Courses Taught by Institute Faculty, 2012–2013
See the bulletins of the School of Music and the Divinity School for full course listings and degree requirements. Courses listed here may be cross-listed in other schools or departments. Information is current as of July 15, 2012.
The letter “a” following the course number denotes the fall term; the letter “b” denotes the spring term.
Courses fulfilling the distribution requirements for Institute students pursuing the M.Div. are indicated with a letter representing the subject area: W (Worship), M (Music), and/or A (Visual Arts or Literature).
Music Courses
MUS 504a–b, 604a–b, 704a–b, Dramatic Movement for Singers 1 credit per term. Stage movement tailored specifically for singers. Physical preparation of the body through exercises that develop strength, control, and flow of movement while releasing tensions and extending the range of movement possibilities. Emphasis is placed on stage presence and movement problems as applied to specific roles, and on transferring the class experience to the stage. Marc Verzatt
MUS 506a–b, 606a–b, 706a–b, Lyric Diction for Singers 2 credits per term. A language course designed specifically for the needs of singers. Intensive work on pronunciation, grammar, and literature throughout the term. French, German, English, Italian, Russian, and Latin are offered in alternating terms. Faculty
MUS 509a–b, 609a–b, 709a–b, Art Song Coaching for Singers 1 credit per term. Individual private coaching in the art song repertoire, in preparation for required recitals. Students are coached on such elements of musical style as phrasing, rubato, and articulation, and in English, French, Italian, German, and Spanish diction. Students are expected to bring their recital accompaniments to coaching sessions as their recital times approach. Faculty
MUS 510b, Music before 1700 4 credits. An overview of music before 1700 within its cultural and social contexts. The goal of the course is knowledge of the repertoire representing the major styles, genres, and composers of the period. Course requirements include a midterm exam, two short papers, and a final exam. Markus Rathey
MUS 515a,b, 615a,b, 715a,b, 815a,b, Improvisation at the Organ 2 credits. Development of improvisatory skills at the keyboard. Jeffrey Brillhart
MUS 519a–b, 619a–b, 719a–b, Colloquium 1 credit per term. Participation in seminars led by faculty and guest lecturers on topics concerning theology, music, worship, and related arts. Required of all Institute of Sacred Music students. Martin D. Jean
MUS 522a–b, 622a–b, 722a–b, Acting for Singers 1 credit per term. Designed to address the specialized needs of the singing actor. Studies include technique in character analysis, together with studies in poetry as it applies to art song literature. Class work is extended in regular private coaching. Marc Verzatt
MUS 531a–b, 631a–b, 731a–b, Repertory Chorus—Voice 2 credits per term. A reading chorus open by audition and conducted by graduate choral conducting students. The chorus reads, studies, and sings a wide sampling of choral literature. Marguerite L. Brooks
MUS 532a–b, 632a–b, 732a–b, Repertory Chorus—Conducting 2 credits per term. Students in the graduate choral conducting program work with the Repertory Chorus, preparing and conducting a portion of a public concert each term. Open only to choral conducting majors. Marguerite L. Brooks
MUS 535a–b, 635a–b, 735a–b, Recital Chorus—Voice 2 credits per term. A chorus open by audition and conducted by graduate choral conducting students. It serves as the choral ensemble for four to five degree recitals per year. Marguerite L. Brooks
MUS 536a–b, 636a–b, 736a–b, Recital Chorus—Conducting 2 credits per term. Second- and third-year students in the graduate choral conducting program work with the Recital Chorus, preparing and conducting their degree recitals. Open to choral conducting majors only. Marguerite L. Brooks
MUS 537b, Collaborative Piano: Voice 2 credits. A course designed for pianists, focusing on the skills required for vocal accompanying and coaching. The standard song and operatic repertoire is emphasized. Sight-reading, techniques of transposition, figured bass, and effective reduction of operatic materials for the recreation of orchestral sounds at the piano are included in the curriculum. Ted Taylor
MUS 540a–b, 640a–b, 740a–b, Individual Instruction in the Major 4 credits per term. Individual instruction of one hour per week throughout the academic year, for majors in performance, conducting, and composition. Faculty
MUS 544a–b, 644a–b, 744a–b, Seminar in the Departmental Major 2 credits per term. An examination of a wide range of problems relating to the area of the major. Specific requirements may differ by department. At the discretion of each department, seminar requirements can be met partially through off-campus field trips and/or off-campus fieldwork, e.g., performance or teaching. Required of all School of Music students except pianists who take 533, 633, 733. Faculty
MUS 546a–b, 646a–b, 746a–b, Yale Camerata 2 credits per term. Open to all members of the University community by audition, the Yale Camerata presents several performances throughout the year that explore choral literature from all musical periods. Members of the ensemble should have previous choral experience and be willing to devote time to the preparation of music commensurate with the Camerata’s vigorous rehearsal and concert schedule. Marguerite L. Brooks
