Course Search Results

Visual analysis, media and techniques, artistic subject matter and aesthetic issues; historical periods and movements from ancient times to present; provides strong orientation to visual aspects of humanities, background for other art history courses, and introduction to visual arts for personal enrichment; for students new to art history.

Art and Visual Culture is an introductory course designed for students who have had no previous art history courses.  Throughout the course students learn to analyze visual objects, become familiar with media and techniques that artists have used over time, explore different approaches to artistic subject matter and aesthetic issues, and develop an acquaintance with the dominant historical periods and movements from ancient times to the present.  Writing about art and its history will also be emphasized.  Focusing especially on art of the western world, this course provides a strong orientation to the visual aspects of the humanities, good background for additional art history courses, and an understanding of the visual arts for personal enrichment.  

Historical Perspectives Literary, Visual, and Performing Arts

Masterpieces of Western art—how to look at, think about, and understand some of the worlds' most exciting works of architecture, painting, and sculpture; their construction, hidden meanings, historical content, and their meanings today. Literary, Visual, and Performing Arts

Exploration of how different cultures throughout history and across the globe have expressed their social, political, and religious values in visual form; key themes include social functions of art, the ideal body, art of the divine, funerary art, propaganda and power.

Themes in Global Art is designed for students with no art history background. It is a cross-cultural course that explores key themes in art from a global perspective. We will be comparing and contrasting the many ways that different nations and ethnic populations throughout history have expressed their social, political, and religious values in visual form. Some of the international themes in art that we will study include: propaganda and power, social functions of art, ritual and self-expression (such as tattoos and body mutilation), and religion and the divine realm. The course requirements include unit assessments that are partly multiple-choice and true/false questions and partly short-answer essays.

This course has online proctored exams, all of which will be administered via Proctorio, an online proctoring service. Generally, students will need: a computer with 2 GB of free RAM a reliable internet connection a webcam capable of scanning the testing environment a working microphone a quiet, private location the Google Chrome browser with the Proctorio extension installed. More information will be available on the syllabus.

Literary, Visual, and Performing Arts Values and Culture Values, Society, and Diversity

Arts, artists, and cultures of Africa; sculpture, paintings, pottery, textiles, architecture, human adornment.

This is an undergraduate introduction to the visual arts of Africa. No prior study of art history is necessary. This is a one-semester study of the sculpture, pottery, weaving, architecture, and other art forms of Africa from the Sahara to the Cape of Good Hope. The focus is on arts in cultural context. That means you will learn a great deal about the lives and history of many African peoples. You will see many, many slides of objects being made and used by African peoples to understand what the objects meant to the people who created them, and how the objects mirrored their social, educational, political, and economic systems.

Requirements for the online class include written participation in discussion sections, a midterm exam,  a final exam, several short quizzes and a short paper.  All readings will be available on ICON. Please note: There is a lot of writing in the discussion sections, and it will be very difficult for late enrollments to catch up after the first week of classes.

International and Global Issues Literary, Visual, and Performing Arts

Survey to foster development of critical skills in thinking and writing about visual culture, and to familiarize students with broad outlines of artistic development in the Western tradition, from prehistory through later Middle Ages; aesthetic qualities of artworks, relationship between style, function, and meaning.

This is the foundational course for the study of Art History, the discipline devoted to the skillful wrapping of words around images. The class surveys the history of western art, from pre-historic cave paintings through the age of Gothic cathedrals, touching along the way on the civilizations of ancient Egypt, Greece, Rome, and the early medieval world. In richly illustrated lectures and weekly discussion sections, students will be invited to consider big questions such as: What do we really mean by “art”? What roles has art played in pre-modern societies? How can study of ancient and medieval art contribute valuable perspectives on modern art and culture? Or, more specifically, why was the Old Capitol in Iowa City designed to look somewhat like a Greek temple? By the end of the course, students will have gained familiarity with the broad outlines of western artistic tradition through the late Middle Ages, and they will also have developed valuable skills in decoding and writing about visual imagery, which can be useful in analyzing everything from political advertisements to website design.

Historical Perspectives Literary, Visual, and Performing Arts

Art from India, China, and Japan in many media and forms, in their cultural and historical contexts; cultural distinctions of these Asian civilizations as seen through the visual arts; chronology used to highlight historical processes and provide perspectives on continuity and change. Taught in English.

Organized around a series of case studies of exemplary objects, the course explores the wide range of Asian art across different times, regions, cultures, materials, and themes. Special attention will be placed on interactions and influences between different regions through religion, war, travel, and trade. Each class will start with a formal analysis exercise on the key object, followed by a lecture that contextualizes the object, and then online discussion based on required readings

Historical Perspectives Literary, Visual, and Performing Arts

Drawing, composition; selected reading.

