U-MUSL-MIN - Music Listening-Focused Minor

Music is among the most ancient of human pursuits and has long been viewed as a crucial part of education. As a discipline, it has its own logic and grammar in the understanding of which the mind is stretched and tested. Students at Duke encounter a variety of approaches to music that encompass the many ways that we create, perform, and comprehend it.

The Music Minor II: Listening-focused hopes to serve students who are engaged in music making, widely and broadly conceived, or who are invested listeners and would like to develop their critical thinking about music, improve their listening skills, expose themselves to a range of sounds and ideas about music, and explore avenues towards the professional world of musical entertainment. Music Minor II: Listening-focused is designed to complement Music Minor I: Score-focused which caters to students who read music notation. For Music Minor II, students may draw on Duke’s student-initiated music-making opportunities, Durham’s music offerings, or the Department’s ensembles and lessons. Reading music notation is not a requirement for Minor II. However, Minor II is also available to students with notation skills who wish to expand the scope of their knowledge beyond their particular canonical expertise, or to put their interests in dialogue with other musical histories or styles.

Attending to music – playing together, listening, dancing, talking – is a major preoccupation of student social life. Minor II accommodates students' diverse musical interests and their skills.