Music Class Schedule | Spring 2025

Prereq: None 
Units: 4-0-8
HASS-A, CI-H

Provides a broad overview of Western music from the Middle Ages to the 21st century, with emphasis on late baroque, classical, romantic, and modernist styles. Designed to enhance the musical experience by developing listening skills and an understanding of diverse forms and genres. Major composers and works placed in social and cultural contexts. Weekly lectures feature demonstrations by professional performers and introduce topics to be discussed in sections. Enrollment limited. 

Prereq: None 
Units: 3-0-9 
HASS-A, CI-H

An introduction to diverse musical traditions of the world. Music from a wide range of geographical areas is studied in terms of structure, performance practice, social use, aesthetics, and cross-cultural contact. Includes hands-on music making, live demonstrations by guest artists, and ethnographic research projects. Enrollment limited by lottery.

Prereq: None 
Units: 3-2-7 
HASS-A

Introduces students to the rudiments of Western music through oral, aural, and written practice utilizing rhythm, melody, intervals, scales, chords, and western staff notation. Individual skills are addressed through a variety of approaches, including the required piano and sight singing labs. Intended for students with little to no prior experience reading music or performing. Not open to students who have completed 21M.150, 21M.151, 21M.301, 21M.302, or are proficient in reading music. Limited to 18 per section.

Prereq: None 
Units: 3-0-9 
HASS-A

Experiential, fully-embodied exploration into the fundamentals of music through the lens of largely non-Western, aural music cultures. From Bali to Ghana, Cuba to India, Zimbabwe to Andalucía, and through popular musics across the globe, students think about, talk about, and make music in new ways. Examines some of the basic concepts of music — structure, melody-making, meter, rhythm, interaction, movement, etc. — studying their diverse incarnations in different music cultures and encouraging a breadth of perspective and engagement. Students engage with a diverse blend of musical practices through music-making, in-depth discussion, listening and analysis, and creative composition. No musical experience required. Limited to 18. 

(Meets with 21M.560: Graduate Level)
Prereq: None 
Units: 3-0-9 
HASS-A

Investigates how technology is used in the analysis, modeling, synthesis and composition of music, and its contribution to the artistic production practice. With an eye towards historical context as well as modern usage, topics include the physics of sound, digital representations of music, the Digital Audio Workstation (DAW), analog and digital synthesis techniques, MIDI and sequencing, electronic instrument design, notation software, generative music systems, and computational analysis of music. Weekly assignments focus on both theory and practice, requiring technical proficiency, creative output, and aesthetic consideration. Enrollment limited. 

Prereq: Permission of instructor

2-0-4 units

New York, 1945: a young Juilliard student from East St. Louis, IL finds himself in the vortex of the bebop revolution, replacing Dizzy Gillespie in the Charlie Parker Quintet. Over the next 46 years, Miles Davis transformed the sound and scope of modern jazz several times over, pioneering cool jazz (Birth of the Cool), hard bop, and modal jazz (Kind of Blue) in the 1950s, plunging into electronics and inventing jazz-rock (In a Silent Way, Bitches Brew) in the 1960s and ‘70s, then re-emerging in the 1980s to embrace pop forms, all while maintaining a unique and immediately recognizable persona, both musically and personally.  This class will cover the breadth of Davis' career and influence, contextualizing his work both musically and culturally.  Coursework will include close listening to Davis and other music of the period, reading (source material and later histories and analysis), and a final project focusing on one album from Davis' vast oeuvre.

Prereq: Permission of instructor

2-0-4 units

Because Bob Dylan didn’t exist, Robert Zimmerman was forced to invent himself, in the early 1960s cafés of New York’s Greenwich Village. After his early anthems (Blowin' in the Wind, Hard Rain, The Times They Are a-Changin') established him as reluctant ‘voice of his generation,’ Dylan just as quickly rejected the honor, abruptly shifting styles, refusing to be pigeonholed, and reshaping the landscape of folk and rock.  600+ songs later, with 10 Grammys, an Oscar, a Presidential Medal of Freedom, and the Nobel Prize for Literature under his belt, he continues to write, tour, and reinvent both his own work and his legacy. His songs continue to permeate every aspect of pop culture.  In this class we examine the craft of his songwriting and the scope of his career, through close listening to Dylan, his precursors and contemporaries, reading (source material and later histories and analyses) and a final project focusing on one aspect of Dylan's variegated career and work.