A beginning-level course for nonmajors, this course is designed to encourage students who have had little or no formal studio experience. Drawing is the principal means for considering a range of expressive opportunities. Using wet (e.g., ink) and dry (e.g., charcoal) mediums, students work from the human figure (clothed and unclothed), still life, and landscape. Students are given instruction in the skills of representation and principles of abstraction as an introduction to form, creativity, and greater discrimination of the visual world.

Literary, Visual, and Performing Arts

Fundamental 3D design principles and appreciation of contemporary jewelry and metal artworks; techniques and materials in jewelry and metal arts; experimentation with diverse media.

For non-art majors. It covers fundamental 3-D design principles and appreciation of contemporary jewelry and metal art works. Students will learn fundamental techniques and materials in jewelry and metal arts, as well as experimentation with diverse media.

Literary, Visual, and Performing Arts

Introduction to methods, materials, and concepts of printmaking.

This course provides an overview of relief and monotype printmaking. We will learn basic techniques, the operation and use of tools and materials to craft multiple and reproducible works of art. We will also discuss the history of printmaking by looking at works by professional printmakers, both historical and contemporary, for inspiration. Through the process of printmaking, we will also learn to combine the elements of design and principles of art to create successful and thoughtful compositions. There are usually 4-5 projects completed over the course of the semester and most of the work happens in a communal print studio setting.

Literary, Visual, and Performing Arts

Basic handbuilding methods of forming, firing, glazing clay.

This course serves as an introduction to the ceramic arts and focuses on hand-building techniques and surface decoration. Students will learn to create original work through five assignments. Students load and fire electric and gas kilns, with occasional wood, soda, and raku firing as time and scheduling permit. Students mix glazes and make clay throughout the semester. There are lectures on artists relevant to the field of ceramics, basic glaze and clay formulation and preparation, along with lectures on technical information and contemporary ceramics discourse. Short papers may be assigned for research. Several critiques concerning class assignments will be conducted throughout the semester.

Engineering Be Creative Literary, Visual, and Performing Arts

Introduction to popular culture from the People's Republic of China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and the Chinese diaspora; shifting relationships among cultural production, media and technology, and political thought; influences of Japan, Korea, and the West; materials drawn from film, television shows, music, new media, popular literature, comics, magazines, advertising, fashion, art, and material culture; no previous knowledge of Chinese is required.

This course explores various currents, themes and functions of Chinese popular culture through history, with an emphasis on traditional foundations, modern transformations and global influences. Students will be introduced to theories and research on the study of popular culture in general and within the specific context of China. Topics include: different conceptions of folk, mass and popular cultural forms and genres in different periods of Chinese history; traditional life-ways, myths and lore and their lasting influence; the passage from orality and performance to writing and mass media; the advent of urban print culture and popular literature; the modern discovery of folklore to express the nation in China; the invention of revolutionary popular culture; the impact of mass and new media forms of cinema, radio, television and internet; local and global influences in music, fashion and youth culture; social, economic and political dynamics of production, consumption and regulation of popular culture.

NO PREREQUISITE. No prior knowledge of Chinese language is required.

This course has been approved for the GE area of Literary, Visual, and Performing Arts; and for students admitted before Summer 2011 in Foreign Civilization and Culture.

 

 

Literary, Visual, and Performing Arts

Current cinema; key genres, movements, filmmakers, technological changes; recent cultural contexts, industrial and economic factors, changes in the film viewing experience.

This course (General Education - Literary, Visual, and Performing Arts) provides an introductory overview of global cinema since the late 1960s. We’ll explore the sociocultural and technological changes that have impacted various film cultures around the world, as well as the ways in which mainstream, independent, and international cinemas have intersected with issues of race, gender, sexuality, national history, globalization, and new media technologies.

Literary, Visual, and Performing Arts

Reading and analysis of major literary texts from writing's origins to 1700 in the Mediterranean, Asia, and Africa; interrelationship of literature and history. Taught in English.

