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- About the Bulletin
- Introduction to Stony Brook
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- Degree Requirements
- Academic Policies and Regulations
- Special Academic Programs
- Approved Majors, Minors & Programs
- Supplement
- Courses by Department
- Courses by Designator
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- 1999-2001 Bulletin
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Music
Department of Music, College of Arts and Sciences
Chairperson: Judith Lochhead
Director of Undergraduate Studies: Perry Goldstein
Undergraduate Secretary: Theresa Berndt
Office: 3304 Staller Center for the Arts
Phone: (631) 632-7330
E-mail: pgoldstein@notes.cc.sunysb.edu
Web address: http://www.sunysb.edu/music
Minors of particular interest to students majoring in music: anthropology (ANT), art history (ARH), cinema and cultural studies (CCS), dance (DAN), English (EGL), history (HIS), philosophy (PHI), theatre arts (THR)
The study of music entails training in performance, theory, musicianship, and history in the context of a liberal arts degree. Technical study on an instrument or in voice and in music theory is coupled with broad historical and critical study of music.
The undergraduate major in music at Stony Brook is designed as a balanced educational program that serves as preparation for professional careers and advanced training in performance, composition, scholarship, teaching, and other arts-related careers.
Students graduating with a major in music pursue graduate study in musical performance, composition, history, and theory, teach music in private and public schools, take jobs in arts-related industries, and pursue advanced study in non-music fields, often in the health professions.
Courses Offered in Music
Requirements for the Major in Music (MUS)
The major in music leads to the Bachelor of Arts degree. All courses offered for the major must be passed with a letter grade of C or higher.
Completion of the major requirements entails 63 to 67 credits.
- Admittance to the Major
- Study within the Area of the Major
- Theory:
- MUS 121 Musicianship I
- MUS 122 Beginning Keyboard
- MUS 141, 142 Keyboard Harmony A, B
- MUS 220, 221 Musicianship II, III
- MUS 321, 322 Tonal Harmony I, II
- MUS 323 Techniques of Music; 1880 to the present
- MUS 331 Musicianship IV
- MUS 421 Analysis of Tonal Music
- MUS 422 Analysis of Post-Tonal Music
- MUS 122 Beginning Keyboard
- MUS 121 Musicianship I
- History and Literature:
- MUS 130 Sound Structures
- MUS 350 Western Music before 1600
- MUS 351 Western Music from 1600 to 1830
- MUS 352 Western Music from 1830 to the present
- Two additional history courses numbered 450 to be chosen in consultation with the student’s advisor. The courses should be distributed among a range of historical periods. MUS 432 or 434 may be substituted for one semester of MUS 450.
- MUS 350 Western Music before 1600
- MUS 130 Sound Structures
- Performance:
- A minimum of four semesters from courses in the series MUS 161-187 Performance Study (2 credits each) or MUS 361-387 Advanced Performance Study (4 credits each).
- Mandatory co-registration in a performance ensemble for each semester of lessons. Instrumentalists should enroll in MUS 262 University Orchestra, MUS 263 University Wind Ensemble, or MUS 264 Jazz Ensemble. Vocalists should enroll in MUS 261 Stony Brook Chorale or MUS 393 Chamber Chorus. Pianists and guitarists should enroll in MUS 391 Chamber Music.
- Study for a minimum of four semesters from the following: MUS 261 Stony Brook Chorale or MUS 262 University Orchestra or MUS 263 University Wind Ensemble or MUS 264 Jazz Ensemble or MUS 393 Chamber Chorus. MUS 391 Chamber Music may be used to satisfy two semesters of the four semester requirement. Pianists and guitarists who do not pass the audition for one of the ensembles may fulfill the four semesters with MUS 391 Chamber Music; pianists may also substitute MUS 388 Fundamentals of Accompanying.
- Note: No more than 30 credits of individual instruction in instrument or voice may be included in the 120 credits required for the B.A. degree.