Prerequisites: 21M. 051, 21M.150/151, or equivalent

2-0-4 units

Do you love listening to different covers of your favorite artists and songs? Are you intrigued by how a simple melody can be heard in a variety of colors and styles by different ensembles and instruments? The craft of arranging previously composed music, whether one’s own or another’s, is a way to express oneself musically in a variety of timbres, sounds, and textures. We will explore arranging as a bi-directional process: reducing a large score to a piano reduction and taking something as basic as a lead sheet melody with chords and expanding it to a larger vocal or instrumental piece. As a final project students will arrange a short piece of their choice for an a cappella or small instrumental ensemble.

Prereq: Permission of Instructor
Units: 1-1-4
1/2 HASS-A

1st Half of Term

Accelerated half-semester study of the fundamentals of Western music. Requires ability to read Western staff notation in at least one clef. Coverage includes intervals, triads, major and minor keys, basic musical analysis over a variety of idioms in Western music. Also emphasizes developing the ear, voice, and keyboard skills. Not open to students who have completed or are enrolled in 21M.051, 21M.151, 21M.301 or 21M.302. Course content is identical to 21M.151: 21M.150 is offered first half of term; 21M.151 is offered second half of term or during IAP. Limited to 18.

3-0-9 units. HASS-A

A survey of the music of North and South America from the Renaissance to the present, with emphasis on the cross-fertilizations of indigenous and European traditions. Listening assignments will focus on composers as varied as Copland and Still, Revueltas and Chihara.

3-0-9 units. HASS-A

Historical survey from roots in African and American contexts, including spirituals, blues, and ragtime, through early jazz, Swing, bebop, and post-bop movements, with attention to recent developments. Key jazz styles, the relation of music and society, and major figures such as Armstrong, Ellington, Basie, Goodman, Parker, Monk, Mingus, Coltrane, and others are considered. Some investigation of cross-influences with popular, classical, folk, and rock musics. Enrollment may be limited.

Prereq: 21M.301 or permission of instructor
3-0-9 units. HASS-A

Surveys genres from the Western tradition composed in the 17th and 18th centuries: opera, cantata, oratorio, sonata, concerto, quartet and symphony. Includes the composers Monteverdi, Purcell, Lully, Strozzi, Vivaldi, Bach, Handel, Haydn, Bologne, and Mozart. Bases written essays, projects, and oral presentations on live performances as well as listening and reading assignments. Basic music score-reading ability required.

Prereq: 21M.301 or permission of instructor
3-0-9 units. HASS-A

Surveys 19th century Western concert music including Lied/song, choral music, opera, piano sonata/character piece, concerto, and symphony/symphonic poem. Includes the composers Beethoven, Schubert, Berlioz, Chopin, Farrenc, Brahms, Verdi, Tchaikovsky, Beach, Smyth, and Mahler. Bases written work and oral presentations on live performances as well as listening and reading assignments. Basic score-reading ability recommended.

Prereq: 21M.301 or permission of instructor
3-0-9 units. HASS-A
Can be repeated for credit.

Music for Animated Films is designed as a complement to 21M.284 (Film Music), from which animation is excluded due to lack of time. The subject's primary objective is to equip students with tools and methods for analysis of this specialized branch of film music, supported by awareness of broader esthetic and historical contexts. The syllabus includes a quick survey of music for silent and early sound films, with attention to stylistic legacies of key studios (Disney, WB, MGM, UPA). Attention is given to landmark early Disney features (Snow White, Pinocchio, Bambi), leading at the term's end to case studies of feature film scores produced by the Ghibli and Pixar studios (among them, Princess Mononoke and the Toy Story and Incredibles series). Throughout the term technological and economic conditions will be noted, along with esthetic and cultural issues of reception and interpretation. Required work will include personal responses and analytic reports—starting with discussion of short segments from early films and soundtracks, culminating in a comparative paper about two contrasting scores overall. During the second half of the term there will be team projects on one or two favorite films.

