To make great opera do you need to start with great literature? Surely not always. Some music works like a fairy tale kiss, transforming a croaking text into an operatic prince. Just think of the ridiculous story behind Mozart’s Magic Flute. Yet some of the most beloved operas are based on canonical works of literature. Why? Does music break our hearts the same way words do? Do we value the same things in literature as in opera? And how do composers make literature into opera? Do they strip away the poetry and then re-clothe naked rhyme in rhythm and melody? How do they decide when to cut a scene, which character to cross off, or what words to add? And when it comes to Shakespeare, isn’t this a bit like doodling on a da Vinci? This course looks at what happens when “great” and “not-so-great” literature gets turned into opera. We will ask, for example, why a play like Shakespeare’s Othello seems almost to beg for the music of Verdi’s Otello, how Virgil’s Aeneid was shrunk to the perfect miniature of Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, and how Schikaneder’s poetic potluck of myth, fairy tale, and masonic misogyny inspired the sublime music of The Magic Flute.

This course investigates how media shapes the world around us and influences our lives. Students discover how media is used as a powerful tool for education and socialization. This course examines media issues around race, gender, and sexual preference. Students analyze and deconstruct photographs, film, television, radio, and web media. Students examine how individuals are using technology to create media content.

This course will introduce students to the comic in art and literature from its earliest forms in ancient comedy to the present-day. Comedy and the Comic have an almost universal presence in literature and the arts, and yet when we try to say what it is that makes us laugh, we quickly discover that laughter and the comic are elusive and very hard to define. In our survey, we will study the many forms of the comic both in literature and popular culture. These forms include the depiction of the low, the vulgar and the obscene; the comic also shows us the folly of human desires and ideals, the out of place and the unexpected; it involves various uses of language including irony, parody and slips of the tongue, and last of all, it relates directly to our physical and bodily existence. In essence, the comic offers us an extraordinary perspective on our ordinary human endeavors, our social mores and ideals, and our worldly existence.

Currently, voices calling for decolonization are being elevated around the globe and within our very institution. The topics and concepts we cover in class will give us a tool set to understand these calls and situate them in a broader context, one that recognizes the interplay between systems of power and strategies of resistance.

Students will learn basic methods and concepts in the study of religion and ethics, in order to consider the ways that Muslims engage with voice, sound, and various musical genres and subcultures to define and debate spirituality, morality, and community. Students will be able to select a topic for further research.

This course will introduce students to the comic in art and literature from its earliest forms in ancient comedy to the present-day. Comedy and the Comic have an almost universal presence in literature and the arts, and yet when we try to say what it is that makes us laugh, we quickly discover that laughter and the comic are elusive and very hard to define. In our survey, we will study the many forms of the comic both in literature and popular culture. These forms include the depiction of the low, the vulgar and the obscene; the comic also shows us the folly of human desires and ideals, the out of place and the unexpected; it involves various uses of language including irony, parody and slips of the tongue, and last of all, it relates directly to our physical and bodily existence. In essence, the comic offers us an extraordinary perspective on our ordinary human endeavors, our social mores and ideals, and our worldly existence.

What is philosophy, and can it offer insights like the sciences? Can it guide our lives? This course explores “philosophical” questions, starting with external world skepticism, the mind-body problem, free will, consciousness, and personal identity, featuring Descartes, Locke, and Hume, as well as modern thinkers like Dennett and Searle. We’ll also discuss artificial intelligence’s philosophical impact. In the second module, using Richard Rorty’s work, we’ll explore philosophy as a conversation about leading fulfilling lives, touching on topics like rationality and duty, with insights from Stoic and Epicurean philosophers. The course concludes with student-selected topics for group exploration, driven by your questions and perspectives.

“The US Constitution” will examine the United States Constitution as both a document and an argument. We will engage in an interdisciplinary study of the Constitution, drawing on history, legal studies, and cultural studies. We will explore the historical origins of the Constitution, as well as the ways the document has changed over time. We will pay careful attention to how the Constitution is viewed and understood by individuals. We will also examine the development of arguments themselves. Students will engage in a guided, but independent, research project to develop their own understandings of the Constitution. They will present their understandings in both written and creative forms. This class has been planned for an all-online environment that still provides for opportunities for community building. The course content will be available online for self-directed study. In addition, we will have weekly class meetings to share ideas, discuss the content, and learn from each other. The course fulfills the Core II requirement for Liberal Arts. Liberal Arts Core II focuses on research: the discovery, evaluation, and synthesis of scholarly and non-scholarly sources in order to assess the state of knowledge on a topic. In their coursework, students assess the trends, critical debates, and key moments of agreement and dispute in the literature.

How does an artist endure? What makes one star last while another fizzles? Katharine Hepburn, 1907-2003, is ranked by the American Film Institute (AFI) as the “greatest female star in the history of American cinema.” She lived as originally as so many of the film heroines she portrayed. This seminar examines the roles and movies that defined the pioneering Hepburn as an actress, a businesswoman, and progressive thinker in American history. Along the way, we will trace pivotal events and cinematic trends in the 20th century contributing to Hepburn’s legacy.

