Courses of Interest

The courses listed in this section have been chosen by the designated departments as having special interest for students who are not majoring in that particular subject but who might find courses in that discipline both enjoyable and beneficial. For more information, contact the department directly.

School of Cinematic Arts

ANIMATION

CTAN 200g The Rise of Digital Hollywood (4 units)

Description: An overview of the evolution of computer graphics in modern media.

CTAN 330 Animation Fundamentals (2 units)

Description: An introduction to the fundamentals of animation, covering such topics as timing, anticipation, reaction, overlapping action, and metamorphosis.

CTAN 420 Concept Design for Animation (2 units)

Description: Creating characters and environments for animation, live action, and video games.

CTAN 432 The World of Visual Effects (2 units)

Description: Introduction to the expanding field of visual effects; topics include magic lanterns shows, stop-motion fantasies and animation combination films employing the latest digital technologies.

CTAN 436 Writing for Animation (2 units)

Description: Workshop exploring concept and structure of long and short form animated films through practical writing exercises.

CTAN 448 Introduction to Film Graphics – Animation (4 units)

Description: An introduction to methods for creating analog animation through experimentation with imagery, concepts and materials. Emphasis on basic timing principles and hands-on techniques.

CTAN 450a Animation Theory and Techniques (2 units)

Description: Methods for creating animation blending traditional techniques with contemporary technologies.

CTAN 452 Introduction to 3-D Computer Animation (2 units)

Description: Lecture and laboratory in computer animation: geometric modeling, motion specification, lighting, texture mapping, rendering, compositing, production techniques, systems for computer-synthesized animation.

CTAN 460 Character Design Workshop (2 units)

Description: The basics of character design for animation: anatomy, poses, facial expressions, silhouettes, and anthropomorphism. Development of a portfolio.

CTAN 462 Visual Effects (2 units)

Description: Survey of contemporary concepts and approaches to production in the current state of film and video effects work. Digital and traditional methodologies will be covered, with a concentration on digital exercises illustrating modern techniques.

CTAN 465L Digital Effects Animation (2 units)

Description: All aspects of digital effects animation, including particles, dynamics, and fluids. Creating water, fire, explosions, and destruction in film.
Prerequisite: CTAN 452 or CTAN 462.
Includes an introduction to the rich procedural capabilities of Houdini, the standard application used in the industry for effects animation. The course will encompass a series of hands-on exercises, so a prior basic working knowledge of Maya or other 3-D application is essential.

CTAN 470 Documentary Animation Production (2 units)

Description: Examination of the history, techniques, and methods of documentary animation production. Collaboration on a short film project.

CTAN 497L Generative Animation (2 units)

Description: Introduction to software packages and practices exploring current animation techniques that leverage simulation systems. Artificial intelligence as a tool for animation. Prerequisite: CTAN 452

CTAN 502L Experiments in Immersive Design (2 units)

Description: An in-depth exploration of aesthetics and techniques involved in the conceptualization, design and creation of immersive media and stereoscopic imaging. (Duplicates credit in former CTAN 502a.)

CTAN 503 Storyboarding for Animation (2 units)

Description: Focus on film grammar, perspective, and layout, staging and acting as it relates to storyboarding for animation.

CTAN 504L Creative Production in Virtual Reality (2 units)

Description: A creative studio course in producing both a linear cinematic virtual reality short film and associated real-time immersive experience. Prerequisite: CTAN 502

CTAN 508L Live Action Integration with Visual Effects (2 units)

Description: Survey of the digital techniques required to successfully marry live action shooting with CGI elements and green screen footage. Prerequisite: CTAN 462

CTAN 550 Stop Motion Puppet and Set Design (2 units)

Description: Puppet and set design for stop motion animation while providing guidance on armature rigs that allow the character to be animated effectively.

