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An introduction to music theory course. Music theory fundamentals will be taught utilizing voice (singing) and an instrument in hand. Knowledge of the piano keyboard will be learned and utilized. Curriculum will span the harmonic series, circle of 5ths, scales and chords to ear training, harmonic and rhythmic dictation, and beginning composition. Score reading, listening, and analysis will include music of composers from diverse ethnic, racial, sexual, and cultural backgrounds. Course will include singing, aural, and listening components as well as written work.

How do we physically understand the spaces we are in? How is each of us affected by them? How do we develop a deeper sense of place? The Body Acoustic aims to heighten awareness of the reciprocal relationship between the built environment and our senses. Light and sound, distances, height, volume, surfaces, angles/curves and a/symmetries all affect one’s movement through interior and exterior spaces; one’s movement, in turn, affects the perception of these spaces.

Viewpoints is a physical improvisational form used for training actors and creating movement for the stage. This class encourages students to explore the physical and vocal possibilities of time and space, with a specific focus on developing the capacity to be physically present, emotionally open, and free to follow creative impulses. Special emphasis will be placed on developing listening skills and ensemble building. Coursework will cover the nine Viewpoints and their application to character exploration and composition within the world of a play.

A “rigorous study of art” became the goal of Philosopher and Cultural Critic Walter Benjamin (1892-1940) when his growing distaste for the outlook and methods of his art history professor—the famous and foundational Heinrich Wölfflin—caused him to consider publishing an account of “the most disastrous activity I have ever encountered at a German university.”

In this course, students will examine the building blocks which make up the interlocking systems of language and observe how those systems are enacted and granted layers of meaning through social practice.

How do cognitive neuroscientists examine words and word meanings?  What are the different ways we can remember words, such as definitions (“pollo”, “ji”, “chicken”) and lyrics, and how do words work in our brains?   Why do we sometimes struggle to remember a word that comes to mind easily later on?  Are words and images stored together or separately in our brains?  These questions and more will be addressed in this course, after an overview of the central nervous system.

How have psychologists defined feelings over the years, and how is the field continuing to change?  We will begin with the 19th Century, when scientists like Wundt and Charcot brought human perception and mental health symptoms out of the realm of metaphysics.  After briefly considering Darwin’s view of emotion and new perspectives on artwork from early asylums, we will evaluate emotion as featured in two central debates from the 20th Century: (1) the psychodynamic approach of Freud, one of Charcot’s students, versus humanism and (2) the behaviorists’ broad rejection of feelings a

This class examines a variety of answers to the ancient question: How do I live a good life? We’ll engage with thinkers from diverse traditions across time and space as we clarify our own understanding of what makes life worth living and as we articulate a more developed conception of the good life.

In this course we will examine the role of music as a vehicle for political and social change in Africa. Our focus will be music-making throughout the continent of Africa during the nationalist struggles that resulted in independent African states and how musicians responded (and continue to respond) to the persistent challenges faced by those post-colonial states.

In this class, we will begin by investigating sound, music, image, and form in poetry and how these poetic elements are presented in fiction. From fiction, we will study narrative, character, plot, and setting. Finally, we will progress towards personal nonfiction, fusing the elements of our poetry and fiction investigations. We will read classical and contemporary texts from diverse authors and voices, while also crafting individualized creative work. Students are expected to also write critically on creative texts.

The Voice Performance Intensive is an advanced voice course designed for experienced singers looking to elevate their vocal craft and take their performances to the next level. We will explore a diverse range of singing styles, including classical, contemporary, and other genres, enabling students to develop a versatile portfolio of repertoire. 

This 2-credit course is an introduction to Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass, which inaugurated a distinctly American free verse by breaking with European formal traditions of poetry. We will read the entire original 1855 version (a self-published volume with only twelve poems) as well as selections from some of the subsequent editions that Whitman published over his lifetime (including the 1892 “deathbed” edition, which contains 383 poems!).

This class will examine contemporary challenges through the lens of complex systems. The class will include a training in Mediation and Negotiation skills. Through readings, discussion, exercises and role-plays, the class will examine and deconstruct the complexities of current democratic and environmental issues related to local, national and global governance, We will begin with personal training and extend it to group multi-party collaborative problem-solving. 

