Music

Overview

The Occidental Music Department is a community that values and cultivates the creation, performance, and critical study of the world's music. We believe that music, as one of the original liberal arts, is best studied in the context of the liberal arts, and thus aspire for our students to become well-rounded scholar-musicians. Students majoring in music develop an integrated understanding of music as creative work, as cultural and historical expression, and as performance. Through the rigorous study of composition, performance, music production, popular and vernacular music, conducting, music theory, musicianship, and music history, music majors acquire a complete set of skills that they can apply to their own area of musical expertise.

In addition to courses requiring an ability to read music, the Music Department offers private lessons from world-class performance faculty, as well as a wide array of courses in subjects including popular music, jazz, opera, music production, and music from various world traditions. Students collaborate with local arts organizations, pursue for-credit internships in the music industry, and routinely attend lectures, master classes, and live concerts by renowned musical artists.

Because of the quality, breadth, and depth of Occidental College's liberal arts curriculum, the music major enables students to pursue music professionally or begin careers in a wide variety of other fields. Recent alumni have gone on to careers in conducting, film composing, music publishing, arts management, music education, and singing, to name a few, as well as in medicine, geology, classics, and finance.

The development of musical craft and artistry requires time as well as effort. Students considering a major or minor in music are urged to begin taking music theory courses and private lessons in their first year. New students who are undecided about majoring in music may begin their music studies in their second year and still complete the major. However, students planning to study abroad in their third year must begin their music theory studies during their first year. Students study, practice, and perform in Booth Music Hall (including our music library) and Thorne Hall, with 24-hour access to practice rooms and an electronic music studio.

Major Requirements

MAJOR

All students pursuing a Music major must complete the following courses:

Required Courses:

In addition to these 12 units required of all Music majors, students majoring in Music must pursue one of the following tracks: Music Production, Music Composition, Instrumental Performance, Vocal Performance, Ethnomusicology/Popular Music, Musicology, or Music Theory & Analysis. 

Music Production

Music business instruction will be provided through academic advising, internships, and our music production guest speaker series.

Music Composition

Instrumental Performance

Vocal Performance

Ethnomusicology or Popular Music

Musicology

Music Theory and Analysis

SECOND-STAGE WRITING REQUIREMENT

Students majoring in Music will satisfy the second-stage component of Occidental College's college-wide writing requirement by successfully completing a writing-intensive 200-level course in the sophomore or junior year with a grade of B- or better. The writing-intensive courses that qualify are indicated in their course description. These courses will adopt the First-Stage Writing Proficiency Requirement's 1-6 rubric to proficiency in writing music scholarship. A grade of B- or better in these courses thus means that students will have received the rubric rating of 4 or above. Students receiving a C+ or lower will have to take another Music course that satisfies this requirement. If the student fails to pass this requirement after taking this second course, the student will have to take and pass WRD 201 in order to satisfy this requirement for graduation.

COMPREHENSIVE REQUIREMENT

Senior music majors complete a senior project related to the student's area of interest. All senior projects involve both a written and an oral component. The written component (thesis draft; or analytic, final draft of argument-driven essay plus recital program notes) must be completed by the end of MUSC 490, which is offered in the fall semester. Each component is graded High Pass (HP), Pass (P), or Fail (F). A final grade of Pass with Distinction (PD) on the senior comprehensive will be awarded if all components (written, oral, and performance, if applicable) are graded High Pass.

In the Fall semester of their junior year, students submit a proposal for their senior project to the Music Department faculty for approval. Students pursuing tracks in Ethnomusicology/Popular Music, Musicology, or Music Theory & Analysis will propose a senior thesis of 6500 words or more in length (excluding footnotes and bibliography). Students with a particular interest in composition will prepare a portfolio of original compositions, including both acoustic and electro-acoustic music, some of which will be presented in a composition recital during the senior year. Composers will write an argument-driven analytic paper of 2500 words or more in length, focusing on the work of a composer whose work has influenced their styles. Students with a demonstrated ability in performance will propose a junior and a senior recital, and will write an argument-driven analytic paper of 2500 words or more in length on a piece or pieces of music on the senior recital. Students pursuing music production will complete a project designed with their advisor and in consultation with the Music faculty, and will write an argument-driven analytic paper of 2500 words or more in length on an aspect of production relevant to their project.