- Upper-Division Writing Requirement
- Foreign Language
Any student wishing to major in music must pass an audition in voice or instrument and a musicianship examination that tests aural skills and musical literacy (elementary theory, interval recognition, simple melodic and rhythmic dictation, and sight singing). The undergraduate musicianship examination is given three times each year: the first or second day of each semester and at the end of April. Auditions are held in the first week of classes. Students should consult the department office to sign up for the undergraduate musicianship examination and to make an appointment for an audition.
As evidence of acceptable writing skills in the discipline, students majoring in music must submit to the director of undergraduate studies a portfolio of three papers no later than one month before the end of their junior year. Papers written for music history courses (MUS 350, 351, 352 or higher) or for MUS 421 or 422 are preferred, but in any case, at least one of the three papers must be from such a course. Up to two of the remaining papers may have been written for other courses in the humanities or fine arts, such as English, theatre arts, or foreign languages. The papers should demonstrate a mastery of language sufficient to express clearly and accurately concepts of sophistication commensurate with upper-division work. A special committee reads the papers and assesses the quality of writing. The committee communicates the results of its assessment by the end of the student’s junior year. If writing skills are judged deficient, the committee recommends a course of action for the improvement of such skills and reviews examples of writing during the senior year. Students must demonstrate acceptable writing skills before they graduate.
Students who intend to continue their studies beyond the B.A. degree are advised that most graduate music programs require a reading knowledge of French or German, often both. (For this purpose, but not for the entry skill in foreign language requirement, language courses may be taken under the Pass/No Credit option.)
Honors Program in Music
Candidates for honors in music must be nominated by a faculty member who agrees to act as sponsor for the honors project. An eligible student may submit a proposal for a project to the proposed sponsor, who forwards the proposal together with a letter of nomination to the Music Department’s undergraduate studies committee. To be eligible, a student must have maintained at least a 3.00 cumulative g.p.a., and a 3.00 g.p.a. in music. After entering the honors program, a student must maintain at least a 3.50 g.p.a. in music.
The project, which may be in performance, composition, history, or theory, must be carried out under the supervision of the sponsor. The completed project is reviewed by an evaluating committee consisting of the sponsor, another member of the music faculty, and an outside evaluator.
Complete guidelines for the honors program are available from the director of undergraduate studies.
The Minor in Music
The music minor, which has a general track and a theory track, is designed to provide students interested in music with a foundation in the theory and history of music and experience in a performing ensemble. Less rigorous than the music major, the minor is not intended to prepare students for advanced study or professional work in music.
Requirements for the Minor in Music (MUS)
All courses offered for the minor must be passed with a letter grade of C or higher. At least three credits from requirement 2 or 3 in either track must be upper division. The general track requires 20 to 22 credits; the theory track requires 24 credits.
A Note on the Performance Requirement:
With the permission of the director of undergraduate studies, students who do not pass the audition for one of the ensembles may fulfill the performance requirement through private lessons (MUS 161-187). For students in the minor who fulfill the performance requirement through lessons, the ensemble corequisite for private lessons (MUS 161-187) will be waived.
General Track
- Theory:
- MUS 119 Elements of Music or MUS 130 Sound Structures
- MUS 315, 316 Structural Principles of Music
- MUS 119 Elements of Music or MUS 130 Sound Structures
- History:
- Three courses chosen from the following:
MUS 105, 106, 301-314
- Three courses chosen from the following:
- Performance:
- Two semesters of one or more of the following:
- MUS 261 Stony Brook Chorale
- MUS 262 University Orchestra
- MUS 263 University Wind Ensemble
- MUS 264 Jazz Ensemble
- MUS 391 Chamber Music
- MUS 393 Chamber Chorus
- MUS 261 Stony Brook Chorale
- Two semesters of one or more of the following:
- Theory:
- MUS 121 Musicianship I
- MUS 130 Sound Structures
- MUS 220 Musicianship II, III
- MUS 221 Musicianship III
- MUS 321 Tonal Harmony I
- MUS 322 Tonal Harmony II
- MUS 130 Sound Structures
- MUS 121 Musicianship I
- History:
- Two courses from the following:
MUS 105, 106, 301-314
- Two courses from the following:
- Performance:
- Three credits from the following:
- MUS 261 Stony Brook Chorale
- MUS 262 University Orchestra
- MUS 263 University Wind Ensemble
- MUS 264 Jazz Ensemble
- MUS 391 Chamber Music
- MUS 393 Chamber Chorus
- MUS 261 Stony Brook Chorale
- Three credits from the following:
Joseph Auner, Associate Professor, Ph.D., University of Chicago: 19th- and 20th-century history and theory.