CTAN 551 Stop Motion Performance (2 units)

Description: Incorporating classic stop motion techniques for puppet performance and animation. Emphasis on timing, performance, movement, animation and gesture. Prerequisite: CTAN 550

CTAN 564L Motion Capture Fundamentals (2 units)

Description: Fundamental principles of motion capture technology explored while working through a structured series of assignments based around performance, gesture and motion. Prerequisite: CTAN 452 or CTAN 462

CINEMATIC ARTS

CNTV 522 The Television Industry: Networks, Cable and the Internet (4 units)

Description: The current state of the television industry and future business paradigms.
This course will cover a comprehensive look into the television industry, including the conception, development, and selling of an idea, as well as how networks, cable companies, internet, and mobile platforms operate. NOTE: this course will be held at CAA, 2000 Avenue of the Stars, Los Angeles, CA 90067.
Professor: Tony Etz

CNTV 524 Digital Technologies and the Entertainment Industry (4 units)

Description: The impact of digital technologies on the film, television, and music industries from content creation to distribution. This class will explain the impact that various “disruptive” technologies from digital cinema to mobile technology to video games to RSS feeds are having (or are about to have) on the entire media value chain. The focus will be on content creation to distribution in the film, television, and music industries.
Professor: Paul Bricault, David Baron

CRITICAL STUDIES

CTCS 190g Introduction to Cinema (4 units)

Description: Gateway to majors and minors in cinema-television. Technique, aesthetics, criticism, and social implications of cinema. Lectures accompanied by screenings of appropriate films.

CTCS 191 Introduction to Television and Video (4 units)

Description: Exploration of the economic, technological, aesthetic, and ideological characteristics of the televisual medium; study of historical development of television and video including analysis of key works; introduction to TV/Video theory and criticism.

CTCS 192gm Race, Class, and Gender in American Film (4 units)

Description: Analyzes issues of race, class and gender in contemporary American culture as represented in the cinema.

One of the most popular classes offered at USC, this course focuses on the relationship between film and American society in order to address issues of race, class, and gender in contemporary Hollywood cinema. This course satisfies the university’s diversity requirement and new GE Arts requirement.

CTCS 464 Film and/or Television Genres (4 units)

Description: Rigorous examination of film genres: history, aesthetics, cultural context, social significance, and critical methodologies.

CTCS 469 Film and/or Television Style Analysis (4 units)

Description: Intensive study of the style of an auteur, studio, film or television making mode in terms of thematic and formal properties and their influences upon the art of film.

MEDIA ARTS AND PRACTICE

IML 104 Introduction to Digital Studies (2 units)

Description: An introduction to the expressive range of screen languages in their cultural, historical, and technological contexts.
Introduction to media, art and technology in the context of various academic and professional disciplines. Students will study the history and theory of digital media and also gain hands-on media authoring skills. Counts as a requirement for the minor in Digital Studies and Honors in Multimedia Scholarship.

IML 140 Workshop in Multimedia Authoring (2 units)

Description: Introduction to the expressive potential of multimedia as a critical and creative tool, supplementing traditional forms of academic work. Introduction to image, video, audio and web authoring in a variety of different topic areas such as storytelling, remix, mindfulness, and marketing. This course counts as a requirement for the minor in Digital Studies and the Honors in Multimedia Scholarship program.

IML 201 The Languages of Digital Media (4 units)

Description: An in-depth investigation of the close interrelationships among technology, culture and communication to form a solid foundation for digital authoring. Duplicates credit in former IML 101.
Students will produce a series of media projects that explore and strengthen their personal voice and
critical consciousness. This course counts as a requirement for the minor in Digital Studies and the
Honors in Multimedia Scholarship program.

IML 295Lm Race, Class and Gender in Digital Culture (4 units)

Description: Critical analysis of the categories of race, class and gender within the diverse digital spaces of contemporary culture, from video games to the digital divide.
Students will produce media projects that analyze their own attitudes about diversity and inclusion and argue that living in a diverse society can function as a form of social and cultural enrichment. This course counts as a requirement for the minor in Media and Social Change.