MUS 549a, Early Music Repertoire for Singers 2 credits. A survey of solo and chamber repertoire (song, madrigal, cantata, opera, oratorio, motet) from the early seventeenth century to the mid-eighteenth century. Related topics include performance practice, ornamentation, national styles, related instrumental music, research, and original sources and their modern transcriptions. Assignments emphasize practical applications such as composing ornaments, finding repertoire, and creating new editions. Avi Stein
MUS 571a–b, 671a–b, 771a–b, Yale Schola Cantorum 1 credit per term. Specialist chamber choir for the development of advanced ensemble skills and expertise in demanding solo roles (in music before 1750 and from the last one hundred years). Enrollment required for voice majors enrolled through the Institute of Sacred Music. Masaaki Suzuki
MUS 575b/REL 961b, Psalms in Literature and Music 4 credits. This course is a study of the richness and power of the Psalter through an examination of a few key Psalms (e.g., 23, 51, 130, and 150) as literary and theological works that have had a long history in Jewish and Christian worship. We look at these scriptural texts as inspiration for a wide variety of poetic and musical compositions and artistic flowering. Students explore the relationship between scripture and art, especially in music and literature. What happens to the biblical text over time and as it is interpreted in different media? Musical works include settings by Johann Sebastian Bach, Leonard Bernstein, and Orlando di Lasso, and poetry includes works by Philip and Mary Sidney, Christopher Smart, Gerard Manley Hopkins, John Berryman and Anne Sexton, Jacqueline Osherow, Brooks Haxton, and Brad Davis. Limited enrollment. Markus Rathey, Peter S. Hawkins
MUS 594a, Vocal Chamber Music 1 credit. This performance-based class requires a high level of individual participation each week. Grades are based on participation in and preparation for class, and two performances of the repertoire learned. Attendance is mandatory. Occasional weekend sessions and extra rehearsals during production weeks can be expected. Students are expected to learn quickly and must be prepared to tackle a sizeable amount of repertoire. James Taylor
MUS 595a,b, 695b, Performance Practice for Singers 1 credit per term. Fall term: Introduction (required of all first-year students in the early music, oratorio, and chamber ensemble program). An exploration of the major issues of historically informed performance, such as the search for “authenticity” and the roles of the editor and the performer. Specific topics include performance context, application of sources, original notation and modern editions, national styles, aesthetics, and ornamentation. Students examine historical sources and read selections from seventeenth- and eighteenth-century treatises. Spring term: Then and Now—The Performance of Handel’s Oratorios. An examination of Handel’s oratorios in their social and musical context, noting the influence of Handel’s singers and audience on his compositions. The class addresses issues of Baroque vocal performance including tempo, ornamentation, recitative, and dramatic interpretation, with a high level of student participation and making limited use of recordings. We study the librettos as social, political, and religious statements, looking in depth at La Resurrezione, Saul, and Solomon. Open to conductors and instrumentalists with permission of the instructor. Judith Malafronte
MUS 656a, Liturgical Keyboard Skills I 2 credits. In this course, students gain a deeper understanding and appreciation for musical genres, both those familiar to them and those different from their own, and learn basic techniques for their application in church service playing. Students learn to play hymns, congregational songs, service music, and anthems from a variety of sources, including music from the liturgical and free church traditions, including the Black Church experience. Hymn playing, with an emphasis on methods of encouraging congregational singing, is the principal focus of the organ instruction, but there is also instruction in chant and anthem accompaniment, including adapting a piano reduction to the organ. In the gospel style, beginning with the piano, students are encouraged to play by ear, using their aural skills in learning gospel music. This training extends to the organ, in the form of improvised introductions and varied accompaniments to hymns of all types. We seek to accomplish these goals by active participation and discussion in class. When not actually playing in class, students are encouraged to sing to the accompaniment of the person at the keyboard, to further their experience of singing with accompaniment, and to give practical encouragement to the person playing. Walden Moore
MUS 657a, Liturgical Keyboard Skills II 2 credits. The subject matter is the same as for MUS 656, but some variety is offered in the syllabus on a two-year cycle to allow second-year students to take the course without duplicating all of the means by which the playing techniques are taught. Walden Moore
MUS 661a, Bach: New Perspectives 4 credits. The music of Bach continues to come under intense scrutiny, with many new ideas and interpretations. The course investigates various new approaches to Bach’s music. Some are the result of musicological research that also has important ramifications for performance practice. Others have begun as quests to understand performance practices and in the process have led to further studies in musicology. There are new ideas regarding Bach’s compositional process and the performing resources that were available to him, as well as new proposals regarding the connections between specific compositions. The course is run as a seminar, and each student is expected to prepare material in advance and contribute to the discussions. Each session comprises two components: biographical issues, based on Christoph Wolff’s biographical study, Johann Sebastian Bach: The Learned Musician; and particular issues of Bach studies and performance practice. Robin Leaver