Prereq: None
3-0-9 units. HASS-A

Studies musical traditions of sub-Saharan Africa, with focus on West Africa. Explores a variety of musical practices and their cultural contexts through listening, reading and writing assignments with an emphasis on class discussion. Includes in-class instruction in drumming, song and dance of Senegal, Ghana, and South Africa, as well as live lecture-demonstrations by guest performers from throughout sub-Saharan Africa. Limited to 15; preference to majors, minors, concentrators. Admittance may be controlled by lottery.

Prereq: None
3-0-9 units. HASS-A

Surveys the development of popular music in the US, and in a cross-cultural milieu, relative to the history and sociology of the last two hundred years. Examines the mixture that characterizes modern music, and how it reflects many rich traditions and styles (minstrelsy, Tin Pan Alley, blues, country, rock, soul, rap, techno, etc.). Provides a background for understanding the musical vocabulary of current popular music styles. Limited to 20.

Prereq: 21M.030 or permission of instructor
3-0-9 units. HASS-A
Can be repeated for credit.

This course explores the historical and present-day music created by people of Asian descent in the United States. From Cantonese opera to Mitski, from taiko to bhangra, from classical to hip hop, from amateur community groups to pop stars, we will explore how Asian American musicians have made artistic choices, navigated questions of identity, and pursued musical innovation over the past two centuries. Readings will be drawn primarily from ethnomusicology and Asian American studies. Students will produce a final project based on either original research or creative practice.

Prereq: 21M.051 or 21M.150 or 21M.151 or Permission from Instructor
3-3-6
HASS-A

Explores Western diatonic music through regular composition and analysis assignments. Engages a broad range of historical periods, traditions, and individuals. Topics include rhythm and meter, harmony and counterpoint within a single key, and a brief overview of form and modulation. Individual skills are addressed through a variety of approaches, including the required piano and sight singing labs. Local musicians perform final composition projects. Students should be proficient in reading Western staff notation in at least one clef and have experience with key signatures and scales. Students taking the graduate version complete additional assignments. Limited to 18 per section.

Prereq: 21M.301 or permission of instructor
3-2-7 units. HASS-A

A continuation of 21M.301, including chromatic harmony and modulation, a more extensive composition project, keyboard laboratory, and musicianship laboratory. Limited to 20 per section.

Prereq: 21M.302
3-1-8 units. HASS-A

Written and analytic exercises based on 18th- and 19th-century small forms and harmonic practice found in music such as the chorale preludes of Bach; minuets and trios of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven; and the songs and character pieces of Schubert and Schumann. Musicianship laboratory is required. Limited to 20 per section.

Prereq: 21M.303
3-1-8 units. HASS-A

Further written and analytic exercises in tonal music, focusing on larger or more challenging forms. For example, students might compose a sonata-form movement for piano or a two-part invention in the style of Bach. Students have opportunities to write short works that experiment with the expanded tonal techniques of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Musicianship laboratory is required. Limited to 20.

Prereq: 21M.051, 21M.226, or permission of instructor
3-0-9 units. HASS-A

Basic harmony and theory of mainstream jazz and blues; includes required listening in jazz, writing and analysis work, and two full-scale arrangements. Serves as preparation for more advanced work in jazz with application to rock and pop music. Performance of student arrangements. Limited to 15.

Prereq: 21M.226, 21M.340, or permission of instructor
3-0-9 units. HASS-A

Jazz writing using tonal, modal, and extended compositional approaches as applied to the blues, the 32-bar song form, and post-bop structural designs. Consideration given to a variety of styles and to the ways improvisation informs the compositional process. Study of works by Ellington, Mingus, Parker, Russell, Golson, Coleman, Coltrane, Hancock, Tyner, Davis, and others. Performance of student compositions. Limited to 15.

Subject meets with 21M.505
Prereq: 21M.304, 21M.310, or permission of instructor
3-0-9 units. HASS-A
Can be repeated for credit.

Directed composition of original writing involving voices and/or instruments. Includes a weekly seminar in composition for the presentation and discussion of work in progress. Students are expected to produce at least one substantive work that will be performed in public by the end of the term. Contemporary compositions and major works from 20th-century music literature are studied. Students taking the graduate version complete different assignments.

