2013-14 Undergraduate Index A-Z
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Music [clear]
| Title | Offering | Standing | Credits | Credits | When | F | W | S | Su | Description | Preparatory | Faculty | Days of Week | Multiple Standings | Start Quarters |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Andrea Gullickson and Bret Weinstein
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Program | FR–SRFreshmen - Senior | 16 | 16 | Day | S 14Spring | Humans are unique products of adaptive evolution. Our most remarkable evolutionary features are associated with our overwhelmingly cultural brains, far more flexible and dynamic than the brains of any other creature on earth. But this level of uniqueness creates a problem in the quest to understand ourselves. How are we to comprehend human characteristics that have no parallel, and little precedent, elsewhere in the biota?Of all the unique cultural attributes of humans, music is uniquely perplexing. It exists in every culture, is a significant feature of nearly every human life. Music is produced by both males and females. It can be made with tools as elaborate as a piano, or as sparingly as with a single human voice. It is both collaborative and solitary. It can be enjoyed as a participant or spectator. And music is powerful—reaching into our deepest emotional core where it has the capacity to trigger profound responses, often with zero associated narrative content.This program will confront this deepest evolutionary mystery full force, and on its own terms. We will cultivate an appreciation and comprehension of the structure, meaning and effect of music as we address the evolutionary mechanisms that must have produced it. We will strive as a learning community to experience music’s full glory and mystery, while we grapple rigorously with it as an evolutionary phenomenon. Weekly program activities will include reading, focused listening, workshops, lectures and seminars. Together we will approach program content in a manner that is accessible to students with little background in these areas, while still challenging those with prior experience. | Andrea Gullickson Bret Weinstein | Freshmen FR Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR | Spring | |||||
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Terry Setter
Signature Required:
Fall Winter Spring
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Course | JR–SRJunior - Senior | 4 | 04 | Day and Evening | F 13 Fall | W 14Winter | S 14Spring | This is a year-long long sequence of advanced audio production courses designed to support students who are interested in recording and producing music. Students will become familiar with advanced multitrack audio production techniques, their various applications, history, and aesthetics. Time will be spent each quarter developing the students’ ability to listen critically and providing instruction and exercises in the use of the advanced audio recording studio. In fall, students will train to pass the related proficiency test and develop an understanding of the technical and aesthetic history of audio production. Topics and activities will include basic acoustics; microphone design and placement; the use of compressors, limiters, and console block diagrams; and the theory of digital audio recording, with a strong emphasis on Digidesign’s Pro Tools software. In winter, students will be provided with increasingly advanced instruction and exercises in the use of recording technologies with an emphasis on Pro Tools software, a number of plug-ins, and the creation of mixes, including those for inclusion in the Evergreen Student CD Project. Topics and activities will include techniques for recording a rock band, mixing techniques, and applications of various signal processors. In spring, students will work to create well-balanced, innovative tracking and mixing. There will be an emphasis on mastering techniques and a field trip to four of Seattle’s most active recording studios. The courses do not cover music production from electronic sources. | Terry Setter | Thu | Junior JR Senior SR | Fall | ||
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Kabby Mitchell and Joye Hardiman
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Program | SO–SRSophomore - Senior | 16 | 16 | Day | S 14Spring | How did Black women, of many different cultures and ages, succeed against all odds? How did they move from victim to victors? Where did they find the insurmountable courage to deconstruct and reconstruct their lives? In this program, students will participate in an inquiry-base exploration of the efficacy, resiliency and longevity of the lives and legacies of selected Black women from Ancient Egypt to contemporary Seattle. Our exploration will use the lenses of Ancient Egyptian studies, African, African-American and Afro-Disaporic history, dance history and popular culture to investigate these womens' lives and cultural contexts.The class will have a variety of learning environments, including lectures and films, workshops, seminars and research groups. All students will demonstrate their acquired knowledge, skill and insight by: creating an annotated bibliography; giving a final performance based on the life of a chosen black woman; and an end-of-the-quarter "lessons learned presentation" demonstrating how our collective studies applied to each individual student's life and legacy. | Kabby Mitchell Joye Hardiman | Tue Tue Tue Wed Wed Wed Thu Thu Thu | Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR | Spring | ||||
