Music Major Requirements

Situated within the liberal arts foundation of the Bachelor of Arts degree, the BA music major welcomes students with diverse backgrounds, abilities, values, passions, and curiosities. The flexibility built into this major creates a space in which students can explore their unique voices and interests, and develop their own transformative creativities.​   

All students will gain experience with basic elements of music—such as time, rhythm, structure, pitch, tuning, and timbre—in specific contexts across different cultures and traditions. Students will experience and participate in different ways of making music. They will also explore musical styles, practices, notations, functions, meanings, and values in cross-cultural and transhistorical contexts. Students will engage critically and creatively with questions, ideas, and sources related to music. And they will explore music’s world-making power, including its connections to issues of social justice. 

Students will work closely with their advisors to build a curriculum in alignment with their creative, intellectual, and vocational goals and aspirations. Students are encouraged to consider possible synergies between their music major work and other elements of their degree work. Students will reflect on their full experience in their major as part of the Senior Seminar. 

The major requires a minimum of 66 units in music, to include:

1. MUSI 100 Experiencing Music (6 units)
2. MUCO 211 Introduction to Musicologies I (6 units)
3. 6 units selected from any courses in MUEN (Music Ensemble Performance Studies) and/or MUIN (Applied Music Individual Instruction)
4. 27 units from at least two of the following groups:
   1. MUCA (Music Composition and Arranging) 
   2. MUCO (Musicology)
   3. MUDA (Dance)
   4. MUEP (Music Education and Pedagogy)
   5. MUJI (Jazz and Improvisational Music)
   6. MURP (Music Repertoire Study), except MURP 361 Acting for Singers
   7. MUSI (Music)
   8. MUTH (Music Theory)
5. 18 units of elective courses in music (any MU** course)
6. MUSI 400: BAM Senior Seminar (3 units) 

The senior experience for the major is a cumulative project that reflects each student’s specific passions and the wide range of activities in the Conservatory.  Students must complete MUSI 400 BAM Senior Seminar as part of this requirement. They will submit a proposal for their senior experience to the BA Music Committee.  Those interested in pursuing an interdisciplinary project that integrates their interests in music with another major are strongly encouraged to consult with their advisors and relevant faculty to plan and negotiate their overall Senior Experience as early as possible. 

The minor requires a minimum of 36 units in music, to include:

1. MUSI 100 Experiencing Music (6 units)
2. MUCO 211 Introduction to Musicologies I (6 units)
3. 3 units selected from any courses in MUEN (Music Ensemble Performance Studies) and/or MUIN (Applied Music Individual Instruction)
4. 12 units from at least two of the following groups:
   1. MUCA (Music Composition and Arranging) 
   2. MUCO (Musicology)
   3. MUDA (Dance)
   4. MUEP (Music Education and Pedagogy)
   5. MUJI (Jazz and Improvisational Music)
   6. MURP (Music Repertoire Study), except MURP 361 Acting for Singers
   7. MUSI (Music)
   8. MUTH (Music Theory)
5. 9 units of elective courses in music (any MU** course)