All seniors will present their work in a public forum during the spring semester. If the Music faculty determines that the senior has not sufficiently prepared to complete the project in time, the senior must take a written examination in lieu of the recital or thesis submission/presentation in order to fulfill the senior comprehensive requirement. The faculty will supply questions drawn from the material of that senior’s course of music study at Occidental.

HONORS

Students who have achieved at least a 3.25 average in their Music courses and have demonstrated exceptional potential in their Music subfield of study (one of the tracks listed above) may apply for the Honors Program at the end of their junior year. For information about the Honors Program, students should consult their Music Department faculty adviser. See the Honors Program for additional information.

Minor Requirements

Ethnomusicology and Popular Music

Students must complete a total of 20 units.

Choose one from:

Music Theory Placement

All Music students will begin their Music Theory and Musicianship study in one of two ways: by taking MUSC 101 (no prior experience with music fundamentals), or MUSC 151 (an AP Music Theory score of 4 or 5 or significant prior work in Music Theory).

Awards

The Elinor Remick Warren Award is presented for the most outstanding student composition. 

The Peters Prize is awarded to the student who has done the most to promote music on the Occidental campus. 

The James F. English and Marie E. English Award is given to the most promising vocal student, and is used for one year of private vocal study at Occidental College. 

The Marcia Hannah Farmer Award is given to a vocal student and is applied toward private vocal study at Occidental College.

Courses

MUSC - Music Courses

MUSA - Music Applied Study

Faculty

Regular Faculty

David Kasunic, chair

Associate Professor, Music

B.A., Amherst College; M.F.A., Ph.D., Princeton University

Irene Girton

Professor, Music

B.Mus., Oberlin College Conservatory of Music; M.Phil., Ph.D., Yale University

Shanna Lorenz

Associate Professor, Music

B.A., Reed College; M.A., Ph.D., University of Pittsburgh; Ph.D., New York University

Adam Schoenberg

Assistant Professor, Music

B.M., Oberlin Conservatory of Music; M.M., D.M.A., The Juilliard School

On Special Appointment

Joe Addington

Director of the Afro-Cuban Drumming Ensemble; Part-Time Non-Tenure Track Instructor, Music

Dean Anderson

Director of Instrumental Activities; Non-Tenure Track Assistant Professor, Music

B.M., M.M., University of Missouri at Columbia; Ph.D., University of California, Los Angeles

Jongnic Bontemps

Non-Tenure Track Instructor, Music Production

B.A., Yale University

Cesar Castro

Director of the Son Jarocho Ensemble; Non-Tenure Track Assistant Professor, Music

Shawn Costantino

Director of the Occidental Jazz Ensemble, Part-Time Non-Tenure Track Assistant Instructor, Music

B.Mus., Studio Music and Jazz, University of Miami; M.M., Jazz Studies, De Paul University

Desiree La Vertu

Director of Choral and Vocal Activities; Full-Time Non-Tenure Track Associate Professor, Music

B.Mus., California State University, Fullerton; M.M. University of Nevada, Reno

Jennifer Logan

Part-Time Non-Tenure Track Assistant Professor, Music

B.A., M.A., California State University, Fresno; Ph.D., University of California, Santa Barbara

Dina Ormenyi

Part-Time Non-Tenure Track Assistant Professor, Music

B.A., University of California, Santa Barbara; M.F.A., University of California, Los Angeles

G. Simeon Pillich

Full-Time Non-Tenure Track Professor, Music

B.A., M.A., Ph.D., University of California, Los Angeles

Glenn Price

Director of the Caltech-Occidental Concert Band

B.Mus., University of Toronto; M.M., Ph.D., Eastman School of Music