Music Courses

MUS 100 Music Reading and Skills 1/2

MUS 100 introduces students to musical notation and organization, including pitch, rhythm, meter, scales, intervals, and chords. Analysis, composition, aural, and keyboard assignments allow students to make connections between the written information communicated by a score or lead sheet and the actual experience of listening to music.

MUS 101 Listening to Music

This course equips students to listen to, understand and discuss music. Selected works and traditions are considered from a variety of analytical, historical and cultural perspectives.

MUS 103 Music Around the World

This course introduces students to a wide range of music from around the world. Guided by questions of where, why, and how humans make music, we will cover traditional, classical, and popular music from Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and North and South America. We will discuss the significance of music to daily life, politics, and religion, and cover how listeners engage with music as recorded media and live performance. Course materials are drawn from scholarship in the field of ethnomusicology. Students do not need previous music performance experience to succeed in this class.

MUS 104 Global Pop Music

This course surveys a wide range of popular music from around the world. Taking a social and cultural perspective, we will discuss contemporary genres like K-Pop, Afrobeats, and Bollywood alongside their twentieth-century precedents. We ask: What makes music popular? How do songs travel across the globe? Who shapes our listening habits? Case studies include music in social movements, state-sponsored music industries, and international copyright conundrums. Course materials are drawn from multimedia scholarship in the field of ethnomusicology. Students do not need previous music performance experience to succeed in this class.

MUS 116 History of Rock

History of Rock traces the evolution of Rock'n'Roll and its various subgenres throughout the 20th and 21st centuries - from its roots in turn-of-the-century America to the British Invasion to the rise of punk, grunge and heavy metal. While focusing on rock's historical and social contexts, students also develop skills for the analysis and criticism of popular music. Additionally, this class examines rock in visual media through documentary films and music videos while exploring its sociopolitical impact with readings from primary sources and contemporaneous journalism.

MUS 125 Digital Audio Production

The transformation of sound into digital data has profoundly affected the creation, production and distribution of music. With the vast majority of music now mediated by some form of digitization, even our basic modes of listening have been shaped by it. This course grapples with the implications of this technology, its history, and its broad range of uses and tools. In doing so, students utilize the Knox Electronic Music Studio to explore the foundational techniques of audio production, synthesis, sampling, podcasting, film scoring, and interactive software development.

MUS 130 Music and Social Movements

Music is a powerful force, amplifying the message of a social movement. Beyond affirmation of political beliefs, what functions can music serve in a movement? Under what conditions can music affect social change and mobilize political resistance? How can we evaluate the effect of music on a movement community and the society, state, or nation? Through global case studies representing both successful and failed social movements through history, this course considers the functions of music in social movements including ideological expression, education, conversion, identity formation, recruitment, mobilization, transformative experience, ritual, fundraising, and internal debate.

MUS 131 The Broadway Musical

This course surveys Golden Age and contemporary Broadway musicals from Oklahoma to Hamilton, with an emphasis on the evolving compositional and dramatic idioms of the genre. Students explore the musical as a multifaceted work of performance art from the perspectives of the composer, the librettist, the director, the performers, and the audience. In addition, students consider how the Broadway musical has reflected and commented upon American history, culture, and social movements over the course of its history. Assignments include listening reflections, three short papers, and a final exam.

MUS 132 Music in the Moment: Exploring Ethnography

Ethnography is the study of the living art of music and musical behavior. Drawing from the fields of anthropology, sociology, musicology, and ethnomusicology, the musical ethnographer examines a living musical practice (an individual performance, a local music scene, a community musical practice, a virtual music community, etc.), employing a variety of methods to observe, interpret, and describe music as a social phenomenon. Students in this course will familiarize themselves with foundational studies in ethnography and ethnomusicology in order to design and conduct an individual ethnographic project.

MUS 145 Music Theory I

Begins a three-course introduction to tonal harmony. MUS 145 will discuss the basic formal, melodic, and harmonic structures that underlie a variety of musical genres. Work will include analysis and composition, as well as general musicianship training (i.e., sight-singing, transcription, and basic keyboard skills).

