Music
Major and minor offered
Visit the Music Department Web Page
In keeping with the aims of a liberal education, the music department offers all students opportunities to expand their understanding of music and its place in society. Students actively engage diverse musical materials in a variety ofcontexts. In ensembles and private lessons, students mature as singers or instrumentalists, better understanding music by performing it. In courses, students develop critical skills for experiencing, creating and using music effectively and intelligently. The department offers both a major and a minor in music, and provides all students with ways of participating in music.
Music 100 (Introduction to Music) provides a comprehensive framework for learning the materials and structure of music and for developing listening skills. Courses at the 200 level seek to place music in broader intellectual contexts, putting music in dialogue with areas of study such as art, theatre, anthropology, sociology, or technology. At the 300 level, courses focus on further developing a student’s abilities in composition, performance, literature, or analysis.
We emphasize collaborative and interdisciplinary study. Many music classes include work in the Center for Arts Technology, where students learn to use digital technology to compose and perform music, to design sound for theatrical productions, and to create multimedia works. Special topics courses focus on particular composers, genres, or regions of the world, and typically involve extensive study of scores and recordings from the music library.
Music department ensembles — the Laurentian Singers, the University Chorus, the Early Music Players and Singers, the String Orchestra, the Wind Ensemble, and the Rhythm & Roots Ensemble — are open to all St. Lawrence students by audition. Performances, residencies, and workshops by a wide array of guest artists additionally enrich musical life on campus. The department holds an annual keyboard weekend and an annual guitar weekend, and also frequently sponsors concerts of Asian music, vocal music and jazz.
Exemplary student participation in ensembles and coursework is recognized by induction into the Ives Society. Applications for membership in this departmental honor society are due each December. Individual awards in keyboard study, choral performance, and other fields of study are given annually at Moving-Up Day.
Major Requirements
Students wishing to major in music must complete the following requirements:
Minor Requirements
Students wishing to minor in music must complete the following requirements:
Advanced Standing
Students scoring a 4 or 5 on the AP music theory test may bypass taking Music 100/101 (Introduction to Music).
Honors
To receive honors in music, students must attain a minimum GPA of 3.5 in the major and submit for consideration a substantial senior-year project, which may include study in composition, performance, literature and/or analysis.
Ensembles
Auditions for all ensembles are held during the first week of each semester
021. Laurentian Singers.
022. University Chorus.
023. Early Music Singers.
024. Early Music Players.
025. String
Orchestra
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026. String Ensemble.
027. Special Productions Ensemble.
Individual Lessons
St. Lawrence students may elect to take individual lessons in voice or on an instrument, space permitting, for a fee of $150 per semester. Students enrolled in Music 100/101 (Introduction to Music) and Music 349 (Preparing Music for Performance) are exempt from the fee. Members of music department ensembles also are eligible to take individual instruction with no additional fee, as space permits.
Faculty
Michael Farley, B.Mus.Ed., Central Missouri State; M.A., Ph.D., Iowa
Associate Professor of Music
David R. Henderson, B.A., Pomona; Ph.D., Texas ( Austin)
Assistant Professor of Music and Chair of Department
In-Sil Yoo, B.A., Hanyang (S. Korea); M.M., Indiana
Assistant Professor of Music
Christopher Watts, B. Mus., Furman; M. Mus., Louisiana State; D.M.A., Cincinnati
Director of the Center for Arts Technology and Assistant Professor of Music
Timothy Mangin, B.A., Bowdoin; M.A., M.Phil., Columbia
Visiting Instructor of Music
