Bachelor of Music with Elective Studies in an Outside Field
This degree is uniquely designed to allow a student to develop highly specialized technical skills and knowledge for an instrument or voice. Excellence as performers is the School’s goal for students majoring in this degree. They are held to a higher standard of technical ability, artistry, and difficulty. In addition, students pursuing this degree will choose an area of elective study outside of music. Various options include: Business, English, Art, Communication, Psychology, and Theatre.
The student takes a minimum 60 required cred its in the major area and supportive courses in music. The most distinctive feature of this degree is the double credit hours given for applied lessons from the sophomore year. This credit is assigned to compensate the student for the double amount of practice time spent to intensely prepare for the weekly applied lesson. The major areas of applied study include voice, piano, organ, harpsichord, orchestral instruments, wind instruments, percussion instruments, and guitar.
Individual performance skills are nurtured in weekly private lessons, weekly studio classes, weekly Recital Hour, monthly recitals, semester-end juried examinations, junior recitals, and senior recitals. Students are required to participate in at least one ensemble per semester, and most students perform in more than one. Large and small ensemble experiences are available in each applied music area. Other required courses specifically designed for this degree program include pedagogy of the instrument/voice and literature of the instrument/voice. Teaching in a discipline invariably leads to the synthesis of knowledge about the subject area as well as heightened clarity of communication of that knowledge.
An additional 18 elective credit hours must be chosen from a field outside of music. The General Education requirements are met by enrolling in 39 credits of the Common Core within the College of Liberal Arts.
Additional requirements for this degree include attendance at 150 recitals during the undergraduate years of study, a 30-minute junior recital, and a 45- to 60- minute senior recital.