Music BA

About this programme

The Department of Music grants a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in Music and also a minor in Music. The department is dedicated to a liberal education in the Arts and Humanities and introduces students to a wide variety of music practices in performance, music composition and technology, theoretical and creative studies, and historical and cultural studies. The curriculum is responsive to the interests of a diverse student body and offers a broad and flexible program. The major offers pre-professional training for the student seeking a career in music, and also can provide a lasting source of enrichment for students with other career goals. A large number of double majors in the department represent such diverse fields as media studies, data science, psychology, mathematics, physics, economics, comparative literature, and business administration. A performance audition is not required to declare the major. Course of Study Overview All music majors will take foundational courses that explore creative music practice and historical and cultural studies of music via the three required lower-division courses, Music 70, 80, and 90. From there, students may choose to focus their studies on performance practice, theory-composition, or on historical and cultural studies, but will still have additional training in each of the foundational practices. In the upper division courses, students will participate at least three times in a performance ensemble course, take two seminars in music history and ethnomusicology, and take two different rotating topics courses that explore music theory, analysis, composition, and sound studies within the “Making Music” electives.