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The Adult Program QUICKLINKS: Policies | Instruction | Ensembles Click here for current registration & tuition Information Click here for current interview schedule Click here for current registration form For a full listing of all adult level classes,
consult the Also known as “MUSIC TO GO,” the Blair adult education program offers university courses of study in a variety of music disciplines and genres for both the general student and the serious musician. Adult students are defined as students above high school age who are not receiving university credit for courses taken at Blair. Blair offers instruction in the following: • Individual performance instruction – Blair offers individual instruction in all orchestral instruments and in piano, organ, harpsichord, guitar, fiddle, dulcimer, mandolin, banjo, steel drum, recorder, viola da gamba, saxophone, euphonium, voice, and composition. • Group Instruction – Group instruction is available in piano, percussion, guitar, fiddle, dulcimer, mandolin, recorder, and voice. Classes offered include basic musicianship, music theory and ear training, music history and literature (a wide variety of offerings), and choral arranging. Workshops in the Alexander Technique are also available for adults. Back to the Top Policies Auditions and Placement Students who wish to enroll for performance instruction must interview or audition with the appropriate teacher before registration. Students interested in theory classes are expected to take a placement test. Open interviews are available in August and January.
Registration and Fees Students must register during the University registration period before receiving instruction. Fees are due at the time of registration, but may be paid over the entire semester if a deferment form is completed. Fee adjustments may be made for students entering late in the semester. Refunds will not be made after the first week of classes. A Blair identification card, issued at registration each semester, provides access to the Anne Potter Wilson Music Library and free admission to all Blair Series concerts, as available.
Absences If a student must be absent, the teacher or the Blair receptionist should be notified as far in advance as possible. Lessons missed by students are not usually rescheduled. Lessons or classes canceled by faculty members will be made up. As a general policy, the school is not closed for inclement weather. A faculty member who is unable to travel will notify students and reschedule lessons or classes.
Reports Written grades and evaluations received by students are available on request–see the appropriate faculty member Back to the Top Instruction Individual Performance Instruction Individual instruction focuses on the art and practice of an instrument or voice, with emphasis on tone quality, technique, rhythm, interpretation, and literature. Schedules are arranged between teacher and student at registration.
Group Performance Instruction Group performance courses are designed primarily for beginning and intermediate students. Group instruction emphasizes basic technique, rhythm, tone, and musical interpretation. Schedules are available in the Vanderbilt University Schedule of Courses at www.vanderbilt.edu home page. Students must interview with faculty member for approval to enroll.
Guitar, Keyboard, Voice Introduction to Guitar. A foundation in basic guitar technique will prepare students for future studies in classical, jazz, or popular styles of guitar. Emphasis is placed on chordal accompaniment and development of reading skills as well as improvisational techniques with melodies and chords. No previous guitar experience is assumed. Fingerboard Harmony. Advanced guitar skills, modal positions, modal patterns, score reading, arpeggios, transposition, and chord progressions. Consent of instuctor required. Introduction to Piano. This course presents a total-musicianship approach to the piano. Students, grouped according to levels of advancement, learn repertoire and technique, sight reading and transposition, harmonization, improvisation in various classical and jazz styles, and introductory computer techniques of music notation. Introduction to Voice. The fundamentals of vocal technique, including breathing, posture, and vowel production, are presented. The course also gives attention to English and Italian diction and the fundamentals of music reading. Keyboard Harmony I–IV. All students must interview for placement before registration. Check with the associate registrar for times and availability.
American Folk Instruments Fiddle Program Advanced Fiddle. Designed for advanced players. Various styles of fiddle, from traditional Texas style to the recording session experience, are presented. Emphasis is placed on ear training and improvisation, as well as on developing versatility and one’s own style.
Advanced Mandolin. Students expand on fiddle tunes as a repertoire base and develop other styles of mandolin including bluegrass, Celtic, and original music. Prerequisite: A minimum of 2–3 years of experience on the instrument.