MUS 169 Global Musicianship Workshop .0 or 1/2

This course explores the relationship between music and athletics in the global entertainment industry. Topics include national anthem controversies, football chants, dance fitness, video game music, and traditional sports like Brazilian capoeira and the Iranian zurkhaneh. We ask: How does music shape our perceptions of what a healthy body looks like? What is the role of music in sustaining fan communities? What happens when ritual practices like yoga and meditation become global trends? Course materials are drawn from multimedia scholarship in ethnomusicology and related disciplines. Students do not need previous music performance experience to succeed in this class.

MUS 170 Conducting and Score Study Workshop .0 or 1/2

This workshop enables students to develop skills that will enhance their ensemble work, whether participating in a Knox ensemble or their own band or performing group. Students will learn basic conducting patterns, rehearsal techniques, and strategies for decoding musical scores.

MUS 171 Music Notation Workshop .0 or 1/2

In this workshop, students will develop the skill of setting music notation in Finale, the industry-standard notation software. Students will consider music notation as a form of communication and will learn strategies for creating an accurate, attractive, and efficient musical score for their compositions.

MUS 172 Transcription Workshop .0 or 1/2

In this workshop, students will develop the skill of notating the music that they listen to, with an emphasis on popular genres. Through individual and group transcription projects, students will consider how musical elements such as meter, rhythm, melody, harmony, and timbre combine in popular music.

MUS 173 Sight-Singing Workshop .0 or 1/2

This workshop invites students to develop their ability to accurately and musically sing a notated melody from a variety of genres including both classical and popular music. Students will work individually and in groups to master scale-degree solmization, melodic pattern recognition, and tuning.

MUS 174 Rhythm Workshop .0 or 1/2

This workshop invites students to engage with the temporal aspects of music, experiencing how meter, rhythm, and tempo are fundamental to our experiences as performers and listeners. Students will work individually and in groups to master rhythmic and metrical techniques such as subdivision of the beat, compound meters, and polyrhythms, both with and without notation.

MUS 175 Improvisation Workshop .0 or 1/2

This workshop invites students to participate in the real-time creation of music. Through a variety of individual and group activities, students will learn strategies for motivic creation and development, pattern recognition, and introductory approaches to melodic improvisation within various harmonic contexts.

MUS 176 Piano Skills Workshop .0 or 1/2

This workshop is designed for students from all disciplines with little or no keyboard experience who have always wanted to learn the basics of playing the piano. Students will develop functional keyboard skills including reading, rhythm, technique, and musical style in a group instruction setting.

MUS 177 Middle-Eastern Music Workshop .0 or 1/2

This workshop invites students to develop their performance skills through the exploration of Middle Eastern musical traditions. Through a variety of individual and group activities, students will develop their melodic and rhythmic aural skills, as well as gain an appreciation for the varied techniques of Middle Eastern music.

MUS 178 Latin-American Music Workshop .0 or 1/2

This workshop invites students to develop their performance skills through the exploration of Latin-American musical traditions. Through a variety of individual and group activities, students will develop their melodic, rhythmic, and harmonic aural skills, as well as gain an appreciation for the varied techniques of Latin music.

MUS 179 How to Practice: Workshop .0 or 1/2

This course is a practicum in practice techniques, designed to help students hone the tools of preparing music for performance. Aimed at improving students' efficiency at building a "toolkit" for learning music, this course covers a wide range of key practice and musicianship techniques, including: knowing what to practice and what technique to use to do it; when to repeat, stitch together, or move on; fixing mistakes; reliably feeling meter; deciphering tricky rhythms, ledger lines, and other sheet-music challenges; audiating and using solf�ge; quickly reading key signatures; and producing even runs of quick notes.

MUS 182 Voice Class 1/2

Class instruction in singing. Basic techniques, skills and vocal literature. This course is particularly for those who have musical ability but little or no previous vocal instruction.

MUS 195D

This course explores the relationship between music and athletics in the global entertainment industry. Topics include national anthem controversies, football chants, dance fitness, video game music, and traditional sports like Brazilian capoeira and the Iranian zurkhaneh. We ask: How does music shape our perceptions of what a healthy body looks like? What is the role of music in sustaining fan communities? What happens when ritual practices like yoga and meditation become global trends? Course materials are drawn from multimedia scholarship in ethnomusicology and related disciplines. Students do not need previous music performance experience to succeed in this class.

MUS 201 Research Methods in Music

This course serves as an introduction to the academic study of music. Students consider conceptions of historical periods, genre, and the canon; become familiar with advanced information fluency tools in the discipline; and build critical reading and writing skills.

