemble) will explore early music through playing period instruments such as recorders and viols, and singing. Guitarists, violinists, and cellists may also be accepted. Each semester will focus on music of a particular country or genre. Simon’s Rock owns a tenor and bass recorder as well as treble, tenor, and bass viols, which are free to the users. Students wishing to play recorder should expect to bring their own soprano and/or alto recorders. Plastic recorders, which work very well, can be purchased very inexpensively. Rental instruments may be available for a modest fee. Music will usually be provided, with the caveat that during some semesters students may be required to buy a particular collection of music as part of specific studies. Participation in a final concert as well as regular class attendance is required for receiving credit and a Pass/Fail grade. Students will be expected to practice outside of classes.

Chamber Ensemble The chamber ensemble is engaged in the reading, rehearsal, and performance of classical and modern literature for larger chamber and smaller orchestral ensembles. It is open to students of intermediate to advanced skill on orchestral instruments (strings, woodwind, brass). Individual students may be selected to perform solo concertos with the ensemble.

Advanced Musical Skills This course focuses on the practical and musical skills needed by serious music students who have taken or are planning to take upper-level theory courses. These skills include taking dictation in two and more parts; sight-singing and sight-reading (on instruments); working with melodies in varied meters, rhythms, and modulatory patterns as well as varied modal, chromatic, and nonscalar interval materials; reading scores and playing them at the keyboard; reading C-clefs; transposition; and simple improvisation. Prerequisites: permission of the instructor and, possibly, a Diagnostic Skills Test.

Theory III: Modal and Tonal Counterpoint (16th and 17th Centuries) This course offers an accelerated survey of species counterpoint, up to three parts in fifth species. The tonal segment of this course includes analysis based on Schenker’s concepts of tonal layers, as studied in Theory II, integrated with the more rigorous description of dissonance treatment that emerges from the contrapuntal approach. The work of the second half of the semester culminates in the composition of an extended polyphonic work utilizing contrapuntal techniques.

Theory IV: Analysis, Baroque Counterpoint, and Chromatic Harmony This course is a continuation of both Theory II and Theory III. It includes the analysis of 18th- and 19th-century works of increasing complexity (Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, Brahms, Debussy) following the study of form and chromaticism in Theory II; and it extends the contrapuntal exercises of Theory III to further work in tonal counterpoint, through short student compositions in the baroque style.

Theory V: Approaches to 20th-Century Music A rough chronological study of the posttonal languages of “art” music in the 20th century. The class considers theoretical writings by composers and theorists such as Schoenberg, Schenker as adapted by Salzer, Forte, Perle, Yeston, Hindemith, Boulez, Cage, and Tenney. Attention is paid to the realignment of musical parameters (timbre, texture, rhythm) as architectural elements. Students do short analytic assignments, developing familiar graphic techniques and exploring alternative methods of visual presentation. Each student selects a composer or theorist for in-depth investigation and presentation of findings to the class. Prerequisite: Theory II (minimum); Theory III and IV (recommended).

Cultural Perspectives: The Music of India This course focuses on contemporary performance practice of Hindustani (North Indian) classical music and on the theoretical, historical, and philosophical background of this vital tradition. The class learns several ragas through representative compositions and develops improvisation techniques in alap and tan. Although each class member is required to develop a strong comprehension of musical material, semester projects may center on other aspects of the culture and history of the Indian subcontinent (including Pakistan and Bangladesh). By the end of the semester, musically advanced students do extensive systematic improvisation in at least one raga. Prerequisite: some previous musical experience.

Cultural Perspectives: The Music of East Asia East Asian music will be explored as a constantly changing cultural phenomenon by studying its four thousand years of musical history, and experienced directly through listening and participation. As a subject of philosophical or political significance, music has been discussed by figures from Confucius (6th century B.C.) to Mao Zedong, and is an important component of cultural identification, drawn in ever-widening circles to encompass interactions with elite Western traditions and international popular culture. The class explores many dimensions of East Asian music, including aesthetics, traditional instruments, and musical forms as well as more recent genres. Activities include responses to text and multimedia assignments, in-class music making, and research projects. This interdisciplinary course welcomes students with a previous background in music and/or Asian Studies.

Music Tutorial Under these course numbers, juniors and seniors design tutorials to meet their particular interests and programmatic needs. A student should see the prospective tutor to define an area of mutual interest to pursue either individually or in a small group. A student may register for no more than one tutorial in any semester.