No doubt, things are grim. So, what can music and dance do to help us get through these and other dark times? How can such arts improve our lives? What can they teach us and where do they touch us? Do they have the power to heal our minds? Our bodies? Our hearts? This course is designed for students with all sorts of tastes, backgrounds, and interests in dance and music. Although the professor will lead discussions and provide some texts, yet, by learning how to find and research different sources, students will also explore the power of music and dance from whatever perspectives interest them. If you are a dancer, you might ask how music-inspired movement can strengthen social bonds or how dance can brighten a dementia-darkened mind, if only for a moment. Musical performers, composers, and engineers might investigate the ways that music education can regenerate a dying culture or revolutionize an oppressed people. From folk to popular, classical to jazz, ballet to modern, and any other soundwave or movement you can convince us to consider, our texts will be limited only by your tastes. The ultimate goal of this course and its diversity is not just to pursue our own individual interests in music and dance, but to hone our ability to communicate and collaborate with one another.

This course examines gender and gender relations as they are performed in spectacular and mundane settings. Gender is a key organizing category globally, though people’s experiences and ideas about what gender is and does vary dramatically across cultural and historical contexts. Drawing on anthropology, feminist studies, and performance studies scholarship, we will investigate how people do gender and what gender does in our cultural imaginaries. This interdisciplinary perspective seeks to show how culture and society shapes gender, how ideas about and experiences of gender are disseminated through performance, and how performances of gender affect culture and cultural meaning around the world.

This course is an introduction to the interdisciplinary examination of sexual desires, sexual orientations, and the concept of sexuality generally, with a particular focus on the construction of queer identities. We will look specifically at how these identities interact with other phenomena such as government, family, and popular culture. In exploring sexual diversity, we will highlight the complexity and variability of sexualities, both across different historical periods, and in relation to identities of gender, race, class, and cultural location.

An introduction to the history of art. Open to undergraduates only. This course offers a survey of avant-garde European and American art from the mid-19th century to the present. Some of the many artistic movements covered include Realism, Impressionism, Post-Impressionism, German Expressionism, Cubism, Dada, Surrealism, De Stijl, early American Modernism, Abstract Expressionism, Pop Art, Minimalism, Conceptual Art, and Postmodernism. Additional commentary as it relates to music history will be interwoven.

In this course we will explore what has become known as the Posthuman. Although the term originated in the writings of science fiction, it has come to mean much more than something merely imaginary or fantastic. The Posthuman or Anthropocene—both terms are very similar in meaning—may be what describes us, now. Behind these terms is the idea that humanity has entered into a new age or epoch, one where the advances of technology have created conditions for life on earth that are unprecedented. We are, it is said, no longer simply human, and whatever human beings had been defined as in the past, no longer describes us. The specific conditions are, to name the most important, biotechnology, artificial intelligence, and climate change. The impact of these developments on life and the arts has been immeasurable. Our course will explore each of these topics in order to offer students a chance to catch a glimpse of what is happening to us now and in the future.

An introduction to the fields and research methods of contemporary psychology, including such topics as biological and social bases of behavior, human development, perception, memory, learning theory, intelligence, and abnormal behavior. Special emphasis will be placed on subjects of importance to music education. Open to undergraduates only.

What is love? Is it merely a chemical reaction, a social construct, or something that transcends human understanding? This course explores the nature of love from various perspectives, examining it through the lenses of philosophy, science, and the arts. We’ll explore how love is portrayed in music, dance, literature, and film, and consider insights from biology and neuroscience on attachment, attraction, and empathy. Students will engage in a multi-dimensional study of love, with opportunities to create projects inspired by their own artistic disciplines.

Philosophizing means to think and ask questions. In this class you will delve into captivating topics that will encourage you to ponder and exchange ideas with your fellow students, professor, and engaging guest speakers. Together, we will explore the fundamental questions surrounding the cosmos's ultimate reality, the notions of free will and consciousness, the intersections between science, the humanities, art, and cultural diversity, the debate between theism and atheism, and the nature of transcendent experiences. None of the readings in this class require any prior familiarity with philosophy. Our primary course materials include: (1) South Korean-born Byung-Chul Han’s 2019-The Disappearance of Rituals. A Topology of the Present; (2) Sean Carroll’s 2016-The Big Picture; (3) topics selected by students as part of an engaging group work assignment. Embark on this intellectual journey with us, where class discussions will revolve around your thoughts and questions, shaping the course's dynamic exploration.

Music is integral to social justice movements and has inspired social and global change. It has been used variously as a coping mechanism, instrument of protest, site of resistance and a means of healing. This course will explore the intersection between music, social conflict, and social change. Students will examine social movements to analyze the social, cultural and political issues and learn why music plays such significant roles. For example, they will inquire why disco enabled the marginalized gay community and explore how anthems inspired pride and protest from the Civil Rights Movement to Black Lives Matter. By understanding why music has the power to bring about social change, students will learn to think reflexively about their own music.

“American history is longer, larger, more various, more beautiful, and more terrible than anything anyone has ever said about it” - James Baldwin, black American author and activist, 1963. In this course, we will strive to understand some of that long, large, various, beautiful, and terrible history. This course offers a chronological survey of histories of the United States, from Reconstruction to the 21st century. Throughout, we will explore the connection between historical events and cultural history. We will pay particular attention to the development and dissemination of mass media and mass culture, whether film, radio, television, print media, or the internet. Students will demonstrate their understandings in a midterm essay and a final essay, and they will create a creative performance project exploring an era, issue, or persona relating to the course.