Music and Dance Building

Home to the Music and Dance Programs

Music Program
Hampshire's Music Program offers a unique and innovative approach to music performance, scholarship, theory, composition and improvisation. Students are encouraged to explore an interdisciplinary process to engage with music as a creative expression as well as understanding music as culture and in culture. Areas of study include ethnomusicology, jazz/improvisation, western music theory and composition, and electronic and computer music. Related areas of study include radio production and music journalism, audio art, music recording technology, and luthiery. Courses in improvisation, composition and theory push students to move beyond conventional frames of perceiving and performing music, while also investigating those conventional systems. Through the Five College consortium, students have access to other courses in western tonal music (both western music history/musicology and theory) as well as a wide range of performance courses.

Division I
Division I students are encouraged to take introductory theory courses such as Musical Beginnings or Tonal Theory I as well as performance and ensemble courses. First year seminars such as "Writing about Music" and "Literature, Opera, Film" are designed to engage students in an interdisciplinary approach to topics of performance, cultural production, music, and ethnography.

Division II
Division II students in music design concentrations that are typically interdisciplinary in nature. In addition, Division II music contractors must complete a core sequence of theory courses either at Hampshire or Five College equivalents; a minimum of two semesters of performance courses or ensemble within the Five Colleges; and a minimum of three courses that critically examine musical/cultural studies from an ethnomusicological, historical, and/or cultural perspective. A major body of work from these (ethno)musicology/history/criticism courses must be included in the students Division II portfolio. A minimum of seven additional courses are required and students are encouraged to take an interdisciplinary approach to their Division II work.

Music Building Policies
Rooms G, J, the Recording Studio, and the Classroom are available to Music Concentrators ONLY. Sign-out for these rooms in front of Room 101.

Bands practicing must have at least one music concentrator’s ID on file with the building monitor. No exceptions.(Signing up online does not replace signing in with building monitor!)

Practice Rooms A-D are open to all students.

No bands in the Classroom, please. It is not soundproofed.

The Storage Closet is for MUSIC CONCENTRATORS ONLY. Others must store their gear elsewhere. Please fill out a “Storage Closet Inventory Form” with the building monitor. To remove items in storage, see the building monitor.

There is a Recording Studio “user list” on file with the monitor. If you wish to have studio access, see your faculty chair or contact Larry Berger (MB101, x6189) to inquire about eligibility.e.)

Please do not leave gear behind in practice rooms. It will be removed.

NO FOOD OR DRINK in the practice rooms or in the Recital Hall.

Anyone found misusing a piano may be denied use of the MB facilities.

Building hours: 11am-1am, 7 days/week NO DRUMMING OR AMPLIFIED MUSIC IN THE MDB BEFORE 5pm M-F, please!

Dance
Hampshire College is an acclaimed non-traditional school emphasizing student-initiated, multidisciplinary education. Passion and curiosity, originality and ownership, responsibility and commitment are nurtured through Hampshire's unique approach to education. Hampshire offers a B.A. with a dance/movement concentration, individually designed by the student in close collaboration with the faculty.

CURRICULUM
The Hampshire College dance program curriculum prepares students for advanced work in dance and movement studies. Students can concentrate in choreography and performance, or combine dance with other fields: theater, film, anthropology, psychology, kinesiology, education, religion. The program culminates in a rigorous, year-long independent project, such as choreographing and producing a concert of original work, or undertaking in-depth research and writing.

ALUMNI
Hampshire College dance program students and alumni are recognized for their intelligent and ground-breaking experimentation, their independence and innovation, and their commitment to service. Alumni perform in major dance companies, direct their own dance companies, teach in schools and studios. They pursue careers as dance therapists, physical therapists, and body-workers. They are dance critics, arts administrators and scholars. They include Bessie Award winners and Fulbright Grant recipients.

FIVE COLLEGES
The Hampshire College Dance Program is a member of the distinguished Five College Dance Department, which includes the dance departments of Amherst, Hampshire, Mount Holyoke, and Smith colleges and the University of Massachusetts / Amherst. Together these five celebrated dance programs create a comprehensive, coordinated curriculum, offering an exciting array of classes, performances, and special events not possible at any one school.

FACILITIES
The Dance Program's facilities include two superb sprung-floor dance studios, one of which converts into a fully equipped performance space, state-of-the art sound and video equipment, and a substantial dance video and film collection.

Both the small and main dance studios and the faculty offices are found in the Music and Dance Building in the Charles and Polly Longsworth Arts Village.