Music
The goal of the Music Department is to enable a broad range of students to explore a wide variety of musical experiences and practices. Supported by their development of musicianship and technical skills, concentrators will acquire a more sophisticated understanding of music in historical and cultural contexts, theory and composition, and performance, while pursuing one of these areas in greater depth.
The Senior Program
The Senior Program is a culminating experience in which senior music majors integrate and build on their first three years of study through a one-semester, in-depth study of a topic with a faculty advisor. The Honors Senior Project, open by invitation only, is a two-semester creative and intellectual effort carried out under the close supervision of at least one faculty member. These honors projects may be either performance- or research-based.
(Past topics have included analysis of Beethoven piano sonatas, editing Renaissance manuscripts, orchestration projects, and a study of jazz drumming styles.) More than one student may work within the same general topic. In addition to intensive work with the faculty member leading the topic, all students in Mus 452 will meet as a group with members of the department regularly throughout the semester.
Recent projects in music include:
- "Portraits of Nature: A collection of Short Works"
- "Traveler of the Sun: A Suite" (composition)
- Music and relationships in stage and screen "Phantom of the Opera" adaptations
- An analysis of the film music of Alfred and Thomas Newman
- Creating modern performing editions from Renaissance manuscripts
- Senior recitals in voice, piano and composition
Contact
Department Name
Music Department
Contact Name
Lydia Hamessley, Chair
Clinton, NY 13323
