At Brandeis we have many opportunities to get involved in the extracurricular realm of arts, but we also have many opportunities to study the arts in an academic atmosphere. This year, three professors from assorted departments have offered courses that allow for students to engage with art in a newfound way.

MUS 212A Seminar: Analyzing Early Music (1300-1600)
"MUS 212A Seminar: Analyzing Early Music," a graduate seminar taught by Prof. Seth J. Coluzzi (MUS), explores music by some of the most well known musicians of the Middle Ages and Renaissance. Students will study a range of theoretical texts written around the same time as the pieces, as well as modern approaches to early music analysis. In addition to evaluating prior critiques of music, students will also think about their own experiences when listening to the music and then create their own interpretations of the pieces. Coluzzi says that his goal for the class is to "understand how the music proceeds gesture by gesture, phrase by phrase and ultimately, how the entire piece functions as an integrated process or whole (if it does)." This class, focused on examining details as well as the big picture, is only offered every fourth year so graduate students should certainly capitalize on this opportunity.

FA 161A: Framing the Image: Debates in the History of Photography
"FA 161A: Framing the Image: Debates in the History of Photography" examines the political as well as social impacts of photography from its invention to the present. The class, taught by Prof. Lori Cole (FA), is a one-time offering this fall. Students will take a look at photography from many perspectives-as a science, an art, a window into current events and as a personal medium of expression. Students will also learn about photography through various contexts such as debates, stories and theories surrounding the art form. In an email to the Justice, Cole mentioned some of the actual photographers who the class will cover:
"We will look at the invention of photography-including Eadweard Muybridge and Etienne-Jules Marey's experiments with movement-and its development as an art form, through the work of photographers such as Alfred Stieglitz and Man Ray." "Framing the Image" will allow for the students to view the original pieces through collaboration with the Rose Art Museum on campus.

ENG 157B: American Women Poets
"ENG 157B: American Women Poets" is taught by Prof. Mary Baine Campbell (ENG), who says the goal of her class is "to read and re-read, think about, imitate, memorize, detest, love, write about, teach and read again." It is an impressive claim but, rest assured, Campbell's class will have no problem achieving these goals. Students will read and discuss poetry from the 17th to 21st centuries, encompassing analyses of legendary poets such as Emily Dickinson, Gertrude Stein and Sylvia Plath. Campbell has designed the course so that the students have the opportunity to learn from each other as well as their professor. Campbell teaches the first half of the class and the students teach the second: every student will present a 30 to 40 minute mini-class on a poet of their choosing. Campbell mentioned in an email to the Justice that, while the name of her course seemingly limits the scope of poetry that is discussed, there is a distinct method to this madness. Under the category of American women poets, the class will study immigrant poets, American Indian, Caribbean and Puerto-Rican poets, poets with dual citizenships, transgender, queer and transsexual poets. Campbell illuminates this umbrella of American women poets to show the diversity that can exist within such a category. Campbell says that her class does attract creative writers but it should also attract students with a wide variety of majors who are simply interested in or intrigued by the topic.