- Major
- Minor
- Course Descriptions
- Individual Lessons
- Auditioning
- Facilities
University of San Diego
Music
Founders Hall 175
5998 Alcalá Park
San Diego, CA 92110
(619) 260-2938
carlap@sandiego.edu
Department Chair
Fred Miller Robinson, Ph.D.
fredr@SanDiego.edu
Media Contact
Pamela Gray Payton
grayp@sandiego.edu
(619) 260-4681
Find us on
Course Descriptions
100D Introduction to Music / 3 UNITS
Introduction to musical styles and trends from a multicultural perspective. Examination of the connections between cultural developments and musical creativity. The significance of music and its role in basic human expression. Critical exploration of musics as diverse as the Western European tradition, American contemporary and popular music, and non-Western traditions. Recorded listening assignments and concert attendance required. This course fulfills a core curriculum requirement.
101D Introduction to American Popular Music / 3 UNITS
This course provides a broad overview of musical, historical, and cultural aspects of 20th-century American popular music from the late 1800s to the present. We will use the interplay of social trends and new developments in popular music to generate various questions about America’s shifting political and cultural attitudes. Topics will include minstrelsy, vaudeville, blues, jazz, rhythm and blues, country, rock n’ roll, soul, punk, funk, hip hop, and more. Attention will be given to the ongoing influence of technology on musical innovation, intercultural and inter-racial dimensions of popular music, and recurring cycles of rebellion against and acceptance by the popular music industry. Through a critical examination of the concept of the “popular” we will look at the social function of music in everyday life, and the role of music in America’s diverse cultural fabric. This course fulfills the fine arts core requirement.
102D Introduction to Jazz / 3 UNITS
A survey of jazz from the early 1900s to the present, including all major styles from Dixieland, to bebop, free jazz, funk, and hip-hop fusions, and major artists such as Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, and Miles Davis. The roles of race politics, economics, religion, and education in jazz will be examined. Students will develop critical listening skills and will learn to distinguish artists and genres. No previous musical training required. This course fulfills a core curriculum requirement.
103D Introduction to Rock Music / 3 UNITS
This course provides a broad overview of musical, historical, and cultural aspects of 20th-century American popular music in the Rock Era (1950s to the present). We will use the interplay of social trends and new developments in popular music to generate various questions about America’s shifting political and cultural attitudes. Topics will include rhythm and blues, rock n’ roll, soul, hard rock, metal, punk, funk, disco, pop, hip hop, electronica, and more. Attention will be given to the ongoing influence of technology on musical innovation, intercultural and inter-racial dimensions of popular music, and recurring cycles of rebellion against and acceptance by the popular music industry. Through a critical examination of the concept of the “popular” we will look at the social function of music in everyday life, and the role of music in America’s diverse cultural fabric. This course fulfills the Fine Arts Core Requirement.
105 Class Piano I / 1 UNIT
Designed for students with no prior keyboard experience. Study of notation, keys, scales, chords, and elementary piano repertoire. May be repeated for credit up to 2 units.
107 Class Voice / 1 UNIT
Voice study in a classroom environment for beginners. Students will be introduced to correct breathing techniques, vocal production, and sight reading. Fee required to pay for accompanist. May be repeated for credit up to 2 units.
108 Class Guitar / 1 UNIT
Guitar study in a classroom environment for beginners. Basics of traditional notation, chordal accompaniment, and development of right and left hand techniques. Emphasis on how the guitar is used in a variety of styles including classical, Flamenco, blues, and jazz. Students must have their own instrument. May be repeated for credit up to 2 units.
109 Introduction to Sound Art / 3 UNITS
A survey of the natural, cultural, historical, and artistic experience of sound with an emphasis on the use of sound in artistic and critical engagements with the world. Topics include: acoustic ecology, philosophy of music, musical instrument technology; scientific and mathematical application of sound; radical challenges to musical traditions in the 20th century, including electronic, experimental, and improvised musics; installations and sound sculpture; technologies of sound reproduction; copyright and technological change; sampling; and DJ culture. Cross-listed as ARTH 109. This course fulfills a core curriculum requirement.
110 Introduction to the Materials of Music / 3 UNITS
A core curriculum course in the basic elements of Western music notation, rhythm, major and minor scales, triads, and their practical application in singing and keyboard playing. Suitable for students with no prior music training. This course fulfills a core curriculum requirement. Not applicable toward a music major or minor.