We may not all believe that it’s better to have love and lost than never to have loved at all, but the experience of love is hard to imagine without the experience of loss. This course will look at the human experience of love, loss, and longing across a wide variety of traditions and time periods. The idea will be to glance into a number of literatures without having to identify a single thread or story among them other than our own responses and reflections. This will be an exercise in reading for better living, in learning a bit about how others have thought about love and loss in order to expand our own ways of seeing the world. There won’t be any books to purchase. The readings will be available online. We will work on paying close attention to short texts through simple readings. Our aim will always be to engage the imagination. There will be a series of shorter written assignments, an oral presentation, and a final written project. Some of the readings will be drawn from the likes of Homer, Sappho (the only ancient Greek female poet we know by name), Plato, the anonymous authors of the Thousand and One Arabian Nights, the (also anonymous) early Spanish-language texts known as jarchas, the Roman poets Virgil, Ovid, and Catullus, the Medieval troubadour poets of southern France, Baroque Spanish and Italian verse, and the writings of the great seventeenth-century Mexican nun Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz. We’ll think a bit about different kinds of love, what it means to feel so strongly the presence of something that no longer exists or that is far away, about the nature of life, death, joy, sorrow, that sort of thing. Along the way we’ll also pause to consider what it means to read things in translation, what it means to read a text of something which was originally meant for oral performance, and how it is that some things have survived the ages and come down to us as important.

Literary, Visual, and Performing Arts

Study of words, their meanings, and their origins combined with writing; words and word histories; role of English language in the world.

This course examines writing strategies (word choice, in particular) within the context of literary analysis. We will study the origins of English words and especially the Latin components that make up the majority of English words—sixty percent of all words and ninety percent of those over two syllables. We also will look closely at three tales from Ovid’s Metamorphoses, tracing adaptations of Midas, Pyramus and Thisbe, and Pygmalion from antiquity to the present day in poetry, drama, art, and film.

Class will be a combination of lecture, discussion, video clips, writing exercises, and word games. Some of the writing assignments will be creative, some will be more traditional, but all will be related to what we have just read or viewed. In order to focus on writing at the word and sentence level, the emphasis will be on shorter writing efforts as opposed to long papers. Grades will be based on writing assignments, quizzes, and three exams.

Translations of Ovid, Stanley Lombardo’s in particular, will serve as a point of departure. Other readings/viewings will include the works of canonical authors such as Chaucer, Shakespeare, and Shaw, as well as those of present-day poets, playwrights, and filmmakers. We also will examine how the English language has changed over time and how an author’s background (era, culture, race, gender, etc.) may have influenced different adaptations of the same story.

Satisfies one of the requirements for the Undergraduate Certificate in Writing.

Literary, Visual, and Performing Arts

Cinematic depictions of the classical world compared with scholarly views; selected films and primary ancient sources of the same period.

Ancient Greek and Roman culture have inspired movies and TV shows for nearly 100 years. In this course students will examine representations of the ancient Mediterranean world, both mythical and historical, in American cinema and television from the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Students will gain insight into the filmmaking process, but they will spend most of their time analyzing film content and context, using primary and secondary sources, to determine the filmmaker’s intent and the meaning or effect of the film. This course also fulfills the Literary, Visual, and Performing Arts General Education requirement.

Literary, Visual, and Performing Arts

Introduction to ancient Greek and Roman myths with focus on using these sources as interpretations of culture and human psyche; emphasis on flexibility of myth and its importance for understanding ancient history, art, literature, religion, and philosophy.

Hercules, Odysseus, Achilles and Oedipus all share one major characteristic: they are all heroes whose adventures and stories are chronicled in timeless Greek and Roman sacred stories, or myths. This course looks at these heroes (and more!), in addition to the gods and goddesses whom these peoples believed ruled their world. The study of Greco-Roman mythology offers an excellent window into the past by providing us with a unique opportunity to examine how the Greeks and Romans attempted to answer questions about the nature of the universe and mankind’s place in it.  The myths of any people betray attitudes concerning life, death, life after death, love, hate, morality, the role of women in society, etc.; we will pay particular attention to how Greco-Roman mythology addresses these important issues.
This course is designed to offer a general introduction to the myths of the ancient Greeks and Romans. Because ancient myths have come down to us in various works of literary and physical art, this course will also introduce you to some of the most influential works produced in ancient Greece and Rome. Moreover, because the cultures of ancient Greece and Rome have exercised such an influence in the shaping of the modern western world, we will equip ourselves with the background necessary to make modern literature, philosophy, religion, and art intelligible and meaningful. By examining and scrutinizing the myths of the ancient Greeks and Romans, we will learn not only a great deal about their cultures, but we will also put ourselves in a position from which to question, criticize, and (hopefully) better understand the foundations of the world in which we find ourselves.
This course meets the Literary, Visual, and Performing Arts general education requirement, as well as the Values and Culture requirement, through its use of ancient works of art (literary and visual) and focus on the ways in which ancient Greek and Romans managed the human experience.

Literary, Visual, and Performing Arts Values and Culture Values, Society, and Diversity

Exploration of creative nonfiction genres through readings, discussion, and writing exercises; introduction to workshop environment.

