Nonmajor Summer Classes 2026
GEN MUS 170-0-1
Introduction to Music
Instructor: Imran Amarshi
6-week session, June 22 – August 2
MW, 1:00-3:30 p.m.
RCMA LL-113
This course is designed to provide students with the foundational tools and vocabulary to critically engage with a variety of kinds of music. Surveying a diverse range of musical traditions ranging from classical to popular, we will consider music in its historic and present cultural contexts while developing a working familiarity with the stylistically appropriate terminology of musical description and analysis. Assignments include topical quizzes, short written assignments, and a final project/exam. No musical training is assumed or required.
Required materials: TBD
GEN MUS 175-0-1
Special Topics: Introduction to Global Music
Instructor: Sarah Bartolome
3-week session 1, June 22 – July 12
MTWThF, 10:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m.
RCMA LL-121
This course will introduce students to a variety of music-making traditions from around the world. During class, students will engage in discussion based on readings, participate in listening activities, and interact with local culture bearers. Workshop sessions will also provide students with an opportunity to participate in some of the traditions being studied. Content will feature music from Ghana, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Bali, China, Brazil, Lithuania, and the United States, among others. Students will develop a deeper understanding of music as a human phenomenon and an appreciation for the diversity of musical expressions practiced in communities around the world. No prior musical experience is necessary.
After completing this course, students should be able to:
- Describe and discuss the term “world music.”
- Utilize appropriate vocabulary when discussing and describing a variety of diverse musical cultures.
- Utilize basic ethnographic interview strategies to connect with another person about their lived experiences with music.
- Share deeper understandings of a self-selected musical culture as demonstrated in a final presentation.
Required materials: None required for purchase. Assigned reading, listening, and other materials will be available on CANVAS.
GEN MUS 175-0-2
Special Topics: Popular Music and Society
Instructor: Jennifer Blackwell
3-week session 3, August 3 – August 23
MTWThF, 10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
RCMA LL-121
How does music shape, enhance, and change our society? This course illustrates fundamental social institutions, theories, sociological concepts, and processes surrounding the place of popular music in society. Through explorations of popular music in a variety of contexts, including protest music in the Estonian singing revolution, hip-hop culture’s role in social change, and popular music and the socialization of children (among many others), students will develop enriched understandings of how music can enhance the study of social life. Students will be invited to connect popular music to their own interests or primary areas of study in assignments and discussion. No formal musical background is expected or required to participate in this course.
Required materials: Joseph A. Kotarba, Understanding Society Through Popular Music, 3rd edition. Routledge, 2018. ISBN: 9781138806528. Estimated retail price: $30.
GEN MUS 175-0-3
Special Topics: Music and Artificial Intelligence
Instructor: Daniel Atwood
6-week session, June 22 – August 2
TTh, 10:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
RCMA LL-113
While the pervasive boom of generative AI in recent years has been largely driven by text, image, and video models like OpenAI's ChatGPT and Sora, AI is also increasingly transforming the musical landscape. In 2023, an AI-generated collaboration imitating Drake and The Weeknd went viral on Spotify and Apple Music before being taken down at the request of Universal Music Group, the artists’ publisher. That same year, the song generator Suno emerged, claiming to put the power to generate the next great song in any user's hands. By late 2025, Billboard announced that at least six AI projects had appeared on their charts, one of whom - Xania Monet - secured a $3 million dollar record deal last September. These developments raise questions about the nature of creativity and expression, authenticity and ownership, and the economic impact on human artists.
At the same time, algorithmically-generated music has a much longer history than just the recent AI boom, and this course takes the position that a broader look at this history stands to enrich our understanding of the present situation and its surrounding questions. Thus, students will explore the intersections of music and artificial intelligence through a range of historic and contemporary cases, from 18th-century musical dice games to Cold War-era computer music to current-day pop song generators. We will study how various AI tools are used in music composition, research, improvisation, and performance, as well as the ongoing philosophical, ethical, and legal discourses around AI-produced music. Course work includes essays, participation in in-class exercises, and quizzes.
Required materials: None required for purchase. Assigned reading, listening, and other materials will be available on CANVAS.
GEN MUS 175-0-4
Special Topics: American Musical Theatre
Instructor: Tim Lambert
5-week session 2, July 27 – August 30
MWF, 10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Remote, synchronous
This course will examine the history and development of the Broadway musical, tracing its origins in late nineteenth-century operetta through to the blockbuster productions of today. By participating in this course, students will explore the evolution of the musical as both an artistic and cultural form, learn to listen to and analyze songs and scenes, and develop a language to discuss how music, drama, and dance intersect to tell stories on stage. Examples of topics to be covered include the influence of Gilbert and Sullivan’s operettas on early Broadway, the innovations of composers such as Rodgers and Hammerstein and Stephen Sondheim, and the social and musical impact of recent works like Hamilton and Come From Away. Assessments include listening and viewing journals, attendance, class discussion, written reflections on live or recorded performances, and a final project. This course is open to all students. No prior musical or theatrical experience is required.
Required materials: Allison McLamore, Musical Theater: An Appreciation, 2nd edition. Routledge, 2018. ISBN: 9781138678682. Estimated retail price: $136 from the publisher, but copies may be available elsewhere for $40-$50.
GEN MUS 175-0-5
Special Topics: Music of the African Diaspora
Instructor: Diego Pinto
3-week session 2, July 13 – August 2
MTWThF, 6:00-8:00 p.m.
RCMA LL-121
This course is designed to explore various music cultures born among African peoples and communities forcibly dispersed during the Transatlantic Slave Trade and their descendants. Some of those music genres and rhythms will include Brazilian samba reggae, Colombian currulao, Jamaican mento, and African American spirituals. The course aims to address the musical, historical, cultural, and social contexts of each music culture being featured. Students will actively engage in learning by reproducing musical elements of each culture through movement, singing, and playing instruments. Previous music experience is neither required nor expected.
After successfully completing this course, students should be able to:
- Describe key musical elements, instruments, and terminology associated with Afrodiasporic music traditions.
- Identify the historical, cultural, and social contexts of the music cultures studied
- Demonstrate basic rhythmic patterns, melodies, or movements from selected music cultures through participatory activities such as singing, drumming, or dancing
- Analyze music from various Afrodiasporic cultures by comparing and contrasting their musical features.
- Evaluate the impact of colonialism, globalization, and sociopolitical dynamics on the preservation and transformation of Afrodiasporic music.
- Develop an interdisciplinary final project that holistically represents a selected music culture, artist, or ensemble using insights from readings, listening, and participatory experiences.
Required materials: None required for purchase. Assigned reading, listening, and other materials will be available on CANVAS.
MUS TECH 321-0-1
Producing in the Virtual Studio
Instructor: Chris Mercer
6-week session, June 22 – August 2
MW, 1:00-3:30 p.m.
RCMA LL-121
The class will explore session and post-production techniques in the computer-based project studio, including accompanying hardware components. Topics include running a multi-track session, intensive audio editing, effects processing, mastering, and basic surround mixing. Students will produce audio projects of their own choosing from start to finish with the goal of creating tracks at professional standards.
Required materials: None require for purchase.