Class Instruction These University classes are offered to Blair Adult Students. Refer to the current semester Pre-College and Adult schedule for class availability, instructors, class days and times, and tuition information. Music Theory MUSC 101. Fundamentals of Music Theory. The fundamental elements of music theory, including music reading, scales, key signatures, chords, chord qualities, inversions, intervals, rhythm, and meter. Designed for students with little or no technical training in music. MUSC 102. Songwriting II. Project-based class designed to refine and advance skills developed in MUSC 100. Focuses on effective musical and lyrical thematic treatment. Extensive study of rewriting techniques; frequent performances of student compositions. Selected readings on the technical and aesthetic facets of songwriting. Listening, analysis, and discussion of songs in a variety of current styles. Occasional Monday night sessions with guest songwriters and experts in the field. Prerequisite: MUSC 100. MUSC 105. The Romantic Generation. An exploration of outstanding works by Berlioz, Chopin, Liszt, Mendelssohn, and Schumann (all born between 1803 and 1811). Focus on structural analysis, stylistic innovations, mutual musical influences, and relations to classical models. Investigations into the meanings of musical Romanticism. MUSC 107. Beethoven and The Beatles. An analytical study of the music of Beethoven and the Beatles in their cultural contexts. Focus on analogous stylistic issues of consolidation and innovation. For students without formal training in music theory. MUSC 118. Mozart. The music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Techniques for listening to different genres of classical music. Emphasis on style and structure, music theory and history, and Mozart’s life and character. No musical background assumed. MUSC 120a–120b. Survey of Music Theory. Presents eighteenth to twentieth century harmonic practice. Designed to develop music theory skills through written exercises of figured and unfigured basses; harmonization of melodies; and study of ear training, using sightsinging exercises and melodic and harmonic dictation. Ear Training and Sightsinging. A four-semester course developing aural skills through singing and harmonic/melodic dictation. Placement tests assure compatible groups. Individual computer-assisted instruction is an important component. Consent of the instructor is required. MUSC 121e. Ear Training and Sightsinging I. MUSC 122e. Ear Training and Sightsinging II. MUSC 123e. Ear Training and Sightsinging III. MUSC 124e. Ear Training and Sightsinging IV. MUSC 191. Sonata Forms. An analytical survey of sonata forms in works by Classical, Romantic, and Modern composers. Emphasis on structural listening, not score reading. MUSC 216. Computer Music. The computer as a tool for musical sound synthesis, digital instrument design, and computer-assisted composition and performance. Styles and techniques in computer music in the commercial and fine arts. Programming and computer composition. Prerequisite: any computer science course or consent of the instructor. MUSC 223. Choral Arranging. The technical and aesthetic considerations involved in arranging and composing for combinations of voices, from two-part to larger choral ensembles, accompanied and unaccompanied. Arranging projects explore effective text setting in a variety of choral textures and styles representing various periods, including classical and folk melodies. Consent of the instructor required. MUSC 224. Orchestration. Technical and aesthetics considerations in composing or transcribing for individual orchestral instruments, sections, and full orchestra. Score analysis and composition projects. Prerequisite: 122. MUSC 230. Introduction to Composition.
An introduction to compositional techniques, including a study of
composers and their works. Principles of scoring, the study of notation,
including experimental types. Prerequisite: Introduction to Music
Theory, Music Theory I, or equivalent skills. Music Literature and History MUSL 140. Introduction to Music Literature. An introduction to the literature of music from AD 600 to the present, through a study of selected works. Extensive listening is required. MUSL 141. Survey of Music Literature. A genre-based study of music of the Western Art tradition in comparative contexts. Selected non-Western repertoire. Emphasis on aural analysis and on writing and research techniques. Designed for music majors, minors, and others with appropriate musical background. MUSL 144. The Symphony. Orchestral literature with emphasis on the evolution of symphonic form and style, through the study of selected masterworks of the standard repertoire. MUSL 145. Survey of Choral Music. Choral literature, sacred and secular, from the Renaissance to the present, with emphasis on a study of selected masterworks from each period. MUSL 147. American Music. A history of music in the United States, 1620 to the present. Distinctly American musical traditions such as shape-notes, minstrelsy, jazz, twentieth-century syntheses. Prerequisite recommended: 140 or 141, or music-reading skills sufficient to follow a score. MUSL 148. Survey of Jazz. A survey of jazz history, with particular attention to the major composers, “Jelly Roll” Morton, Duke Ellington, and Thelonius Monk, who gave the music synthesis and form, and to its major innovative soloists, Louis Armstrong, Charlie Parker, and Ornette Coleman, who renewed its musical language. MUSL 149. American Popular Music. Historical study of ways the culture of a nation is reflected and sometimes shaped by the chosen musics of the groups comprising the American “salad bowl.” Topics include audience reception, production and consumption, multiculturalism, and meaning. MUSL 151. The Blues. Down-home, classic, Chicago, and urban blues—history, musical structure, musical styles, singers’ lives, and meanings of blues lyrics. The current blues revival, blues and tourism, race and revisionist blues scholarship, and the relation of blues to African-American poetry and fiction. Artists such as Ma Rainey, Charley Patton, Robert Johnson, “Lightnin’” Hopkins, Muddy