Courses Offered in Fall 2026 (115AY 1S)

The Institute invites scholars and experts from Taiwan and abroad to give special lectures, enriching students’ knowledge and perspectives in the fields of music composition, performance, research, and other related disciplines. These lectures aim to inspire multifaceted exploration of music from technical, intellectual, and critical perspectives.

Course Objectives

1. To strengthen the integrated musical-intellectual abilities of incoming graduate students in the Institute of Music who may have a weaker background in harmony and form, so that they may better adapt to other courses in the program.
2. To provide an integrated introductory course for non-Institute of Music students who already possess a basic foundation in music theory and wish to further study professional courses in music theory, music performance, and music composition.
3. To prepare students for the realization of a fully developed musical experience—that is, the integration of theory, practice, and creation.

Course Structure

This course is divided into two parts.

The first part focuses on the basic theories of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century tonality, including harmony and analysis. Students will be guided to emphasize voice-leading, analyzing tonal works from the perspectives of structure and prolongation. The goal is for students to no longer view tonal music as a series of isolated chordal connections, but rather to explore its meaning and function, understanding the whole as an organic unity.

The second part focuses on style writing, with the aim of highlighting and experiencing Western art music and some of its major concepts, and of applying these concepts in creative practice. These concepts include:

1. Modes of thematic presentation: sentence, period, and others.
2. The idea as the embodiment of totality and its discourse.
3. The functional roles of essential structural events in sonata form, such as thematic statement, development, contrast, and conclusion.
4. Figuration, the prolongation of a single chord, and the prolongation of structural harmonic progressions.
5. Figuration as sign, as style, and as topic.
6. The concepts and techniques of developing variation.

This graduate course introduces research methods, as well as the strategies and the “language” of writing about music to performance majors. We start with a brief review of the basics of research tools and crucial issues in and ethics of academic writing. We continue with a series of sample writings hand in hand with these principles. We will see how the authors focus on different aspects of perspectives in their discussion of music and how they develop and sharpen their arguments.

The aim of this course is to offer graduate music majors necessary tools and directions to engage in an intelligent discussion of their repertory, skills that they may apply to their term projects, thesis writing, and lecture recitals. The readings included in the syllabus will enable us to see the variety of ways that an author may use to approach a music work. We will have invited music scholars(s) coming to discuss the ways that they phrase they theories arguments.

In this (third) segment of Musicology Practicum, we will focus on music and cultural studies, including music’s relationship to politics. The first half of the semester will be devoted to readings that delve into major issues in recent scholarship such as globalism, colonialism, and material culture. In the second half of the semester, we wiii study select case studies in music and politics, completed by strategies of writing program notes and abstract to a conference paper.

Course Overview and Objectives

This course aims to introduce the development of Western music from the early seventeenth century to the mid-nineteenth century. This period will be divided into the Baroque, Classical, and Romantic eras, with a focus on developments and changes in the following areas:

1. Musical style, including genres, compositional techniques, tonal systems, and related topics
2. Musical aesthetics
3. The influence of social, political, and technological developments on music history

The weekly course schedule will be adjusted according to the actual progress of the class.

Course Overview and Objectives:
This graduate seminar offers a critical assessment of music in relationship to the supernatural, with case studies ranging from the late eighteenth- to the early twentieth century, often known as the “long nineteenth century,” in European culture. We will explore how standard repertoire in this period ties to the developments in science and technology, including staging technology, Gothic literature, and the aesthetics of ethereal sounds and music instruments. We will also examine how the emphasis on reason in the Enlightenment influenced the reading of the supernatural in this period, and how it linked with the perception and depiction of spirits, as well as the changing image of magician in mass media and cultural industry.
Whereas the attachment of the supernatural to music is common in this period, only a small number of scholars have undergone in-depth discussion of what it meant to appear and to sound supernatural in the given cultural context. Furthermore, it is oftentimes taken for granted in scholarly discolors that the supernatural plot and characters served as a pretext for the composers to exploit innovative music techniques, timbre, and instrumentation. Whether there need to be a match between the two remains a topic that falls under the radar. Our primary agenda is to view music intertwined with the larger cultural context of the time, which will lead to a broader understanding of what is written in the score and open up questions that may help us go beyond the score.
English will be the primary language for this course. Explanation of more complex ideas and discussion of the course materials can be conducted bilingually or in Mandarine.

Each week, students will take turns performing in groups, while the teacher and other students provide feedback and share their experiences through observation and discussion. This aims to enhance practical performance skills, address technical and pedagogical challenges, and ensure that students have a strong foundation in teaching methods for their future careers in music performance or teaching.