MUS 669b/REL 912b, Music in American Religion 4 credits. This course introduces students to the role of music in a variety of American religious traditions and explores generally the links between spiritual experience and musical expression. Students leave the course with an enhanced understanding of American religious history, the varieties of religious experience, and the development of American vernacular music. The course is also designed to strengthen students’ skills in critical listening and introduce them to a variety of methods for analyzing the interplay between religious belief and musical practice. David Stowe
MUS 675b/REL 911b, Music, Ritual, and Religion in Haiti and Its Diaspora This course examines Haiti’s sonic and spiritual landscapes, paying particular attention to the intersections of musical practice, religious experience, and various forms of spiritual and political power. A recurring theme is the role of music in shaping ritual, negotiating cultural identities, and sustaining transnational linkages between Haiti and the United States. Highlighting the migration of sound and ritual practice to and from the Caribbean region, we carefully consider the extent to which music, ritual, and religious practice in Haiti constitute forms of resistance in the face of sociopolitical and natural hardships. Melvin L. Butler
Divinity Courses
Courses are 3 credits unless otherwise indicated.
REL 3910a–b, Colloquium 1 credit per term. Participation in seminars led by faculty and guest lecturers on topics concerning theology, music, worship, and related arts. Required of all Institute of Sacred Music students. Martin D. Jean
REL 673b, Cuthbert, Bede, and Their Theological, Musical, and Liturgical Legacy: The Christian Witness of Durham Cathedral and York Minster This intensive team-taught interdisciplinary study course includes a visit to Durham and York to learn about and experience not only the past treasures of these two centers of Christian witness but also the present worship, music, and life of the Cathedral and Minster. The course introduces students to the history of Christianity in the northeast of England and particularly in the place of Durham Cathedral from the time of Cuthbert to the present work of the Cathedral Chapter, including the hymns composed by YDS graduate Canon Rosalind Brown. (W, M) Bryan D. Spinks and Robin A. Leaver
REL 682a, Foundations of Christian Worship The core course in Liturgical Studies. The course focuses on theological and historical approaches to the study of Christian worship, while also giving appropriate attention to pastoral, cultural, and contemporary issues. The first part of the course seeks to familiarize students with the basic elements of communal, public prayer in the Christian tradition (such as its roots in Hebrew Scripture, its Trinitarian basis and direction, its ways of figuring time and space, its use of language, scripture, music, the arts, etc.). The second part of the course provides an outline of historical developments, from biblical roots to the present. In addition, select class sessions focus on important questions such as the relationship between gendered lives and liturgical celebration, and between liturgy and ethical commitments such as earthcare. This gateway course to the Program in Liturgical Studies should be taken prior to other liturgy courses offered at Yale. The course is especially recommended for all students preparing for ordination and/or other responsibilities in worship leadership; it is also an essential course for all students interested in graduate work in liturgical studies. (W) Teresa Berger, Maggi E. Dawn
REL 695a, Daily Prayer: Liturgical Developments, Theological Principles, Contemporary Practices This seminar proposes for scholarly inquiry the rhythms, texts, materials, and practices of daily prayer that have developed in the Christian tradition. The course is organized around three foci: first, we attend to questions of historical development (aided by a look at some of the key studies that have appeared on the subject in recent years). Second, we analyze basic theological convictions and material sources that have shaped practices of daily prayer. Third, we turn our attention to the contemporary context (and also take note of forms of daily prayer and devotion in Christian communities that do not have authoritative fixed patterns). Our own times witness intriguing disjunctions when it comes to daily prayer, and this seminar addresses questions of how cultural context and especially contemporary material culture shape the practice of daily prayer and devotion. (W) Teresa Berger
REL 801a–b, Marquand Chapel Choir 1 credit per term. Colin Britt
REL 802a–b, Marquand Gospel Choir 1/2 credit per term. Mark Miller
REL 843a, Professional Seminar: Theology and Practice of Church Music In this one-credit professional seminar, ministers- and musicians-in-training consider models for shared ministry involving musicians and pastors. Using theological and musical principles outlined in class, students gain the skill and understanding needed for a sound liturgical ministry. The course is specifically designed for both musicians and theology students, helping them learn how to work together in ways that are professionally respectful and mutually enriching. Martin D. Jean, Thomas H. Troeger
