Bachelor of Arts - Music

Program Description

​The Bachelor of Arts in Music degree is intended for students who wish to combine the study of music with liberal arts and sciences. In addition to music courses, the program is comprised of a broad range of liberal studies courses, along with a year of modern language. Students also take advanced courses in music, developing research skills, which culminate in a final project or paper. The Bachelor of Arts in Music degree prepares students for a variety of careers related to music.​​​​​

Learning Outcomes

Core Outcomes

Students will be able to:

• Perform with an acceptable tone quality, pitch and rhythmic accuracy, dynamic control, articulation, and expressiveness.
• Participate in a musical ensemble, with appropriate technique and musicality.
• Identify and analyze the elements of music in a given piece, including an understanding of its compositional processes, aesthetic properties, and artistic, social, and historical context.
• Identify significant composers and works in the Western music tradition, and trace the evolution of musical styles through the Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, Romantic, and Contemporary periods, as well as in jazz and select world music cultures.
• Hear, notate, analyze, and perform music through aural skills, sight-singing, and keyboard skills.
• Demonstrate basic conducting knowledge and skills for both instrumental and vocal settings.
• Develop an expanded global awareness and cultural understanding through musical study
• Describe basic information about health and safety within the contexts of practice, performing, teaching, and listening; topics will include hearing, vocal, and musculoskeletal health and injury prevention.

Program Specific Outcomes

Students will be able to:

• Perform solo and ensemble works with appropriate techniques and musicality.
• Identify and analyze the elements of music in a given piece, including an understanding of its compositional processes, aesthetic properties, and artistic, social, and historical contexts for works in the Western music tradition, contemporary periods, jazz, and world music cultures.
• Demonstrate an appropriate level of aural, keyboard, and conducting skills.
• Articulate professional goals and knowledge of resources to further those goals.
• Express deepening knowledge of music and culture in both local and global contexts effectively through creative work, speaking, and writing.
• Conduct independent creative or research project that integrates knowledge from multiple fields and makes use of library, oral/aural, textual, and primary source material.