Prereq: Permission of instructor
3-0-9 units. HASS-A

Students study concepts and practice techniques of improvisation in solo and ensemble contexts. Examines relationships between improvisation, composition, and performance based in traditional and experimental approaches. Topics, with occasional guest lectures, may include jazz, non-western music, and western concert music, as well as improvisation with film, spoken word, theater, and dance. Enrollment limited to 15; open by audition to instrumental or vocal performers.

Subject meets with 21M.561
Prereq: None
2-1-9 units. HASS-A

Students develop basic skills in composition through weekly assignments focusing on sampling and audio processing. Source materials include samples of urban/natural environments, electronically generated sounds, inherent studio/recording noise, and pre-existing recordings. Audio processing includes digital signal processing (DSP) and analog devices. Covers compositional techniques, including mixing, algorithms, studio improvisation, and interaction. Students critique each other's work and give informal presentations on recordings drawn from sound art, experimental electronica, conventional and non-conventional classical electronic works, and popular music. Covers technology, math, and acoustics in varying detail. Students taking graduate version complete different assignments. Limited to 15 per section; ; preference to Music Technology graduate students, Music majors, minors, and concentrators.

Covers the physics and acoustics of music and musical instruments, computational models of musical acoustics, and digital signal processing techniques for audio effects. Topics include the basics of sound propagation and auditory perception; the specific acoustical phenomena of wind, string, and percussion instruments as well as the voice; room acoustics; vibration and acoustic measurement techniques; historical contexts of instrument designs; instrument building and design; music synthesis; physical modeling synthesis including digital waveguides, modal models, and finite difference schemes; programming of digital audio effects such as equalization and filtering, delay effects, dynamic range control, reverberation, and distortion.

Emphasis will be placed on practical applications including measurements, real-time audio programming, critical listening, and physical making.  Students will work on a significant final project with topics including building an instrument, augmenting an instrument with an acoustic or digital intervention, developing a synthesis model of an instrument, or programming a real-time audio effect not covered in the class. Students taking the graduate version will complete extended assignments. 

Students should be familiar with signal processing, digital audio, and programming (Python with some C++).

Subject meets with 21M.570
Prereq: None
3-6-3 units. HASS-A

Covers aesthetic and technical challenges in the creation of physical interfaces for musical performance. will engage in the design and creation of musical interfaces, and learn how to incorporate new technologies in their artistic practice. Topics covered include user experience design for artistic performance, musical human-computer interaction (HCI), hardware and software standards for digital musical systems, embedded programming and sound synthesis, analog and digital sensors, rapid prototyping and digital manufacturing, and creating performance practices around custom hardware. Students design and build their own digital musical instrument, and present a performance with the instrument as their final project. Students taking graduate version complete different assignments. Limited to 18.

Same subject as 6.4550[J]
Subject meets with 21M.585
Prereq: (6.1010 and 21M.301) or permission of instructor
3-0-9 units. HASS-A

Explores audio synthesis, musical structure, human computer interaction (HCI), and visual presentation for the creation of interactive musical experiences. Topics include audio synthesis; mixing and looping; MIDI sequencing; generative composition; motion sensors; music games; and graphics for UI, visualization, and aesthetics. Includes weekly programming assignments in python. Teams build an original, dynamic, and engaging interactive music system for their final project. Students taking graduate version complete different assignments. Limited to 36.

Prereq: None
0-4-2 units
Can be repeated for credit.

This class can be combined with another 6-unit Music & Theater Arts samplings or performance ensemble for HASS credit.

Rehearsals and performance of primarily large-scale works for chorus, soloists, and orchestra--from the Passions and Masses of J. S. Bach to oratorios of our own time. Open to graduate and undergraduate students by audition.

Prereq: None 
Units: 3-0-3 
This class can be combined with another 6-unit Music & Theater Arts samplings or performance ensemble for HASS credit.

Rehearsal and performance of choral repertoire for small chorus, involving literature from the Renaissance to contemporary periods. Limited to 32 by audition.

(Subject meets with 21M.515) 
Prereq: None. Coreq: Participation in ensemble for vocalists 
Units: 3-0-3 

This class can be combined with another 6-unit Music & Theater Arts samplings or performance ensemble for HASS credit.

