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Department of Music
Academic Programs
Department Website:
https://www.haverford.edu/music
The music curriculum is designed to deepen students’ understanding of musical form and expression through the development of skill in composition and performance joined with analysis of musical works and their place in various cultures. A major in music provides a foundation for further study leading to a career in music.
As a result of having majored in our department, students exhibit proficiency in various skills appropriate to a specific area of the curriculum as listed below. But beyond such competence, we seek to develop their awareness of aesthetics and of their place in the history of musical performance, craft, and scholarship.
Learning Goals
Music Department faculty members are committed to the education of the whole musician. This entails the study of performance, theory, culture, and history, as we believe these disciplines support each other in a comprehensive understanding of music. Depending on the level of the individual course, we aim for students to:
- gain command of chosen instrument or voice, showing understanding of technical skills of musicianship.
- understand how to apply appropriate interpretive choices to a given musical work.
- analyze important aspects of musical style and structure, both in score and aurally.
- demonstrate ability to deploy elements of melody, harmony, and structure in original creations.
- understand the roles music plays in different cultures, both past and present, and the tools used to interrogate those roles.
- explore the ways in which technology (from notation to the internet) shapes musical thought and expression.
- develop rhetorical skills to speak and write about music with conviction, and the bibliographical skills required to find works and critical perspectives that inform these judgements.
Haverford’s Institutional Learning Goals are available on the President’s website, at http://hav.to/learninggoals.
Curriculum
Composition/Theory
The composition/theory program stresses proficiency in aural, keyboard, and vocal skills, and written harmony and counterpoint. Composition following important historical models and experimentation with contemporary styles are emphasized.
Musicology
The musicology program, which emphasizes European, North American, and Asian traditions, considers music in the rich context of its social, religious, and aesthetic surroundings.
Performance
Haverford’s music performance program offers opportunities to participate in the Haverford-Bryn Mawr Chamber Singers, Chorale, Orchestra, and chamber ensembles. Students can receive academic credit for their participation (MUSC H102, MUSC H214, MUSC H215, and MUSC H216), and can receive credit for Private Study (MUSC H208 for Instrumental Study, MUSC H209 for Voice Study, and MUSC H210 for Keyboard Study). Student chamber ensembles, solo instrumentalists, and vocalists also give informal recitals during the year. Courses such as Art Song and Topics in Piano have a built-in performance component.
Private Lessons
Students can arrange private music lessons through the department or independently. We have a referral list of many fine teachers in the Philadelphia area with whom we are affiliated. The department helps to subsidize the cost of lessons for students with financial need who are studying for academic credit.
Major Requirements
- Composition/Theory: MUSC H203, MUSC H204, and MUSC H303.
- Musicology: Three courses, MUSC H229, plus any two of MUSC H220, MUSC H221, MUSC H222, MUSC H223, MUSC H224, or MUSC H225.
- Two electives in Music, from: MUSC H149, MUSC H207, MUSC H220, MUSC H221, MUSC H222, MUSC H223, MUSC H224, MUSC H225, MUSC H227, MUSC H250, MUSC H254, MUSC H265, MUSC H266, MUSC H270, MUSC H304, and MUSC H325.
- Performance
- Participation in a department-sponsored performance group for at least a year.
- MUSC H208, MUSC H209, or MUSC H210 instrumental or vocal private study for one year.
- We strongly urge continuing ensemble participation and instrumental or vocal private study.
- A Senior Project (as detailed below)
- We expect majors to attend the majority of department-sponsored concerts, lectures, and colloquia.
Students may take only one elective course abroad or at another institution in the U.S., including within the Tri-College Consortium or at Penn, with prior written approval from the Chair of the Music Department.
Senior Project
Senior majors in the Department of Music may choose to undertake their capstone experience by pursuing one of the following focused project options: an original composition or theoretical inquiry; a musicology research paper; a full recital performance; a personalized plan of study within an elective course beyond the number required. In some cases, projects might combine two fields—performance and theory, for example—and may involve joint advisorship. All projects culminate in public presentation appropriate to their nature and scope.
Majors are asked in February of their junior year to discuss with department faculty members their ideas for the senior experience, identify an advisor, and submit a formal, written project proposal to the Chair before spring break. Proposals are then reviewed by the Music faculty in department meetings. Frequently the department asks that proposals be modified and submitted for a second review before final approval is given. Notification of departmental approval is sent by the chair to students in April. As soon as the project is approved, students are expected to consult with the advisor to determine a clear schedule for the timely completion of work according to the unique needs of the project. Students are often encouraged to get a head start on senior project work well before the beginning of their final fall semester.
