BACHELOR OF MUSIC IN PERFORMANCE

The Bachelor of Music in Performance is a professional music degree that prepares students for future careers as performers, composers and/or teachers. Concentrations are available in instrumental, vocal, jazz studies, popular music and technology, and composition. The degree requires students to spend approximately two-thirds of their time in music study. The Music Performance degree requires an audition.

Undergraduate students in Music Performance pursue rigorous professional training in music along with a broad liberal arts education. Our students graduate as informed, responsible citizens, with the tools to succeed and communicate effectively as musicians of the 21st Century.

Graduating Students in the BM Performance program will:

• communicate clear musical intentions and understanding;
• demonstrate sufficient understanding of and capability with musical forms, processes, and structures in performance or creative applications according to the requisites of their specializations;
• demonstrate basic understanding of historical awareness in performance or creative applications according to the requisites of their specializations;
• demonstrate sufficient technical ability in performance or creative applications according to the requisites of their specializations; and,
• demonstrate entrepreneurial skills according to the requisites of their specializations.

Concentration in Music Composition

The Bachelor of Music in Performance, Concentration in Composition degree offers outstanding resources to composition students, from our state-of-the-art Alice Virginia Poe Williams Electronic Music Studios to our outstanding computer lab. Our top-notch students and faculty are committed to both traditional compositional styles, as well as new music. This degree program requires two years of private lessons on a primary instrument, along with four years of composition study. Student composers have many opportunities to present their work throughout the academic year. These include regular Student Composers Concerts, large ensemble reading sessions, a “concerto competition” (for composition students as well as performers), and student recitals. The Composition Program also hosts the New Music Festival annually in the Spring semester.

Music scholarships are available for admitted students based upon the audition, including a scholarship specifically for composition majors. Information on this scholarship can be found here.

Concentration in Popular Music and Technology (PopTech)

The Bachelor of Music in Performance, Concentration in Popular Music and Technology (PopTech) offers a course of study for young musicians focused on any genre of popular music, and the intersection of this music with the world of music technology. “Popular music” is used here in the broadest sense, ranging from Rock, Hip-Hop, Salsa, Gospel, Country, Folk, Electronic Dance Music, Rap, and more.

The program requires individual instruction on an instrument or voice, coursework in music technology, composition and improvisation, musicianship, and history, all supporting the work in contemporary popular genres. Students in the program may be primarily vocalists, instrumentalists, rappers, DJs, producers, sound engineers and more. An audition on the students’ primary instrument or in voice that demonstrates their background in popular music, is required.