A course exploring genres of creative nonfiction through readings, discussions, writing exercises, and writing itself. Students experience a workshop environment in which class members read, discuss, respond to, and critique the drafts their fellow students produce. Course readings, assignments, and exercises model the many modes of nonfiction for student writers. For beginning non-English majors.

Engineering Be Creative Literary, Visual, and Performing Arts

Experience reading and writing fiction, poetry, and personal narrative in a workshop setting; study of published work and critical discussion from a writer's standpoint; critique of class members' work. Literary, Visual, and Performing Arts

Elementary techniques, steps, and performance skills for rhythm and show tap styles; enhancement of rhythmic ability through exercises, improvisation, and creative activities; concert attendance, reading assignments, reflective and analytical writing; historical origins of dance form. Tap shoes required.

Elementary techniques, steps, and performance skills for rhythm and show tap styles; enhancement of rhythmic ability through exercises, improvisation, creative activities; may include history of tap. Tap shoes required.

Literary, Visual, and Performing Arts

Basic movement fundamentals, terminology, performance skills of jazz dance; enhancement of flexibility, strength, body alignment, coordination, balance, kinesthetic awareness, personal range of motion, and musicality; warm-up, locomotion, center combinations; concert attendance, reading assignments, reflective and analytical writing; historical origins of dance form.

This course introduces the basic movement fundamentals, terminology, and performance skills of jazz dance.  It is intended to enhance beginning student’s flexibility, strength, body alignment, coordination, balance, kinesthetic awareness, personal range of motion, and musicality through jazz technique.  Class is structured around a warm-up leading to locomotion across the floor and center combinations.  Content may also include the history of jazz dance.  Students are graded on the basis of participation, attendance, movement exams, written exams and/or quizzes, and performance critiques.  

 

Literary, Visual, and Performing Arts

Foundations of hip hop dance and street dance culture; movement participation is central to learning; students are challenged and encouraged to understand and apply foundational and historical knowledge of hip hop; concert attendance, reading assignments, reflective and analytical writing; historical origins of dance form. Literary, Visual, and Performing Arts

Basic movement fundamentals, terminology, performance skills of ballet; enhancement of flexibility, strength, body alignment, coordination, balance, kinesthetic awareness, personal range of motion, and musicality; barre and center combinations; terminology; concert attendance, reading assignments, reflective and analytical writing; historical origins of dance form.

This course introduces the basic movement fundamentals, terminology, and performance skills of ballet.  It is intended to enhance the beginning student’s flexibility, strength, body alignment, coordination, balance, kinesthetic awareness, personal range of motion, and musicality through ballet technique.  Activities will include barre and center combinations.  Terminology will be stressed during class, detailed in handouts, and included in exams.  Content may include the history of ballet.  Students are graded on the basis of participation, attendance, movement exams, written exams and/or quizzes, and performance critiques. 

 

Literary, Visual, and Performing Arts

Basic movement fundamentals, terminology, performance skills of modern dance; enhancement of flexibility, strength, body alignment, coordination, balance, kinesthetic awareness, personal range of motion, and musicality; warm-up, locomotion, center combinations; concert attendance, reading assignments, reflective and analytical writing; historical origins of dance form.

This course introduces the basic movement fundamentals, terminology, and performance skills of modern dance.  It is intended to enhance the beginning student’s flexibility, strength, body alignment, coordination, balance, kinesthetic awareness, personal range of motion, and musicality through modern dance technique.  Activities will include warm-up, locomotion and center combinations.  Content may include the history of modern dance.  Students are graded on the basis of participation, attendance, movement exams, written exams and/or quizzes, and performance critiques.  Assignments are given according to the instructor’s discretion.  

Literary, Visual, and Performing Arts

Continuation of DANC:1020; skills for technique and performance of jazz dance; enhancement of flexibility, strength, body alignment, coordination, balance, kinesthetic awareness, personal range of motion, and musicality; warm-up, locomotion, center combinations; concert attendance, reading assignments, reflective and analytical writing; historical origins of dance form.

This course builds on the foundation of skills necessary for the technique and performance of jazz dance.  It is intended to enhance the continuing student’s flexibility, strength, body alignment, coordination, balance, kinesthetic awareness, personal range of motion, and musicality through jazz technique.  Class is structured around a warm-up leading to locomotion across the floor and center combinations.  Content may include the history of jazz dance.  Students are graded on the basis of participation, attendance, movement exams, written exams and/or quizzes, and performance critiques.  Assignments are given according to the instructor’s discretion.  