REL 873b, Theologies of Preaching In recent decades, homileticians have increasingly turned from a focus on methods of preaching to a concern for the purposes of preaching. Why and what do we preach? How do we theologically understand the act of preaching? How is preaching something in which the gathered congregation participates? What is the interrelationship of the gospel and culture in preaching? How are our answers to these perennial questions shifting in a postmodern ethos? The course considers a number of recent works that provide a wide range of answers to these questions. Drawing upon the theological/homiletical principles that they encounter in their reading, students write brief essays, create and deliver sermons, and then critically analyze the theological character of their proclamation, seeing if it is congruent with their articulated theology of preaching. Thomas H. Troeger
REL 900a, Congregational Music as a Social Setting What impact does traditional hymn singing have on congregants’ and musicians’ social relationships? Do these dynamics differ from those within contemporary praise choruses? Why does music so often become the figurehead for strife within congregations? Within churches and other faith communities, music moves beyond written notes and sounds to facilitate powerful interactions among individuals, institutions, and the divine. Understanding church music as a combination of sound, social relationships, and sacred action, facilitates leaders’ helping congregations to articulate their identities and move towards their potentials. (M) Deborah Justice
REL 904a, Sacred Architecture and the Contemporary City This seminar is a historical examination and comparative analysis of contemporary sacred architecture and its relationship to urban contexts since the Second World War. It engages students in exploring such questions as: How is the sacred given expression in material form in a complex urban society? How does the religious building represent the challenges of faith, cultural heritage, and civic space in a contemporary pluralistic world? Each week, a particular case study focuses on a set of issues related to these questions, with readings and class projects. The studies are drawn from a wide range of cultural contexts, including the United States, the Middle East, Japan, Europe, and Latin America. (A) Karla Britton
REL 911b/MUS 675b, Music, Ritual, and Religion in Haiti and Its Diaspora This course examines Haiti’s sonic and spiritual landscapes, paying particular attention to the intersections of musical practice, religious experience, and various forms of spiritual and political power. A recurring theme is the role of music in shaping ritual, negotiating cultural identities, and sustaining transnational linkages between Haiti and the United States. Highlighting the migration of sound and ritual practice to and from the Caribbean region, we carefully consider the extent to which music, ritual, and religious practice in Haiti constitute forms of resistance in the face of sociopolitical and natural hardships. (M) Melvin L. Butler
REL 912b/MUS 669b, Music in American Religion This course introduces students to the role of music in a variety of American religious traditions and explores generally the links between spiritual experience and musical expression. Students leave the course with an enhanced understanding of American religious history, the varieties of religious experience, and the development of American vernacular music. The course is also designed to strengthen students’ skills in critical listening and introduce them to a variety of methods for analyzing the interplay between religious belief and musical practice. (M) David Stowe
REL 928b, Sacred Places, Modern Spaces: Architecture, Identity, and Faith in Britain, 1851–1951 This course concentrates on a 100-year period in British history in order to pose and debate broad, challenging questions regarding the built environment, modernity, society, and faith. This course will be especially relevant to those whose research interests intersect with art history, architectural history, architectural design, hermeneutics, religious studies, theologies of sacred space, historiography, material and visual cultures, and histories of modern Europe. Its emphasis on style, aesthetics, embodiment, and sensory perception may offer broader appeal beyond its specific period and geographical span, and its method may enable refreshing cross-disciplinary dialogue. (A) Ayla Lepine
REL 942a, The Cult of Saints in Early Christianity and the Middle Ages For all its reputed (and professed) disdain of the corporeal and earthly, Christianity lavished considerable attention and wealth on the material dimension of sainthood and the “holy” during its formative periods in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages. Already in the second century, Christian communities accorded special status to a select few “friends of God,” primarily martyrs put to death during Roman persecutions. Subsequently the public and private veneration of saints and their earthly remains proliferated, intensified, and became an intrinsic aspect of Christian spirituality and life in both East and West until the Reformation. In doing so, it gradually developed a theology to accommodate everything from fingers of saints to controversial and miracle-working images. This course investigates the theology, origins, and development of the cult of saints in early Christianity and the Middle Ages with special attention to its material manifestations. We combine the examination of thematic issues, such as pilgrimage and the use and function of reliquaries (both portable and architectural), with a focus on such specific cases as the evolution of the cult of the Virgin Mary. (A) Vasileios Marinis