The Voice Performance Intensive is an advanced voice technique course designed for experienced singers looking to elevate their vocal craft and take their performances to the next level. We will explore a diverse range of singing styles, including classical, contemporary, and other genres, enabling students to develop a versatile portfolio of repertoire. 

What remains of dance? The lament of dance’s ephemerality coincides with broader Western temporal projects conceived through the linear unfolding of human progress and social evolution, relegating our movements to an irretrievable past.

In this intermediate course, students will learn about various art forms in Japan from pottery in the Jomon Era (about 14,000 BC – 300BC) to Takashi Murakami’s so-called “superflat,” a postmodern art movement, in the Heisei Era (1989 -2019).  As they learn about Japanese art, they will analyze elements of Japanese aesthetics that were shared in various art forms during each period.  Students will also examine what societal changes influenced the changes in art.  There are numerous points in the long Japanese history where the styles of Japanese art changed d

This course offers an immersive experience into the world of DNA, genes, and genomes in eukaryotic organisms.  In addition to getting a grasp of the foundational biology, students will engage with various online databases and resources, becoming familiar with the computational algorithms and methodologies used to mine and analyze the ever-increasing data generated from whole-genome sequencing, and consider how that improves our understanding of evolutionary relationships amongst organisms based on their molecular fingerprints.  In the second half of the term, students

Designed to help beginner translators with no experience build their own ethical translation practices—with attention to issues of race, gender, and queerness—this course offers an introduction to translation via a hands-on approach. What pronouns do you use when translating from a language that doesn’t have gendered pronouns? Do you translate slurs? We will tackle these questions, plus the basics, thinking about a work’s tone, audience, and sociohistorical context in order to bring it to life in English.

This course examines the evolution of Chinese rock music in the post-Mao era, focusing on influential artists such as Cui Jian, Dou Wei, and Zuo Xiao Zu Zhou. Their lyrics not only reflect significant historical and social transformations in China after Mao but also capture the cultural shifts brought by economic reforms, the one-child policy, and the experiences of migrant workers in major cities.

Why is a Mayan food, chocolate, such a high-stake product in French-speaking countries ?

How do we organize data to solve complex problems efficiently? This course studies the fundamental structures and algorithms that form the cornerstone of computational problem-solving. Building upon the programming foundations established in CS1, we will explore how algorithmic thinking and sophisticated data organization enables us to tackle increasingly challenging computational problems.

Have you ever wondered what a computer is and how it actually works?  In this course, we’ll answer the hardware half of this question.

Climate change, poverty, and food access are all compelling and urgent issues confronting our society. Growing local food is one significant way we can respond. Having received the Bennington Fair Food Initiative Grant with the mission to develop educational training programs in agriculture/food system workforce development and to create small business, this class will be practice based learning in regenerative agricultural practices and the creation of sustainable food systems.

It is 416 BCE. A group of Athenian men are gathered together for a party, a celebration, a symposium. Among the company are the tragic playwright Agathon, Agathon’s lover Pausanias, the beautiful but doomed Phaedrus, the comic playwright Aristophanes, the doctor Eryximachus, and the (also perhaps doomed) philosopher Socrates. Diotima, a priestess from Mantinea, puts in a surprise appearance. Alcibiades, the glamor boy of Athens, makes a late, splashy, gate-crashy arrival. There are the usual snacks and drinks.

Scanning electron microscopes are a fundamental tool in the physical and life sciences. When equipped with an X-Ray spectrometer, a SEM can provide rapid physical and chemical data of specimens on extremely small scales. This class with cover the theory and practical applications of SEM imaging and analysis for advanced science students who have their own research interests. Students will be expected to develop and conduct an independent research project through this class.

This Scriptorium, a “place for writing,” functions as 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 discussion, writing, and revising—essai means “trial” or “attempt”—as we create new habits and strategies for our analytical writing. We will write in various essay structures with the aim of developing a well-supported thesis; in addition, we will revise collaboratively, improve our research and citation skills, and study grammar and style.

