Keyboard majors in the Bachelor of Music in Performance (Contemporary Styles) program undertake intensive instrument technique and live performance curricula along with a wide range of classes in supportive music and general studies to earn MI's unique contemporary music degree (see the Bachelor Degree home page and Program Outline for an overview of requirements).
Keyboard instrument technique courses are designed and taught according to the same principles that have made MI one of the world's leading centers for the study of contemporary keyboards. Requirements include:
K112a.b. Keyboard Technique IIA-IIB
Intermediate-to-advanced techniques and concepts of contemporary keyboard playing. One lecture hour and one lab hour per week for two quarters.
K122a.b. Keyboard Voicings IIA-IIB
Covers seventh chord construction and symbols with an emphasis on “rootless” voicings as well as exercises in diatonic and chromatic chord movement and left hand accompaniment to melody and improvisation. Stylistic etudes are used to reinforce performance. One lecture hour and one lab hour per week for two quarters.
K221a.b. Keyboard Voicings IIIA-IIIB
Prerequisite: K122b Keyboard Voicings IIB. Learn the concepts of chord-scale harmony and apply them to the construction of voicings and chord progressions. Students explore the techniques of “tension substitution” and use it to create voicings while composing and performing their own progressions. One lecture hour and one lab hour per week for two quarters.
K211a.b. Keyboard Improvisation
Introduces blues tonality, 7th chord arpeggios, and improvising over all major and minor tonalities utilizing a key center approach and variations. Students improvise over simple blues and jazz progressions. One lecture hour and one lab hour per week for two quarters.
M142Ka.b. Reading IIA-IIB
Class examines simple left-hand chord voicings, rhythms involving switching from triplets to duplets and more complex melody lines with exercises drawn from contemporary styles. Students learn to read two-stave arrangements with complex rhythms and harmony. One lecture hour and one lab hour per week for two quarters.
M241Ka.b. Reading IIIA-IIIB
Focuses on reading difficult charts with lead lines and chord symbols. Rhythmic syncopation and fully extended chords are explored. Students play complex charts drawn from contemporary arrangements in a lab/ensemble setting. One lecture hour plus one lab hour per week for two quarters.