MUS 206 Orchestration

Orchestration is the transformation of musical abstraction to physical sound. This course explores how composers of the past and present have chosen to express their ideas through an endless variety of instrumental combinations. Throughout the term, students learn basics of instrumentation such as the range and sound of orchestral instruments, their various combinations, the historical development of the symphony orchestra, and orchestral literature from the 18th to the 21st centuries. Projects include the orchestration of short piano works, analysis of historical re-orchestrations and a final creative or research project.

MUS 210 Jazz History

This course broadens students' knowledge of the spectrum of recorded jazz with a heavy emphasis on listening, primary source readings, speaking, and critical writing. The course examines the basic musical elements that define jazz as a unique musical idiom by examining stylistic periods, major innovators, performers and composers, issues of improvisation, and musical practices. Primary source readings contextualize music through discussions of the complex relationships between jazz, ethnicity, gender economics, politics and social history.

MUS 216 Music and Conflict

This course examines the role of music in situations of violence and displacement. We ask: What are the sounds of conflict? Why make music as a refugee? How does music shape collective memories of war? What are the possibilities and limits of arts-based peacebuilding? Through music, we will explore how ethnicity, religion, class, gender, and sexuality inform wartime experiences; how current crises compare to history; and how people bear witness to trauma. Course materials include scholarly sources, firsthand accounts, and audiovisual media from Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, Central America, and East Africa. No musical experience required.

MUS 220 Opera Workshop

This course focuses on the vocal and dramatic techniques required to perform opera, with some exploration of technical aspects of opera production. Each student is cast in at least one scene from an opera, appropriate for his/her voice, and is responsible for at least one aspect of production. The course culminates in a public performance of scenes from opera.

MUS 237 Music and Culture in the Americas

This class seeks to understand music making and dance as powerfully affective expressive cultural practices that people invest with social value and meaning. We will study a series of conceptual frameworks as well as basic music terminology for thinking about, listening to, and discussing music in specific cultural contexts. Case studies covered include music making in Cuba; Brazil; indigenous and mestizo musics in Peru; North American old-time country, music of the 'folk revival', and of the civil rights movement, among other case studies. This class is designed for non-music majors (although music majors are certainly welcome).

MUS 244 Philosophy of Music

This course considers the nature of music and its significance. Our central question will be: in what ways can music be meaningful? More specific questions may include: What is a musical work? What determines whether performances are authentic or good? Why do we sometimes find music to be not just enjoyable but also intensely moving and even profound? We approach these questions through a careful examination of key texts and arguments in musical aesthetics, and with respect to a variety of musical styles. No special knowledge of philosophy or music is presupposed for students entering the class.

MUS 245 Music Theory II

A continuation of MUS 145, with an emphasis on eighteenth-century music and on techniques related to diatonic modulation. Students will compose several works in eighteenth-century idioms.

MUS 246 Music Theory III

A continuation of MUS 245, with an emphasis on nineteenth- and twentieth-century music and on chromatic materials. Students will present their own analyses of representative works to the class, as well as compose several pieces in nineteenth-century idioms.

MUS 248 Teaching Assistant 1/2 or 1

MUS 254 Music of the African Diaspora

This course examines the transmission of music from Africa throughout Europe, South America, Latin America, the Caribbean, and the U.S. We examine the ways in which African musical systems have traveled, changed, and incorporated new sounds, how the African experience differs around the globe and how displaced communities share core social processes and characteristics. Students examine the concept of blackness as a broad and heterogeneous set of qualities that extend beyond the boundaries of Africanism and African-Americanism. Music studied includes West, North and South Africa, Reggae, Jazz, Blues, Afro-Cuban Santeria, Samba, Candomble, Cap0eira, Merengue, and World Beat.

MUS 257 Songwriting Workshop

This course explores the writing and analysis of popular song by engaging with a wide range of musical styles and approaches, from the Beatles to Kendrick Lamar to Joni Mitchell. Students not only learn to create and develop an original song, but also participate in the process of production and the logistics of performance. Most importantly, this workshop encourages students to explore their own unique poetic and musical voices in a supportive environment.

MUS 262A Cultural Immersion: Drumming and Dance in Ghana 1/2

MUS 262B Cultural Immersion: Drumming and Dance in Ghana 1/2

A continuation of DANC 262A.