Waters, B.B. King, Buddy Guy, and Robert Cray. MUSL 152. Country Music. A musical and cultural survey of the talents, traditions, and trends of country music, from its Colonial roots to its current status as a multi-million global industry. Focus on the music, creators, and performers of that music and its cultural and social contexts. MUSL 153. History of Rock Music. History and development of rock and roll music and its performance from the 1950s to the present. Major artists from each decade, subgenres (rockabilly, R&B, folk, soul, metal, pop, alternative, etc.) and technological, cultural, and economic developments that helped shape the music. MUSL 160. World Music. World music as a cultural product; selected musics of Africa, Native America, India, Indonesia, and African America. Topics include music and religion, popular music, field work methodology, and gender issues. MUSL 171. African Music. A survey of selected traditional and popular music of Africa. Historical, social, and cultural contexts; listening, drumming, dancing, and singing in class. MUSL 183. Music, the Arts, and Ideas. The changing historical relationships among music, literature, fine arts, and philosophy. Musical developments as responses to social, political, and economic circumstances. MUSL 184. Love and Death in Music. Perspectives on two great problems of human life throughout the history of Western music. Themes include idealized love, sexual pathology, love and realism, love of God, confronting death, transcending death. Connections of music to visual arts, literature, film. No musical background required. MUSL 200. Women and Music. An investigation of the roles women have played in the development of Western music—performance, composition, patronage, and education —and the social and economic factors that have influenced their position. Recommended: 140 or 141, or familiarity with the style periods of classical Western music. MUSL 201. Music, Gender and Sexuality. Exploration of gender and sexuality in Western art and vernacular musical traditions. Topics include gendered musical forms, genres, and performance; feminist music criticism; ideologies of musical authorship and genius; musical canons; and musical representations of gender and sexuality. Prerequisite: MUSL 140 or 141, and ability to read score. MUSL 218. Words and Music. An investigation of literature that has inspired musical settings and the musical settings themselves. Emphasis on literary and musical analysis and interpretation. No musical training assumed. MUSL 219. The Bible and Music. An investigation of Biblical texts (Old Testament/Tanach; Deuterocanonical texts/Old Testament Apocrypha; New Testament) that have inspired musical settings and the musical settings themselves. Emphasis on literary and musical analysis and interpretation. No musical or scriptural background assumed. MUSL 242. Music of the Middle Ages and Renaissance. An in-depth study of the music of the Middle Ages and Renaissance with particular emphasis on social, religious, economic, and performance history. Cross-cultural perspectives, both historic and modern. Exploration of a variety of writing styles and approaches. Prerequisite: 140 or 141. MUSL 243. Music of the Baroque and Classic Eras. An in-depth study of music and its historical, cultural, and political context in the Baroque and Classic eras. Development of research and writing skills. Prerequisite: 140 or 141. Strongly recommended: 242. MUSL 244. Music of the Romantic and Modern Eras. An in-depth study of the music from the Romantic period to the present. Emphasis on reception history and historical, cultural, political, and performance contexts. Refinement of research and writing skills. Prerequisite: 140 or 141. Strongly recommended: 243. MUSL 247. Opera. An in-depth study of five or six representative works. Score and libretto analysis, reception history, cult of the performer, role of the contemporary producer/director. Prerequisite: 140 or 141. MUSL 250. Music in Latin America and the Caribbean. An introduction to a wide variety of musical genres and traditions in Latin America and the Caribbean. Indigenous, folk, popular, and art forms and their social function, meaning, historical development, cultural blending, and cross-hybridization. MUSL 252. Afropop. A historical survey of the unique development of modern African popular music from its roots within syncretic dance/art forms. Topics include Cuban retentions, synthesis of African and European styles, blues, soukous, kwasa kwasa, samba, highlife, palm wine, juju, fuji, taarab, bubblegum, marabi, and the contemporary return to earlier styles. Prerequisite: any MUSL course. MUSL 256. Music in the Age of Beethoven and Schubert. The musical legacy of each composer in culture and (especially) social context: patrons, family, and friends. Prerequisite: MUSL 242, 243, or 244. MUSL 261. Music, Identity and Diversity. Issues of multiculturalism and intersections with musical expression in America. Cultural determinants, such as race, gender, ethnicity, class, religion, language, ideology, folklore, and history will be studied critically. Prerequisite: any MUSL course or American and Southern Studies 100. MUSL 262. Music of the South. The musical riches of the American South, approached from various perspectives, including the historical, cultural, social, political, and religious. Blues, country, and gospel are the primary genres of study; jazz, folk, and classical traditions in the South also receive attention. Prerequisite: Any MUSL course or AMST 100. MUSL 264. Exploring the Film Soundtrack. Relationships among soundtrack, image, and narrative in film. The complex of music, sound, and dialog in a variety of American films, from silents to Hollywood blockbusters and cartoons. Topics include diegesis, temporality, continuity, and musical style. Discussion, video and film research, reading and listening. No musical background required. MUSL 278. Music and Religion. An investigation into the ways in which religion and music contribute to community formation throughout the world. Music’s interdependent relationship with religious texts, religious performance, trance, sacrifice, and folk religions.