IML 309 Integrative Design for Mobile Devices (4 units)

Description: Hands-on investigation of opportunities and challenges offered by mobile interaction within both cultural and ideological contexts.
Students will explore tablets, phones, and mobile-responsive websites while also learning about
user experience and user interface design. This course counts as an elective for the Digital Studies and Future Cinema minors, and for the Honors in Multimedia Scholarship program.

IML 365 Future Cinema (4 units)

Description: Examination of the history of cinematic experimentation to provide a framework for understanding contemporary virtual reality, augmented reality, interactive installations and large-scale urban screens.
This course counts as an elective for the Digital Studies and Future Cinema minors, and for the Honors in Multimedia Scholarship program.

IML 385 Design Fiction and Speculative Futures (4 units)

Description: The history, theory and methods of design fiction, focusing on design videos and physical prototypes as tools for exploring contemporary social, political and ethical life. Students will engage in collaboration, video capture, video editing, basic sound design, 3-D printing, and object design. This course counts as an elective for the Digital Studies, Future Cinema and Media and Social Change minors, and for the Honors in Multimedia Scholarship program.

IML 419 Emotion in Digital Culture (4 units)

Description: Project-based course examining emotion in relation to technology, digital culture and the human experience.
Students will also explore tracking emotional well-being with apps, wearables, and other emerging technologies to experience developments in body-borne computing. This course counts as an elective for the Digital Studies and Media and Social Change minors, and for the Honors in Multimedia Scholarship program.

IML 456 Nature, Design and Media (2 units)

Description: Investigation of the impact of natural patterns on digital media design. Explores the relationships among chaos, harmony, beauty, proportion, spirituality, holistic systems and shaped experience. This course counts as an elective for the Digital Studies and Future Cinema minors and Honors in Multimedia Scholarship program.

IML 477 Embodied Storytelling and Immersive Docu-Narratives (4 units)

Description: Examination of art, media, and theatre, to create an immersive, installation-based intervention utilizing the embodied 360-degree docu-narrative form.
This course counts as an elective for the Digital Studies, Future Cinema and Media and Social Change minors, and for the Honors in Multimedia Scholarship program.

PRODUCTION

CTPR 562 Seminar in Motion Picture Business (2, 4 units)

Description: Description: Problems of studio operation, production, distribution, exhibition, or legal procedures relating to the motion picture.
Taught by Bob Osher, former president of Sony Pictures Digital Production. The focus will be on how the studio business operates in motion picture, new media, and other areas.
Professor: Robert M. Osher

CTPR 563 The Business of Representation (4 units)

Description: Various roles an agent, manager, attorney and publicist play in representing talent, producers and writers. Taught by professionals who are at the forefront of the entertainment industry.

This class will discuss the inner workings of the specific roles of various representation teams for artists. The focus will be on deal making, career planning, and the application of representative structure to the lives of various clients. The class will include a field trip and various guest speakers.
Professor: Daniel A. Sussman

Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences

ECONOMICS

ECON 434 Economic Analysis of Law (4 units)

Description: Common law and property; rationing of justice; resource allocation between prevention and enforcement; division of decision making between public and private sectors. Prerequisite: ECON 303
Professor: Ed McCaffery

Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism

COMMUNICATION

COMM 206 Communication and Culture (4 units)

Description: Examines cultural institutions, ideologies, artifacts, and productions; role of culture in everyday life; cultural studies as methodology; culture and power.

COMM 307 Sound Clash: Popular Music and American Culture (4 units)

Description: Music as inter-cultural communication and method for exploring race and ethnicity in the constitution of American culture and American self; role of music industry.

COMM 310 Media and Society (4 units)

Description:Interplay between media and society, including family and children’s socialization, inter-group relations and community, pornography and violence, gender and race, media ethics, conduct of politics.

COMM 355 Advertising and Communication (4 units)

Description:Advertising as a mode of communication; US advertising history and institutions; economic and policy contexts (domestic and global); critical analysis of advertising texts.

COMM 383m Sports, Communication and Culture (4 units)

Description: Rhetorical and critical approaches to sports and public discourse; application to sports organizations, the news and popular media; representations of gender and race in sports.

