University of Pennsylvania, Department of Music
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Introduction Music Major Music Minor Jazz and Popular Music Minor Introductory Courses Course Timetable Course Register Undergraduate Advisory Board

Introductory Undergraduate Courses


Music 021 Introduction to the History of Music
In this historical survey, the student learns to listen analytically to music from the Middle Ages down to the present day. A wide range of musical repertories including plainchant, opera, orchestral music, and chamber music is covered. Composers studied include Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Verdi, and Wagner.
Fulfills School of Arts and Sciences Sector III Distributional Requirement for Class of 2009 and Earlier. Fulfills Arts and Letters Sector III for Class of 2010 and later. This course also fulfills School of Engineering and Applied Sciences Humanities Requirement and Wharton Undergraduate Global Environment Requirement.

 

Music 030 History of Opera
A historical survey of opera from 1600 to the present day, based on close study of individual works. Composers examined include Monteverdi, Purcell, Handel, Mozart, Verdi, Wagner, and Stravinsky, among others.
Fulfills School of Arts and Sciences Distributional Sector III: Arts and Letters Requirement for Class of 2009 and earlier. Fulfills Cross Cutural Analysis foundational approach for Class of 2010 and later. This course also fulfills School of Engineering and Applied Sciences Humanities Requirement and Wharton Undergraduate Global Environment Requirement.

 

Music 040 History of the Symphony
A historical survey of representative symphonies by such composers as Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Berlioz, Schumann, Brahms, Tchaikowsky, and Mahler. Emphasis is placed on the music itself, particularly on the ways we can sharpen our abilities to engage and comprehend the composers' musical rhetoric.
Fulfills School of Arts and Sciences Distributional Requirement Sector III: Arts and Letters for Class of 2009 and earlier. Fulfills Cross Cutural Analysis foundational approach for Class of 2010 and later. This course also fulfills School of Engineering and Applied Sciences Humanities Requirement and Wharton Undergraduate Global Environment Requirement.

 

Music 050 World Musics and Cultures
Surveying repertories of various societies from Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Americas, this course examines relations between aesthetic production and social processes. We investigate musical sounds, cultural logics informing those sounds, and social strategies of performance. Topics include indigenous music theories, music and social organization, symbolic expression and musical meaning, gender, religion, and social change.
Fulfills School of Arts and Sciences General Requirement Sector III: Arts and Letters for Class of 2009 and earlier. Fulfills Arts and Letters Sector III and Cross Cutural Analysis requirement for Class of 2010 and later. Also fulfills School of Engineering and Applied Sciences Humanities Requirement and Wharton Undergraduate Global Environment Requirement.

 

Music 070 Music Theory and Musicianship I
An introduction to the basic notational and theoretical materials of music, complemented by work in ear training and sight-singing. Topics covered include the notation of time and pitch, scales, intervals, chords, progressions, melody writing, harmonization, analysis, and musicianship.
Fulfills School of Arts and Sciences sector IV: Formal Reasoning and Analysis for all classes.

 

Music 075 History of Jazz
The development of jazz across the twentieth century. Analysis of the stylistic flux of jazz considered from the perspectives both of the artists involved and of the cultural conditions in which they worked. Musicians examined will include Armstrong, Ellington, Holiday, Parker, Monk, Davis, and others.
Fulfills School of Arts and Sciences Distributional Requirement Sector III: Arts and Letters for Class of 2009 and earlier. This course also fulfills School of Engineering and Applied Sciences Humanities Requirement.

 

 

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