MUSO 102. Computer Recording Technology Seminar. The digital recording revolution. Recording, editing, and mixing music, using both audio and MIDI sequencing data inside the computer. Remixing techniques with universal plug-in software. Sampling, synthesis, and dissection of studio projects. MUSO 125. Acoustics and Psychoacoustics of Music. The physics of sound as produced by common types of instruments (including voice), based on vibrations of strings, tubes, and plates. Basic aspects of sound perception and cognition: what sound is, how it is produced, and how it is perceived. MUSO 127. Intonation, Keyboards, and Temperament. The piano’s development and its influence on modern intonation. String behavior, the harmonic series, and tuning. Practical instruction on the piano’s function, tuning, and the effects of various temperaments on keyboard music. MUSO 131. Elements of Jazz Improvisation. Introduction to the techniques of jazz improvisation. Development of basic performing techniques in various styles. MUSO 132. Introduction to Jazz Improvising for Strings. Open to students of violin, viola, and cello. Designed to provide an understanding of the basic rules of jazz improvisation and an appreciation for the history of stringed instruments in jazz. Includes associating scales with chords, improvising with the chord notes as target notes, incorporating space and rhythms, and simple tune analysis. MUSO 143. Lyric Writing. Practical aspects and process of lyric writing. Ideas, tools, and structure. Balance, metaphor, rhyme, and rhythm. MUSO 162. The Alexander Technique. An accurate kinesthetic sense of the structure and movement of the body through hands-on and verbal instruction in body mapping and the principles developed by F. M. Alexander. Emphasis on ordinary daily activities. MUSO 163. The Performer and the Body. Application of the Alexander technique in a small group setting with attention to individuals and their particular performance modes, i.e., public speaking, singing, dancing, acting, playing an instrument. Prerequisite: MUSO 162. MUSO 165. Tai Chi for Musicians. Principles of Tai Chi applied to musical performance. The practice and understanding of anatomical movement, with emphasis on prevention of injury. MUSO 170. Breathing: Respiratory Function for Woodwind and Brass Performers. The use of the respiratory system for music performance. Physiology, the psychology of training, and air pathway diseases. Individual instruction applied to the performer’s instrument. Back to the Top Ensembles African Performing Ensemble. A laboratory and performance experience drawing on traditional African musical instruments —drums, percussion—winds, with emphasis on West African (Ghana) and East African (Uganda) music and dance repertoires. Lecture-demonstrations and rehearsals in one weekly two-hour session. At least one public performance each semester. No previous experience required. Collegium: Instrumental Ensembles. Open by audition to all Vanderbilt students or upon recommendation of the private instructor, the small instrumental ensembles are devoted to the performance of early music on authentic instruments. (202a: viols; 202b: recorders; 202c: mixed, including brass; 202d: continuo). 1–2 hours rehearsal each week. Collegium: Vocal Ensemble. Open by audition to all Vanderbilt students, this small ensemble performs music of the Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque periods. At least one major concert is presented each semester, often in conjunction with Collegium instrumental ensembles. Steel Drum/Pan Ensemble. Open to all members of the Vanderbilt community, a laboratory and performance experience drawing on Caribbean steel drums/pans with emphasis on the music and dance repertories of the island of Trinidad. Lecture-demonstrations and rehearsals in one weekly two-hour session. At least one public performance each semester. No previous experience required. Vanderbilt Community Chorus. Open by audition to faculty, staff, alumni, and friends of Vanderbilt who love singing the best of choral music. Four performances are given each year, and the repertoire includes classical literature from all periods as well as major works with orchestra. Auditions are held in August and January. One two-hour rehearsal weekly. Vanderbilt Symphonic Choir. Open by audition to all members of the Vanderbilt community, this choral ensemble performs literature requiring large forces, including masses and oratorios. At least one formal concert each semester and at least one work each year with orchestra. For the availability of participation in any other University ensemble, please contact the ensemble director for eligibility and audition information. For a full listing of Blair ensembles, visit the school website at www.vanderbilt.edu/blair. Back to the Top |