For the singer and/or pianist interested in collaborative study of solo vocal performance. Historical study of the repertoire includes listening assignments of representative French, German, Italian, and English works as sung by noted vocal artists of the genre. Topics include diction as facilitated by the study of the International Phonetic Alphabet; performance and audition techniques; and study of body awareness and alignment through the Alexander Technique and yoga. Admission by audition; Emerson Vocal Scholars contact department.

Prereq: None 
Units: 0-4-2 
This class can be combined with another 6-unit Music & Theater Arts samplings or performance ensemble for HASS credit.

Rehearsals prepare works for concerts and recordings. Analyses of musical style, structure, and performance practice are integrated into rehearsals as a means of enriching musical conception and the approach to performance. Likewise, additional scores of particular structural or stylistic interest are read whenever time permits. Admission by audition.

Prereq: None 
Units: 0-4-2 
This class can be combined with another 6-unit Music & Theater Arts samplings or performance ensemble for HASS credit.

Designed for advanced instrumentalists who are committed to the analysis, performance, and recording of woodwind, brass, and percussion literature from the Renaissance through the 21st century. The repertoire consists primarily of music for small and large wind ensembles. May include ensemble music from Gabrieli to Grainger, Schuller, Mozart, Dvorak, and various mixed media including strings. Performance of newly commissioned works. Opportunities for solo work and work with recognized professional artists and composers. Admission by audition.

Prereq: None 
Units: 0-4-2 
This class can be combined with another 6-unit Music & Theater Arts samplings or performance ensemble for HASS credit.

Designed for instrumentalists dedicated to the analysis, performance, and recording of traditional and contemporary jazz ensemble compositions. Instrumentation includes saxophones, trumpets, trombones, piano, guitar or vibraphone, bass, percussion and occasionally french horn, double reeds, and strings. Provides opportunities to work with professional jazz artists and perform commissioned works by recognized jazz composers. Experience in improvisation preferred but not required. Admission by audition.

Pre-req: Admission by Audition

0-4-2

This class can be combined with another 6-unit Music & Theater Arts samplings or performance ensemble for HASS credit.

The MIT Vocal Jazz Ensemble is an audition-based group of up to 16 singers. Students will have the opportunity to sing both with the ensemble and as a soloist at one of two or more performances each semester. MIT VJE performs both traditional and contemporary vocal jazz music, including student compositions and arrangements. The group is also invited to learn from exciting visiting jazz artists each year. Exploring improvisation, history, and style, the vocal jazz ensemble is a vital part of the MIT jazz community. Admission by audition.

Prereq: None 
Units: 0-4-2 
This class can be combined with another 6-unit Music & Theater Arts samplings or performance ensemble for HASS credit.

Study of chamber music literature through analysis, rehearsal, and performance. Weekly seminars and coaching. Open to string, piano, brass, woodwind players, and singers. Admission by audition.

Prereq: Permission of instructor 
Units: 0-3-3 

This class can be combined with another 6-unit Music & Theater Arts samplings or performance ensemble for HASS credit.

In this class students can try one or more of the instruments used in a traditional Balinese gamelan, including various gangsa instruments (ancient bronze metallophones), suling (Balinese bamboo flute), reyong (bronze pots), various gongs and drum. Students will learn traditional and contemporary pieces by Balinese aural methods. Class culminates in a performance. No previous experience in music required, only an interest in learning to play any of these beautiful instruments.

(Meets with 21M.514: Graduate Level)
Prereq: None 
Units arranged 

This class can be combined with another 6-unit Music & Theater Arts samplings or performance ensemble for HASS credit.

Open by audition to pianists, instrumentalists and singers who wish to explore and develop their talents as collaborative musicians. Students are paired based on availability and receive weekly coachings by appointment. Students practice independently, rehearse with their collaborator, attend their collaborator's lessons as needed, and perform at a juried recital at the end of the term. Students may register for 3 units for a smaller-scale assignment or 6 units for a larger-scale assignment or two small assignments. May satisfy the ensemble requirement for pianists and instrumentalists in the Emerson/Harris program at the discretion of the instructor. Students taking graduate version complete different assignments.

Prereq: None 
Units: 0-3-3 
This class can be combined with another 6-unit Music & Theater Arts samplings or performance ensemble for HASS credit.