 

Literary, Visual, and Performing Arts

Continuation of DANC:1030; skills necessary for technique and performance of ballet; enhancement of flexibility, strength, body alignment, coordination, balance, kinesthetic awareness, personal range of motion, and musicality; barre and center combinations; terminology; concert attendance, reading assignments, reflective and analytical writing; historical origins of dance form.

This course is a continuation of DANC:1030, building a foundation of skills necessary for the technique and performance of ballet.  It is intended to enhance the continuing student’s flexibility, strength, body alignment, coordination, balance, kinesthetic awareness, personal range of motion, and musicality through ballet technique.  Class is structured around barre and center combinations.  Terminology will be stressed during class, detailed in handouts, and included in exams.  Content may include the history of ballet.  Students are graded on the basis of participation, attendance, movement exams, written exams and/or quizzes, and performance critiques.  Assignments are given according to the instructor’s discretion.  

 

Literary, Visual, and Performing Arts

This course explores the role of the performing arts in the human experience, and examines the nature of the creative impulse in different performance media, cultures, societies and historical contexts.  Much of the class work is based on attendance at live performances of theatre, music, and dance on campus and in the community.  Readings, films and videos will augment live performances. Emphasis is on analyzing performance and the experience of the audience through writing and in-depth class discussions. 

Literary, Visual, and Performing Arts Values and Culture Values, Society, and Diversity

Low-intermediate technique and performance training in jazz dance; flexibility, strength, body alignment, and coordination as foundation for more advanced dance artistry including mobility, musicality, style; warm-up, locomotion, center combinations; concert attendance, reading assignments, reflective and analytical writing; historical origins of dance form.

Intermediate technique and performance training in jazz dance, including hip-hop; flexibility, strength, body alignment, and coordination as foundation for more advanced dance artistry, including mobility, musicality, style; warm-up, locomotion, center combinations; may include history of jazz and hip-hop dance.

Literary, Visual, and Performing Arts

Continuation of DANC:1125; focus on strengthening and adding to foundations and origins of hip hop and street dance culture; the journey to today's current definitions of hip hop and street dance with introduction to freestyling and groove theory; movement participation is central to learning; students are challenged and encouraged to understand and apply historical and practical knowledge of hip hop at an intermediate level; concert attendance, reading assignments, reflective and analytical writing; historical origins of dance form. Literary, Visual, and Performing Arts

Theories related to human development and visual arts; use of visual arts to make meaning from experience; ways to integrate visual arts into everyday life; cognitive and physical processes involved in making, understanding, and looking at visual art through studio experiences; theories of cognitive development; role of visual art in education; introduction to art production, history, criticism, and aesthetics.

Theories related to human development and visual arts; use of visual arts to make meaning out of experience; ways to integrate visual arts into everyday life; cognitive and physical processes involved in making, understanding, and looking at visual art; theories of cognitive development; role of visual art in education; introduction to art production, art history, art criticism, and aesthetics.

Literary, Visual, and Performing Arts

Contemporary Scandinavian crime novel in its literary, historical, geographic, cultural, and social context. Taught in English.

Scandinavian crime fiction has attracted global attention, and the works of many contemporary Scandinavian mystery novelists have been translated into English. Scandinavian mysteries range from police procedurals to psychological thrillers and typically provide a window into the culture, environment, and geography of their settings and offer an underlying commentary on political, social, and economic issues. The exploration of Scandinavian mystery novels and film adaptations will introduce students to the genre of crime fiction, provide them with an overview of mystery writing in Scandinavia, and introduce them to the work of contemporary authors. It also serves as a medium for acquiring knowledge about the geography, culture, and society of the countries of Scandinavia. Taught in English.

Literary, Visual, and Performing Arts

Overview of German cinema; expressionist film of the Weimar Republic; Nazi cinema; post-war cinema; East German film; New German Cinema; post-unification and contemporary cinema.  Taught in English.

This course introduces students to the history of German cinema, from the expressionist films of the Weimar Republic to contemporary film production. Students will learn to analyze different periods, film genres and cinematic styles, including expressionist cinema (such as Lang’s murder mystery M and Metropolis). Lang’s representation of urban economic disparity in Metropolis inspired science-fiction films such as Bladerunner. We will also examine early and later cinematic attempts to come to terms with WWII and the Nazi past, in films such as Staudte’s post-WW II rubble film Murderers among us and Fassbinder’s classic The Marriage of Maria Braun. We will also analyze post-unification film (such as Donnersmarck’s The Lives of Others), German-Jewish films and German-Turkish cinema (e.g., by the director Fatih Akin). Students wishing to sign up for a 4 s.c. hour will need to complete additional assignments. Conducted in English. No prerequisite.