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Andrea Gullickson and Robert Esposito
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Program | FR ONLYFreshmen Only | 16 | 16 | Day | F 13 Fall | W 14Winter | How do our experiences in the performing arts impact our understanding of and relationship to our environment? How can music and dance be used to transform lives? This two-quarter, core program will focus on the study of music and dance as powerful methods for both exploring and expressing our experiences in the world. Throughout the program we will examine fundamental concepts of music and dance and consider cultural and historical environments that influence the development of and give meaning to the arts. Our work with progressive skill development will require physical immersion into the practices of listening, moving, dancing and making music. Theory and literature studies will require the development of a common working vocabulary, writing skills, quantitative reasoning, and critical thinking skills.Weekly activities will include readings, lectures, seminars and interactive workshops, which will provide the basis for focused consideration of the ways in which our relationship with sound and motion impact our daily lives. Weekly in-program performance workshops will provide opportunities to gain first-hand understanding of fundamental skills and concepts as well as the transformative possibilities that exist through honest confrontation of challenging experiences. Weekly writing workshops and assignments will encourage thoughtful consideration of a broad range of program topics with a particular emphasis on developing an understanding of the power and importance of bringing one’s own voice into the conversation.This balanced approach to the development of physical craft, artistry and intellectual engagement is expected to culminate in a significant written and performance work each quarter. | Andrea Gullickson Robert Esposito | Mon Tue Wed Thu | Freshmen FR | Fall | |||
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Andrew Buchman, Doreen Swetkis and Zoe Van Schyndel
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Program | SO–SRSophomore - Senior | 16 | 16 | Day | F 13 Fall | W 14Winter | This program is a tour of social forces that shape our arts communities, including cultural, organizational, managerial, financial and historical. By examining art, music and theatre worlds, we will discover structures that help foster vibrant artistic communities. We will meet business and nonprofit leaders (often artists themselves) who bring artists and art lovers together. Artistic entrepreneurs with business savvy, as we will see, often make the art world go 'round.The program is designed for students with a strong interest in making a living as an artist, musician or performer, operating in the nonprofit art world, or making a career in creative industries, and bridging the conventional gaps between creativity, business sense and social engagement. Each quarter's work will include an optional week of travel and study an art center in the United States: to New York City during the fall and Los Angeles during the winter. Students unable to travel to these cities can pursue related studies in Seattle and Portland.The program will combine studies of the arts, business and nonprofit administration and management through a rich mix of critical and creative projects, such as analyzing a local arts business or nonprofit organization. An artist who understands the principles of a well-run business and can deal effectively with contracts, grants and negotiations, we'll find, is likely to gain more artistic and professional freedom. Business people who understand and care about the arts, we'll discover, can build careers that include doing good as well as doing well. Organizations built around art forms can help support local cultures and create sustainable manufacturing ventures, too.The nonprofit arts community encompasses a broad range of artistic endeavors such as summer arts camps and festivals, art and music therapy, community theaters, arts foundations and after-school arts programs. For-profit and nonprofit organizations are different, and we want to make sure students gain knowledge of the vast range of ways they can make a living in and around the arts.By the end of the program we expect you to be able to think creatively about ways to connect your own artistic and wage earning work, have an impact on organizations in communities you care about, acquire first-hand knowledge of a diversity of successful arts initiatives, and communicate effectively in the language of business and nonprofit administration. | Andrew Buchman Doreen Swetkis Zoe Van Schyndel | Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR | Fall | ||||
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Marla Elliott
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Course | FR–SRFreshmen - Senior | 2 | 02 | Evening | F 13 Fall | The Evergreen Singers is a continuing choral ensemble of The Evergreen State College community. No auditions are required. We will learn the basics of good voice production and rehearse and perform songs from a range of musical idioms. Members of the Evergreen Singers need to be able to carry a tune, learn their parts, and sing their parts with their section. This class requires excellent attendance and basic musicianship skills. | Marla Elliott | Tue | Freshmen FR Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR | Fall | ||||
