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Musicology Electives

The following elective courses are available in the Musicology area:

MUEL-1832 (3) Appreciation of Music
Introduces music, including the fundamental elements of music, the history of the Western tradition and its composers, the development of American popular music and aspects of World Music. Approved for arts and sciences core curriculum: literature and the arts. Requisites: College of Music (MUSC) majors are excluded from this course.

MUEL-2752 (3) Music in American Culture
Offers a stylistic and historical examination of trends that have influenced present-day music in the U.S. Formerly EMUS 2752. Approved for arts and sciences core curriculum: United States context. Requisites: College of Music (MUSC) majors are excluded from this course.

MUEL-2762 (3) Topics in Music and Drama
Explores techniques used in combining music and dramatic arts, exploring a range of examples from musical and dramatic literature of the West or other world regions from circa 1000 to present. Specific course topics could cover any or all of these styles. Offered spring only. Requisites: College of Music (MUSC) majors are excluded from this course.

MUEL-2772 (3) World Musics: Asia and Oceania
Highlight music in Asia and Oceania using current ethnomusicological materials. May be repeated up to 6 total credit hours. Approved for arts and sciences core curriculum: human diversity. Requisites: College of Music (MUSC) majors are excluded from this course.

MUEL-2782 (3) World Music: Africa, Europe, and the Americas
Highlights music in Africa, Europe and the Americas using current ethnomusicological materials. Approved for arts and sciences core curriculum: human diversity. Requisites: College of Music (MUSC) majors are excluded from this course.

MUEL-2802 (3) Afro Am Music Hist/Ap 1
Requisites: College of Music (MUSC) majors are excluded from this course.

MUEL-2812 (3) Afro Am Music Hist / Ap 2
Requisites: College of Music (MUSC) majors are excluded from this course.

MUEL-2842 (3) American Musical Theatre
Provides an overview of the role of musical theatre in U.S. culture, emphasizing the 20th century Broadway musical. Formerly EMUS 2842. Requisites: College of Music (MUSC) majors are excluded from this course.

MUEL-2852 (3) Music of the Rock Era
Examines popular music, concentrating on the U.S. after 1950. Considers precursor styles (e.g., blues folk) and contributions to the new rock style; discusses the evolution of rock style from 1960 through the 1990s. Formerly EMUS 2852. Approved for the arts and sciences core curriculum: literature and the arts. Offered spring only. Requisites: College of Music (MUSC) majors are excluded from this course.

MUEL-2862 (3) American Film Musical
Examines the development of filmed musicals from the beginning of sound movies through the Golden Age of Musicals. Emphasizes analysis and relationships of characters, songs, and incidental music. Approved for arts and sciences core curriculum: literature and the arts. Requisites: College of Music (MUSC) majors are excluded from this course.

MUEL-2872 (3) Music in the Rock Era: Special Topics in Heavy Metal
Explores, discuss, debate and develop deeper understanding of Heavy Metal. Included are study of musical style characteristics and lyrical content, innovative performers, unifying elements of Heavy Metal culture and the diversity within it, and its role in the larger Rock and societal contexts. Issues of gender, religion, and sexuality in the Heavy Metal construct are also discussed. Requisites: College of Music (MUSC) majors are excluded from this course.

MUEL-3642 (3) History of Jazz
Surveys the distinctly American art form of jazz music from its origins to the present, including the various traditions, practices, historical events and people most important to its evolution. Offered fall and spring. Requisites: College of Music (MUSC) majors are excluded from this course.

MUEL-3772 (3) West African Music and Culture in Ghana
Provides hands-on and experiential enrichment for students to interact at several levels with a local community in Ghana. Classroom lectures will be combined with direct participation in drumming and dancing, field trips to participate in festivals and court ceremonies, field trips to kente weaving village, adinkra cloth making, wood carving villages, and museums. MUSC 3772 and MUEL 3772 are the same course. Requisites: Requires prerequisite courses of MUSC 2782 and MUEL 2772 (all minimum grade D-). Restricted to students with 27-56 credits (Sophomore) non-College of Music majors only.

MUEL-3822 (3) Words and Music
Explores the interaction between words and music in song. Students will consider how such features as rhyme, rhythm, tone, and the connotations of particular words contribute to meaning in poetry; how rhythm, tempo, dynamics, mood, and instrumentation contribute to meaning in music; and how words and music coalesce in song to make a new meaning. Formerly EMUS 3822. Approved for arts and sciences core curriculum: literature and the arts. Requisites: College of Music (MUSC) majors are excluded from this course.

MUEL-3832 (3) Music in Literature
Addresses literature that seeks either to explore the meaning of music or to make music out of words. Students will consider how musical concepts and techniques can be incorporated into poetry and prose, and will analyze the roles that writers have attributed to music in society, politics, and the life of the individual. Formerly EMUS 3832. Approved for arts and sciences core curriculum: literature and the arts. Requisites: College of Music (MUSC) majors are excluded from this course.

MUEL-3872 (3) Music in the Rock Era: Special Topics in Heavy Metal
Explore, discuss, debate and develop deeper understanding of Heavy metal. Included are study of musical style characteristics and lyrical content, innovative performers, unifying elements of Heavy Metal culture and the diversity within it, and its role in the larger Rock and societal contexts. Issues of gender, religion, and sexuality in the Heavy Metal construct area also discussed. Requisites: College of Music (MUSC) majors are excluded from this course.

MUEL 3882 Music and Violence
This course explores the role of music in generating, sustaining and contesting acts of violence. Focusing on conflicts occurring across the globe during the late-20th and early-21st centuries, its case studies treat terrorism, warfare, revolution, street violence, domestic abuse, reconciliation and peace. Our review helps us to build an understanding of music’s motivational powers and the nature of violence, as well as of the role of expressive culture in mediating social conflict more generally.  

MUEL-4012 (3-6) African Music
Studies music cultures of Africa and the Black Diaspora, including folk and art music traditions, religious and popular music genres. Specific course topic could cover any or all of these styles, including exploring interconnections of musical stylistics of Africa and the Black Diaspora. Same as MUSC 4012 and MUSC 5012. Requisites: College of Music (MUSC) majors are excluded from this course.

MUEL-4122 (3) Music in Jewish Culture
Introduces students to a wide range of musical styles, traditions, genres, performers, composers, events and works that are part of Jewish culture, focusing on the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Provides tools for understanding music on its own and in connection with issues of identity, diaspora, memory and liturgy. Includes opportunities for creative and critical engagement with Jewish music. Same as MUSC/JWST 4122.

World Music Ensembles

The College of Music offers a number of World Music Ensembles for course credit for music majors and non-majors:

• African Ensemble
• Japanese Ensemble
• Gamelan Ensemble
• Mariachi Ensemble
• World Vocal Ensemble

Each ensemble can be found in the CU Course Catalog as a different section under EMUS 1467, 3467 and 5467. The courses feature study and performance of musics of diverse cultures in the United States, including Native American, Latin American, African American and Asian American, as well as music from the mother cultures of these groups.

Learn more about our World Music Ensembles and see upcoming concerts in the Ensembles section >>