Music and Music Education Program Course Descriptions
All Music and Columbia Music Education program courses are listed below. Courses offered during the Summer Residency vary. Only some courses are available during every Residency.
An asterisk denotes that a course is available online.
Pedagogy courses
An opportunity for students to develop a greater understanding of the unique developmental issues of children with special needs and how these issues affect learning in arts classrooms including visual arts, music, drama, and movement settings. This course includes an introduction to disabilities and basic diagnosis used in school settings as well as adaptations necessary to provide a successful learning environment.
An overview of appropriate interactive practices, environmental design, and curriculum planning for young children from birth through age 7. This course includes observations of exemplary teaching as well as practicum experience.
This course is for pre-service and in-service teachers of young children interested in integrative pedagogy focused on children's engagement with music, art, movement, and dramatic play. It explores creative expression within cultural, expressive, developmental, and curricular contexts through personal reflection, observation, and instructional design.
This course is for students interested in exploring their own singing and studying choral music and group singing in various ensemble settings. It addresses healthy singing with an emphasis on the developing voice and the process of singing with vocal goals, creative repertoire choice and developmental musical goals, and a student-centered approach for rehearsals and planning with engagement goals.
This course provides an understanding of the principles of creating and teaching with synthesizers, MIDI, and computers, and emphasizes the application of these technologies to music education.
This course examines teaching and learning in the context of instrumental music. It serves as an overview of theoretical and philosophical constructs of instrumental music pedagogy. The resulting practices inform knowledge of teaching through the process of learning instruments in a small group setting. The focus is on the years students typically begin learning wind, brass, and percussion instruments in school (around the age of 10), through intermediate and advanced levels in middle and high school. This course emphasizes the development of lesson planning that puts the student at the center of their learning experiences. In contrast with the traditional master/apprentice model, this course explores opportunities to improvise and create, encouraging students even in the early stages to assume some degree of control over how they make music and what they choose to play. Questioning techniques in the instrumental lesson setting promotes reflection on action that results in a broadening not just of skills, but also of the kind of reflective thought that is at the heart of educative experiences. Activities and projects in class center on developing appropriately sequenced lesson plans, understanding the unique characteristics of instruments of various families, and putting all class members in the dual role of teacher and student.
This course focuses on conducting strategies, rehearsal techniques, and performance programming for instrumental and choral groups encountered in K-12 schooling. Emphasis on preparation for musical teaching through score study, development of non-verbal communicative skills, and attention to group engagement. Final projects may focus either on band, orchestra, choral, or K-6 repertoire.
The fieldwork experience helps students answer questions and theories that they have formulated through their coursework by applying them to their teaching setting. Through active inquiry, students, in the role of the teacher, continue to develop a strong foundation of understanding their own practice and students.
An examination of the historical, philosophical, psychological, and sociological bases of music education, emphasizing the implications for the development of curriculum, policy and administrative leadership.
Prerequisite: A&HM 5022. For private and group music teachers. This course focuses on developmentally appropriate strategies and materials for instrumental instruction, integrating improvisation, composition, movement, singing, and ensemble playing.
Permission of instructor required. Designed for initial and professional majors to experience and explore critical thinking and creativity as a means for establishing a framework for music learning at all levels.
An investigation of the influential philosophical texts that inform music teaching and learning. Topics involve the examination of aesthetic philosophy, ethical practices, and historical, critical, and cultural perspectives.
Specific demonstrations with new music technology emphasizing the development of creative strategies for music education at various levels.
This course explores major issues relating to the curriculum, instruction, and administration of programs of Music and Music Education in colleges and universities.
This course examines studio teaching (applied music) over the semester. It covers recent research in the field and practical pedagogical skills including learning goals and outcomes, curriculum and repertoire issues, and rapport and communication. Topics addressed include effective teaching in a student-centered environment and the tension that arises between the traditional master-apprentice model and a student-centered environment. Students review their own teaching and that of their peers via a video platform.
Research courses
An examination of research studies and strategies for conducting research in the arts and humanities.
An examination of traditional and alternative strategies for assessing art objects and artistic performances, knowledge of the arts, and attitudes toward the arts.
For music majors only. Research and independent study under the direction of a member of the Music and Music Education Program faculty.
An overview of significant issues and current research regarding the development of musical skills and understandings in children through early adolescence. Includes observations of children's spontaneous music-making.
This course offers a complete study of the singing voice including investigation and application of recent research in voice production and pedagogy. It examines research and addresses practical skills and special interests such as choral singing, the young voice, Contemporary Commercial Music (CCM) styles of singing, and vocal health. A diagnosis of vocal condition is followed by the design of a process for effective change. Those who are interested in the research aspect of this topic must enroll for 3 points. Those who are interested in the more practical applications of the course can enroll for either 2 or 3 points.
