Music: Composition Specialization, B.M.

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About the Music Bachelor’s Program

The Bachelor of Music in Music has four fields of specialization: music (leading toward teacher certification), composition, performance, and theory. The performance field of specialization includes concentrations in piano, organ, voice, brass, woodwind, percussion, and stringed instruments. The field of specialization in music that leads toward teacher certification replaces the former Bachelor of Music Education.

For requirements in the fields of specialization in Music: Composition Specialization, B.M. , Music: Performance (Organ) Specialization, B.M. , Music: Performance (Piano) Specialization, B.M. , Music: Performance (Stringed Instrument) Specialization, B.M. , Music: Performance (Voice) Specialization, B.M. , Music: Performance (Wind Instrument or Percussion) Specialization, B.M. , and Music: Theory Specialization, B.M. , consult the curriculum cores that appear in the individual programs.

Recommended Curriculum

First Year

Fall

MUAP 1001 - Applied Music V1-4 Semester Credit Hours (2 hours required)
MUCP 1201 - Introduction to Contemporary Music 2 Semester Credit Hours
MUSI 1300 - Creating the Critical Listener 3 Semester Credit Hours
MUTH 1203 - Elementary Music Theory I 2 Semester Credit Hours
MUTH 1103 - Elementary Aural Skills I 1 Semester Credit Hours
ENGL 1301 - Essentials of College Rhetoric 3 Semester Credit Hours
Ensemble 1 Semester Credit Hours
Social & Behavioral Sciences 3 Semester Credit Hours *

Total: 17

Spring

MUAP 1002 - Applied Music V1-4 Semester Credit Hours (2 hours required)
MUCP 1202 - Introduction to Contemporary Music 2 Semester Credit Hours
MUHL 2301 - Music as Cultural History I 3 Semester Credit Hours
MUTH 1204 - Elementary Music Theory II 2 Semester Credit Hours
MUTH 1104 - Elementary Aural Skills II 1 Semester Credit Hours
ENGL 1302 - Advanced College Rhetoric 3 Semester Credit Hours
Ensemble 1 Semester Credit Hours

Total: 14

Second Year

Fall

MUAP 2001 - Applied Music V1-4 Semester Credit Hours (2 hours required)
MUCP 2201 - Music Composition 2 Semester Credit Hours
MUHL 3302 - Music as Cultural History II 3 Semester Credit Hours
MUTH 2203 - Intermediate Music Theory I 2 Semester Credit Hours
MUTH 2103 - Intermediate Aural Skills I 1 Semester Credit Hours
Mathematics 3 Semester Credit Hours *
Ensemble 1 Semester Credit Hours

Total: 14

Spring

MUAP 2002 - Applied Music V1-4 Semester Credit Hours (2 hours required)
MUCP 2202 - Music Composition 2 Semester Credit Hours
MUHL 3303 - Music as Cultural History III 3 Semester Credit Hours
MUTH 2204 - Intermediate Music Theory II 2 Semester Credit Hours
MUTH 2104 - Intermediate Aural Skills II 1 Semester Credit Hours
Ensemble 1 Semester Credit Hours
Language, Philosophy, and Culture 3 Semester Credit Hours *
Oral Communication 3 Semester Credit Hours *

Total: 17

Third Year

Continuance in music composition requires a formal review and approval of all freshman and sophomore work. The principal criteria are completion of all academic requirements through the sophomore year and a grade average in music theory courses of no less than a B.

Fall

MUCP 4341 - Computer Music I 3 Semester Credit Hours
MUCP 3201 - Music Composition 2 Semester Credit Hours
MUTH 3303 - Form, Analysis, and Synthesis 3 Semester Credit Hours
MUCP 4207 - Instrumentation 2 Semester Credit Hours
Life and Physical Sciences 4 Semester Credit Hours *
Ensemble 1 Semester Credit Hours

Total: 15

Spring

MUCP 4342 - Computer Music II 3 Semester Credit Hours
MUCP 3202 - Music Composition 2 Semester Credit Hours
MUTH 4316 - 20th-Century Analysis Techniques 3 Semester Credit Hours
MUCP 4208 - Orchestration 2 Semester Credit Hours
Life and Physical Sciences 4 Semester Credit Hours *
Ensemble 1 Semester Credit Hours

Total: 15

Fourth Year

Fall

MUCP 4201 - Music Composition 2 Semester Credit Hours **
MUTH 4305 - Modal Counterpoint 3 Semester Credit Hours
HIST 2300 - History of the United States to 1877 3 Semester Credit Hours
POLS 1301 - American Government, Organization 3 Semester Credit Hours
Ensemble 1 Semester Credit Hours
Mathematics 3 Semester Credit Hours *

Total: 15

Spring

MUCP 4102 - Music Composition 1 Semester Credit Hours
MUAP 4190 - Senior Recital 1 Semester Credit Hours
MUTH 4307 - Tonal Counterpoint and Fugue 3 Semester Credit Hours
HIST 2301 - History of the United States Since 1877 3 Semester Credit Hours
MUAP 3206 - Conducting 2 Semester Credit Hours
POLS 2302 - American Public Policy 3 Semester Credit Hours
Ensemble 1 Semester Credit Hours

Total: 14

Total Hours: 121

* Choose from the university’s core curriculum .
** Candidates for the Bachelor of Music degree with a field of specialization in music composition are required to present a recital of their original compositions during the senior year. Permission to present the recital must be obtained from the composition faculty one semester prior to the recital.