Course Requirements
Students are required to take six courses from the following four categories (Note: an asterisk indicates a one-time only course or topic). ). Other select music theory courses within the department of music may also be used to satisfy the elective requirement under the category of Jazz theory with the permission of the program director. Such a course would need to feature a substantial emphasis on jazz theory and composition:
1. Jazz history (1 course) from:
MUS 262 Evolution of Jazz Styles (also AAS 262); or
*MUS 320 Jazz Performance Practice in Historical and Cultural Context
2. Jazz theory and composition (2 courses):
One required course from:
MUS 311 Jazz Theory Through Improvisation and Composition I: The Bebop Paradigm; or
MUS 312 Jazz Theory Through Improvisation and Composition II: Modal Approaches;
One elective course from:
*MUS 318 Jazz Arranging & Orchestration; or
*MUS 319 Seminar in Jazz Composition; or
MUS 306 Understanding Tonality
3. Jazz performance (1 course):
MUS 215 Projects in Jazz Performance
4. Historical/cultural context electives (2 courses) to be chosen from the following list or with the approval of the program director. New courses will be added to this area as they are developed; please check the program's webpage within the Department of Music's website for an up-to-date list of electives. Students are encouraged to consider historical/cultural elective courses from outside of the music department as well as those within music, as listed below. (Note: Students may take either MUS 264 or MUS 265, but not both, to satisfy the historical/cultural context elective.)
African American Studies (AAS)
201 Introduction to African-American Cultural Practices
*305 The History of Black Gospel Music (also REL 391)
*310 Music from the Hispanophone Caribbean (also ENG 324/MUS 256)
*342 Rhythm Nation (also ENG 397/MUS 364)
*348 Black Popular Music Culture (also ENG 348)
*372 Postblack-Contemporary African American Art (also ART 374/AMS 372)
American Studies (AMS)
*301 Listening In: Sound, Music, Noise, and Technology in American History
English (ENG)
*212 Black Bohemia: Racial Authenticity in Post-Civil Rights Music and Literature (also AAS 212)
History (HIS)
*399: In the Groove: Technology and Music in America, From Edison to the iPod.
Music (MUS)
258 Music of Africa (also AFS 258)
259 Music in the Caribbean
260 Music in the United States
264 Urban Blues and the Golden Age of Rock
265 Rock, R & B and Hip Hop
Sociology (SOC)
*214 Creativity, Innovation, and Society
In addition, students are required to participate in a university jazz ensemble during each semester of enrollment in the jazz studies program (junior and senior years).
Independent Work. Students will develop an educational lecture/demonstration to be presented by a student-led jazz small group at an assembly program for an area elementary school or middle school. This will take place as part of the certificate program’s Jazz-in-the-Schools outreach initiative.
Certificate of Proficiency
Students who fulfill the requirements of the program receive a certificate of proficiency in jazz studies upon graduation.
For More Information
If you would like additional information on the program in jazz studies, please write to Dr. Anthony D.J. Branker, the program director, at the Department of Music, Woolworth Center, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544; email address: branker@princeton.edu
Applications for admission to the university are available from the university's Undergraduate Admission Office.