120 Fundamentals of Music Theory / 3 UNITS
Establishes a firm foundation for music theory, including Western music notation, rhythm, scales and transpositions, intervals and inversions, chords, tonal harmony, and their practical application in singing and keyboard playing. May be taken as core curriculum by students with prior musical experience.
130 Music in Society / 3 UNITS
A chronological survey of music history, from the Middle Ages to the present, focusing on Western music, and including selected non-Western musics. An examination of music within the context of the liberal arts, with an introduction to major composers, styles, and representative works. Reading, writing, listening, and concert visits required. This course fulfills a core curriculum requirement.
150/350 Chamber Music Ensembles / 1 UNIT
Study and public performance of chamber music, instrumental or vocal. On- and off-campus performances each semester. Audition and fee required. Individual music lessons on enrolled instrument provided each semester. May be repeated for credit without limit. Go to www.sandiego.edu/symphony for complete information.
151/351 USD Symphony Orchestra / 1 UNIT
Study and public performance of orchestral music, instrumental or vocal. On- and off-campus performances each semester. Audition and fee required. Individual music lessons on enrolled instrument provided each semester. May be repeated for credit without limit. Go to www.sandiego.edu/symphony for complete information.
152/352 Choral Scholars / 1 UNIT
A highly selective vocal ensemble devoted to intensive study of choral literature from all historical periods. Students serve as ambassadors for the university; demanding performance schedule. By audition only; minor in music, voice lessons, leadership skills required. May be repeated for credit without limit. Go to www.sandiego.edu/choralscholars for complete information.
153/353 Concert Choir / 1 UNIT
A mixed choral ensemble devoted to the study and performance of choral literature from all historical periods. Audition and fee required. May be repeated for credit without limit.
154/354 Opera Workshop / 1 UNIT
Training in preparation of productions of operas and musicals; coaching, directing, staging, and lighting, culminating in full performance. May be repeated for credit without limit.
160-181/360-381 Individual Music Lessons / 1 UNIT
Students may enroll in Individual Music Lessons if they are music majors, music minors, or actively enrolled in one of our ensembles such as Chamber Music Ensembles, Symphony Orchestra, or Concert Choir. Each student has to complete a graded jury at the end of each semester, and may also perform in recitals. A fee of $580 for performance emphasis students, and $540 for others, is required. Music majors with at least one year of prior enrollment at USD and in good standing in their music courses, instrumentalists enrolled in USD Symphony or Chamber Music Ensembles, and vocalists in the Choral Scholars will have the fee for one Individual Music Lesson enrollment reimbursed each semester. The music program provides accompanists for juries and one rehearsal; student must pay for additional times. Vocalists must pay additional accompanist fees as per request of instructor. All Individual Music Lessons require the approval of a full-time music faculty member. 300-level Individual Music Lessons are for performance emphasis music majors only. Audition into the performance emphasis is required. May be repeated for credit without limit.
160/360 Piano
161/361 Voice
162/362 Strings: violin
163/363 Strings: viola
164/364 Strings: violoncello
165/365 Strings: double bass
166/366 Woodwinds: flute/piccolo
167/367 Woodwinds: oboe/English horn
168/368 Woodwinds: clarinet/bass clarinet
169/369 Woodwinds: bassoon/contrabassoon
170/370 Woodwinds: saxophone
171/371 Brass: horn
172/372 Brass: trumpet
173/373 Brass – trombone/tuba
174/374 Percussion
175/375 Harp
176/376 Historical winds (recorder, baroque oboe)
177/377 Historical strings
178/378 Guitar
179/379 Pipe organ/harpsichord
180/380 Conducting
181/381 Improvisation
200 Comprehensive Musicianship for Educators / 3 UNITS
Prepares students to teach classroom music to children; a required course for the liberal studies major, designed to assist with the Multiple Subject Teaching Credential Program. The major components are music literacy through basic notational reading and composition, music performance skills in singing, conducting, playing keyboards and autoharps, and pedagogical considerations for teaching music to children. Classroom observations or a teaching practicum will be required. No previous musical experience required. Prerequisite: Approval of instructor or liberal studies advisor required.