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Marla Elliott
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Course | FR–SRFreshmen - Senior | 2 | 02 | Evening | S 14Spring | The Evergreen Singers is a continuing choral ensemble of The Evergreen State College community. No auditions are required. We will learn the basics of good voice production and rehearse and perform songs from a range of musical idioms. Members of the Evergreen Singers need to be able to carry a tune, learn their parts, and sing their parts with their section. This class requires excellent attendance and basic musicianship skills. | Marla Elliott | Tue | Freshmen FR Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR | Spring | ||||
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Marla Elliott
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Course | FR–SRFreshmen - Senior | 2 | 02 | Evening | W 14Winter | The Evergreen Singers is a continuing choral ensemble of The Evergreen State College community. No auditions are required. We will learn the basics of good voice production and rehearse and perform songs from a range of musical idioms. Members of the Evergreen Singers need to be able to carry a tune, learn their parts, and sing their parts with their section. This class requires excellent attendance and basic musicianship skills. | Marla Elliott | Tue | Freshmen FR Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR | Winter | ||||
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Peter Randlette
Signature Required:
Fall Winter Spring
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Course | SO–SRSophomore - Senior | 4 | 04 | Evening | F 13 Fall | W 14Winter | S 14Spring | This year-long series of courses is intended for the musician interested in exploring compositional experimentation with analog and digital synthesis technology and computer applications. In fall, the course will focus on analog synthesis techniques, studio production, and the creation of musical pieces with a focus on new options presented by this compositional environment. Winter will focus on building pieces from techniques of synthesis introduced in fall quarter and learning new digital synthesis techniques, different controllers and sequencers, signal processing, and surround 5.1 production skills. Techniques will include use of percussion controllers, synthesizer voice editing, sample based applications, and plug-in signal processing. In spring, students will develop pieces based on design problems using combinations of computer-based and analog resources covered in prior quarters. New material will include acoustic/electronic sound source integration, mastering techniques, object-oriented voice construction, and advanced production methods. Each quarter, students will complete projects, attend weekly seminar/lecture/critique sessions, use weekly studio times, and maintain production journals. | Peter Randlette | Tue | Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR | Fall | ||
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Ariel Goldberger
Signature Required:
Fall Winter
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Program | SO–SRSophomore - Senior | 16 | 16 | Day | F 13 Fall | W 14Winter | This academic offering is devoted to studies, research and explorations of creativity, imagination and innovation from various disciplinary and inter-disciplinary frames of reference. This program will take the original focus on collaborative education and interdisciplinarity of the college very seriously and will rely on student energy, interest and initiative. Students will be asked to collaborate with the faculty to design, direct, and engage a program of studies focused on the latest developments in the study of creativity, imagination, and innovation. The goal is to endow studies with personal relevance, agency, and passion. The faculty will act as a facilitator and guide helping you when difficulties arise, but may not be able to provide expertise in all areas.Students will be strongly encouraged to pursue their interests, to weave them into the class to create a vibrant learning community, and to organize their studies with unique combinations of subjects, imaginative modes of study, and activities. For example, students may study creativity by blending theory and practice, and through the lens of fields like psychology, myth studies, education, cultural studies, writing, literature, arts, consciousness studies, or any combination, including subjects not mentioned, agreed upon with the faculty. Participants will collaborate with the faculty to design common activities such as seminars, and an independent project, based on team or individual interests. Students are welcome to include, as part of their practicum, or project, internships in fields that foster creativity and imagination, and are advised to initiate the required paperwork with Academic Advising as necessary.Focused individuals with a lively sense of self-direction, discipline, and intellectual curiosity are strongly encouraged to apply. | Ariel Goldberger | Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR | Fall | ||||
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Ben Kamen
Signature Required:
Fall Winter Spring