COMM 384 Interpreting Popular Culture (4 units)

Description: Popular culture as an indicator of cultural values, a producer and reflection of cultural meaning, and a means of communication; theory and case studies.

COMM 465 Gender in Media Industries and Products (4 units)

Description: Examination of the effect of gender stratification in media industries upon the cultural products they create, especially gender and gender/race role portrayals.

JOURNALISM

JOUR 201 Culture of Journalism: Past, Present and Future (4 units)

Description: Understanding key moments, debates and ideas that have shaped journalism in the United States from the Revolutionary War period through today. Examination of the social, cultural, political and technological aspects of journalism and its impact on the profession and public service.
Professor: William Celis

JOUR 330 Photojournalism (4 units)

Description: Emphasis on fundamental skills necessary for photojournalism including camera techniques, story ideas and digital darkroom.

JOUR 350 Introduction to Sports Media (4 units)

Description: Highlight norms, routines of content, including print, broadcast, video. Focus on opportunities, constraints posed by roles of reporters, fans, players, publicists, agents, leagues, teams.

JOUR 375 The Image of the Journalist in Popular Culture (4 units)

JOUR 380 Sports, Business and Media in Today’s Society (4 units)

Description: An inside look at the important stories, topical issues, trends and historical developments related to the growing influence of business and media on college and professional sports; identifying the key components and meeting the influencers in class that help shape the business side of sports, while recognizing the role the media plays in providing daily coverage across multiple platforms.
Professor: Jeffrey C. Fellenzer

JOUR 381 Entertainment, Business and Media in Today’s Society (4 units)

Description: An examination of the symbiotic relationship of the entertainment business and the media; press coverage of the entertainment industry; Hollywood’s relationship with news media.
Professor: Mary Murphy

JOUR 404 Produce and Host Sports Content in Studio A (2 units)

Description: Interview, present and design sports segments for television/video in Studio A.

JOUR 411 Broadcast Reporting and Newswriting for Non-Majors (2 units)

Description: Develop a broad-based knowledge of broadcast news writing and reporting; recognize, research and develop stories; write and format broadcast stories in all forms and learn to
produce finished news packages.

JOUR 430 Writing the Film Review (4 units)

Description: Techniques of writing the film review; preparation and treatment of form and content; problems, responsibilities and ethics of film reviewing.

JOUR 432 Sports Commentary (4 units)

Description: Techniques of reporting and writing sports columns and commentary for print, video, radio and Web-based media.

JOUR 446 Entertainment Reporting (2 units)

Description: Techniques of reporting and writing about the entertainment business, economics and finances. Analysis of the skills and background needed for reporters specializing in this area of the news.

JOUR 447 Arts Reporting (2 units)

Description: Techniques of reporting and writing about the arts, including television, film, theatre, music, graphic arts, architecture and design.

JOUR 472 Strategies for Monetizing New Media (4 units)

Description: Learn strategies for how content creates value in a shifting media landscape. Work with a real client to create a sustainable media business model.

JOUR 480 Sports and Media Technology (4 units)

Description: Examine and analyze the ever-changing technology sector of the sports business and sports media worlds. Identify emerging technologies being developed in the sports industry and how they are being utilized to enhance the fan experience.

JOUR 481 The Athlete, Sports Media and Popular Culture (4 units)

Description: Analysis of the images of the athlete and sports media helps us understand how sports dramatically affects such social issues as race, class and gender.

JOUR 494 Python Coding for Data Journalism (2 units)

Description: Python coding language to gather, parse and analyze data for investigative news reporting.

JOUR 499 Special Topics (2, 3, 4 units)

Description: Selected topics in journalism.

PUBLIC RELATIONS

PR 340 Introduction to Advertising (4 units)

Description: History and development of advertising; basic advertising campaigns showing relationships of marketing, creative, print and electronic media.

PR 343 Advertising Design and Production (4 units)

Description: Production of advertising materials; emphasis on the creation and design of advertising elements.

