Music: Major Information

An audition is required for admission to the Major in Music.  Click here for more information.

Total credit hours to complete major: 43

Basic Requirements (all Options)

Total credit hours to complete basic requirements: 22

Option Requirements

Total credit hours to complete option requirements: 13

Composition Option

Conducting Option

Ethnomusicology Option

History and Literature Option

Music Theory Option

Performance Option

Additional Requirements: 8 semester hours maximum

Meeting the following requirements and the Minimum Competence Requirement (stated below) are prerequisite to continuance in an Option.

1. Participation in the following specified performance organizations offered under MUSC 160 or 165 each semester in an Option (NOTE: a maximum of eight semester hours may be applied to the degree).
   • Composition, Conducting, History and Literature, or Music Theory Options: MUSC 160 or 165 organization.
   • Ethnomusicology Option: MUSC 165 String Band.
   • Performance Option-Piano: a MUSC 160 or 165 organization, or an equivalent activity approved by the Piano Coordinator; also, participation in the weekly Piano Seminar.
   • Performance Option-Voice: a MUSC 160 organization (placement by audition); also, participation in the weekly Voice Seminar.
   • Performance Option-Woodwind, Brass, or Percussion: MUSC 165 Chamber Symphony, Wind Ensemble, or Jazz Ensemble (placement by audition); also, participation in the weekly Instrumental Seminar.
   • Performance Option-String: MUSC 165 Symphony Orchestra; also, participation in the weekly Instrumental Seminar
2. Attendance at five, non-participatory, on-campus concerts each semester; concerts to be selected from a list approved by the Music Faculty
3. Performance Option only: jury examination each semester in the Option, performance each semester in the Option in a Friday afternoon recital or in some other public, faculty-sponsored event approved by the principal instructor; solo performance of approximately one half-hour in a shared Junior Recital.

Minimum Competence Requirement

A grade of C- or better is required for each of the following courses and requirements: all basic requirement courses (both common and option courses), and the performance organization requirement(s) for the Option; for the Performance Option, a grade of C- or better is required in jury and Junior Recital.

Department Writing Requirement

Each of the following courses includes a writing assignment in formal prose of about ten pages in length, following one of three approaches - analytical, historical, or a combination of these: MUSC 311, 331, 333, 335, and 338.  The organization of each paper should be clear, and the writing appropriately literary, and grammatically and syntactically correct.  The ideas should present a logical argument, as suggested by an earlier outline.  The paper should be typed and double-spaced, with page numbers and one-inch margins.  All sources consulted should be cited in a consistent manner in footnotes and a complete bibliography, following the standard format described in The Chicago Manual of Style or Kate Turabian's Manual for Writers.  It is the music historian's responsibility to oversee the implementation of the writing requirement and to enforce a fair and equal standard for all papers submitted.