Syllabus: Listening to TikTok

Winter 2025
By Noa Berz '26

MUSI 125 
That Viral TikTok Sound 

DEPARTMENT 
Music 

DESCRIPTION 
In this course for non-music majors, students take a closer look at TikTok viral sounds — exploring how classical music, despite its traditional roots, continues to inspire new forms of artistic expression and influence popular media. 

Most Rice undergraduates know the Shepherd School of Music to be a serious place — a bastion of hard work and discipline where talented players spend hours each day practicing scales and rehearsing quartets. It’s much the same for Ariel Lee ’25, a doctoral student in violin performance who spent six years at the Juilliard School before coming to Houston, and whose new MUSI course had a roster full of nonmajors in its first semester. In MUSI 125: That Viral TikTok Sound, students approach popular music and social media trends in a serious way. 

“Most of the stuff that we consume is from Reels and TikTok, shorts on YouTube, and I think they’re really centered around music,” Lee says. “I just thought that was interesting, to look at the reason behind how that happens, why certain songs go viral and certain songs don’t. So we try to figure that out with music theory.” 

In spring 2024, Lee drafted the course’s curriculum for an assignment in her pedagogy class, bridging her extensive musical knowledge with an internet savvy garnered during the COVID-19 pandemic. Like many classical musicians active online, she began sharing videos on TikTok and Instagram during quarantine, eventually amassing over 12 million likes and 200,000 followers across both platforms. 

I just thought that was interesting, to look at the reason behind how that happens, why certain songs go viral and certain songs don’t. So we try to figure that out with music theory.

The course begins with an introduction to fundamental music theory, starting with how to read music and working up to rhythm and harmony, all the while relating key concepts back to hit songs. For the final project, students apply the theory they’ve learned to a composition of their own, which Lee eventually posts to her own TikTok account. Whoever’s video gets the most views gets a pass on an assignment of their choice. 

For a seasoned performer like Lee, going back to the basics in this way is a refreshing change of pace, revealing the wisdom of a beginner and inspiring her to think outside the box. 

“They make me think about things that I really haven’t thought about that deeply, about the reasons behind music theory,” Lee says.

Ariel Lee is a graduate student in the Shepherd School of Music.