Course Descriptions

This course examines the fundamental grammar and syntax of tonal music, developing the students' skills in notation and analysis of basic pitch and rhythmic structures. Topics progress from the overtone series, intervals, scales and modes through rhythm and meter, chords and principles of voice-leading.

This course progresses to a more contextual investigation of the fundamentals of tonal music including harmonic progression theory, root position part-writing and use of chord inversions to create more melodic bass lines and a greater variety of vertical sonorities.

The course equips musicians whose performance medium is not a keyboard instrument with keyboard skills so that they may utilize the instrument as a resource tool. Students will study major scales, basic chords and chord sequences. Students will learn to play melodies with simple left hand accompaniment as well as two-handed accompaniments.

The course equips musicians whose performance medium is not a keyboard instrument with keyboard skills so that they may utilize the instrument as a resource tool. Students will learn to: play modes of the major and melodic minor scales, transpose chord sequences in many keys; make simple arrangements of jazz standards with melody in the right hand and accompaniment in the left hand.

This course introduces students to the fundamental materials and syntax of tonal music including notation by hand and with computer software. Students will learn to: construct major and minor scales and diatonic modes; build intervals, triads and seventh chords; analyze triads and seventh chords using jazz chord symbols, roman numerals and figured bass; compose simple harmonic progressions and melodies; analyze and write four-part chorales.

This course will give students a working knowledge of traditional tonal harmony and the ability to analyze music of varied structures and textures. Students will learn to: construct and analyze tonal harmonic progressions; recognize implied harmonic rhythm in tonal melodies; identify non-harmonic tones; voice-lead diatonic triads and seventh chords including secondary dominants; analyze phrase structure in binary and ternary forms.

A study of four-part block harmonization arranging techniques.

This course is an introduction to jazz history, from its origins in New Orleans through to the bebop era. The major style periods to be covered include ragtime, early jazz, swing, and bebop.

This course continues the work of JAZZ 174 beginning with a review of jazz 1940-50, and continuing through to the present. The major style periods to be covered include: bebop, cool, hard bop, avant-garde, fusion, and contemporary trends.

This course focuses on acquiring the skills to "translate" music from the audible to the written or from the written to the audible, utilizing the singing voice as a tool for clarifying, verifying, internalizing and communicating musical thought. Students will learn to sing, sight sing, and take dictation involving basic musical materials including simple diatonic melodies in major and minor keys, harmonic progressions including diatonic triads and inversions, and rhythms in common time signatures.

This course focuses on acquiring the skills to "translate" music from the audible to the written or from the written to the audible, utilizing the singing voice as a tool for clarifying, verifying, internalizing and communicating musical thought. Students will learn to sing, sight sing, and take dictation involving basic musical materials including diatonic melodies and bass roots at once, harmonic progressions including secondary dominants and inverted chords, and rhythms in common and 'odd time signatures'.

This course teaches basic skills in small ensemble performance and improvisation. Through lecture and small ensemble performance labs, students will explore a variety of jazz styles with a focus on improvising and collaborating successfully with other musicians.

This course teaches basic skills in small ensemble performance and improvisation. Through lecture and small ensemble performance labs, students will explore the work of significant jazz and 'tin pan alley' composers with a focus on improvising and collaborating successfully with other musicians. Students will begin the process of acquiring a repertoire of jazz standards in a variety of styles.

This course builds upon JAZZ 130 and 131 by integrating concepts of harmonic, melodic, and formal logic through analysis, performance, and composition. Theoretical concepts taught in this course are designed to support performance-based studies in JAZZ 282. Students will learn to use computer notation software to complete essential tasks such as creating lead sheets, parts for rhythm section, and parts for common wind and brass instruments.

The course explores sophisticated harmonic and formal structures, as found in the music of Mingus, Monk, Wheeler, Shorter, Ellington and Strayhorn, and correlative European art music. Theoretical concepts taught in this course are designed to support concurrent performance-based studies in JAZZ 283. Students will learn to use computer software to notate music of sophisticated melodic, contrapuntal, formal, and structural character.

This course is designed to develop the student's scat singing ability through the study and application of chord-scales theory.

A continuation of JAZZ 236.

A study of complete works exhibiting the most significant formal designs of the 18th and 19th centuries, using a variety of visual means to clarify the roles of harmonic, melodic, and rhythmic structure in the articulation of musical form.

A study of 18th century tonal counterpoint and its connections with tonal music in general. Analysis and composition based upon two-part works of J.S. Bach.

This course provides a foundation in basic audio production techniques for musicians - essential knowledge and skills necessary to assist in the planning and production of music performance. The student will participate as performer and as technician to gain a appreciation of both perspectives.

A chronological exploration of the repertoire, style, and social history of music to 1770 for undergraduate students in the Jazz Studies program. Repertoire will be contextualized both within the framework of European cultural history and in the broader context of world music.

Arranging projects for various combinations of instruments, plus a study of two and three-part writing.

