Global Arc

A music composition class that explores the history of experimental rock music from the mid 60's to now.

Though we associate musical processes with minimalism, composers have been setting them in motion, breaking them, riffing off them as long as they've been producing notes and sounds. Think of a canon or a sequence. We will of course spend a good deal of time on minimalism and postminimalism. We also consider the use of audio phenomena such as feedback to create new types of musical evolutions through time. While we will be doing a lot of analyzing and listening, the aim ultimately will be to help you write experimental musical compositions where you play with various balances of process and intuition.

Music 102 introduces foundational elements of music and offers new ways of engaging with them through exercises in listening and making. A broad and inclusive range of musical genres from around the world will be examined in equal measure to help develop insight into how and why music functions as a universal language. The course is designed to strengthen your ability to analyze and understand a wide variety of existing music from the past and present, and gain new approaches to composing your own. The emphasis is firmly on a practical application of the human centered concepts we encounter within music.

This course explores the music and its role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). We will focus on: themes of genre hybridity, intertextuality, orchestration, emotional storytelling; how film scores shape character, narrative, and identity. Students will engage with foundational readings in film music theory and will develop critical listening skills through score analysis and discussions. This course is divided into two parts (the "Infinity Saga" and selected "Multiverse Saga" films up to 2023).

How do Confucians envision the relationship between humans & the cosmos & what do Daoists mean when they talk about the universal Way? What are the ethics espoused by these wide-reaching paradigms, & how have they shaped the way people live & make music? This course examines foundations of Confucian and Daoist thought by attending to their articulation in music & discourse from Sinophone contexts. We will analyze music alongside supplemental texts to unpack how music becomes suffused with moral, ritual, numerological, & cosmological meaning. Prior experience with music analysis & reading ability in Chinese is welcome but not required.

This class will explore how to create and perform live electronic music as a group and study readings and performance documentation of live electronic music. Students will apply learned skill by performing assigned works in a public concert with the Princeton Laptop Orchestra (PLOrk) on April 2, 2026. A culminating recital/concert will take place on May 4th, 2026. Final Written Assignment is a short written description of the piece, like a program note, due on a date during Final Exams scheduled by the Registrar.

Junior Independent Work requires students to complete a substantial piece of research and scholarship under the supervision and advisement of a Princeton faculty member. The work requires sustained investment and attention throughout the semester. See below for details on works-in-progress submissions and due dates.

Bach wrote hundreds of sacred cantatas for the Lutheran liturgy, yet they are among his most enigmatic works. Sung almost exclusively by the men and boys in Bach's choirs, they present challenges to modern performers attempting to balance historical practices with modern concert conditions and challenge listeners and scholars who wish to understand Bach's compositional methods and the theological principles that guided him. In this course, co-taught with a scholar and conductor, we will dive deeply into Bach's cantatas from both academic and performance perspectives.

This course will examine how sound has long been an expression of dissent, experimentation, collective identity, and as a result, cultural knowledge. Students will engage with a range of countercultural movements: noise, free jazz, Creative music, Fluxus, hip hop, punk, techno, and more. Discussions will involve how these scenes arose, what social conditions made them possible, and how they challenged dominant cultural or political systems. Course to be taught by upcoming Princeton Arts Fellow, Leo Chang.

A formal report on research involving analysis, synthesis, and design, directed toward improved understanding and resolution of a significant problem. The research is conducted under the supervision of a faculty member and the support of dedicated instructors and AIs. The thesis is submitted and defended by the student at a public examination before a faculty committee. This course completes the research work begun in the fall semester class ORF 498.