Music

Individual piano lessons for more advanced students.

A weekly 45 minute lessons time is arranged with the instructor.

Balkan music is fierce brass, complex harmonies, and mind-bending asymmetrical dances. It is spirited Macedonian wedding music, dissonant village songs, devastating Bosnian love ballads, Greek polyphonic songs, and heart-pounding Turkish rhythms. In the Bennington Balkan Ensemble, we will learn to perform a variety of traditional, urban, village, and popular music from

Advanced studies in theory relating to performance.

Students must be enrolled in Bass with Bisio (MIN4417) simultaneously, no exceptions. This class is only for advanced students and by permission of instructor.

Beginning to advanced lessons in bass technique and appropriate theory.

Lessons on Tuesdays – Schedule TBA.

This ensemble-based course explores the intersection of live performance, experimental soundscapes, and dub aesthetics. Rooted in the traditions of dub music—including remix culture, delay and reverb manipulation, and bass-driven textures—students will create immersive sonic environments using a mix of acoustic instruments, electronic

The basics of cello, part one. In a small group or one-on-one, students will learn how to play cello, with an emphasis on performance at the term’s conclusion.

Introduces the fundamentals of guitar playing, including: posture, hand positions, tuning, chords, strumming, finger-picking, songs and tunes, major scales, and beginning to read music. History of the guitar and its past and current artists will be shared.

Correct posture for playing the guitar Several approaches to tuning the guitar

Twelve week study of twelve different guitarists of varying styles for awareness of the history of the guitar and the various styles the instrument is capable of. Enhances listening skills.

Have you been thinking about learning to play the piano? 

Do you want to learn to read sheet music and understand the basics of music theory? 

If you answered yes, then this course is for you.

Lessons are given on a one on one basis.

Each lesson is 20-25 minute-long.

This course is for students with no experience.

If

Individual 25-30 min. long lessons for students with prior experience who want to continue learning fundamental violin technique.
Daily practice (about 15-20 min.) is expected. End-of-semester performance is required.

Lessons offered one on one or in small groups. All experience levels welcome. Trumpet, Cornet, Horn, Trombone, Tuba. Some instruments available to borrow. Students should plan to practice daily for ten minutes.

Mutually agreed upon lesson time to be arranged following registration.

Studio instruction in cello. There will be an emphasis on creating and working towards an end-of-term project for each student.

In this course we will be taking a hands on approach to understanding the lever harp both historically and compositionally. We will be building and stringing small 19 string harps which will be used as the basis for our compositional work where students will be creating new works of varying length for the lever harp to be presented at the end of the semester. We’ll look at

In this course we focus our attention on a few of the most exciting composers of the late twentieth-century, and discuss how their music has influenced the music of the current period. Works by such composers as Elliott Carter, Toru Takemitsu, Olivier Messiaen, Pierre Boulez, Alfred Schnittke, Luciano Berio, Charles Wuorinen, Duke Ellington, Benjamin Britten, Dmitri

This course serves as an introduction to rhythms, songs, and musical practices from Africa and the African Diaspora, including Brazil, Cuba, Haiti, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic. Students will learn these traditional folkloric rhythms using indigenous percussion instruments from these territories and provinces. Class discussions will convey history, culture,

This course serves as an introduction to rhythms, songs, and musical practices from Africa and the African Diaspora, including Brazil, Cuba, Haiti, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic. Students will learn these traditional folkloric rhythms using indigenous percussion instruments from these territories and provinces. Class discussions will convey history, culture,

This is a 2 credit course to support the Faculty Drama Production of Eugene Onegin. Voice and style instruction will be provided for the singers in the musical, and some research on American singing styles. 

For the experienced (3+years of playing) violinist/violist. Lessons in traditional styles of fiddling – Quebecois, New England, Southern Appalachian, Scandinavian, Cajun, Irish, and Scottish. This course is designed to heighten awareness of the variety of ways the violin is played regionally and socially in North America (and indeed around the world) and to give practical

A song feedback collective, focused on how musical restrictions can spur us to growth. Over the course of the term, students will write five songs (or revise a single song in radical ways) based on the critique and decisions of the group. We’ll discuss how to form supportive but insightful critique while challenging each other to go new places. What does it take to create a

This course will focus on the learning of traditional Scottish and Irish melodies on the harp as well as developing foundational technique. This will include looking at body posture, the importance of relaxation and its relationship to developing good tone, and finger placement. In group lessons, students will learn melodies and exercises the traditional aural way, by ear,

This class is an extension of the Black Music Division at Bennington College that brought dancers and musicians together for live performance in the composition of Improvisation. It is co-taught by Susan Sgorbati and Michael Wimberly. 

Musicians and Dancers will study and practice together a Solo Practice and an Ensemble Practice, building compositional

In this course, students will develop skills in aural perception, learning to visualize, sing, and notate music through melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic exercises. Students will learn to identify key signatures, intervals, 7th chords, triads, key relationships, common cadences and phrase structures, larger forms, tempo markings, and more. Classwork will include singing

Instrumental Study on Guitar. Continued studies from Beginning Guitar. Advanced study in fret-board harmony and theory, play in different tunings, increase chord vocabulary and repertoire.