History + Culture

Our History + Culture offerings lay the foundations for understanding how music has been created, performed, and heard over time and across civilizations. These subjects range from broad overviews of Western and non-Western music to smaller, more specialized classes in particular genres, time periods, and forms of musical expression. Popular, folk, classical, Western, and non-Western music are all areas of inquiry. Introduction to Western Music and Introduction to Musics of the World are open to all students, from those with no prior experience in music to seasoned performers.

A student may start with these subjects and then advance to a variety of more focused topics such as Symphony and Concerto, The Beatles, Film Music, Musics of Africa, or Pirate Songs and Whaling Chanteys. Students with sufficient background can enroll directly in upper-level courses with instructor approval.

There are also more specialized subjects with topics that vary from semester to semester including Boston Music and Oral History, Japanese Pop, Canons and Canonicity, and Global Baroque. These special topics use a variety of methods to explore specific repertoire, pieces, or genres while applying this knowledge to broader historical and cultural contexts.