PR 454 Sports Public Relations (2 units)

Description: Introduction to the field of sports information and promotion, including lectures, media assignments, role-playing, and presentations by sports professionals.

PR 457 The Role of Celebrity in Public Relations (4 units)

Description: Understanding of the history and application of celebrity in public relations, focusing on the entertainment industry and the notoriety attached to politics and the media.

Gould School of Law

LAW 101w Law and the U.S. Constitution in Global History (4 units)

Description: By examining key constitutional moments involving race, rights, and revolutions, students will explore how legal meaning changes over time.
Professor: Sam Erman

LAW 250 Children and Law (4 units)

Description: Examines topics such as children’s suggestibility, decision-making, and risk and resiliency all as they apply to legal settings.
Professor: Hayden Henderson

LAW 275p The Origin and Evolution of American Civil Rights Law(4 units)

Description: Traces the development of U.S. constitutional and statutory mechanisms designed to fulfill the promise of equality under the law.

LAW 300 Concepts in American Law (4 units)

Description: The main concepts and topics in American law, in the historical, economic and cultural contexts in which they have developed.
Professor: Dan Klerman

LAW 350 Law and Entrepreneurship (4 units)

Description: Examines areas of the law that impact entrepreneurs, starting, operating and financing businesses. Topics include: selection of business entities; securities laws and issues that arise in fundraising; employment law; contracts; torts; intellectual property; global expansion; mergers and acquisitions; and IPOs.
Professor: Michael Chasalow

LAW 403 Mental Health Law (4 units)

Description: Issues at the intersection of law and psychology, both civil — e.g., civil commitment — and criminal — e.g., the insanity defense. Emphasis on ethical issues.
Professor: James Preis

LAW 404 Law and Psychology: Examining the Criminal Justice Process (4 units)

Description: Examination of the capacity of the criminal justice process to produce accurate verdicts. Application of psychological research on witnesses, detectives, suspects, judges and jurors. Recommended preparation: PSYC 100.
Professor: Dan Simon

LAW 450 Law, Atrocity Crimes and Transitional Justice (4 units)

Description: Historical overview of the evolution of international legal norms prohibiting atrocity crimes found in the law of armed conflict, international human rights law and the 1948 Genocide Convention.
Professor: Hannah Garry

Thornton School of Music

COMPOSITION

MUCO 101x Fundamentals of Music Theory (2 units)

Description: An introductory course in music theory required for those majors in need of remedial training, and available to the general student who wishes to develop music writing skills. Not available for credit to B.M. and B.A. music majors. Recommended preparation: ability to read music.
Professor: Juan Pablo Contreras-Palomar

JAZZ STUDIES

MUJZ 150 Beginning Jazz Improvisation (2 units)

Description: Development of beginning improvisational skills including underlying principles of theory, harmony, jazz ear training, and jazz style.
Professor: John Thomas

MUJZ 218a Afro-Latin Percussion Instruments (2 units)

Description: Instruction in the performance of percussion instruments associated with African, South American, and Caribbean music traditions, with special emphasis on adaptation to jazz music.
Professor: Aaron R. Serfaty

MUJZ 218b Afro-Latin Percussion Instruments (2 units)

MUJZ 450 Intermediate Jazz Improvisation (2 units)

Description: Development of intermediate improvisational skills including underlying principles of theory, harmony, jazz ear training, and jazz style. Recommended preparation: MUJZ 150.
Professor: John Thomas

MUSIC ENSEMBLE

MUEN 222 Trojan Marching Band (1 unit)

Description: Rehearsal and participation in performances for athletic and other university functions. Open to all students by audition. Graded CR/NC.

MUEN 305 Vocal Jazz Ensemble (1 unit)

Description: Study and performance of vocal ensemble literature from the Jazz idiom, with emphasis on improvisational techniques. Open to all students by audition. Graded CR/NC.

MUEN 307 University Chorus (1 unit, max 8)

Description: Rehearsal and performance of choral literature from all periods of music history. Open to all students. Graded CR/NC.