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Course | SO–SRSophomore - Senior | 4 | 04 | Evening | F 13 Fall | W 14Winter | S 14Spring | In this year long sequence, students will explore the creative use of the music technology labs. Original compositions will be the primary goal of the course work, with clear technical learning objectives for each assignment. Reading and listening will provide a historical and theoretical context for the creative work. Fall quarter will focus on the operation of mixers, tape machines, and analog synthesizers, looking to the work of early electroacoustic composers for inspiration. In the winter, students will begin working with the computer as a compositional tool, creating sound collages and compositions using MIDI to control hardware and software instruments. The spring quarter will focus on electronic music in performance and the development of independent projects. | Ben Kamen | Tue | Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR | Fall | ||
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Terry Setter
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Program | JR–SRJunior - Senior | 12 | 12 | Day | F 13 Fall | W 14Winter | This program is a two-quarter-long investigation of the relationship between sound, music and human consciousness. We will compose original music and explore the psychological and aesthetic effects that music has on us. The program is for experienced composers and performers. It is primarily a musical endeavor, working with aspects of psychology and contemplative studies, rather than a study of psychology that involves aspects of music. The program goal is to become better composers and performers and to develop greater understanding of the qualitative aspects of listening, how music “functions” in our lives and how it relates to the broad field of Consciousness Studies. To do this, we will read texts that deal with established contemporary compositional techniques as well as seminal texts and recent findings in Consciousness Studies. Research topics could include the effects of music at the somatic level, studies in psycho acoustics, and surveys of techniques used in music therapy. Students will be expected to complete compositions, research projects and listening exercises and to keep a journal related to their experiences with the music that we create.In fall, we will build listening and compositional skills and begin to relate these to the psychological and spiritual dimensions of the pieces, learning to use appropriate vocabulary and critical techniques. In winter, students will deepen these musical skills and they will select a topic for a twenty-minute formal research presentation that will be presented during week nine. There will also be a public concert of original pieces at the end of the winter quarter. | Terry Setter | Junior JR Senior SR | Fall | ||||
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Arun Chandra
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Program | FR–SOFreshmen - Sophomore | 16 | 16 | Day | F 13 Fall | W 14Winter | S 14Spring | How shall we study music? We can watch others doing it on YouTube, we can hear others doing it on YouPod or we can read about others doing it on YouKindle.Let's DO it! (Sadly, there's no "YouDo".)Let's study music by creating and performing it. After all, music's a thing made by the brain, the heart and the fingers.You'll be asked to sing, study an instrument and perform for others in the class, write vocal and instrumental arrangements and sing and perform them. The class environment will not be a competitive one: the goal is to stretch out and learn and challenge oneself and not compare one someone with another one someone. The study of music requires a commitment to practice, to listen, to remember and to learn. This program aims to offer you time in which to do just that.You'll learn about writing harmonies, singing them, and about how difficult it is to write vocal parts that are interesting both melodically and harmonically. There will be a strong emphasis on ear training, sight singing and aural dictation, along with studies in tonal harmony. You'll be asked to write and perform musical canons. We'll study the history of Western classical music, jazz music from the early 20th century, popular music of the past 50 years and experiments in music composition as well. There will be regular listening sessions, along with readings from the arts.In class, students will be assigned performance groups, and each group will be asked to prepare a vocal or instrumental work. This will happen twice each quarter. Rehearsal time will be set aside for such practice, and the faculty will act as a coach for the rehearsals. Each quarter, students will be asked to write one substantial research paper exploring an aspect of music they are unfamiliar with. There will be class trips to concerts in Seattle and Portland, along with visiting guest artists throughout the year. During spring quarter, students will be working on independent projects under faculty supervision. These projects will be developed and submitted by the end of winter quarter. They should combine research and study with creativity and performance, culminating in an end-of-spring-quarter mini-conference, with students delivering both research presentations and musical performances.In addition to classroom activities, each student will be expected to take instruction in a musical instrument outside of class and bear the cost of that instruction (the faculty member can help you find a teacher for your instrument). Practicing an instrument is a way to bring together the seemingly separate activities of the brain, the heart and the fingers: it concretizes music theory, gives a goal to the wobbling fingers and releases the heart from its regularity of "thump thump thump". | Arun Chandra | Freshmen FR Sophomore SO | Fall | |||