How does one’s social positionality affect one’s status as a knower? Who is heard? Who is believed? This seven-week course is focused on questions of justice and power in relation to knowledge. We will engage with recent work in social epistemology—philosophical theories of belief and knowledge—with an emphasis on feminist epistemologies, anti-racist epistemologies, and epistemologies of resistance. These approaches stress that knowers are embodied, situated, embedded in communities, and have multiple, intersecting social identities.

This Scriptorium, a “place for writing,” functions as 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 discussion, writing, and revising—essai means “trial” or “attempt”—as we create new habits and strategies for our analytical writing. We will write in various essay structures with the aim of developing a well-supported thesis; in addition, we will revise collaboratively, improve our research and citation skills, and study grammar and style.

Bennington’s campus supports beautiful examples of temperate deciduous mixed hardwood forests. This class is a deep dive into forest ecology, land use change, and forest succession at a local scale. Students will explore the local forest community composition, structure, and function over the last 15,000 years and discuss the environmental conditions, disturbance dynamics, and biotic interactions responsible for the forest we have today.

Evolution is the unifying theory of biology, explaining the diversity of life on Earth and the mechanisms that drive adaptation and speciation. This course will explore the core principles of evolutionary biology, including natural selection, genetic drift, gene flow, mutation, and the interplay between evolutionary processes and ecological contexts. We will examine key evolutionary events, from the origins of life to the development of complex traits, using case studies across diverse taxa.

This seminar course explores and enacts multidirectional modes of research in and through dance. The course moves through lectures, workshops and experiments that activate processes of creation/performance and guide each student in the development of a portfolio of documents related to professional practice. Students will create social and public platforms for their research and engage in dialogues related to sustainability, equity, and possibility within the field of dance.

Studio Practice is designed to offer each student a rigorous and immersive dance study experience. A deep-dive into practices of critical physicality, students will be supported in making direct connections across an abundance of dance forms that rearrange and blur the boundaries between traditional and emerging techniques. Studio Practice courses focus on the relationships between curiosity, desire, strength, effort, force, and presence, all while moving within the lineages and histories that inform the ways in which we create and encounter our dancing futures.

Studio Practice is designed to offer each student a rigorous and immersive dance study experience. A deep-dive into practices of critical physicality, students will be supported in making direct connections across an abundance of dance forms that rearrange and blur the boundaries between traditional and emerging techniques. Studio Practice courses focus on the relationships between curiosity, desire, strength, effort, force, and presence, all while moving within the lineages and histories that inform the ways in which we create and encounter our dancing futures.

In this seminar, we will dive into the complexities of today’s global economy, engaging with the most pressing economic challenges of our time. We will explore how economic policies, geopolitical dynamics, and global trends intersect, shaping the economic landscape. Through real-time data, contemporary research, and case studies, we’ll analyze the forces driving change and the key decisions shaping the future of the global economy.

“I, at least, am not a Marxist”&�Բ�����;Karl Marx

“Not long ago, a near prerequisite for vanguard architecture was an engagement with theory; lately it has become an acquaintance with art” or so observed Hal Foster in his 2011 book ‘The Art Architecture Complex.’ While ideas about what constitutes cutting edge architecture may have transformed in the decade since, entanglements between art and architecture and the reciprocal effects that they have on each other remain central to architectural discourse.

This is an introductory course to international public law and its relevance in today’s complex and interconnected world. 

What remains of dance? The lament of dance’s ephemerality coincides with broader Western temporal projects conceived through the linear unfolding of human progress and social evolution, relegating our movements to an irretrievable past.

How can anthropology help us listen more critically and carefully? Each class session will consider one ethnographic approach, which students will apply to their listening. Following in the anthropological tradition, where concepts both reveal social processes and are themselves modified by the material at hand, students will consider how podcast episodes they listen to can be elucidated by and also place pressure on each class’s conceptual approach.

Mystics––historically portrayed as passionate, dangerous, romantic, heretical, satanic––are a thorn in the side of organized religion. From the very beginnings of recorded human time, the presence and practice of mystics has been controversial. Sufi mystic al-Hallaj’s pronouncement that he was “the Truth” was received as blasphemy by the orthodoxy. His execution followed shortly after. Christian mystics of the 4th and 5th centuries were relegated to practicing outside the peripheries of the Roman Empire, in relative secrecy.