MUEN 308 USC Men’s Chorus (1 unit)

Description: Rehearsal and performance of choral repertoire from all periods written for male voices. Open to all students. Graded CR/NC.

MUEN 311 USC Oriana Choir (1 unit)

Description: Rehearsal and performance of advanced chamber music written for women’s voices. Open to all students by audition. Graded CR/NC.

MUEN 322 Trojan Marching Band (1 unit)

Description: Continuation of MUEN 222. Graded CR/NC.

MUEN 324 University Band (1 units)

Description: Rehearsal and performance of standard repertoire. Open to all students by audition. Graded CR/NC.

MUEN 505 Vocal Jazz Ensemble (1 unit)

Description: Study and performance of vocal ensemble literature from the Jazz idiom, with emphasis on improvisational techniques. Open to all graduate students by audition. (Duplicates credit in MUEN 405.)

MUEN 507 University Chorus (1 unit)

Description: Rehearsal and performance of choral literature from all periods of music history. Open to all graduate students.

MUEN 508 USC Men’s Chorus (1 unit)

Description: Rehearsal and performance of choral repertoire from all periods written for male voices.

MUSIC INDUSTRY

MUIN 272x Basics of the Music Industry (4 units)

Description: Introductory survey of the music business. Topics include: copyright, record companies, contracts, music publishing, performance rights societies, managers, agents, and other artist team/income considerations. Not for major credit for music industry majors. (Duplicates credit in former MUIN 372ax.)
Professor: Michael K. Garcia

MUSIC TECHNOLOGY

MTEC 245 Introduction to MIDI Sequencing (1 unit)

Description: Introductory course where students will learn to use professional MIDI sequencing software to sequence, edit, and realize music compositions.
Professors: Jae Deal, Timo Preece, Charles G. Gutierrez

MTEC 246 Introduction to Audio Recording and Editing (1 unit)

Description: Introduction to the techniques and applications of recording, editing and mixing sound on personal computers.
Professors: Jae Deal, Timo Preece, Charles G. Gutierrez

MTEC 277x Introduction to Music Technology (4 units)

Description: A survey of the technology used to create, prepare, perform, and distribute music, with an emphasis on recording, MIDI, music production, mastering and Internet technologies. Not available for major credit to B.M. and B.S., Music Industry majors. (Duplicates credit in former MUIN 277.)
Professor: Charles G. Gutierrez

MTEC 392a Acoustics and Speaker Design (2 units)

Description: Principles of acoustics relating to studio construction, wall treatment, and furnishings; natural reverberation, speaker materials, passive and active crossovers and time alignment. Prerequisite: MTEC 275. (Duplicates credit in former MUIN 392a.)
Professor: Brian F. Malouf

PERFORMANCE (GUITAR)

MPGU 120a Beginning Pop/Rock Guitar (2 units)

Description: Introduction to the performance technique of pop/rock guitar as well as music theory fundamentals, exploring repertoire by artists such as The Beatles and Dave Matthews.
Professor: Nick Stoubis

MPGU 120b Beginning Pop/Rock Guitar (2 units)

MPGU 120c Beginning Pop/Rock Guitar (2 units)

MPGU 121 Intensive Beginning Pop/Rock Guitar (4 units)

MPGU 125 Beginning Fingerstyle/Chord Guitar (2 units)

Description: Basic fingerstyle guitar, learned through the study of such pieces as “Greensleeves,” “Malaguena,” and “Minuet” (Bach); song accompaniment patterns and music notation for the beginner.
Professor: Nick Stoubis

MPGU 126 Easy Fingerstyle Beatles (2 units)

Description: Techniques of classical guitar applied to the study of five to eight Beatles songs, from “Hey Jude” to “Blackbird.” No guitar or music background required.
Professor: Brian Head

PERFORMANCE (KEYBOARD STUDIES)

MPKS 150a Beginning Piano (2 units)

Description: Techniques of performance, note reading, and basic musicianship. Not open to music majors.
Professor: Stephen Pierce

MPKS 150b Beginning Piano (2 units)

Description: Techniques of performance, note reading, and basic musicianship. Not open to music majors. Prerequisite: MPKS 150a
Professor: Stephen Pierce

MPKS 150c Beginning Piano (2 units)

Description: Techniques of performance, note reading, and basic musicianship. Not open to music majors. Prerequisite: MPKS 150b or MUPF 150b
Professor: Stephen Pierce

PERFORMANCE (POPULAR MUSIC)

MPPM 120 Popular Music Performance I (2 units)

Description: Study of musical elements appropriate to the performance of popular music in a collaborative, interactive environment.

