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Beginning to advanced lessons in bass technique and appropriate theory.

Lessons on Tuesdays – Schedule TBA.

Advanced studies in theory relating to performance.

Students must be enrolled in Bass with Bisio (MIN4417) simultaneously, no exceptions. This class is only for advanced students and by permission of instructor.

Differential equations are a powerful and pervasive mathematical tool in the sciences and are fundamental in pure mathematics as well. Almost every system whose components interact continuously over time can be modeled by a differential equation, and differential equation models and analyses of these systems are common in the literature in many fields including physics, ecology, biology, astronomy, and economics.

Through mentor approved independently paced work, students develop and schedule their own weekly, planned creative practices using student-initiated resources and/or classes. Mentors guide students through the designed plan that can include a combination of practices, techniques, technologies and methodologies. The study format should provide opportunity for varied approaches and choices.

This course allows students to self-design course work by combining topics and approaches from the Practice LABs and the Study LABs to meet required hours. The Individualized LABS take the form of a series of self directed intensive workshops and study immersions.

Variable Credit, 1-2 Credits

Students work to develop vocabularies, resources and methodologies to support varied approaches to thesis practices to include research into practice, performance as research, practice into research, practice-based research, bibliography as method, citational fieldings and research as action. The course guides students through reflective, critical processes during one-on-one, small and large group course formats.

This course allows students more time to complete thesis project work.

This interdisciplinary class looks at the relationship between the visual arts, performance and dance. In particular, we will focus on the influence of collage across disciplines by finding common methods and themes, such as juxtaposition, chance and appropriation. We will trace the history of collage in the visual arts and then investigate its impact on other fields, including film, music, literature and dance. Lectures and readings will expose students to a wide range of modern and contemporary art forms.

This interdisciplinary class looks at the relationship between the visual arts, performance and dance. In particular, we will focus on the influence of collage across disciplines by finding common methods and themes, such as juxtaposition, chance and appropriation. We will trace the history of collage in the visual arts and then investigate its impact on other fields, including film, music, literature and dance. Lectures and readings will expose students to a wide range of modern and contemporary art forms.

What does studying together offer us critically that studying alone might not? Ariella Azoulay refers to studying with companions as a method of unlearning. What are the shifts experienced when you are studying with and alongside others? What conditions might group study provide that allow different questions and understandings to emerge? If, as Irit Rogoff states, “All research is collaborative,” how might these study groups expand our thinking through collaborative practices? What methodologies emerge?

During this course, students will begin to reflect, gather, articulate, and compose their extensive body of professional work in the field of dance by organizing this work into a text which will be bound. The portfolio is developed to include a thoughtful and critically developed artist statement, current CV, written narratives of their work, press & public reviews, and a list of any grants, honorariums and/or fellowships along with the encouragement of a creative approach to sharing the emergence of themselves as dance artists.

Students propose an independent study plan with approval from Donna Faye Burchfield and select an approved thinking partner/mentor.

Credits to be determined between faculty and student.

Variable Credit, 1-3 Credits

The Polish theater director Jerzy Grotowski defined his theory of “poor theatre” as the theatre that values the body of the actor and its relation with the spectator. Poor Theatre used the simplest of sets, costumes,lighting and props requiring the actors to employ all of their skills to transform a space into other imaginative worlds.

Where and how does study happen? What is the value of study and how do we recognize that value? What does it mean to think of our study of dance and performance as an encounter and how might that thinking offer up a chance for one to pay attention differently? Is it different from research?  Or, as Kevin Quashie suggests, does it perhaps re-situate the activities of research, scholarship, teaching and practice in an important way? These Labs take the form of intensive workshops and/or lectures.

Variable Credit, 1-2 Credits

This topic driven seminar focuses on current developments within the field of dance and performance. Students will learn to think of dance and performance through their own embodied experiences and by placing dance, movement, and performance in wider disciplinary, cultural and global contexts.

During this course, students will begin to reflect, gather, articulate, and compose their extensive body of professional work in the field of dance by organizing this work into a text which will be bound. The portfolio is developed to include a thoughtful and critically developed artist statement, current CV, written narratives of their work, press & public reviews, and a list of any grants, honorariums and/or fellowships along with the encouragement of a creative approach to sharing the emergence of themselves as dance artists.

This course is designed to assist graduate students with the research and development of their new work. The weekly format is determined with the students. In class, they show works-in-progress, try out ideas with their colleagues, and discuss issues involved in their creative processes. Though the class meets only once a week, students are expected to spend considerable time each week in active, ongoing creative research; their independent projects will be presented to the public, either formally or informally, by the end of the term.

Graduate Teaching Fellows in Dance are integrated into the dance program as teaching assistants. In consultation with their academic advisors and the dance faculty, MFA candidates develop an assistantship schedule of approximately ten hours weekly; the courses they develop and teach are listed in the curriculum. All Teaching Fellows bring their own professional histories and contribute their own manners of teaching. Outside of listed class times, TBD, the Teaching Fellows will meet to discuss their courses with the designated faculty and with each other.