205 Class Piano II / 1 UNIT
Designed for students with elementary piano reading skills. Sight reading, harmonization, transposition, improvisation, and piano repertoire. Prerequisite: MUSC 105, 120 or consent of instructor. May be repeated for credit.
210 Aural and Keyboard Skills I / 1 UNIT
Practical application of Harmony I; must be taken concurrently with MUSC 220.
211 Aural and Keyboard Skills II / 1 UNIT
Practical application of Harmony II; must be taken concurrently with MUSC 221.
220 Harmony I / 3 UNITS
Elementary harmony; study of figured bass, cadences, modulations, basic harmonic progressions, voice-leading principles; and introduction to harmonic, linear, and formal analyses. Prerequisite: MUSC 120 or consent of instructor; must be taken concurrently with MUSC 210.
221 Harmony II / 3 UNITS
Continuation of Harmony I; study of chromatic harmony, advanced harmonic, linear, and formal analysis, and introduction to 20th-century techniques. Prerequisite: MUSC 220 or consent of instructor; must be taken concurrently with MUSC 211.
310 Form and Analysis / 3 UNITS
Study of musical forms from all historical style periods and survey of historical and contemporary analytic methods; analysis and writing in various styles and forms. Prerequisite: MUSC 221 or consent of instructor.
320 Instrumentation and Contemporary Composition / 3 UNITS
A careful examination of contemporary writing for Western instruments through understanding instrument construction and analysis of modern repertoire. Includes both standard and experimental playing techniques, notation of score and parts, extensive composition, and some informal performance opportunities. Prerequisite: MUSC 310 or consent of instructor.
321 Counterpoint and Schenkerian Analysis / 3 UNITS
Species counterpoint, polyphony, contrapuntal writing in historical styles from Renaissance to Romantic eras and selected 20th-century works, and Schenkerian analysis. Composition of contrapuntal music in any style and some informal performance opportunities. Prerequisite: MUSC 310 or consent of instructor.
330 Music History I: Antiquity-1600 (Euripides-Monteverdi) / 3 UNITS
A historical survey of music from Classical Antiquity through the Renaissance, presented in a cultural context. We will study composers of Western music and learn how to distinguish their works according to changing style characteristics, shifting esthetic and philosophical perspectives, and changing historical circumstances. Historical study, informed listening and criticism, writing based on library research, and analytical writing are central aspects of the course. Prerequisite: MUSC 130 or consent of instructor.
331 Music History II: 1600-1830 (Monteverdi-Beethoven) / 3 UNITS
A historical survey of music from the Baroque through the Viennese Classical Era, presented in a cultural context. Students will study composers of Western music and learn how to distinguish their works according to changing style characteristics, shifting esthetic and philosophical perspectives, and changing historical circumstances. Historical study, informed listening and criticism, writing based on library research, and analytical writing are central aspects of the course. Prerequisite: MUSC 130 or consent of instructor.
332 Music History III: 1830-Present (Schubert to Adams) / 3 UNITS
A historical survey of music from the Romantic Era through the present, offered in a cultural context. Students will study composers of Western music and learn how to distinguish their works according to changing style characteristics, shifting esthetic and philosophical perspectives, and changing historical circumstances. Historical study, informed listening and criticism, writing based on library research, and analytical writing are central aspects of the course. Prerequisite: MUSC 130 or consent of instructor.
410 Composition / 3 UNITS
Workshop on compositions in any style and form, vocal or instrumental, with analysis of relevant literature, culminating in performance of student works. Prerequisite: MUSC 320 or 321, or consent of instructor.
420 Digital Audio Composition / 3 UNITS
Analysis of historical and contemporary experimental music and sound provides the foundation for structured and creative composition using digitized sound. Includes an introduction to sampling, recording techniques, digital audio editing, effects processing, and mixing using Digital Performer and related software. Workshop format includes critique of work-in-progress and opportunities for public performance. Cross-listed as ARTV 420. Prerequisite: MUSC 109/ARTH 109 recommended but not required. Prior musical experience not required.
424 Art and the Soundscape / 3 UNITS
Aristic and scholarly investigation into the soundscape — the totality of the sonic environment invested with significance by human imagination. Creative work in media of the students choice, including new and cross-disciplinary media such as sound art, installation art, electronic music, phonography, instrument construction and the internet. Critical writing about creative work and its social and historical situation. Cross listed as ARTV 424. Recommended prerequisite: MUSC 109/ARTH 109.
