A number of electives in Performance are offered on a regular basis. They include:
MUSI 2220/2221: The Performance of Chamber Music I and II
Professor Wendy Sharp
A course for instrumentalists, including pianists, that emphasizes the development of ensemble skills, musical preparation of chamber music masterworks, and analysis through performance. Weekly coaching sessions and rehearsals are supplemented by monthly studio classes and performances. Admission by audition only; individuals and pre-formed groups are encouraged to audition.
MUSI 2228/2229: Performing and Directing Musical Theater I and II.
Professor Annette Jolles.
A study of the structure and meaning of traditional and contemporary musical theater repertoire. Focus on ways to read a work, decipher compositional cues for character and action, facilitate internalization of material, and elicit lucid interpretations. For singers, pianists, and directors.
MUSI 2238: Contemporary Chamber Music Performance.
Maiaini da Silva
Contemporary chamber music ensemble that emphasizes collaborative workshopping methods for the performance of recent professional repertoire and pieces written by student and faculty composers. Students learn about musical analysis through performance, extended techniques, and the instrumentalists’ role in bringing to life a new piece.
MUSI 2240: The Performance of Early Music.
Professor Grant Herreid.
A study of musical styles of the twelfth through early eighteenth centuries, including examination of manuscripts, musicological research, transcription and score preparation, and performance. Students in this class form the nucleus of the Yale Collegium Musicum.
MUSI 3340: Analyzing, Directing, and Performing Early Opera
Professor Grant Herreid
Study of a seventeenth-century Venetian opera, with attention to structural analysis of text and music. Exploration of period performance practice, including rhetorical expression, musical style, gesture, dance, Italian elocution, and visual design. Production of the opera in conjunction with the Yale Baroque Opera Project.
MUSI 4449: Jazz Improvisation
Professor Wayne Escoffery
In this course students study basic, intermediate, and advanced concepts of improvisation and learn the essentials for the Jazz Language through solo transcription and analysis.