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Ratna Roy and Joseph Tougas
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Program | FR ONLYFreshmen Only | 16 | 16 | Day | F 13 Fall | W 14Winter | Have you ever felt that your mind and your body were just “out of sync”? How about the other experience—when your mind and body were working together flawlessly, when you felt “in the flow”? These kinds of experiences invite other questions about the relation between the mind and the body, questions that have been the focus of thinking and research in cultures around the world. There is, for examples, a tradition in Western philosophy that has emphasized the separation between the mind and the body. Other traditions emphasize their interaction and unity. Does the mind control the body? Or is it the other way round? What can we learn about these questions if we challenge ourselves to use our bodies to interact precisely and skillfully with others? This is the kind of thing people do when they learn to move together in dance, or to raise their voices in song.This program will explore the connections between the mind and the body through the media of music and dance. We will learn about the scientific investigation of the interaction between mind and body, especially in connection with the kinds of social activities that bring people together in communities of artistic endeavor—for example, a jazz band or dance group. We will examine both Eastern and Western philosophical traditions to see what we can learn about different ways of understanding the relationship between the mind and body as manifested in disciplines of motion and rest. We will also engage in practice involving music and dance, experiencing first hand the unity of thought and action.The work of the program will include reading literature from a variety of cultures as well as philosophical and scientific texts. Students will write short essays on the weekly readings in preparation for seminar discussions. They will also participate in workshop activities learning musical and dance skills. During the fall quarter the workshop emphasis will be on building skills; during winter our attention in the workshops will be directed toward creating and presenting music and dance in performance. | Ratna Roy Joseph Tougas | Freshmen FR | Fall | ||||
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Marla Elliott
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Course | FR–SRFreshmen - Senior | 2 | 02 | Evening | F 13 Fall | This class will help students learn fundamentals of music literacy and beginning piano technique and also help them develop free, healthy singing voices. At the end of each quarter, students will perform both vocally and on piano for other class participants and invited family and friends. This class requires excellent attendance and a commitment to practice every day; credit will be awarded in musicianship. | Marla Elliott | Thu | Freshmen FR Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR | Fall | ||||
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Marla Elliott
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Course | FR–SRFreshmen - Senior | 2 | 02 | Evening | W 14Winter | This class will help students learn fundamentals of music literacy and beginning piano technique and also help them develop free, healthy singing voices. At the end of each quarter, students will perform both vocally and on piano for other class participants and invited family and friends. This class requires excellent attendance and a commitment to practice every day; credit will be awarded in musicianship. | Marla Elliott | Thu | Freshmen FR Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR | Winter | ||||
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Ben Kamen
Signature Required:
Spring
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Course | SO–SRSophomore - Senior | 4 | 04 | Evening | S 14Spring | In this course, students will develop independent projects building upon their work from previous quarters. Students will dive deeper into technical issues of interactivity and programming using Max/MSP/Jitter, Arduino, and Processing. Students will present project proposals and participate in workshops and critiques along the path to a finished work. Readings and seminar will ground and contextualize our creative work. This course is only open to students previously enrolled in one of the previous "Numbers" courses or with equivalent experience. | Ben Kamen | Mon | Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR | Spring | ||||
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Ben Kamen