It is trite but true: kids grow up so fast. In this course we will discuss the incredible growth of infants, toddlers, and children in multiple domains (physical, cognitive, emotional/social). We will discover how growth in each domain affects the others. We will explore enduring topics of discourse in child development, such as nature and nurture, individual differences, and the nature of change.

The course is designed for students with no prior string instrument experience. Admission is on a first come first serve basis. Classes will be individual (usually 20-25 min. long). Daily practice (10-15 min.) is expected so students can become familiar and comfortable with the instrument.

The course is for intermediate to advanced students.
Students are expected to practice daily (minimum of 45 minutes). End-of-semester performance is required.

Earthʹs life‐supporting environmental systems are controlled by a complex interplay between geologic and biological processes acting both on the surface and deep within the planetary interior. This course will explore how earth materials and physical processes contribute to a healthy environment, and how humans impact geologic processes. Topics covered will include: earth resources, natural hazards, water resources and pollution, soil formation and depletion, coastal processes, energy resources, and climate change.

Instrumental Study on Guitar. Continued studies from Beginning Guitar. Advanced study in fret-board harmony and theory, play in different tunings, increase chord vocabulary and repertoire.

For the experienced (3+years of playing) violinist/violist. Lessons in traditional styles of fiddling – Quebecois, New England, Southern Appalachian, Scandinavian, Cajun, Irish, and Scottish. This course is designed to heighten awareness of the variety of ways the violin is played regionally and socially in North America (and indeed around the world) and to give practical music skills for furthering personal music making. Students will be expected to perform at Music Workshop, or as part of a concert, in ensemble and/or solo.

Acting is the art of bringing text to life with heart, soul, and skill—and in this course, we’ll train your voice, body, mind, and spirit to do just that!

In a fun and supportive space, we’ll dive into the building blocks of actor training, pushing our creativity to build dynamic, three-dimensional characters ready for the stage.

Through scene work, improv, readings, and engaging exercises, we’ll tap into your unique experiences to strengthen your craft and bring your performances to life. Let’s play, explore, and grow together!

This lab class is structured for students who are registered for CER2208 CUPS: Slip Casting and Mold Making to achieve production goals. The two-hour mandatory lab will be guided by the faculty so that students can receive technical guidance and adequate support to establish their studio production practices and expand their knowledge and creative capacities. 

This lab class is structured for students who have completed CER2208 CUPS: Slip Casting and Mold Making (or equivalent introductory mold making and slip casting courses) to achieve independent production goals to create a series of  ceramic functional ware (cups). The two-hour weekly lab will be guided by the faculty so that students can receive technical guidance and adequate support to establish their studio production practices and expand their knowledge and creative capacities. 

This seminar will study the mid-20th century revolution in poetic style and content known as "confessional poetry," a school of poetry that gave voice to the private and personal, highlighting extreme autobiographical experience, as well as subjects that were previously seen as improper or taboo, including mental health, sexuality, suicidal ideation, trauma, menstruation, abortion, postpartum depression, divorce, family dysfunction, rage, and despair.

This seminar explores the cinematic vampire as a symbolic curator, critic, and connoisseur, one who collects, consumes, and reflects cultural concerns. Through films paired with philosophical and critical texts, we examine how vampires serve as mirrors, archivists, aesthetes, and subversive observers and how filmmakers stylistically foreground or reframe aspects of the vampire mythos.

Contemporary efforts to confront our most pressing ecological problems are characterized by a tension between the global realities of these problems and the territorial borders and logics that define sovereign nation-states. This course will explore this tension in three parts. First, we will engage with a variety of theoretical and conceptual debates introduced by scholars of global environmental politics — a heterodox field that draws insights from international relations theory, international political economy, ecological economics, and environmental sociology (among others).

This course creates a space for the study of anatomy and its application to movement techniques. Centered in the bone structure, psoas, and breathing exercises, this work examines different sections of the skeleton such as the pelvis, legs, spine, and shoulder girdle. We will also address the psoas muscle as the pillar(s) of the body connecting our lower and upper halves.

“It was an age of miracles, it was an age of art, it was an age of excess, and it was an age of satire,” F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote in his epitaph to the Jazz Age in 1931. It was something else too: a social and literary revolution fueled by new communications technology, mass popular entertainment, Jazz and the Blues, and a bold “collaborative energy” (Ann Douglas) between the Black artists of the Harlem Renaissance and the predominantly white figures who were grouped together as the Lost Generation.

In this course we will undertake a comprehensive survey of American Transcendentalism through a close examination of the major writings from this tumultuous period. We will read the major figures (Ralph Waldo Emerson, Margaret Fuller, Henry David Thoreau), as well as a host of lesser known members of the Transcendental Club (Orestes Brownson, Ellery Channing, poet Jones Very). We will also read some of the most withering critiques that the movement inspired, including Nathaniel Hawthorne’s satiric novel of the Utopian Brook Farm community, The Blithedale Romance.

