Courses

Music Courses: Applied Study

Piano

MUS-SHU Private Study. For two or four credits, these weekly lessons for intermediate to advanced skill levels provide one on one instruction in literature & keyboard technique and interpretation. Students enrolled are given the opportunity to perform in studio classes, masterclasses and recital every semester of study. The course may be repeated for credit.
Instructor: Professor: Meiling Chen

MUS-SHU Group Study .For two credits, this course is offered at three levels:: beginner, intermediate and advanced. With eight to a class, students receive instruction in a state of the art piano lab. For beginners, rudimentary music skills are taught along with beginning technique, intermediate and advanced students work to further their skills and repertoire at their individual levels receiving individual attention and assignments.     
Instructors: Wei Chen and Meiling Chen    

Voice

MUS-SHU Private Study. For four or two credits, students receive individual weekly lessons in vocal technique and function, basic music skills, repertoire and interpretation. All levels of experience and genres of music are welcome.
Instructors: Professors Dianna Heldman and Jie Wang

MUS-SHU Group Study. For two credits, this course teaches vocal technique, performance practices and music skills centered toward getting one comfortable performing for an audience. Students perform in class and in public at the end of each semester in an ensemble and as soloists.
Instructor: Professor Jie Wang


Instrumental

Taught by some of the most celebrated international performing artists, students receive training in a small group setting once a week in the two credit course. Classes include discussion about the history of the instrument, its place in current music trends and performance practices. Those with prior study are welcome to take intermediate level courses offered for each of these instruments. Classes perform each semester in public.

MUS-SHU Beginning Erhu / MUS-SHU Intermediate Erhu  
Instructor: Prof. Aiai Duan

MUS-SHU Beginning Bamboo Flute / MUS-SHU Intermediate Bamboo Flute
Instructor: Prof. Jun Qian

MUS-SHU Beginning Guqin / MUS-SHU Intermediate Guqin
Instructor: Prof. Wei Dai


All other instruments: NYU Shanghai provides a list of professional musicians/teachers in the community who are affiliated with teaching institutions and professional performing organizations such as the Shanghai Philharmonic and the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra. Students are welcome to make use of this list in securing private lessons off campus with these professionals. Music lockers and practice facilities are available to all NYU students studying music on or off campus. Students wishing to learn more about off campus professional study and instrument storage should contact Professor Yue Cheng.

Ensembles

MUS-SHU The NYU Shanghai Chorale can be taken for variable credit and is open to everyone including faculty and staff.
Instructors: Dianna Heldman, Jie Wang and Yi Zhang
    
MUS-SHU The NYU Shanghai Show Choir - A select SATB ensemble, this group rehearses on their own and as part of the Chorale and includes private  and sectional instruction. This ensemble represents the university at events. Choral or vocal training/experience is required.     
Instructors: Dianna Heldman, Jie Wang and Yi Zhang


MUS-SHU The NYU Shanghai Chamber Orchestra - All students with an intermediate to advanced skill level are welcome to join this course.
Instructor: Yue Cheng
 
MUS-SHU The NYU Shanghai Select Ensemble This group rehearses on their own and as part of the Chamber Orchestra. Included are private and sectional instruction. This ensemble represents the university at events. Prior training and experience is required.
Instructor: Yue Cheng

MUS-SHU 1182.1 / 1182.3 Jazz Ensemble

This course is a performance-based music ensemble focused on jazz and popular music styles. Students enrolled in Jazz Ensemble will attend weekly rehearsals, prepare assigned musical repertoire, and perform at our end-of-semester concert.

Jazz Ensemble is available for 0 or 2 credits. Prior experience on a musical instrument is required.

Instructor: Murray James Morrison

MUS-SHU 221 Songwriting

What’s in a song? What are the qualities of an effective song, and what features do famous songs and songwriters share? In this course, students will learn the essential elements of songwriting—melody, harmony, form, lyrics, and more. Through analysis of popular music songs, in-class composition workshops, and iterative weekly assignments, students will engage in the songwriting process toward creating fully realized original songs.

Prior experience in music performance, composition, or production is required.

Instructor: Murray James Morrison

MUS-SHU 220 20th-Century Music and Its Meanings

This 4-credit course examines the rapid and widespread changes in music that paralleled the social and technological transformations of the 20th century. Major themes of the course include the development and diversity of 20th-century popular music genres, the rise of mass media and broadcast technologies, changes in music production and consumption, and the role of music in the digital age.

Instructor: Murray James Morrison

Academic Classes

MUS-SHU The Music of Shanghai. This two credit course looks at the history of music in China from early folk music through western influences, the cultural revolution and into the musicalized society of the 21st century. Be means of lectures, reading, discussion  and attening  musical events in Shanghai students are asked define how this ever evolving genre is linked to individual, community and global identity.

MUS-SHU The Structure of Music. This two credit course examines the simple and complex building blocks of music from the a single pitch to the intricacies of some of the worlds greatest masterpieces. By means of lectures, reading, guided listening, performance and  composition, students will examine the individual elements of music and the various ways and patterns in which they are realized in time. Students will obtain or expand on their prior knowledge of music theory and repertoire. No prior music study is required.

MUS-SHU Music Composition and Song Writing (Two credit course proposed for Fall 2019) utilizes technology, musical knowledge and a desire to express oneself through music. Students will study basic music theory, composition techniques in analyzing music, experiment with sampling and arranging to create an original composition to be performed at the end of the semester.


MUS-SHU 20th-Century Music and Its Meanings (Four credit course proposed for Fall 2019) Examins the rapid changes of music that parallened the societal and technological growth of the 20th centry. Exploring  the origins of jazz, rock, and rhythm and blues considering how 20th-century music echoed and defined the social world that helped to produce it, students will also look at how it lead to current trends and provided the foundation for current musical trends.