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Course | SO–SRSophomore - Senior | 4 | 04 | Evening | F 13 Fall | This course will examine music theory and sound synthesis through the lens of the Max/MSP/Jitter programming environment. Students will learn how musical ideas can be expressed and manipulated using numbers, simple mathematics, and logic. We will work with musical scales, intervals, chords, and rhythms as well as 20th century concepts of musical organization. Students will dive into digital synthesis techniques, exploring the overtone series and its relationship to timbre. Students will create compositions that explore generative compositional processes, synthesis techniques and tuning systems. No prior musical experience is necessary. | Ben Kamen | Mon | Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR | Fall | ||||
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Andrew Buchman and Ratna Roy
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Program | FR–SRFreshmen - Senior | 16 | 16 | Day | S 14Spring | We will focus on the dance and music culture of central eastern India, specifically the art-rich state of Orissa. While some music or dance background would be useful, it is not necessary. This is a culture and history offering, along with some practical hands-on experience in dance and music. We will immerse ourselves in both the history and sources of this ancient culture of dance and music, and its active contemporary scene. Our readings will include cutting-edge articles and book chapters exploring themes such as gender, colonial history and post-colonial theory and the economic ferment that is transforming many aspects of Indian society today. In seminars, we'll compare and contrast ancient and modern, Indian and American aesthetics, world views, values and attitudes. In workshops, we will explore the rich vocabularies of sound and movement that make Orissa's traditional performing arts so rewarding to study.The first evidence of Orissa's dance and music culture is preserved in sculptures and images that are about 2,000 years old. The culture thrived for centuries before it declined under colonial rule in the 1800s, and began to revive in the 1950s and 60s after India became an independent nation-state. This revival still continues, and we will be a part of that effort. Dancers, musicians and scholars will work together and re-create the tradition for our own times. At the end of the quarter, we will present a performance incorporating music and dance from Orissa at various levels of skill so that most students can participate.Some previous training in dance or music would be useful, but is not expected. Students who don't wish to focus on music or dance performance can pursue a research option, in consultation with faculty. | Andrew Buchman Ratna Roy | Tue Wed Thu | Freshmen FR Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR | Spring | ||||
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Sarah Williams
Signature Required:
Fall Winter Spring
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SOS | SO–SRSophomore - Senior | 12 | 12 | Day | F 13 Fall | W 14Winter | S 14Spring | This year-long program provides an opportunity for students to work on a large, highly collaborative project that requires a multiplicity of skills and knowledge: documenting an Olympian patron of the arts. Students will form a learning community in order to work collectively and collaboratively on a feature-length documentary film about philanthropy and patronage of the arts. Each student will take on specific roles related to editing, marketing/PR, soundtrack composition, and interviewing/researching. However, in order to build new skills, all students will collaborate on every aspect of the project. Students will work together, share research results, and participate in regular critiques with faculty and staff. Collaborative work will include field trips, audio recording, cinematography, marketing, interviewing, and editing. Faculty and staff will support student work through regular meetings, critiques and problem-solving discussions. The peer learning community will collaboratively determine the direction and success of this project. Academic work for each quarter will include weekly meetings with the continuing student director/producer and bi-monthly meetings with faculty and staff in Media as well as Development and Alumni Programs. In addition, students will maintain an academic blog to document the progress of the on-going project . For Fall and Winter Quarters the students will produce a work-in-progress screening. In the spring, the students will organize a campus-wide screening and prepare the film for festival submission. This program is ideal for responsible, enthusiastic and self-motivated students with an interest in developing and reflecting on a substantial project over a substantial period of time. | Sarah Williams | Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR | Fall | |||
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Marla Elliott and Marcella Benson-Quaziena
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Program | JR–SRJunior - Senior | 8 | 08 | Weekend | F 13 Fall | W 14Winter | S 14Spring | You are the most powerful and versatile tool you have. Do you know who are you and what you stand for? Is that who you want to be? How can you use your presence as an instrument of change? How do you know what you evoke/provoke in others? How do you move in the world with awareness of your authentic self? The ability to communicate and influence is crucial to our effectiveness as we move through many systems. This program is designed for students who want to develop skills of self-knowledge and “use of self” as an instrument of social change. | Marla Elliott Marcella Benson-Quaziena | Sat Sun | Junior JR Senior SR | Fall |