A continuation of Music History I covering the classical period through the 20th century. As in Music History I, repertoire will be contextualized both within the framework of European cultural history and in the broader context of world music.

The course focuses on the European art music tradition from the earliest notations through to the music of J.S. Bach, with a particular emphasis on the "common practice" that begins in the early seventeenth century. Along with important historical developments and the evolution of styles and genre, the course content will also include aspects of social, cultural, and political history relevant to the chosen repertoire.

This course focuses on the European art music tradition from the Classical through Late Romantic eras. The music of this period will be examined within the framework of European cultural history including literature, architecture, and the visual arts.

This course teaches melodic improvisation on simple chord progressions incorporating the ii-V-I chord sequence. Through lecture and performance lab components, students will learn and apply various methods for acquiring, developing, and practicing melodic vocabulary appropriate to blues forms and basic jazz standards.

This course teaches melodic improvisation idiomatic to bebop, hard bop, and modal jazz materials, including repertoire with rapid harmonic movement and fast tempos. Through lecture and performance lab components, students will learn and apply various methods for acquiring, developing, and practicing melodic vocabulary appropriate to these styles.

This course focuses on acquiring the skills to "translate" music from the audible to the written or from the written to the audible, utilizing the singing voice as a tool for clarifying, verifying, internalizing and communicating musical thought. Students will learn to sing, sight sing, and take dictation involving complex musical materials including melodies and chord progressions at once, complex harmonic progressions featuring secondary and mixed-mode chords, and complex rhythms.

This course focuses on acquiring the skills to "translate" music from the audible to the written or from the written to the audible, utilizing the singing voice as a tool for clarifying, verifying, internalizing and communicating musical thought. Students will learn to sing, sight sing, and take dictation involving complex musical materials including chromatic melodies, complex rhythms and chord progressions, and extended formal structures.

This course focuses on small ensemble performance. Students will receive coaching during weekly rehearsals to improve ensemble interaction, and to provide techniques and methods to help them to use rehearsal time effectively and to creatively interpret music in a wide variety of styles within the jazz idiom. In addition to live performance, the students will gain performance experience in a studio recording environment.

This course focuses on small ensemble performance and builds on the work of JAZZ 296 with more challenging repertoire. Students will receive coaching during weekly rehearsals to improve ensemble interaction, and to provide techniques and methods to help them to use rehearsal time effectively and to creatively interpret music in a wide variety of styles within the jazz idiom. In addition to live performance, the students will gain performance experience in a studio recording environment.

A survey of compositional techniques and theoretical principles utilized from 1890 to the present, coupled with an examination of various major composers and their musical masterpieces.

This course teaches basic arranging techniques for ensembles with rhythm section and 4 or 5 woodwind or brass instruments. In this context, students will learn a variety of techniques for harmonizing melodies in 4 and 5 parts.

This course teaches basic arranging techniques for ensembles with rhythm section and 2 or 3 ‘lead’ instruments. In this context, students will learn to arrange in a variety of linear and contrapuntal styles.

Concepts, methods, and resources; examination and comparison of textbooks, recordings, tapes, and materials related to the study of jazz.

This course addresses rudiments of conducting technique and ensemble leadership. The practical application of conducting techniques will take place in class and with small and large ensembles from Capilano University.

Building on the work of JAZZ 320, this course focuses on ensemble leadership and addresses in greater depth the study and preparation of scores as well as rehearsal and conducting skills in the jazz genre and application of those skills in a variety of pedagogical settings. The practical application of the techniques will take place in class and with small and large ensembles from Capilano University.

This course teaches fundamental techniques for playing instruments from the woodwind family including saxophones, flutes, clarinets, oboe, and bassoon. The class is designed to help future primary and secondary school music educators explain and teach these instruments to their students.

This course continues the work of JAZZ 322, teaching fundamental techniques for playing instruments from the woodwind family including saxophones, flutes, clarinets, oboe, and bassoon. The class is designed to help future primary and secondary school music educators explain and teach these instruments to their students. In this course, students will learn to deal with music of greater technical demands.

This course teaches fundamental techniques for playing instruments from the brass family including trumpet, trombone, French horn, tuba, and euphonium. The class is designed to help future primary and secondary school music educators explain and teach these instruments to their students.

This course teaches fundamental techniques for playing instruments from the percussion family, including both pitched and non-pitched percussion instruments. The class is designed to help future primary and secondary school music educators explain and teach these instruments to their students.

The course teaches musical form and compositional design through exploration of canonic repertoire of the medieval through contemporary periods. The course is designed to illuminate the roles of harmonic, melodic, rhythmic and other aspects of compositional design in generating and articulating musical forms to the listener in time.

This course develops aural and theoretical awareness of counterpoint and its basic importance in many types of music, including jazz, and to develop an understanding of how to combine two melodies while maintaining vertical control and creating a desired harmonic effect. Detailed study of 18th century tonal counterpoint and practical composition exercises are emphasized.

