2024-2025 Undergraduate Bulletin

Music Minor

Description. The music minor offers students the opportunity to explore music through a comprehensive and multifaceted approach and encourages them to follow their various musical interests. Through the study of Western art music, comparative music studies such as Caribbean music, world music, and pop, rock, and jazz, the student can examine and contextualize the art form. The study of areas such as voice, piano, songwriting, composition, and music technology encourages the student to explore their inherent creative potential by directly engaging in the creation of music, while also developing a foundation in the basic skills of music making. The minor combines an initial core requirement, as well as distribution requirements.

Learning Outcomes. Students will:

  • Integrate technological techniques and music skills to create musical projects.
  • Demonstrate communication skills through oral presentations of all musical projects.
  • Analyze and problem solve through the ability to self-critique work and make necessary adjustments.
  • Demonstrate information literacy through the ability to work with technic al manuals and online sources.
  • Demonstrate historical and cultural knowledge through the ability to historically and culturally contextualize musical projects.
  • Display values and tolerance through the ability to appreciate diverse styles and cultural influences of musical projects performed in class as well as works studied during the semester.

 

Rationale. Music, one of the most universal and fundamental art forms, reflects virtually every aspect of personal and social experience. Through the development of its skills and the consideration of its history, we see how broader cultural patterns are reflected in music specifically, and in art forms generally. The core courses in the minor will ensure homogeneity among the students in their abilities and, in conjunction with the advanced courses, will allow them to express their creativity while developing an understanding of the place of music in the history of the world.

Credits. 18

Minor coordinator. Professor Benjamin Lapidus, Department of Art and Music (212-237-8339, blapidus@jjay.cuny.edu)

Requirements. A maximum of two courses can overlap with a student’s major, other minor or program.

Additional information. Students who enrolled for the first time at the College or selected this minor in September 2016 or thereafter must complete the minor in the form presented here. Students who enrolled prior to that date may choose the form shown here or the earlier version of the minor by visiting Jay Express Services. A copy of the earlier version can be obtained in the 2015–2016 Undergraduate Bulletin.

Part One. Required Courses

MUS 102The Language of Music

3

Choose one
MUS 120Piano

3

MUS 140Introduction to Guitar

3


Students who possess prior knowledge or experience may consult with the minor coordinator for a possible exemption from these requirements. Students who receive exemptions must still complete 18 credits of MUS classes to earn this minor.

Subtotal: 6

Part Two. Elective Courses

Select four. At least one must be at the 200-level and at least one must be at the 300-level.

MUS 101Introduction to Music

3

MUS 103American Popular Music from Jazz to Rock

3

MUS 104Music in World Culture

3

MUS 110/LLS 110Popular Music of the Caribbean

3

MUS 115The Art of Singing: Vocal Technique (was Intro to Vocal Technique)

3

MUS 120Piano

3

MUS 130Chorus

3

MUS 131John Jay Chorus II

3

MUS 140Introduction to Guitar

3

MUS 201Musical Masterworks

3

MUS 202Songwriting

3

MUS 203American Musical Theatre

3

MUS 205Beethoven, Verdi, Stravinsky

3

MUS 206/HIS 206Orchestral Music and the World Wars

3

MUS 220Choral Music in Performance

3

MUS 236Music Technology

3

MUS 280Selected Topics in Music

3

MUS 289Independent Study 200-level

3

MUS 310Comparative History of African American Musics

3

MUS 336Composition Through Technology

3

MUS 385Faculty Mentored Research Experience in Music

3

MUS 389Independent Study 300-level

3

MUS 489Independent Study 400-level

3

Subtotal: 12

Total Credit Hours: 18