Our goal was to build flexibility into the curriculum, making it possible for a diversity of students and interests to flourish in the music concentration. We were eager to enable students to enroll in the courses currently required in the curriculum, but not to require them to follow a particular route. We wanted to create numerous entryways into the concentration that would allow students from different backgrounds and with diverse musical interests to join the concentration. And we aimed to shape a curriculum that would make it possible for our faculty to be creative and teach to their intellectual strengths.
To be sure, there will continue to be the usual range of courses in the proposed curriculum that require and build on specialized knowledge, and many students will continue to exercise the opportunity to take them. The chief difference from the present curriculum is that none of these will be among the required courses.
What's going to happen now?
The new curriculum will be adopted in Fall 2017
Current concentrators have the choice of staying with the CURRENT CURRICULUM or requesting to switch to the NEW CURRICULUM per advisement
We will be hosting information sessions to go over the new curriculum in detail later in the semester and answer all of your questions
What are some of the big changes?
Instead of 13 courses, you only need 10 courses to be a full concentrator (8 courses for joint concentrator)
Very few required courses remain, 97a and 97b for both full and joint concentrators and 98 for full concentrators
Faculty-led ensembles and Music 189-Chamber Music can count for concentration
Gen Ed, Freshman Seminar, and introductory courses taught by Music Department faculty can count for concentration
What is the "no more than 2 rule"?
Although technically all courses taught by Music Department faculty can count for concentration, you will need to follow the "no more than 2 rule." No more than 2 courses from each of the following categories may count toward concentration:
Repeatable courses (labeled 'r' after the course number) of the same course number
Faculty-led ensembles
Music 10 through 16
These courses must be taken in the Fall and Spring semesters consecutively to receive credit
SAT/UNS courses
Freshman seminars and faculty-led ensembles are graded SAT/UNS
Some courses may have SAT/UNS grading option
Introductory courses
Music 1 through 9 and 20 through 49
Freshman Seminars
Humanities 11a through 11c
Gen Ed courses taught by Music Department faculty such as AI 24-First Nights, AI 62-California in the 60's, and AAAS 182-From R&B to Neo Soul
It is important to keep in mind that some courses may fall under more than one category. For example, 189r-Chamber Music can be taken SAT/UNS and it's also repeatable, and Music 10-Harvard Radcliffe Orchestra is a faculty-led ensemble and SAT/UNS. Don't worry, our advising team will monitor your progress closely and ensure a smooth path through the concentration from start to finish.
Are we going to have new 97's?
Yes! The two new concentration tutorials, 97a and 97b, can be imagined as macrocosm and microcosm of the music world. Where 97a-Thinking about Music tackles broad questions pertaining to music and its place in human existence, 97b-Critical Listening focuses the lens on a more detailed level of engagement with music. Stay tuned for detailed course descriptions.
What is Music 98-Advanced Tutorial?
Individual courses of specialization, in groups of up to three, offered by qualified Teaching Fellows under the supervision of a faculty member.
Music 98 is not tailor-made but will follow one of a number of topics including (but not limited to):
Compositional Techniques
Ethnographic Skills
Notation
Cultural History
Performance Practice
Sound Technology
Analytic Techniques
Depending on the field of the tutorial, there will be a concluding project of modest size at the end of the semester, which may later become a component of a senior thesis
