Analysis of forms, practices, and meanings of rock and roll music, broadly conceived, from its origin to present. Emphasis on how this music has reflected and influenced changes in sexual, racial, and class identities and attitudes.

History of music and cinema, particularly ways music is used to produce meanings in conjunction with visual image.

Survey of groove-based electrified dance music from its origins in 1960s pop and soul to present, covering disco, house, techno, ambient, rave, and jungle. Emphasis on interaction of technology, musical structures, psychoactive drugs, and club cultures to induce altered states of musical consciousness; promise (versus reality of) political and spiritual transformation; electronic dance music as new art music.

American popular music before advent of rock and roll in 1950s, with special emphasis on song tradition of Tin Pan Alley.

Developments in punk music in their historical and subcultural contexts. Survey of prepunk and musical antecedents in 1960s, rise of punk in 1970s, and tracing of its expressive trajectories to present day.

Exploration of history of opera from its origins in Florentine Camerata in Italy in early 17th century, through ages of Enlightenment and Romanticism, and ending with modern era of early 20th century. History of opera, biography of composers and singers, operatic conventions, dramaturgy, plot, stagings, hermeneutics of opera, and musical style, with focus on learning appreciation of music of opera within rich context of its compelling history.

Survey of American musical in 20th century, beginning with its roots in operetta, vaudeville, and Gilbert and Sullivan, and focusing on its connections to politics, technology, film, opera, and variety of popular musical styles, including Tin Pan Alley, jazz, and rock.

Exploration of history of music in Los Angeles. From Spanish missions and history of Los Angeles to greater emphasis on music in 20th century, with special focus on European émigrés, internment and postwar history of Japanese American community, Chicano and Mexican American music to present, African American traditions including jazz on Central Avenue, 1960s Laurel Canyon and rock scene, and more recent history that includes developments in punk and hip-hop.

Life, works, and mythology of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, in context of both his age and our own.

Life and works of Johann Sebastian Bach.

Survey of developments in post-World War II African American popular music, with special attention to musical achievements of Motown Records, Stax, and other rhythm and blues, funk, and soul music centers of production. Relationships between musical forms and cultural issues of 1960s, including Civil Rights Movement, counterculture, black nationalism, capitalism, and separatism, and larger dimensions of African American experience as mediated through groove-based music.

History of blues, both as specific genre and as range of techniques and approaches that have been at center of American music and culture, from 19th-century roots to present. Exploration of commonly accepted blues mainstream exemplified by figures like Bessie Smith, Robert Johnson, and B.B. King, but also central role blues has played in jazz, folk, country, gospel, rock, soul, and rap. While following evolution of music through 20th century, examination of how blues has served as metaphor for African American culture as it permeates American traditions

Exploration of idea of medievalism in music and culture from Wagner to video games. Music covered includes film scores, opera, Gregorian chant, early music revival, folk songs, progressive rock, and Goth.

Music of Jews is diverse. With history of several thousand years and series of developments in modernity, music in Jewish life covers variety of styles found in many contexts. Exploration of music of Jews within last 100 years, with focus on popular music of Jews in America and Israel. Examination of music in Israel, with focus on songs of land of Israel, Israeli rock, and Muzika Mizrachit (Middle Eastern popular music).

Examination of life and music of Beatles within social and historical context of 1960s.

Exploration and demonstration of various ways in which music is informed by and informs politics. From individual performances to mass demonstrations, music is recognizable as a political act and tool that is not simply representative, but also constitutive, meaning that music creates belief systems (politics). Examination of development and use of music by social movements, political parties, and nations, and critical listening practices to better hear world around us and sounds that compose its futures.

Life and works of Ludwig van Beethoven

Introduction to humanistic study of listening, as perceptual modality for engaging others and world, with focus on experience, history, politics, and ethics of listening. Hearing is shared perceptive faculty among able-bodied people, but listening practices are shaped by history, society, and culture. Hearing people listen differently depending on when, where, and how they live, as well as who they are as individuals.

Study of forms and liturgies of Western church music.

Survey of popular music in religious traditions since the 1970s. Growth of music in Jewish denominations, including Orthodox, Reform, and Conservative, and Christian contemporary music, from evangelical to cross-over artists performing in mainstream.

History and analysis of variety of jazz styles, from late 19th-century forerunners to present, with emphasis on social meanings of musical practices

Survey of histories of three closely connected music genres: Jamaican dancehall, U.S. rap, and Puerto Rican/Panamanian reggaeton. Introduction to major performers in each genre, comparison of stylistic traits associated with each music, and exploration of technologies associated with contemporary music production.

As music becomes increasingly pervasive—found everywhere, yet living nowhere special—what social, economic, political, and aesthetic forces are determining centers of attention? Examination of formative force of Internet on sounds themselves. What kinds of noises develop logically within digital context, where creative freedoms and public disinterest are equally apparent? What does Internet sound like?

Analysis of gender ideologies in several musical cultures; representations of gender, body, and sexuality by both male and female musicians; contributions of women to Western art and popular musics; methods in feminist and gay/lesbian theory and criticism.

Survey of English-language popular music in 20th century, with focus on lesbians, gay men, and members of other sexual minorities as creators, performers, and audience members.

Consideration of impact of recording technologies (gramophone, tape recorder, Walkman, sampler), broadcast media (radio, television, MTV, Internet), and global capitalism (record labels, advertising, Muzak) on way we consume and are consumed by music. How music functions and malfunctions on records, under movies, behind ads, and in semiotic fabric of everyday life.

Exploration of connections and disconnects between American musical on stage and American film musicals.

Intensive discussion of selected pieces by Mozart and of certain topics important to fuller understanding of his contributions to musical culture of Enlightenment, as well as to contemporary culture.

Examination of Bach’s music in greater depth.

Intensive discussion of developments in post-World War II African American popular music, with special attention to musical achievements of Motown Records, Stax, and other rhythm and blues, funk, and soul music centers of production. Relationships between musical forms and cultural issues of 1960s, including Civil Rights Movement, counterculture, black nationalism, capitalism, and separatism, and larger dimensions of African American experience as mediated through groove-based music.

In-depth look at specific blues artists, with special attention to issues of authenticity, biography, personal and group identity, commercialism, musical style, and evolving history of American music and culture in 20th century.

Exploration of ways in which specific approaches and attitudes to past shape music history, composition, and performance, with special focus on folk music and early music revivals.

Intensive discussion in seminar setting of selected topics associated with The Beatles.

Designed to meet needs of students who read music and wish to examine Beethoven’s music in greater depth.

Introduction to some ways that music has been held to embody, support, and enact sacredness, including experience of god(s), sense of transcendental, work of liturgy, and intersections of music, politics, and religion.

Exploration of connections of music, religion, and popular culture among American Jews and Christians.

In-depth exploration of issues in analysis and criticism of music in film.

Intensive discussion in seminar setting of selected topics in rock and roll.

Examination of influence of music industry on way music is created, performed, listened to, evaluated, and used today. Historical approach taken, beginning with music published in 18th century and continuing through development of audio recordings to MTV and popular music today.