Spring 2026 Course Search

Improvisation Ensemble for Dancers and Musicians — DAN2417.02

Instructor: Susan Sgorbati
Days & Time: WE 4:10pm-6:00pm
Credits: 1

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 structures for performance. 

Intermediate Painting: Ground to Surface — PAI4219.01

Instructor: Beverly Acha
Days & Time: TU 2:10pm-5:50pm
Credits: 4

When you first learn how to paint, the focus is typically on gaining facility with the application and manipulation of paint to articulate the subject. In this intermediate course, we shift our attention to the often overlooked step that precedes painting: preparing the surface. 

Introduction to Counterpoint — MTH2118.01

Instructor: Nicholas Brooke
Days & Time: TU,FR 10:30am-12:20pm
Credits: 4

Composers throughout the ages have cut their teeth on the study of counterpoint – the intricate practice of writing melodies for several voices sounding at once. In this course, we’ll look mainly at 16th-century composers of counterpoint, and sing through pieces from Palestrina to Weelkes, while learning to compose in a variety of practices such as canons, the motet, and familiar style. We’ll gradually work our way from two-voice to four-voice counterpoint, and set texts in a variety of harmonic styles.

Intermediate Ear Training — MTH4284.01

Instructor: Joseph Alpar
Days & Time: MO,TH 1:40pm-3:30pm
Credits: 4

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.

Advanced Workshop for Painting and Drawing: The Contemporary Idiom — PAI4216.01

Instructor: J Blackwell
Days & Time: MO 1:40pm-5:20pm
Credits: 4

This course is for experienced student artists with a firm commitment to serious work in the studio. Students will work primarily on self-directed projects in an effort to refine individual concerns and subject matter. Students will present work regularly for critique in class as well as for individual studio meetings with the instructor. Development of a strong work ethic will be crucial.

Deep Fakes: An Introduction to Oil Painting — PAI2109.01

Instructor: J Blackwell
Days & Time: TU 8:30am-12:10pm
Credits: 4

Fake news, reality television, “IRL” – asserting the veracity of our perceptions is a constant preoccupation in contemporary culture. What is real? Realism is a widely used term with multiple connotations: verisimilitude, authenticity, objectivity, truth, fact.

The Tuning in The Trees — MUS4279.01

Instructor: Omeed Goodarzi
Days & Time: FR 2:10pm-4:00pm
Credits: 2

The Tuning in the Trees is an advanced seminar in microtonality that treats tuning systems as both technical structures and living landscapes. Students will explore how musical intervals emerge from natural patterns—such as tree bifurcations, harmonic ratios, and number sequences—while engaging deeply with Just intonation, Meantone, Bohlen–Pierce, and other non-Western tunings.

Studying Songs of Emancipation, Protest and Revolution — MUS2231.02

Instructor: Kathy Bullock
Days & Time: TU 4:10pm-6:00pm
Credits: 1

Music reflects the powerful journey of the people This course will study Music of the Struggle for Freedom, Rebellion and Civil and Social Rights, beginning with the African American journey in the United States from late 1700s to present day, and expanding to other cultures throughout the world.

Come Share the Joy; Voices of Hope Choir — MUS2122.02

Instructor: Kathy Bullock
Days & Time: M/Th 7:00PM-8:50PM
Credits: 2

This singing ensemble is dedicated to the preservation and performance of African-American sacred and inspirational music and other songs from the African diaspora (including South and West African and Caribbean songs). Messages of hope, faith, healing, of striving for justice and peace and of celebrating life will be the focuses for this singing experience. The course will culminate in a program on campus where we will share from the music we’ve learned.