Dan Faulk, Assistant Professor, M.A., Rutgers University: Jazz ensembles and jazz studies.
Sarah Fuller, Professor, Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley: Medieval and Renaissance history and theory. Recipient of the President’s Award for Excellence in Teaching, 1984.
Perry Goldstein, Associate Professor and Director of Musicianship, D.M.A., Columbia University: Analysis; composition; musicianship; theory. Recipient of the State University Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Teaching, 1997, and the President's Award for Excellence in Teaching, 1997.
Bonnie Gordon, Assistant Professor, Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania: Musicology.
Arthur Haas, Professor, M.A., University of California, Los Angeles: Harpsichord; performance of early music.
Gilbert Kalish, Professor and Co-director of Contemporary Chamber Players, B.A., Columbia University: Piano; chamber music.
David Lawton, Professor, Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley: Orchestral and opera conducting; 19th-century history.
Julius Levine, Professor Emeritus, B.S., Juilliard School of Music: String bass; chamber music.
Judith Lochhead, Professor, Ph.D., University at Stony Brook: 20th-century theory and history.
Timothy Mount, Professor and Director of Choral Music, D.M.A., University of Southern California: Choral conducting.
Joyce Robbins, Professor Emerita, B.S., Juilliard School of Music: Violin; viola; pedagogy; chamber music.
Daria Semegen, Associate Professor and Director of Electronic Music Studio, M.Mus., Yale University: Composition; theory; electronic music.
Sheila Silver, Professor, Ph.D., Brandeis University: Composition; theory.
Mitchell Stern, Professor, Curtis Institute, Julliard School of Music: Violin, viola.
Jane Sugarman, Associate Professor, Ph.D., University of California, Los Angeles: Ethnomusicology; world music cultures. Recipient of the State University Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching, 1995, and the President’s Award for Excellence in Teaching, 1995.
Daniel Weymouth, Associate Professor and Director of Computer Music Studio, Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley: Composition; computer music and technology.
Peter Winkler, Professor, M.F.A., Princeton University: Composition; theory; popular music. Recipient of the State University Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching, 1977.
Performing Artists in Residence
Elaine Bonazzi, B. Mus., Eastman School of Music: Voice; opera workshop.
Joseph Carver, D.M.A., University at Stony Brook: String bass.
Richard Cross, B.A., Cornell University: Voice; opera workshop.
Christina Dahl, M.M., Peabody Conservatory: Piano, accompaniment, chamber music.
Raymond Des Roches, Co-director of Contemporary Chamber Players, M.Mus., Manhattan School of Music: Percussion; chamber music.
Bruce Engel, Director of the University Wind Ensemble, M.M., Juilliard School of Music: Conducting.
Dennis Godburn, B.Mus., Hartt School of Music: Bassoon; chamber music.
Timothy Long, M.M., Eastman School of Music: Vocal coach.
Michael Powell, B. Mus., Wichita State: Trombone.
William Purvis, B.A., Haverford College: Horn; chamber music.
Susan Radcliffe, D.M.A., University at Stony Brook: Trumpet.
Stephen Taylor, Diploma, Juilliard School of Music: Oboe, chamber music.
Carol Wincenc, M.Mus., The Juilliard School: Flute
Jerry Willard, Cleveland Institute of Music; study with John Williams and Misha Mishakoff: Guitar; chamber music.
Teaching Assistants
Estimated number: 58