Prerequisite A&H 5001. Required for Ed.M. and Ed.D. students. This course develops students' ability to analyze research journals and to summarize research in music education. Students write a synthesis of research in an area of music education.
For music majors only. Research and independent study under the direction of a member of the Music and Music Education Program faculty.
Performance courses
For music majors only. The study and performance of chamber works from the Baroque through contemporary periods.
For music education majors only. Hours arranged at mutually convenient times between student and instructor. Goals are decided at initial meeting for the term. Written permission from the Music Education Program, Room 520A Horace Mann, is required. With permission of advisor, students may register continuously for this course up to five semesters total.
For music majors, instrumental and vocal, only. This course focuses on performance by chamber ensembles. Repertoire determined by registration. Public concert performances each semester.
For all students interested in singing. Repertoire determined by registration. Public concert performances each semester.
For music majors only. Co-requisite: simultaneous registration for applied music instruction or special permission. Students create and perform a recital. Along with selection of repertoire chosen with advisor, students secure a date, design programs and flyers, and arrange for any advertising, personnel, and rehearsals. Group (chamber) works are accepted, as well as children's programs, or solo programs reflecting the individuality of performers. Suggested time frame is 30-60 minutes. Option to register for 0 point or 1 point to receive additional coaching from the applied music instructor.
Hours arranged at mutually convenient times between student and instructor. Goals are decided at initial meeting for the term. Written permission from the Music and Music Education Program, Room 520A Horace Mann, is required. For intermediate and advanced music majors only. With permission of advisor, students may register continuously for this course.
Hours arranged at mutually convenient times between student and instructor. Goals are decided at initial meeting for the term. Written permission from the Music and Music Education Program, Room 520A Horace Mann, is required. For intermediate and advanced music majors only. With permission of advisor, students may register continuously for this course.
Hours arranged at mutually convenient times between student and instructor. Goals are decided at initial meeting for the term. Written permission from the Music and Music Education Program, Room 520A Horace Mann, is required. For intermediate and advanced music majors only. With permission of advisor, students may register continuously for this course.
Hours arranged at mutually convenient times between student and instructor. Goals are decided at initial meeting for the term. Written permission from the Music and Music Education Program, Room 520A Horace Mann, is required. For intermediate and advanced music majors only. With permission of advisor, students may register continuously for this course.
Contact hours arranged at mutually convenient times between student and instructor. Goals are decided at initial meeting for the term. Written permission from the Music and Music Education Program, Room 520A Horace Mann, is required. For intermediate and advanced music majors only. With permission of advisor, students may register continuously for the course numbers below.
Written permission from the Music and Music Education Program, Room 520A Horace Mann, is required. For intermediate and advanced music majors only. With permission of advisor, students may register continuously for the course number.
Hours arranged at mutually convenient times between student and instructor. Goals are decided at initial meeting for the term. Written permission from the Music and Music Education Program, Room 520A Horace Mann, is required. For intermediate and advanced music majors only. With permission of advisor, students may register continuously for this course up to five semesters total.
Hours arranged at mutually convenient times between student and instructor. Goals are decided at initial meeting for the term. Written permission from the Music Education Program, Room 520A Horace Mann, is required. For intermediate and advanced music majors only. With permission of advisor, students may register continuously for this course.
Contact hours arranged at mutually convenient times between student and instructor. Goals are decided at initial meeting for the term. Written permission from the Music Education Program, Room 520A Horace Mann, is required. Individual instruction includes repertory, technical and musical problems, performing experience, and intensive understanding of teaching strategies. With the permission of the advisor, students may register continuously for this course.
Hours arranged at mutually convenient times between student and instructor. Goals are decided at initial meeting for the term. For music majors only. Written permission from the Music Education Program, Room 520A Horace Mann, is required. Advanced individual voice instruction includes repertory, technical, and musical problems, performing experience, and intensive understanding of teaching strategies. With the permission of the advisor, a student may register continuously for this course.
Contact hours arranged at mutually convenient times between student and instructor. Goals are decided at initial meeting for the term. Written permission from the Music and Music Education Program, Room 520A Horace Mann, is required. For experienced organists and music majors. Individual instruction on technical problems, repertory, and performance practice. With the permission of the advisor, a student may register continuously for this course.
Music Literacies courses
This course emphasizes the acquisition and application of diverse musical skills. Collaborative and creative learning processes are explored as means to enlarge content knowledge and curricular possibilities to reflect increasingly pluralistic and multicultural music classrooms.
Through analysis, composition, critical listening, improvisation, and performance, this course explores 17th- and 18th-century theoretical constructs, including an overview of the development of harmony and polyphony leading up to these eras.
An examination of 19th-century theoretical constructs through analysis, composition, critical listening, improvisation, and performance.
For students of singing, accompanying, and coaching. This course offers performing and teaching command of representative literature; techniques of interpretation and presentation; and German, Italian, and French diction for singers.