For the 4 s.h. option students will write an additional 10-page paper in German.

Literary, Visual, and Performing Arts

Pact with the devil has served as a metaphor for humankind's desire to surpass the limits of knowledge and power and engage with the forbidden; students explore a variety of works—mostly from German literature and culture—from early modern time to present, and critique different twists that fascination with the forbidden takes with regard to women. Taught in English.

Is worldly success possible without a pact with the devil? Can you achieve your goals without selling your core values? Your soul? And what was the original Faustian bargain? We will follow the development of various devilish pacts through the characters of Job (The Book of Job), Satan, Adam and Eve, the legendary necromancer Faustus and his iconic modernizations from Marlowe to Goethe and Klaus Mann. What are the consequences, and can we interpret them in today's terms of mental health? What are gender aspects? We will also examine the fate of the characters who confront the assorted devils of 20th century totalitarian states. In the second half of the semester students will have the opportunity to explore devilish pacts in their own culture, major, or other interest, from Milton to Bulgakov, visual and performing arts to film, music, and gaming by doing research and a presentation.

Literary, Visual, and Performing Arts

Have you ever wondered why certain films reach cult status and others do not? What makes us want to go to repeated midnight showings of the same film and even dress up like the characters? What is a cult classic and who are the great masters of these films? And most importantly, how do these films add social and political commentary about the culture around them? Students explore these questions while watching, discussing, and reading about what puts the "cult" into cult cinema. Literary, Visual, and Performing Arts

Folk and popular musical traditions and their social contexts in Latin America, the Caribbean; listening skills; video/film screenings.

This course surveys selected folk and popular musical traditions within their historical and social contexts in Latin America and the Caribbean. Students examine the three principal musical sources of indigenous America, Europe and Africa, and the ensuing stylistic mixtures and combinations through select music cultures from the region, including the indigenous music of the Andean highlands, musics of the Afro-Hispanic Caribbean (Cuba and Puerto Rico), Trinidadian calypsos and steel pan, and samba and bossa nova in Brazil. The course is designed to broaden students' exposure to other musical systems and explore the interrelationship of music and its social meaning.

Literary, Visual, and Performing Arts Values and Culture Values, Society, and Diversity

Introduction to growing cultural production of varied Latina/o/x communities (e.g., Chicano, Puerto Rican American/Nuyorican, Cuban American) that have a strong presence in the United States; recent cultural production from borderland transcultural spaces with physical, cultural, economic, political, and mythical elements; visions of the United States from contemporary Latin American writers who recently have become U.S. residents. Taught in English.

Introduction to growing literary production of varied Latinx communities (e.g., Chicano, Puerto Rican American/Nuyorican, Cuban American) that have a strong presence in the United States; recent literary production from borderland transcultural spaces with physical, cultural, economic, political, and mythical elements; visions of the United States from contemporary Latin American writers who recently have become U.S. residents. Class will consist of short lectures, class discussions, various class and group activities, reading responses to the assigned readings, two short analysis papers, and a final individual project. Taught in English.

This course counts toward the Latina/o/x Studies minor. See the Latina/o/x Studies website for more information about the minor.

Literary, Visual, and Performing Arts Values and Culture Values, Society, and Diversity

Reading, technical study, chording, playing by ear, improvisation; for beginners. This course is open to non-music majors only. The course is designed for the beginner; no previous background in piano is necessary. The course includes reading, technical study, chording, playing by ear, and improvisation. Grading is based on performance assignments and reviews, theory exams, regular class participation, and outside preparation. Literary, Visual, and Performing Arts

How to listen to jazz and recognize a variety of processes that are taking place in performances and recordings; historical, social, and political issues, including race and gender; the unique blend of jazz of a particular region; attendance at live performances, meet and interview musicians, critics, and educators.

Since World War II, jazz has spread to every corner of the globe producing unique interpretations and practices as it interacts with local traditions. Similarly, jazz musicians in America have found musical sources for their compositions outside of the traditional jazz mainstream. This course will investigate a number of ways that jazz music is interpreted with particular attention to the contexts in which music is created, transmitted and received. Each year the class compares the American jazz tradition to a unique international region that has a strong jazz scene. 

Literary, Visual, and Performing Arts Values and Culture Values, Society, and Diversity

One thirty-minute weekly lesson in one of the following areas: bassoon, cello, clarinet, composition, euphonium, flute, harp, horn, jazz studies instruments, oboe, organ, percussion, piano, saxophone, string bass, trombone, trumpet, tuba, viola, violin, or voice.

The course is for non-music majors only and consists of one half-hour weekly lesson plus a weekly seminar. 

