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Performance Laboratories

Performance Laboratory courses (MUS 50.1–50.3) provide weekly coaching and instruction in diverse styles of music in a focused, small-group setting. These courses are open to all Dartmouth students, regardless of major.

  • Chamber Music Performance Lab

    Students in MUS 50.1 (Performance Lab in Chamber Music) perform an end-of-term recital in the East Reading Room of Baker-Berry Library. (Photo credit: Grace Park '26)

Course Details

Course work centers on musical readings and performance of selected repertoire chosen both for its intrinsic interest and for its relevance to the contents of course syllabi within the music department. Performance Laboratory courses may be taken for credit (three terms equals one credit) or on a not-for-credit basis. Subject to space availability, students may enroll in different laboratories during different terms. Terms of enrollment need not be consecutive.

Performance Laboratories are offered every fall, winter, and spring, and the Performance Laboratory in Chamber Music (MUS 50.1) is also offered every summer. The first number after the decimal in the course number is determined by the Performance Lab, and the second number after the decimal is determined by your progress in the three-term course sequence, regardless of the current term (fall, winter, or spring). For example, if you are a Jazz Improvisation (MUS 50.3) student on your second term of Performance Laboratory courses, you will register for MUS 50.32.

Course numbers

  • MUS 50.1: Chamber Music
  • MUS 50.2: Contemporary Music
  • MUS 50.3: Jazz Improvisation

Decimals

  • Term 1 (50.x1): Student's first term of a MUS 50 Performance Lab
  • Term 2 (50.x2): Student's second term of a MUS 50 Performance Lab
  • Term 3 (50.x3): Student's third term of a MUS 50 Performance Lab
MUS 50.11-50.13

Chamber Music

Depending on enrollment and distribution of instruments, this laboratory may be broken down into several configurations, e.g., quartet, piano quintet, wind octet, string trio, etc. Repertoire focuses on chamber music from the eighteenth century through the first half of the twentieth.

MUS 50.11-50.13
Dist: ART; WCult: W. 
Director: Marcia Cassidy

MUS 50.21-50.23

Contemporary Music

The contemporary music laboratory will read through and study works appropriate to the participants' skill level, and where possible, collaborate with Dartmouth's compositional community in informal performances of newly-composed works.

MUS 50.21-50.23
Dist: ART; WCult: W.
Director: Amy Garapic

MUS 50.31-50.33

Jazz Improvisation

This course serves as a laboratory for students with some preparation in jazz to develop skills in composition, arranging, and performance. Ensemble configurations will be determined each term on the basis of enrollment.

MUS 50.31-50.33
Dist: ART; WCult: W.
Director: Michael Zsoldos