Contemporary Music Repertoire

A listening- and analysis-based survey of important 20th- and 21st-century repertoire. Students engage with major works and composers, from extended-tonal languages to atonal and experimental techniques, and learn to analyze their structure, internal logic, and musical language — not just hear them. Guest composers occasionally join the class to discuss their work and process directly with students. Format: online group class. Topics covered: - Major movements and styles in 20th- and 21st-century music - Analysis of landmark works by contemporary composers - New harmonic languages: extended tonality, atonality, non-functional harmony - Modern compositional techniques (serialism, modality, minimalism, and more) - Complex rhythms and non-traditional formal structures - New notation and graphic-score practices - Form in contemporary music and non-traditional structures - The aesthetic and intellectual context of contemporary composers