While exact requirements vary by discipline (e.g. piano, voice, cello) students should expect to rehearse a minimum of three hours a week.

For permission to register please email the Course Supervisor listed for the specific instrument of interest. Registration is under separate section numbers for bassoon, cello, clarinet, composition, euphonium, flute, horn, oboe, organ, percussion, piano, saxophone, string bass, trombone, trumpet, tuba, viola, violin and voice. 

Unless noted it is the responsibility of the student to arrange lesson times with the instructor before the end of the first week of classes. 

Students enrolling for Voice will be contacted by the Instructor to arrange the private lesson time no later than the first week of classes. 

 

Literary, Visual, and Performing Arts

Lives and works of important composers, performers.

What makes music great? What makes a great musician? The concept of “great musician” and the consequent notion of “good music” is central to how we experience and talk about music and musical performance. This course aims to both survey a wide variety of “great musicians”—from Bach to Fatboy Slim—and encourage critical assessment of how we determine “greatness” in musical expression. Selected musicians will be studied within the framework of four themes: Music and Religious Life, Music and Theater, Music and Politics, and Music and Place. 

Course requirements include one 5-minute presentation, three short writing assignments, listening quizzes, and two exams.

 

 

Literary, Visual, and Performing Arts

Major 20th-century styles, artists, seminal works, and recordings; developments between 1917 and 1972.

This course is a survey of Major 20th-century styles, artists, seminal works, and recordings; developments between 1900 and today. Course materials include a written text, ICON listening list, films and live performances. Requirements include online quizzes, two exams and writing assignments.

Literary, Visual, and Performing Arts Values and Culture Values, Society, and Diversity

How the Beatles' music was influenced by American pop music, the drug culture, and the avant-garde, nonwestern instruments and philosophy, anti-war sentiments, world politics, and so forth; Beatlemania's impact on British and American cultures and its role in opening Eastern Europe to the West.

The Beatles are arguably the most influential popular music artists in history.  In many ways, their careers reflected and shaped the culture of their time.  In this course students will explore the impact influences such as rock ‘n’ roll, gigs in Hamburg, world tours, the drug culture, the Avant Garde, non-western instruments and philosophy, anti-war sentiments, and world politics had on the Beatles’ music. We will examine the development, maturation, and demise of the Lennon-McCartney songwriting partnership as well as the role George Martin and his engineers played in turning the Beatles’ sonic explorations into hit singles and groundbreaking records. Concurrently students will critique the impact Beatlemania had on British and American cultures as well as its role in opening up Eastern Europe to the West.  Innovations made in the recording and marketing of albums and films, and the difficulties the group encountered in managing royalties, copyrights, and various business ventures are covered.  Students will view several of the Beatles’ various television appearances and films and develop an in-depth understanding of their music.  Students will gain knowledge of British and American cultural history through the “window” the Beatles and their music provide. 

 

This course is open to all students; including non-music majors.  

Literary, Visual, and Performing Arts

History of popular female musicians and the influence of their lyrics, music, and performances on American and British cultures; how women's musical careers have been influenced by civil rights, the British invasion (Beatles, Rolling Stones), second-wave feminism, postfeminism, Vietnam, counterculture, social injustice, music education, rock festivals, charity concerts.

 

The cultural narrative of popular women musicians offers a unique view from which to study American and British history and society.  From Billie Holiday, Aretha Franklin, Janis Joplin, Chrissie Hynde and Patti Smith to Madonna, the Spice Girls, Alanis Morissette, Amy Winehouse, Lady Gaga, Pink and Adele, female performers have challenged and redefined the manner in which the music industry and fans respond to issues of gender, sexuality, identity, authenticity, and artistry.  In this course students examine the history of popular women musicians and the influence their lyrics, music and performances have had on American and British culture.  Concurrently students explore the impact which civil rights, the British Invasion (i.e. the Beatles and the Rolling Stones), second wave feminism, the counterculture, social injustices, war, music education, rock festivals and charity concerts have had on women’s music careers.

 

Our exploration cuts across cultures and ethnicity as we analyze the rise and fall of early girl groups such as the Shirelles, the Supremes, and the Ronettes, the dynamics of mixed gender groups including The Mamas and the Papas, Fleetwood Mac, Blondie, and Siouxsie Sioux and the Banshees, and the social lyricism of Joan Baez, Sinéad O’Connor, Suzanne Vega, and Tracy Chapman.  Through the lens of female performers’ unfamiliarity with their precursors, the construction of canon will be critiqued.  

