Music: Creation, Performance, and Meaning

This course introduces students to diverse musical genres, including orchestra, wind ensemble, choral, chamber music, opera, jazz, and non-Western traditions. Through creating, analyzing, and interpreting music, students examine music as an expression of human experience, knowledge, and emotion. Course instructors and guest lecturers from across the Music Department guide students in composing and performing music, enabling them to engage directly with fundamental elements such as timbre, pitch, rhythm, dynamics, and form. Through creative work alongside discussion, listening, reading, and writing, students learn to situate live musical performance within historical and cultural frameworks and to critically examine how and why music is created. No prior music experience is required.