REL 945a, From House Churches to Medieval Cathedrals: Christian Art and Architecture from the Third Century to the End of Gothic This course examines the art associated with or related to Christianity from its origins to the end of Gothic. It analyzes major artistic monuments and movements in a variety of regions, paying particular attention to how art shapes, and is shaped by, the social and historical circumstances of the period and culture. The class considers art in diverse media, focusing on painting, sculpture, architecture, and decorative arts. It includes trips to the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale and to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. (A) Vasileios Marinis
REL 947b, Visual Fluencies: Material Arts and Western Visual Cultures of Religion, 1300–2006 This course examines the art, artifacts, and architecture of Western Europe and the United States from the early Renaissance to the present. The course offers an introductory survey of a selection of major artistic monuments and their visual cultural variations and invites students to understand and interpret these monuments in relation to religious practice and thought in historical and visual contexts. (A) Sally M. Promey
REL 950a and b, Dante’s Journey to God This course on the Divine Comedy is a reading of the entire text in light of what it purports to be—a journey toward the vision of God. Such an approach does not mean dissolving the narrative in allegory or ignoring literary considerations in favor of theology: it means taking full account of the poem as a path with a divine destination, as a theological poem. Special interest is paid to how Dante transforms his pagan as well as Christian sources, how deeply he assimilates the Bible and its interpretative traditions, and how boldly he attempts to establish his own text as a sacred poem. (A) Peter S. Hawkins
REL 961b, Psalms in Literature and Music This course is a study of the richness and power of the Psalter through an examination of a few key Psalms (e.g., 23, 51, 130, and 150) as literary and theological works that have had a long history in Jewish and Christian worship. We look at these scriptural texts as inspiration for a wide variety of poetic and musical compositions and artistic flowering. Students explore the relationship between scripture and art, especially in music and literature. What happens to the biblical text over time and as it is interpreted in different media? Musical works include settings by Johann Sebastian Bach, Leonard Bernstein, and Orlando di Lasso, and poetry includes works by Philip and Mary Sidney, Christopher Smart, Gerard Manley Hopkins, John Berryman & Anne Sexton, Jacqueline Osherow, Brooks Haxton, and Brad Davis. (M, A) Peter S. Hawkins, Markus Rathey
REL 967a, Religion and Performance of Space This interdisciplinary seminar explores categories, interpretations, and strategic articulations of space in a range of religious traditions. In conversation with the work of theorists of space, such as Henri Lefebvre, Michel de Certeau, and Jonathan Z. Smith, the seminar examines spatial practices of religion in the United States during the modern era, including the conception, construction, and enactment of religious spaces. The course is structured around theoretical issues, including (historical) deployments of secularity as a framing mechanism, ideas about space and place, and relations between property and spirituality. (A) Margaret Olin, Sally M. Promey
REL 981b, Visual Controversies: Religion and the Politics of Vision This interdisciplinary seminar explores the destruction, censorship, and suppression of pictures and objects, as these acts have been motivated by religious convictions and practices, in medieval Europe and the United States from colonization to the present. The course focuses most specifically on the emergence of Christian art and architecture in dialogue (or competition) with Greco-Roman religions and Islam, and on variations of Protestant Christianity. It also directs attention to case studies within Byzantine Orthodoxy, American Judaism, Islam, and Catholicism and looks to comparative situations and episodes of contention elsewhere in the world. (A) Vasileios Marinis, Sally M. Promey
REL 986b, Holy Week and Easter: Mimesis and Anamnesis The course gives a profound introduction both to the evolution of Holy Week and Easter ceremonies and to the theology of the liturgical year. It explores the shape of the various celebrations against the background of their history, especially in Late Antique Jerusalem and the Medieval West, and reflects the coherence and unity of the mystery being celebrated. A focus will be on the Roman rite, to which the instructor belongs, but the participants are invited to introduce other contemporary traditions familiar to them. Special attention is given to the musical, dramatic, and artistic features of liturgy, to the various layers of celebration and participation, to the groups and interests involved, and to the cultural context of specific local churches. (W) Harald Buchinger