A performance ensemble focusing on the sabar drumming tradition of Senegal, West Africa. Study and rehearse Senegalese drumming techniques and spoken word. Perform in conjunction with MIT Rambax drumming group. No previous experience necessary, but prior enrollment in 21M.030 or 21M.293 strongly recommended. Limited to 30 by audition.

Subject meets with 21M.517
Prereq: Permission of instructor
3-0-3 units
Can be repeated for credit.

This class can be combined with another 6-unit Music & Theater Arts samplings or performance ensemble for HASS credit.

The MIT Laptop Ensemble is a forum for the exploration of emerging digital musical practices, giving ensemble members hands-on experience with compositional and performance strategies based on current research. Concerts by the ensemble include repertoire drawn both from historical electronic and computer music compositions, as well as new compositions by invited composers. Also includes opportunities for ensemble members to compose for and conduct the ensemble. Weekly rehearsals focus on concepts drawn from a variety of 20th- and 21st-century practices, including experimental and improvised music, telematic performance, gestural controllers, multimedia performance, live coding, and interactive music systems. No previous experience required. Students taking graduate version complete different assignments. Admission by audition.

(Subject meets with 21M.511) 
Prereq: None 
Units: 1-2-3 

This class can be combined with another 6-unit Music & Theater Arts samplings or performance ensemble for HASS credit.

Designed for students who demonstrate considerable technical and musical skills and who wish to develop them through intensive private study. Students must take a weekly lesson, attend a regular performance seminar, participate in a departmental performing group, and participate in a group recital at the end of each term. Full-year commitment required. Information about lesson fees, scholarships, and auditions available in Music Section Office. Students taking the graduate version complete different assignments. Admission by audition for Emerson/Harris Program.

(Subject meets with 21M.512) 
Prereq: None 
Units: 1-2-6
HASS-A

Designed for students who demonstrate considerable technical and musical skills and who wish to develop them through intensive private study. Students must take a weekly lesson, attend a regular performance seminar, and participate in a departmental performing group, and present a 50-minute solo recital at the end of the Spring term. Full-year commitment required. Information about lesson fees, scholarships, and auditions available in Music Section Office. Students taking the graduate version complete different assignments. Admission by audition for the Emerson/Harris Program.

Prereq: Permission of instructor
U (Spring)
1-2-6 units. HASS-A
Can be repeated for credit.

Solo 50-minute recital prepared with a private teacher and approved by the Emerson Private Studies Committee based on evidence of readiness shown in the Fall Term performances. See Music and Theater Arts website for application deadlines and conditions. Restricted to Emerson Scholars.

(Subject meets with 21M.475) 
Graduate version
Prereq: None
Units: 1-2-3

Designed for students who demonstrate considerable technical and musical skills and who wish to develop them through intensive private study. Students must take a weekly lesson, attend a regular performance seminar, participate in a departmental performing group, and present a 50-minute solo recital at the end of the Spring term. Full-year commitment required. Information about lesson fees, scholarships, and auditions available in Music Section Office. Students taking the graduate version complete different assignments. Admission by audition for Emerson/Harris Program.

(Subject meets with 21M.480) 
Graduate Version
Prereq: None 
Units: 1-2-6

Designed for students who demonstrate considerable technical and musical skills and who wish to develop them through intensive private study. Students must take a weekly lesson, attend a regular performance seminar, and participate in a departmental performing group, and present a 50-minute solo recital at the end of the Spring term. Full-year commitment required. Information about lesson fees, scholarships, and auditions available in Music Section Office. Students taking the graduate version complete different assignments. Admission by audition for the Emerson/Harris Program.

This spring, AXIOM will examine the sound world of the nonet by studying and performing the Nonet in F major of Louis Spohr (sometimes called the “Grand Nonet”), and the Nonet in Eb major of Louise Farrenc. The instrumentation required for both is the same: Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, Bassoon, French horn, Violin, Viola, Cello, and Bass

Auditions for the Spohr will be February 4, 2025 at 3:35pm in W18-4311. Please prepare a solo of your choice no longer than one minute. After that, there will be sight reading.

Please email Dr. Boyles (akboyles@mit.edu) for further information.