Spring 2026 Course Search

Beginning Guitar — MIN2247.02, section 2

Instructor: Hui Cox
Days & Time:
Credits: 2

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.

Finger independence and strength exercises. Attaching finger skills and independence to the brain.

Mandolin — MIN2229.01

Instructor: John Kirk
Days & Time: W 2:00PM-2:50PM
Credits: 2

Beginning, intermediate and advanced group lessons on the mandolin will be offered. Students will learn classical technique on the mandolin and start to develop a repertoire of classical and traditional folk pieces. Simple song sheets with chords, tablature, and standard notation, chord theory, and scale work will all be used to further skills. History of the Italian origins of mandolin and its introduction to the western world will be discussed as well as past and present practices.

Beginning Guitar — MIN2247.01, section 1

Instructor: John Kirk
Days & Time: Th 10:00AM-10:50AM
Credits: 2

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.

Ukulele Comprehensive — MIN2230.01

Instructor: John Kirk
Days & Time: W 11:00AM-11:50AM
Credits: 2

A comprehensive course in learning musical skills on the ukulele. We will learn the history of the uke, from its Portuguese and Indigenous Hawaiian origins, and both traditional and contemporary styles. Music theory and playing techniques will be learned and practiced. Awareness of traditional styles of playing the instrument will be furthered through a listening component and ensemble playing with other instrumentalists. Repertoire will be drawn from traditional and original Hawaiian songs, as well as contemporary music from the past 60 years.

Piano Lab: Piano Improv for Beginners — MIN2361.01

Instructor: Chris Rose
Days & Time: TU 4:10pm-6:00pm
Credits: 2

Instructor will provide musical prompts such as chordal patterns, melodic fragments, and rhythms as a basis for evocative and expressive improvisation. While we will learn some music theory terminology, the class will de-emphasize sheet music in order to focus on navigating the keyboard itself. All experience levels are welcome.

Brass Lessons — MIN2245.01

Instructor: Chris Rose
Days & Time:
Credits: 2

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.

 

 

 

 

 

Drumming: An Extension of Language — MIN2120.01, section 1

Instructor: Michael Wimberly
Days & Time: WE 10:00am-11:50am
Credits: 2

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, language, and dance from these regions. Students will also have opportunities to create rhythms and arrangements in collaboration in our “break-out” segments.

Drumming: An Extension of Language — MIN2120.02, section 2

Instructor: Michael Wimberly
Days & Time: TU 10:30am-12:20pm
Credits: 2

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, language, and dance from these regions. Students will also have opportunities to create rhythms and arrangements in collaboration in our “break-out” segments.

Introduction to Viola — MIN2214.01

Instructor: Ariel Rudiakov
Days & Time:
Credits: 1

This course is designed for students with no prior string instrument experience. Admission is on a first come, first served basis. Classes will be one on one, individual lessons.

Daily practice  of 10 to 15 minutes is expected, in order for students to become familiar and comfortable with the basic mechanics of playing viola.

Experience with reading music, playing piano, singing or any instrument prior to taking this course is helpful.

 

Piano Lab I — MIN2362.01

Instructor: Benjamin April
Days & Time: TH 1:40pm-3:30pm
Credits: 2

Piano Lab I aims to introduce the piano to first-time musicians or first-time pianists. Over the course of the semester, basics in music theory, piano technique, and note reading will be taught, culminating in an end-of-term recital. Please note that this course is meant for beginners, not advanced pianists.

Urban Disasters: Economics, Risk, and the City — PEC2286.01

Instructor: Lopamudra Banerjee
Days & Time: TU 2:10pm-4:00pm
Credits: 2

Catastrophic events—droughts, earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, and landslides—are growing in frequency and intensity around the world. As more of the global population concentrates in urban areas, the nature and consequences of these natural hazards are taking on a distinct and often violent shape in today’s metropolises and megacities. This course investigates how urban life reshapes both the impact of disasters and our capacity to respond to them.

Harp — MIN2347.01

Instructor: Rachel Clemente
Days & Time:
Credits: 2

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, and simple notation and recordings will be provided at the end of each class to use as a reference for practice during the week.