Course Overview and Objectives

1. This course primarily aims to help students establish fundamental concepts in music analysis, while integrating basic knowledge of music theory and developing analytical skills.
2. The course is designed on the basis of Western tonal music, with particular emphasis on the analysis of Western tonal music from 1700 to 1900.
3. The course has the following two objectives:
   1. To study the formal structure of musical works and the expansion and prolongation of tonal harmony from both macro- and micro-level perspectives.
   2. To understand the hierarchical concept through which the content of tonal music is expressed, and to learn how to produce formal diagrams and sketches of reduction analysis for harmonic progression.

In addition to the two learning objectives above, this course places special emphasis on the practical application of the analytical methods and techniques learned in class to the analysis of musical works.

Course Overview and Objectives

Concert of IMU “Tunes of Bamboo” focuses primarily on the new works presented by students in the Composition and Technology Division of the Institute of Music in the “Chuyun Concert” each semester. In addition to analysis and discussion of musical composition, the course also includes experimentation and rehearsal in the practical aspects of musical performance, providing more comprehensive preparation and guidance for the semesterly music presentation.

Through a progressive introduction to contemporary music and the study of works to be presented, this course aims to provide students in the Composition and Technology Division and the Performance Division with more time to develop mutual understanding in the process of musical creation, ultimately achieving the best possible performance and interpretation of each work.

Course Overview and Objectives:
This is neither a software instruction course nor a course in commercial music arrangement and production.

I. Emphasis on learning by doing: digital music creation

1. Learning the applications of various non-linear digital audio techniques in digital audio workstations (DAWs), with a focus on digital signal processing (DSP) for sound cutting, editing, collage, and mixing.
2. Studying the most important computer music programming environment, Max/MSP, including techniques such as sound synthesis—Freeze, FM, granular synthesis, filtering, and RM—and spatial sound techniques, including reverb, Doppler, panning, and Spat5.
3. Experimenting with multitrack software, such as Audition, to organize, collage, and create computer music or soundscape works using environmental field recordings as source material.
4. Completing assigned short exercises, a midterm miniature work, and a final project.

II. Literature, works, and related knowledge in computer and digital music

Students will listen to and analyze classic works of computer and digital music, and read materials related to digital music technologies, aesthetics, history, and literature.

III. Course aims

Through a course design that places equal emphasis on theory, aesthetics, and practical techniques, students will develop skills in computer music composition and reflect on the interdisciplinary integration of technology and musical art as a means of expressing thought and emotion.

IV. Path to Goal

From open ears to happy new ears!

Course Overview and Objectives

Throughout music history, advances in music technology have continually influenced the content and presentation of musical works. This course focuses on advanced programming in Max/MSP/Jitter for audio and visual applications, guiding students to understand various theories of digital synthesis and to develop the ability to program their own digital effects, synthesizers, and related tools.

The course aims to enable students to further apply these technologies in the creation of sound works and music, or in real-time interactive music. By integrating traditional instruments with digital technology, students will explore new artistic possibilities that combine tradition and technology.

Course Overview and Objectives

This course continues the content of the previous “Contemporary Instrumental Composition Workshop,” with contemporary chamber music composition as its core focus. Centered on two main themes—performance practice and compositional exercises—the course serves as a platform for collaboration and communication between composers and performers.

The course primarily explores the possibilities of instrumental sound production through the interpretation of both traditional and contemporary performance techniques, while also examining how these sounds can be applied in actual composition and performance. Course content includes:

1. Understanding the principles of instrumental sound production and deriving advanced extended techniques for instruments.
2. Discussing scores and inviting performers to sight-read short excerpts from contemporary works, supplemented by related videos or demonstrations by invited performers.
3. For composition students: practicing the integration of sound materials by classifying, blending, organizing, and applying them in actual compositional exercises.
4. For performance students: practicing contemporary techniques, raising questions during score reading, and engaging in discussion and review after performance.

Course Overview and Objectives

This course explores tonal-harmonic works from the Western Classical to Romantic periods, with a primary focus on short piano pieces. The course centers on the application of tonal harmony theory, including the foundations of sonority construction, chord functions, and overall structure. It guides students to understand the relationship among observation, analysis, and interpretation, so that they may apply these skills to their own fields, including composition, performance interpretation, and academic research.

The course content explains the logic and aesthetic concepts underlying music theory, while also selecting multiple works for independent study and analysis in order to understand the theoretical foundations that support them. Before the end of the semester, students are required to select one work, write an analytical discussion, and present it for class discussion, thereby examining the validity of their own understanding, interpretation, and argumentation regarding the work.

This course is to learn about early keyboard instruments – Harpsichord. This instrument has played an important role in the history of keyboard music from the 15th to the 18th century. The unique plucking mechanism of the harpsichord requires sensitivity and versatility touch and fingering application. The playing technique, varied repertoire, and literature discussion are the focus of this course.

The instructional objective of this course is to develop basic harpsichord performance skills and to cultivate an understanding of touch and performance practices across different historical periods and regions, thereby enhancing students’ awareness and interpretive insight into the music of each corresponding era.

Course Overview and Objectives

This course provides professional guidance in composition, training and enhancing students’ technical, conceptual, and aesthetic abilities in the creation of modern and original art music.

