COURSES OF STUDY
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Birmingham-Southern College Catalog 2014-2015
Courses in Music Theory and Composition
MU 150 Fundamentals of Music (1)
A course in the rudiments of music designed for the non-music major
and for majors who wish to develop basic skills. Summer.
MU 151 Elementary Theory (1)
Notation, scales, and keys; cadence patterns, chord classification, and
basic harmonic progressions; four voiced writing using triads and the
dominant seventh chord and their inversions. Three one-hour lecture
classes and two weekly lab sessions focusing on appropriate elementary
aural skills. Fall.
MU 152 Intermediate Theory II (1)
A continuation of MU 151.Three one-hour lecture classes and two
weekly lab sessions focusing on appropriate intermediate aural skills.
Prerequisite: MU 151. Spring.
MU 158 Music Technology (1)
An introduction to music technology for students intending to
major in music that includes a variety of basic competencies utilizing
contemporary technology. Fall.
MU 251 Advanced Theory (1)
The use of secondary seventh chords and chromatically altered chords;
analysis of style and texture in nineteenth-century literature; elementary
composition. Three one-hour lecture classes and two weekly lab
sessions focusing on appropriate advanced aural skills. Prerequisite: MU
152. Fall.
MU 252 Early Twentieth-Century Theory (1)
An analytical survey of the literature of the late nineteenth- and early
twentieth-century music, with special emphasis on new compositional
techniques, such as atonality and serial techniques, developed in this
era; assignments in composition, utilizing these techniques, form a part
of the content. Prerequisite: MU 251. Spring.
MU 351 Counterpoint (½)
A study of the art of writing counterpoint, with special emphasis on
eighteenth-century techniques. Prerequisite: MU 251. Spring, every
other year.
MU 352 Music Since 1945 (½)
An analytical survey of late twentieth-century music. The course
includes detailed study of the major works of the era following the
Second World War to the present. Prerequisite: MU 252. Spring, every
other year, alternating with MU 351.
