Music Humanities

The focus of Music Humanities is on the many forms of the Western musical imagination in art music, through works studied in their historical and cultural contexts. The specific goals of the course are to awaken and encourage active, critical, and comparative listening practices, to provide tools to respond verbally to a variety of musical idioms, and to create engagement with the debates about the character and purposes of music that have occupied composers and musical thinkers since ancient times. The extraordinary richness of musical life in New York is an integral part of the course.

The course moves chronologically from the Middle Ages to the present, examining the choices and assumptions of composers, their patrons, audiences, and performers, and exploring what we can and can’t know about how music of the past may have sounded. Students’ critical perceptions and articulate responses to the music, and to the source readings that are a hallmark of the Core, will be a vital part of the class.

Registration Procedure

All information concerning registration in HUMA UN1123 Masterpieces of Western Music is included in the registration materials sent to students. It is the expectation of the College that all students complete Music Humanities by the end of their third year.

All Core Curriculum courses, including Music Humanities, must be taken for a letter grade. Students may not drop or withdraw from Music Humanities after the Core drop deadline (which is also the end of the Change-of-Program period). For more information, see Registration—Dropping Core Courses.

Courses of Instruction

Exemption from Music Humanities

Although all Columbia students are expected to take Music Humanities, there are some students who enter with exceptional musical backgrounds that may qualify them for exemption. Exemption from Music Humanities may be obtained by passing an Exemption Exam. In the case of transfer students, exemption may also be obtained by filing a course substitution request.

Exemption Exam

The Exemption Exam is offered on the first Friday of the fall semester by the Music Department (621 Dodge Hall). Students who matriculate in the spring semester should take the exam in the following fall term. Students may take the exam only once during their first year at Columbia. If they do not pass the exam, they must enroll in a section of Music Humanities.

Course Substitution

In addition to the Exemption Exam, students with approved transfer credit have the option of requesting exemption on the basis of a similar music course passed with a grade of B or higher at another college or university. This exemption must be requested during the student’s first semester at Columbia. Petitions submitted in subsequent semesters will not be considered by the Center for the Core Curriculum.