 

Literary, Visual, and Performing Arts

This course examines the history of Western music from the Middle Ages through the mid-18th century. Classes are a combination of lecture, discussion, listening, and score-reading. Historical Perspectives Literary, Visual, and Performing Arts

Basic sculptural concepts, processes, investigation of materials such as plaster, clay, wood; emphasis on developing formal language, acquiring basic skills; spatial, conceptual, technical issues.

This course is an introduction to basic sculptural concepts and processes. Emphasis is placed on developing personal ideas, and acquiring basic skills and knowledge of materials. Each assignment builds upon the others, creating a solid conceptual/technical foundation. Instruction includes readings, discussions, demonstrations, and slide presentations. Attendance is mandatory and grades are based on personal development and class participation. This is a fundamental 3D art course that introduces students to a wide array of hands-on fabrication techniques including, wood assemblage, plaster/wax mold-making and fabricating with wire/metal.

Engineering Be Creative Literary, Visual, and Performing Arts

Develop conceptual and critical design thinking while solving problems to create 3D structures with sustainable materials, processes, and consumption; discuss, develop, and evaluate composition principles and their relation to aesthetics, modular systems, structure, and sustainable use of material through handmade models and systems that lead to final designs; engage in diverse multidisciplinary collaborations. GE: Sustainability.

This is the foundation course for Product, Furniture, and Interior Design and the introduction to 3D Design with Sustainability. Students create four project and a Digital portfolio (Website).  

They develop conceptual and critical design thinking while solving problems to make 3D structures with modular systems and sustainable material, processes, and consumption.  

Students learn traditional hand drafting and model making, use AutoCAD software and Computer Numerical Controlled (CNC) machine to create scale models, learn basic woodshop skills, research sustainable material and processes, practice how to pitch an idea and present projects, utilize map systems, take pictures using the lighting studio, edit images using Adobe software, and create a website portfolio.    

Engineering Be Creative Literary, Visual, and Performing Arts Sustainability

Concentration, relaxation, imagination, observation, communication, sensory awareness; development of theatrical creativity through objectives, obstacles, action, conflict, spontaneity; development of a scene from scripts.

This course is intended for students who are not theatre arts majors. The course is an introduction to the elements of performance, including exercises in concentration, imagination, observation, communication, relaxation, and sensory awareness. Classes are designed to promote toning the voice and body, freeing creative expression, and developing an understanding of the dramatic situation. This is primarily a lab class; appropriate casual clothing is necessary. Play attendance with written critiques, a journal, and a final performance project with written character and scene analyses are required. The course enhances interpersonal communication and presentation skills required for a successful career in occupations such as Engineering, Business, Medicine, Marketing, Mass Communications and Education to name a few.

Engineering Be Creative Literary, Visual, and Performing Arts

Representative plays as performed in social contexts of revolutionary and modern Europe and postwar United States. Duplicates THTR:2411.

Focusing on the romantic and rebellious impulses of theatre artists and audiences, this course explores how plays in performance have both revolutionized and reinforced social structures, perceptions, and values from the early modern era to the present. Course units cover plays dealing with rebellions of and within the middle and lower classes from the French to the Russian Revolutions; modernist revolts against artistic and social conventions in the decades around the world wars; and diverse challenges to the American dream in the postwar period. Course material is covered through lectures, audio/video presentations, group discussions, and attendance at University Theatre productions. Grading is based chiefly on the quality of essay assignments and exams, and participation in class discussion.

Historical Perspectives Literary, Visual, and Performing Arts

Elements of playwriting; emphasis on analysis and discussion of original student writing.

This course provides an introduction to the craft of playwriting.  Students will focus on the fundamentals of writing for the stage, including playwriting structure, creating characters, writing dialogue and building plays.  Coursework includes in-class writing, regular writing assignments, and the reading of plays.

Engineering students, as well as students of other disciplines, are encouraged to enroll.

Engineering Be Creative Literary, Visual, and Performing Arts

Continuation of THTR:2410; 1700 to 1960; revolutionary and modern European theatre and culturally diverse postwar U.S. theatre. Offered fall semesters.

Focusing on the romantic and rebellious impulses of theatre artists and audiences, this course explores how plays in performance have both revolutionized and reinforced social structures, perceptions, and values from the early modern era to the present. Course units cover plays dealing with rebellions of and within the middle and lower classes from the French to the Russian Revolutions; modernist revolts against artistic and social conventions in the decades around the world wars; and diverse challenges to the American dream in the postwar period. Course material is covered through lectures, audio/video presentations, attendance at University Theatre productions, and group discussions. Assignments involve weekly play and text readings, a research paper, and periodic essay exams, including a final exam. Grading is based chiefly on participation in discussion and quality of written work. Historical Perspectives Literary, Visual, and Performing Arts