Course Overview and Objectives

This course provides professional guidance in composition and interdisciplinary practice, training and enhancing students’ technical, conceptual, and aesthetic abilities in the creation of modern and original art music.

Prerequisites or Required Background

Basic composition skills and computer music programming ability

Course Overview and Objectives

This course introduces Max/MSP, the most important programming environment for computer music. Beginning with an introduction to algorithmic music in basic Max, students will gradually develop fundamental programming skills for creative applications. The course then proceeds to MSP audio and various real-time digital signal processing (DSP) techniques.

By integrating traditional acoustic instruments with real-time processing in interactive computer music, the course explores new modes of composition and performance based on human-computer interaction (HCI).

Course Overview and Objectives

This semester focuses on the integration of sound media and the structure of musical composition, the understanding of twentieth-century modern musical vocabulary, and the application and exploration of dramatic tension in music.

Course Overview and Objectives

From the independent development of contemporary music to its encounters and integration with modern technology and various other fields, this course explores the nature of artistic creation and the pursuit of individual artistic ideas. Topics range from Kagel’s instrumental theatre, derived from Wagner’s concept of the Gesamtkunstwerk, to postmodern “theatre without actors.”

Course Overview and Objectives

This course provides professional guidance in composition and interdisciplinary practice, training and enhancing students’ technical, conceptual, and aesthetic abilities in the creation of modern and original art music.

Course Overview and Objectives

This course provides one-on-one instruction tailored to each student’s individual learning progress. It focuses on improving performance technique, interpretation, and expressive delivery, with the goal of achieving a performance outcome that reaches a professional concert standard while reflecting the student’s individual artistic qualities.

Course Overview and Objectives

This course provides one-on-one instruction tailored to each student’s individual learning progress. It focuses on improving performance technique, interpretation, and expressive delivery, with the goal of achieving a performance outcome that reaches a professional concert standard while reflecting the student’s individual artistic qualities.

Course Overview and Objectives

This course provides one-on-one instruction tailored to each student’s individual learning progress. It focuses on improving performance technique, interpretation, and expressive delivery, with the goal of achieving a performance outcome that reaches a professional concert standard while reflecting the student’s individual artistic qualities.

Course Overview and Objectives

This course provides one-on-one instruction tailored to each student’s individual learning progress. It focuses on improving performance technique, interpretation, and expressive delivery, with the goal of achieving a performance outcome that reaches a professional concert standard while reflecting the student’s individual artistic qualities.

It is one-to-one lesson. Reportoire arrangement for student is based on his or her ability and studied history.

It is one-to-one lesson. Reportoire arrangement for student is based on his or her ability and studied history.

Course Overview and Objectives

This course provides one-on-one instruction tailored to each student’s individual learning progress, background, and goals, with repertoire study planned accordingly.

It focuses on improving performance technique, interpretation, and expressive delivery, while engaging in in-depth exploration and refined modes of expression. The goal is to achieve a performance outcome that reaches a professional concert standard while reflecting the student’s individual artistic qualities.

It is one-to-one lesson. Reportoire arrangement for student is based on his or her ability and studied history.

It is one-to-one lesson. Reportoire arrangement for student is based on his or her ability and studied history.

Course Overview and Objectives

This course provides one-on-one instruction tailored to each student’s individual learning progress. It focuses on improving performance technique, interpretation, and other aspects of expressive delivery, with the goal of achieving a performance outcome that reaches a professional concert standard while reflecting the student’s individual artistic qualities.

Course Overview and Objectives

This course provides one-on-one instruction tailored to each student’s individual learning progress. It focuses on improving performance technique, interpretation, and expressive delivery, with the goal of achieving a performance outcome that reaches a professional concert standard while reflecting the student’s individual artistic qualities.

Course Overview and Objectives

This course provides one-on-one instruction tailored to each student’s individual learning progress. It focuses on improving performance technique, interpretation, and expressive delivery, with the goal of achieving a performance outcome that reaches a professional concert standard while reflecting the student’s individual artistic qualities.

Course Overview and Objectives

This course provides one-on-one instruction tailored to each student’s individual learning progress. It focuses on improving performance technique, interpretation, and expressive delivery, with the goal of achieving a performance outcome that reaches a professional concert standard while reflecting the student’s individual artistic qualities.

Course Overview and Objectives

This course provides one-on-one instruction tailored to each student’s individual learning progress. It focuses on improving performance technique, interpretation, and expressive delivery, with the goal of achieving a performance outcome that reaches a professional concert standard while reflecting the student’s individual artistic qualities.

Course Overview and Objectives

This course provides one-on-one instruction tailored to each student’s individual learning progress. It focuses on improving performance technique, interpretation, and expressive delivery, with the goal of achieving a performance outcome that reaches a professional concert standard while reflecting the student’s individual artistic qualities.