MUS 295 Special Topics 1/2 or 1

Courses offered occasionally to students in special areas of Music not covered in the usual curriculum.

MUS 303 Composition

This course introduces the fundamental concepts of composition - harmonic and melodic writing, instrumentation, form - through the creation and performance of short pieces for various instruments and voices.

MUS 307 Instrumental Teaching Techniques I

This is the first of a sequential, two-term course that is dedicated to the preparation of successful teachers of scholastic instrumental music. Topics to be covered will include recruiting, scheduling, curriculum development, methods and materials, selecting literature, and running effective rehearsals. Emphasis will be placed on developing proper playing techniques and pedagogy for brass and percussion instruments. Some clinical observation experiences will be required.

MUS 308 Instrumental Teaching Techniques II

Continuing the format of MUS 307, this course will address the organizational and administrative aspects of teaching instrumental music. Emphasis will be placed on developing proper playing techniques and pedagogy for woodwind and stringed instruments. Some clinical observation experiences will be required.

MUS 309 Secondary School Choral Methods

This course will identify objectives, problems, and methods of teaching vocal music in the schools. Students will acquire functional knowledge of fretted and classroom instruments; methods of teaching singing, rhythmic, and listening activities; the changing voice; and beginning and intermediate choral techniques. Directed observation in elementary and secondary schools required.

MUS 310 Vocal Pedagogy

Includes methods of teaching voice, concentrating on posture, breath management, vowel clarity and placement, legato singing, diction, and developing good choral tone. Students sing for and teach each other. Course will normally be offered for 1 credit, but in exceptional circumstances Music Education students can apply for permission to take it for two terms at 0.5 credits each.

MUS 311 Fundamentals of Conducting

A study of basic conducting techniques, including conducting patterns, beat styles, attacks and releases as they apply to a variety of musical phrases and shorter pieces of music. Both vocal and instrumental musical examples will be used.

MUS 313 Intermediate Choral Conducting

Students continue to develop their conducting technique, both with and without the baton. Students also study score preparation and rehearsal technique, with a focus on choral literature.

MUS 330 Seminar in Renaissance and Baroque Music

This course examines musical culture and practice in the Western European tradition before 1750. Course texts include musical scores and recordings, treatments of music in contemporary criticism, journals, letters, and reviews, and contemporary scholarship from the fields of musicology, theory, and associated academic disciplines. Topics and foci vary from year to year. Coursework will include a major research paper.

MUS 331 Seminar in Common-Practice Music

This course examines musical culture and practice in Common Practice tradition (ca. 1750-1900). Course texts include musical scores and recordings, treatments of music in contemporary criticism, journals, letters, and reviews, and contemporary scholarship from the fields of musicology, theory, and associated academic disciplines. Topics and foci vary from year to year. Coursework will include a major research paper.

MUS 332 Seminar in Music of the Modern Era

This course examines musical culture and practice in the realms of art music of the Modern Era (1900-present). Course texts include musical scores and recordings, treatments of music in contemporary criticism, journals, letters, and reviews, and contemporary scholarship from the fields of musicology, theory, and associated academic disciplines. Topics and foci vary from year to year. Coursework will include a major research paper.

MUS 333 Seminar in Jazz Topics

This course examines musical culture and practice(s) in jazz. Course texts include musical recordings (audio and video) and scores, treatments of music in contemporary criticism, journals, letters, and reviews, and contemporary scholarship from the fields of musicology, theory, and associated academic disciplines. Topics and foci vary from year to year. Coursework will include a major research paper.

MUS 334 Seminar in Popular Music

This course examines musical culture and practice(s) in Popular Musics. Course texts include musical recordings (audio and video) and scores, treatments of music in contemporary criticism, journals, letters, and reviews, and contemporary scholarship from the fields of musicology, theory, and associated academic disciplines. Topics and foci vary from year to year. Coursework will include a major research paper.

MUS 335 Seminar in Ethnomusicology

This course examines musical culture and practice in a variety of non-western traditions. Course texts include musical recordings and scores; treatments of music in contemporary criticism, journals, letters, and reviews; and contemporary scholarship from the field of ethnomusicology and associated academic disciplines. Topics and foci vary from year to year. Coursework will include a major research paper.