A continuation of JAZZ 237. Seats may be restricted to vocal majors.

A continuation of JAZZ 336.

A continuation of Vocal Jazz Master Class II instruction with more emphasis on individual contribution and responsibility. Seats may be restricted to vocal majors.

A continuation of JAZZ 338.

A follow-up to JAZZ 170. Detailed study of the major figures in jazz from 1940 to the present, such as Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, and Bill Evans.

A study of instrumental writing styles and techniques for big band arranging.

The course is an exploration of twentieth-century modernism. In particular the course will focus on the disparity of styles, and approaches to modernism that took place in the wake of the dissolution of a common practice. In this context, the course also examines jazz music’s trajectory from popular music to experimental and avant-garde styles within this same time period.

The course introduces students to the methods of ethnomusicology with an emphasis on musical cultures outside of Western Europe. The course will include not only the description of characteristic musical attributes for various cultural regions but it will also involve the application of ethnomusicological concepts to individual musical contexts.

This course explores the musical cultures of the African Diaspora, tracing intersecting and multi-directional movements of people, music, and cultures across the oceanic divide between Africa, Europe, and the Americas. The course examines the central role that music has played in the construction of social identities and movements, from the era of the transatlantic slave trade to the present day.

This course contains both lecture and lab components. Content includes melodic minor modes including the "altered" scale, whole-tone and diminished symmetrical chord scales, chromaticism, and analysis and composition of solos in various styles.

A continuation of JAZZ 382. Content will include: exploration of the harmonic resources of scales, chromatic approaches using pentatonic and altered pentatonic scales, 4th chord stacks, polychordal triad relationships, outside playing, and the philosophy of free jazz.

A variety of jazz styles ranging from 'bebop', 'mainstream', and 'current' will be studied, and students will perform, spontaneously, 'standard' repertoire.

A continuation of JAZZ 394, with further emphasis on spontaneous performance of 'standard' repertoire.

This course focuses on small ensemble performance. The course requires learning works from the standard repertoire while allowing students some opportunities to rehearse and perform their own compositions and arrangements.

This course focuses on small ensemble performance. Building on the work of JAZZ 396, the course teaches jazz repertoire of a highly challenging and sophisticated character and allows students increasing opportunities to rehearse and perform their own compositions and arrangements.

Through score study, composition exercise, and research projects, students will develop analytical strategies for music of the post-common practice era. The course will address a variety of musical subjects from a theoretical point of view informed by historical and cultural context. Specific areas of focus will vary from semester to semester on the basis of instructor expertise, current developments in academic research, and student interests.

The course is presented in a seminar style whereby students experience the academic autonomy to pursue unique research projects. The instructor will present topics drawn from the western art music tradition from antiquity to the postmodern. Each student will work closely with the instructor in shaping research projects relevant to their particular interests.

The course teaches arranging for jazz orchestra. Techniques for formal organization, counterpoint, sectional and cross-sectional voicing will be learned through the study of significant repertoire from the jazz tradition as well as from contemporary composers.

The course teaches arranging for jazz choir with rhythm section. Techniques for formal organization, voicings, harmonization, and lyricization will be learned through the study of significant repertoire from the jazz tradition as well as from contemporary composers.

A study of basic conducting techniques.

A continuation of Conducting I with emphasis on vocal and instrumental approaches.

This course teaches foundational concepts in jazz pedagogy including the resources and methodology necessary for effective teaching in a variety of contexts including public school, university, and private practice.

This course prepares students for the profession of teaching music in schools and as independent music teachers. The course focuses on a pedagogy based around a unified concept of music, dance, the body, movement, and the aural tradition. Students will be taught various traditional and popular music styles from West Africa and learn to adapt these styles of music to school teaching. Students will learn the basics of Orff Schulwerk pedagogy in a West African context (an approach known as Orff Afrique) with a view to adapting this methodology to a varied of classroom music settings.

The course provides an introduction to choral instructional methods, musical works, and materials suitable for teaching music to students in secondary school choirs and choral music classes. The course is designed to prepare the beginning choral teacher or conductor to use choral methods, literature, and materials for the optimal development of musical skills and musical literacy in young singers in an ensemble.

A course involving aspects of the music industry including copyright, contracts, performing rights organizations and the recording industry.

A study of the musics of the world outside of the Western European tradition.

This course will give the student a practical understanding of the different techniques used in arranging for large jazz ensembles and vocal ensembles. Students will write their own arrangements and hear them played in class.

A jazz performance ensemble for more advanced players. Students will be required to perform in public several times during the semester.

A continuation of JAZZ 494.

This course focuses on small ensemble performance. Students will work independently and in coached settings to create full-length concerts of original compositions and arrangements presented at a professional level.

This course focuses on small ensemble performance. Students will work independently and in coached settings to create full-length concerts of original compositions and arrangements presented at a professional level. In consultation with the instructor, students will conceive and execute a significant final project featuring original compositions. This project will be documented with video and audio recordings.