Music Theory & Musicology
Faculty:
About the Program:
As the largest component of the undergraduate core curriculum, music theory and music history constitute a vital part of the music major at The State University of New York at Fredonia. The courses offered in Music Theory and History span the gamut of styles and eras, confronting complex aesthetic, technical, and interpretive issues along the way.
The history and theory curriculum engages students in the study of cultural contexts, cultivates essential skills in the analysis of musical constructions and their interpretation, and provides rigorous training in all aspects of musicianship. Courses are led by full-time School of Music faculty members, respected teachers and scholars holding Ph.D. degrees from the nation's most esteemed universities.
Regardless of concentration, music majors who have graduated from The State University of New York at Fredonia have embarked upon exciting professional careers in musicology and music theory. They have earned advanced degrees from many of the nation's top universities, and have gone on to become professors and researchers at a variety of distinguished institutions, libraries, and archives.
The undergraduate curriculum in music theory is a two-year sequence of courses in music theory, aural skills, and musical form and analysis. Upper-division offerings range from jazz theory to studies of the symphony and in-depth studies of rhythm and gesture. The undergraduate curriculum in music history includes a survey of western music and culture, along with upper-division offerings in individual style periods, American music, popular music, hermeneutics, and the history of performance.
The graduate degree in music theory prepares promising scholars for a career in theoretical or historical research, or in college teaching. The degree is robust, with a rich core of courses including Schenkerian analysis, counterpoint, post-tonal analysis, the pedagogy of music theory, music bibliography, and seminars in specific historical style periods. As a capstone project, each graduate student in music theory completes an in-depth thesis on a topic that suits the student's greatest interest and strength.