The Minor in American Music brings together the most prominent strands of American music scholarship on campus.
Taking its inspiration from the multidisciplinary approaches characteristic of this emerging field, the minor includes:
- A gateway course surveying American musical history and genres
- A foundational course from a field or interdisciplinary area offering a critical perspective on American culture
- Three courses offering in-depth study of musical traditions essential to the American soundscape; and
- A research seminar in which students pursue individual projects.
No previous musical experience is required.
Six courses are required.
- Gateway Course: 6 credits
- MUSC 126: America’s Music · not offered in 2024-25
- Foundations: 6 credits
- AFST 113: Introduction to Africana Studies · not offered in 2024-25
- AMST 115: Introduction to American Studies
- CAMS 110: Introduction to Cinema and Media Studies
- GWSS 110: Introduction to Gender, Women’s & Sexuality Studies
- HIST 122: U.S. Women’s History to 1877 · not offered in 2024-25
- HIST 123: U.S. Women’s History Since 1877 · not offered in 2024-25
- HIST 125: African American History I: From Africa to the Civil War
- HIST 126: African American History II
- MUSC 110: Theory I: The Principles of Harmony
- MUSC 204: Theory II: Musical Structures
- RELG 140: Religion and American Culture · not offered in 2024-25
- SOAN 110: Introduction to Anthropology
- SOAN 111: Introduction to Sociology
- Soundtracks of America: 18 credits, at least one course must be at the 200 level or above
- AFST 225: Black Music, Resistance, and Liberation
- AMST 269: Woodstock Nation
- MUSC 111: Music and Storytelling · not offered in 2024-25
- MUSC 115: Listening to the Movies · not offered in 2024-25
- MUSC 123: The American Film Musical · not offered in 2024-25
- MUSC 131: The Blues From the Delta to Chicago · not offered in 2024-25
- MUSC 136: History of Rock · not offered in 2024-25
- MUSC 137: Rock, Sex, & Rebellion · not offered in 2024-25
- MUSC 140: Ethnomusicology and the World’s Music
- MUSC 144: Music and Migration · not offered in 2024-25
- MUSC 208: Computer Music and Sound
- MUSC 211: Race, Gender, and Classical Music · not offered in 2024-25
- MUSC 213: J-Pop: Listening to Music in Modern Japan · not offered in 2024-25
- MUSC 215: Western Music and its Social Ecosystems, 1830-Present
- MUSC 217: Opera: Stage, Screen, Recording
- MUSC 218: Improvisation: A Living History · not offered in 2024-25
- MUSC 232: Golden Age of R & B
- MUSC 241: Music of Latin America · not offered in 2024-25
- MUSC 341: Rock Lab and Lab · not offered in 2024-25
- Research Seminar 6 credits