Human Rights in Action — APA2349.02

Instructor: Andrea Galindo
Days & Time: WE 10:00am-11:50am & WE 2:10pm-4:00pm
Credits: 2

In 1948, Elanor Roosevelt, instrumental for the approval of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, said “In a true sense, human rights are a fundamental object of law and government in a just society. Human rights exist to the degree that they are respected by people in relations with each other and by governments in relations with their citizens.”

Women and Human Mobility — APA2213.03

Instructor: Andrea Galindo
Days & Time: WE 4:10pm-6:00pm & TH 3:40pm-5:30pm
Credits: 1

Human mobility has been an inherent human condition throughout history. From earliest human history, women and men have migrated in search of a better life, to populate other places on the planet, or to escape and survive human-made or natural dangers. Today migration is a fact of life for an increasing number of people around the world: there are more than 281 million migrants that cross borders, about 71.2 million that are internally displaced and around 40 million seeking asylum. Almost half of them are women.

Creating a Digital Archive — APA2260.01

Instructor: Sharif Jamal
Days & Time: MO 8:30am-12:10pm
Credits: 4

This class will introduce students to creating digital archive that includes digitizing photographs, documents, videotapes and basic types of metadata. We will have discussions about why digitizing personal collections is so important. Students will be expected to bring their own materials to the class. 

 

Aesthetics of Care: Visual Strategies for Community Engagement — APA2199.01

Instructor: sTo Len
Days & Time: MO 1:40pm-5:20pm
Credits: 2

With billions of images uploaded to the internet daily, we are bombarded by media content on corporately owned platforms from news outlets to algorithmic social media feeds and YouTube videos. How do we create meaningful independent media for each other in this current age of disinformation? What importance do physical materials such as books, zines, posters, and pamphlets still have in disseminating information and ideas to our communities? How does the art of self-publishing become a means of empowerment and an act of care?

Peacebuilding — APA2212.03

Instructor: Vahidin Omanovic
Days & Time: MO,TH 3:40pm-5:30pm
Credits: 1

This Module will serve as an introduction to the work of Peacebuilding around the world, both in theory and practice. Vahidin Omanovic, Director of Center for Peacebuilding in Bosnia, will be joining us to reflect on his work and introduce us to key topics in peacebuilding, including: peacebuilding in a local community, obstacles for peace, identity,  discrimination, methods of sustainable peacebuilding.

Imagining Our Futures: Conflict and/or Peace? — APA2284.01

Instructor: Susan Sgorbati
Days & Time: WE 2:10pm-5:50pm
Credits: 2

This class will examine interesting thinkers about our future.  Artists, anthropologists, afro futurists, writers, scientists and philosophers have all thought about what we are facing in our futures. Books and essays such as “The Fourth Turning” by Neil Howe, “The Dawn of Everything” by David Graeber, “The End of History” by Francis Fukuyama,  "Emergent Strategies" by Adrienne Maree Brown, “A Paradise Built in Hell” by Rebecca Solnit, “The Work After Our Rage” by Kenneth Bailey and Lori Lobenstine”, "DeltasUNite and the UNCCRD" and others.

Voices of Our Time — APA2198.01

Instructor: Brian Campion
Days & Time: TH 1:40pm-3:30pm
Credits: 2

In this course, students will document the lived experiences of individuals during this immensely challenging period in American history. Students will receive training in the methods of oral history, interviewing techniques, historical ethics, and archival work. They will conduct interviews of classmates and community members. These narratives will then be preserved in order to provide future generations with a firsthand account of the United States during this period of history. 

Beginning Piano — MIN2249.02, section 2

Instructor: Yoshiko Sato
Days & Time:
Credits: 2
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 Beginning Piano might be right 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 you have taken piano lessons, audition for Intermediate Piano.

Beginning Piano — MIN2249.01, section 1

Instructor: Yoshiko Sato
Days & Time:
Credits: 2

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 you have taken piano lessons, audition for Intermediate Piano.