This course is intended for students with some playing and reading experience, who have passed Piano Lab I or its equivalent. The goals of this course are to gain ease and dexterity at the keyboard, further developing a confident piano technique, musical expression, and the skill of reading musical notation. Students will expand upon a repertoire of scales and chords. They will study and learn to perform selected compositions.

Individual private piano lessons for more advanced students. Audition required. A weekly 45 minute lesson time is arranged with the instructor.

Have you been thinking about learning to play the piano? Perhaps you have a little experience from childhood and want to get back into it? Do you want to learn to read sheet music and understand the basics of music theory? Maybe you are completely new to playing an instrument, and want to give it a try?

If you answered yes, then Piano Lab I might be right for you.

Lessons are given on a one on one basis. Each lesson is 20-25 minute-long. This course is for beginner’s only.

Have you been thinking about learning to play the piano? Are you completely new to playing an instrument and want to give it a try? Do you have a little experience from childhood and want to get back into it? Are you a singer, songwriter, producer, or composer who wants to know how to accompany themselves, learn to read sheet music and chord symbols, and understand the basics of music theory?

If you answered yes, then Piano Lab I might be right for you.

Chemistry 3 focuses on the nature and pathways of organic reactions: what the steps are, how we experimentally determine them, and how we can use them to solve practical problems, such as the synthesis of a drug, or understanding the action of an enzyme. Emphasis will be using the general principles of nucleo- and and electrophilicity to provide a logical framework for understanding substitution, addition, elimination and reactions involving carbonyl groups. Chemical kinetics will also be a topic of study because of the insights it provides for reaction mechanisms.

This course is the first of a four-course chemistry sequence covering general, organic and biochemistry. Students do not need to take the entire sequence. We will focus on introductory chemical principles, including atomic theory, classical and quantum bonding concepts, molecular structure, organic functional groups, and the relationship between structure and properties. The class will have lecture/discussion meetings at which we will critically examine the major concepts of reading assignments, discuss articles, and review some of the current developments of the field.

The study of foreign languages and cultures is a crucial asset. For some, it is a life-saving necessity. For others it represents a powerful tool in a toolkit for antiracism, social justice, and intercultural understanding. In this course, students will gain a basic understanding of language and culture teaching to young children and adults. Discussions with local teachers and language acquisition experts will provide a professional perspective on the course content.

We will study and perform from the string band traditions of rural America. Nova Scotia, Quebecois, Irish, New England, Scandinavian, African-American dance and ballad traditions. In addition, these will be experienced with listening, practice (weekly group rehearsals outside of class), and performing components. Emphasis on ensemble intuition, playing by ear, and lifetime personal music making skills (transposition, harmonizing, etc.).

For students doing work-study or internships, we will focus on three core areas of professionalization. First, each week will journal our work weeks, discussing and sharing our work experiences in a round-table. Second, we will build our professionalization skills, especially networking (in person and on LinkedIn), resume writing, and doing practice interviews. Finally, we will work on writing 5-year plans, to help us figure out where we’d like to be a few years after graduation. More specifically

This course gives students the opportunity to encounter, participate in and design choreographic practices with an emphasis on the vast approaches to process and artistic research that are current and emergent in the expanded field of dance. The course challenges students to develop relationships to performance/performative action as research. We will engage practices where seeing and being seen by each other are central, studying the ways in which witnessing one another in process stimulates and deepens learning.

Dalcroze Eurhythmics is a music class where we practice sensing the body through musical movement. Can our bodies help us learn how to read and interpret sheet music too? Yes!

“Tell me what you eat and I will tell you who you are” –Brillat-Savarin

Modern Guitar is a one on one private lesson.  Occasionally if two students are about the same level the class will accommodate two students at a time.

It is expected that a firm grasp of all the concepts taught in Beginning and Intermediate Guitar are fully understood.

If you haven’t taken these classes you would have to audition to receive the instructors permission to demonstrate skills.

Correct posture for playing the guitar Several approaches to tuning the guitar

Twelve week study of twelve different guitarists of varying styles for awareness of the history of the guitar and the various styles the instrument is capable of. Enhances listening skills.

Finger independence and strength exercises. Attaching finger skills and independence to the brain.

Instrumental Study on Guitar.  Continued studies from Beginning Guitar. Advanced study in fret-board harmony and theory.

“Have you eaten yet?” This common Chinese greeting is just one of many common phrases that shows the centrality of food to Taiwanese and Chinese culture. In this course we will focus on the theme of Chinese and Taiwanese food and dining culture as an entrée into the study of Chinese language and culture. As Chinese grammar is very simple with no verb conjugation, no plural, no gender, no articles or subject and object forms, it is very easy to speak Chinese.

The Scriptorium, a “place for writing,” is a class for writers interested in improving their critical essay-writing skills. We will read to write and write to read. Much of our time will be occupied with writing and revising—essai means “trial” or “attempt”—as we work to create new habits and productive strategies for analytical writing.