MUS 336 Seminar in Musical Theatre

This course examines culture and practice in musical theatre. Course texts include musical scores and recordings; treatments of music in contemporary criticism, journals, letters, and reviews; and contemporary scholarship from the fields of musicology, theory, and associated academic disciplines, Topics and foci vary from year to year. Coursework will include a major research paper.

MUS 340 Advanced Composition Studio 1/2 or 1

Advanced Composition Studio is an intensive creative course in which students produce original musical works for various instrumentations and media. The course builds upon the principles and skills developed in Composition (MUS 303), and is a combination of studio classes and individual lessons in which enrolled students work closely with the instructor on the development, notation and eventual performance of contemporary music. Students will be encouraged to push the boundaries of experimentation beyond the guidelines of historical or conventional styles.

MUS 345 Advanced Analysis Workshop

This course provides students with the opportunity to engage in advanced music analysis and to develop their own analytical research project. Students will begin by considering why and how we analyze tonal music, reading published analyses of works written in a wide variety of styles and genres. Then, students will propose an analysis project, develop a plan for effectively analyzing their chosen piece of music, and present their research to the class.

MUS 348 Teaching Assistant 1/2 or 1

MUS 395 Special Topics 1/2 or 1

Courses offered occasionally to students in special areas of Music not covered in the usual curriculum.

MUS 400 Advanced Studies 1/2 or 1

See College Honors Program.

MUSE 180 Applied Music Group Performance 1/2

Performance for one year in a faculty-supervised performing ensemble. Students receive credit in the spring for participation through the academic year. All MUSE credits are S/U graded.

MUSE 180A Knox College Choir 1/2

MUSE 180B Knox-Galesburg Symphony 1/2

MUSE 180C Knox College Chamber Singers 1/2

MUSE 180D Knox College Jazz Ensemble 1/2

MUSE 180G Combos 1/2

MUSE 180H Galesburg Community Chorus 1/2

MUSE 180I Small Ensembles 1/2

MUSE 180K Enharmonic Fire 1/2

MUSE 180L TriTones 1/2

MUSE 180M New Music Ensemble 1/2

MUSE 180N Knox Chamber Winds 1/2

MUSE 180O Knox Chamber Brass 1/2

MUSE 180P Knox Chamber Percussion 1/2

MUSE 180Q Piano Chamber Ensemble 1/2

MUSL 100 , A-ZZ Applied Music .0 or 1/2

Private instruction at an introductory level in the instruments listed below. May be repeated for credit. A maximum of 1.5 credits in each of MUSL 100, MUSL 200, and MUSL 300 may be counted toward graduation. Note: There is a $335 fee for private lessons. See Other General Fees, under Tuition and Fees. ARTS;

MUSL 100A Bassoon .0 or 1/2

MUSL 100B Cello .0 or 1/2

MUSL 100C Clarinet .0 or 1/2

MUSL 100D Double Bass .0 or 1/2

MUSL 100E Flute .0 or 1/2

MUSL 100F Classical Guitar .0 or 1/2

MUSL 100H French Horn .0 or 1/2

MUSL 100I Oboe .0 or 1/2

MUSL 100J Organ .0 or 1/2

MUSL 100K Percussion .0 or 1/2

MUSL 100L Classical Piano .0 or 1/2

MUSL 100M Saxophone .0 or 1/2

MUSL 100N Trombone .0 or 1/2

MUSL 100O Trumpet .0 or 1/2

MUSL 100P Tuba .0 or 1/2

MUSL 100Q Viola .0 or 1/2

MUSL 100R Violin .0 or 1/2

MUSL 100S Voice .0 or 1/2

MUSL 100T Jazz Guitar .0 or 1/2

MUSL 100U Jazz Piano .0 or 1/2

MUSL 100V Euphonium .0 or 1/2

MUSL 100W Jazz Percussion .0 or 1/2

MUSL 100X Jazz Saxophone .0 or 1/2

MUSL 100Z Jazz Bass .0 or 1/2

MUSL 200 , A-ZZ Applied Music .0 or 1/2

Private instruction at an intermediate level. Enrollment by permission only. For full list of instruments, see MUSL 100.

MUSL 300 , A-ZZ Applied Music .0 or 1/2

Private instruction at an advanced level. Enrollment is by permission only. For full list of instruments, see MUSL 100.