Majors pursuing an independent project in composition/theory, musicology or performance generally register for MUSC H480 in both the fall and spring semesters of their senior year. Each semester of MUSC H480 earns one course credit; however, only one semester of MUSC H480 counts toward the courses required for the major. Majors pursuing the expanded curricular option may be advised to take a preparatory fall MUSC H480, which likewise would earn one course credit, but not apply toward fulfillment of major requirements.
Senior Project Learning Goals
- In the process of preparing an original composition, the student exercises the ability to compose a substantial work (e.g., string quartet, song cycle, piano sonata) exhibiting proficiency in notation, clarity of structure, stylistic integrity, and awareness of historical models. In pursuing a theoretical inquiry, the student engages in the analysis of musical content through primary and secondary sources, aiming for a synthesis of perspectives and an expression of insights sensitive to music’s interpretive possibilities.
- In the process of preparing a senior thesis in musicology, the student develops the ability to craft an original research question based on knowledge of and reflection upon prior literature in the field. The student will also demonstrate command of appropriate musicological research methods, clear written expression, and the capacity to speak with authority about the topic in a public presentation.
- In the process of preparing a senior recital, the student hones the skills to present a technically and interpretively challenging program of repertory from a range of stylistic periods.
- In the process of fulfilling a program of intensified study within an additional course elective, the student expands curricular horizons, and meets the highest-level challenges in their experience as a major.
Regardless of the specific path taken, it is intended that the senior experience stimulate reflection on the discipline of music as a whole, and lead to the student’s awareness of place within the unfolding history of musical creativity, scholarship and performance. Each project should in its own way constitute a consummation of the student’s musical growth throughout the undergraduate years.
Senior Project Assessment
Whether undertaken in the context of an intensified elective or of an independent study the actual numerical grade assigned for the senior project remains at advisor discretion. The department as a body discusses the project’s relative quality and the consistency of effort brought to bear in its production, to aid the advisor in evaluation. A written summary of the department’s collective appraisal of the student’s achievement in the senior experience is furnished by the chair to the student prior to Commencement.
Requirements for Honors
Honors
- Minimum GPA in music courses of 3.7 AND grade on senior project of 4.0.
High Honors
- Outstanding, standard-setting contribution to the department in the context of courses and/or ensembles.
- Exceptional level of originality, depth, and synthesis in the senior project as compared to undergraduate work generally, outside Haverford (i.e., a level of work that should be sufficient to gain admission to top graduate programs in the field).
Minor Requirements
- Composition/Theory: MUSC H203 and MUSC H204.
- Musicology: MUSC H229; plus any one of MUSC H220, MUSC H221, MUSC H222, MUSC H223, MUSC H224, or MUSC H225.
- One elective from the following: MUSC H149, MUSC H207, MUSC H220, MUSC H221, MUSC H222, MUSC H223, MUSC H224, MUSC H225, MUSC H227, MUSC H250, MUSC H254, MUSC H265, MUSC H266, MUSC H270, MUSC H303, MUSC H304, and MUSC H325.
- MUSC H208, MUSC H209, MUSC H210 instrumental/vocal private study or department ensemble participation for one year.
- We expect minors to attend the majority of department-sponsored concerts, lectures, and colloquia.
Students may take only one elective course abroad or at another institution in the U.S., including within the Tri-College Consortium or at Penn, with prior written approval from the Chair of the Music Department.
Special Programs and Funds
The Music Department Concert Artist Series presents distinguished and emerging performers in public concerts, master classes, lecture-demonstrations, reading sessions, and informal encounters. Among artists recently featured have been pianist Peter Serkin, violinist Miranda Cuckson, the Orlando Consort, the Borromeo String Quartet, the Renee Rosnes Jazz Quartet, and the Borealis Wind Quintet with pianist Leon Bates.
The Network for New Music Residency features Philadelphia’s distinguished contemporary music ensemble in reading and recording sessions for student composers, performances of contemporary music with students in the Chamber Music program, and a concert series highlighting the work of prominent living composers.
The William Heartt Reese Music Fund was established in 1977 to honor William Heartt Reese, Professor of Music and conductor of the Glee Club and Orchestra at Haverford from 1947 to 1975. The fund supports applied music lessons for students enrolled in the department’s private study program.
The John H. Davison ‘51 Fund for Student Composers supports the performance of new works by student composers. This fund recognizes John’s 40 years of teaching and musical creativity at Haverford.
The Orpheus Prize is awarded for exceptional achievement in the practice of tonal harmony.
The Kessinger Family Fund for Asian Performing Arts sponsors musical performances and lecture-demonstrations that enrich Haverford’s cross-cultural programs. Since its inception in 1997, the fund has supported visits by artists representing traditions of South, Central, and East Asia, and Indonesia.
Facilities
See the departmental web page for a description of performance, rehearsal, library spaces, instruments and equipment.