430W History of Medieval and Renaissance Music / 3 UNITS
A detailed study of sacred and secular music from the Ninth through the 16th century, with consideration of historical, cultural, and political context. The impact on music of medieval philosophy, esthetics, religion, and science; the patronage system; the Age of Humanism; and the Age of Discovery. A writing course that includes informed listening, live concerts, and library research. Prerequisite: MUSC 330 or consent of instructor.
431 History of Baroque and Classical Music / 3 UNITS
Study of vocal and instrumental literature from Bach to Beethoven; intellectual and historical setting, music as expression of the cultural conditions of its time, composition as craft, and the shared musical language of the Viennese Classical Style. Study through listening, reading, writing, videos, and live concerts. Prerequisite: MUSC 331 or consent of instructor.
432 History of Romantic Music / 3 UNITS
Vocal and instrumental works from the early 19th-century Age of Expression through Nationalism and Impressionism; opposing trends from miniature to the grandiose, from intimate to mass music, from craft to personal inspiration; and the cult of the genius. Late Beethoven to Debussy. Listening, reading, writing, and live concerts. Prerequisite: MUSC 330 or consent of instructor.
433 History of Twentieth Century Music / 3 UNITS
The rebellion against Romanticism, pre-World War II styles, Expressionism; atonality; serial music; non-Western influences; post-1945; the age of anxiety; experimentalism; neo-Romanticism; new frontiers in electronic and mixed media; and minimalism. Stravinsky to Glass. Listening, reading, writing, and live concerts. Prerequisite: MUSC 332 or consent of instructor.
440 Topics in World Music / 3 UNITS
Studies in the relationships between music and culture in a global context, surveying the musical application of topics such as cultural identity, nationalism, politics, border crossing, race, economics, copyright law, cultural appropriation, and technology. Case studies from around the world are examined in depth through readings, listenings, and live performances.
441 Bach, Beethoven, Brahms / 3 UNITS
Three major composers of far-reaching influence. We will study their contributions to solo, chamber, orchestral and vocal genres, and consider their secular music for entertainment at court and in the concert hall, their sacred music for worship and private edification, and their music for the theater stage. Focus will be on musical style characteristics, esthetic principles, philosophical perspectives, and historical circumstances. Historical study, informed listening and criticism, writing based on library research, analytical writing are central aspects of the course. Prerequisites: Two from MUSC 330-332 or consent of instructor.
442 Opera / 3 UNITS
Focus will be on the evolution of opera in music history, in chronological order, as seen through contemporary documents. These documents include memoirs, letters, histories, polemical writings, reviews, biography essays, and poetry. Such historical responses to opera illustrate changing attitudes of successive generations of opera lovers to the art form, as well as demonstrate the impact contemporary views have had on composers of opera and on operatic developments themselves. Historical study, informed listening and criticism, writing based on library research, analytical writing are central aspects of the course. Prerequisites: two from MUSC 330-332 or consent of instructor.
444D The Bebop Era / 3 UNITS
A musical and social history of the birth of bebop in the 1940s, and an introduction to the nature and language of jazz, its roots and the musical styles leading up to the 1940s. Its leading pioneers, Thelonious Monk, Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie and Bud Powell will be closely examined, as will the social and political issues that dictated the living conditions of these artists, many of whom were African-Americans. No previous musical training is required for this course.
494 Special Topics in Music / 3 UNITS
An examination of selected topics in depth, such as history of sacred music, history of opera, piano literature, vocal literature, or string literature. May be repeated for credit when topicc change. Prerequisites may apply.
495 Senior Project / 1 UNIT
Public presentation during the senior year of a solo recital, the performance of a substantial original composition, or a written research project, under the direction of a faculty supervisor. For Music majors only. Prerequisite: Approval of music program director required.
498 Music Internship / 1-3 UNITS
Practical experience in music management through service to a university or community performance organization. May be repeated for credit. Prerequisite: Approval of music program director required.
499 Independent Study / 1 UNIT
Individual work in theory, composition, musicology, or liturgical music with the approval of the music faculty. For Music majors only. Prerequisite: Approval of music program director required.