MPPM 240 Drumming Proficiency for the Popular Musician (2 units)

Description: Beginning and elementary instruction in drum set techniques.
Professor: Peter Erskine

MPPM 340 Intermediate Drum Set Proficiency (2 units)

Description: Intermediate level instruction in drum set performance including accompaniment techniques, fills, beat and brush patterns in jazz, Afro-Caribbean and Brazilian styles, interpreting drum charts. Recommended preparation: MPPM 240.
Professor: Aaron Serfaty, Peter Erskine

PERFORMANCE (STRINGS)

MPST 163 Beginning Harp (2 units, max 8)

Description: Basic instruction in the fundamentals of solo harp playing, note reading, and basic musicianship. Open to music and non-music majors.

PERFORMANCE (VOCAL ARTS)

MPVA 141 Class Voice (2 units, max 4)

Description: Introduction to the fundamental principles of singing: breath control, tone production, diction, and the use of appropriate song material.
Professor: Lynn Helding

MPVA 241 Intermediate Class Voice (2 units, max 4)

Description: Continued development of the fundamentals of singing, diction, and repertoire building. Prerequisite: MPVA 141.
Professor: Lynn Helding

MPVA 412 Musical Theatre Workshop II (3 units)

Description: Stylistic and technical features of dramatic and musical elements involved in performance of American musical and standard operetta repertory; staging of scenes.

SACRED MUSIC

MSCR 475 Introduction to Jewish Music (2 units)

Description: Development of Jewish music from biblical times to the present, with emphasis on liturgical practices, traditions of itinerant musicians and the adaptability of community song.
Professor: Nick Strimple

SCHOOL OF MUSIC

MUSC 102gw World Music (4 units)

Description: Exploration of music and cultures of the world. Engagement with international musicians, global issues, field work and musical diasporas in Los Angeles.
Professor: Scott Spencer

MUSC 115gp Western Music as Sounding History (4 units)

Description: An introduction to Western art music and culture from the Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, Romantic and Modern eras through reading, listening, analyzing and writing about music.
Professor: Rotem Gilbert

MUSC 200mgw The Broadway Musical: Reflections of American Diversity (4 units)

Description: A uniquely American genre, the Broadway musical serves as a catalyst for inquiry into human diversity, cross-culturalism, and significant social and political issues.
Professor:Parmer Fuller

MUSC 210g Electronic Music and Dance Culture (4 units)

Description: The origins and development of EDM and its relatives such as disco, house, techno, rave and electronica, focusing on cultural and technological influences.
Professor: Sean C. Nye

MUSC 250mgw The Music of Black Americans (4 units)

Description: A chronicle of the musical contribution of Africans and African Americans to American society and to the foundations of musical genres and styles throughout the world.
Professor: Ron McCurdy

MUSC 255 Songwriting I (2 units)

Description: Development of musical and lyrical skills, composing, listening, analysis, and critiques of popular original music.
Professor: David Poe, Andrea Stolpe

MUSC 320mgw Hip-hop Music and Culture (4 units)

Description: A history of hip-hop music from its inception to the present: its musical processes and styles, as well as attendant social, political and cultural issues.
Professor: Sean C. Nye

MUSC 355 Songwriting II (2 units)

Description: Continuation of Songwriting I; particular emphasis on the analysis of the techniques of important popular songwriters and the application of these techniques to original songs. (Duplicates credit in former MUCO 252.) Prerequisite: MUSC 255.
Professor: David Poe, Andrea Stolpe