Bachelor of Music in Performance
The Bachelor of Music in Performance Degree is uniquely designed to allow a student to develop highly specialized technical skills and knowledge for their instrument or voice. Excellence as performers is the School's goal for all students. Those majoring in performance, however, are held to a higher standard of technical ability, artistry and difficulty than those pursuing the other degrees offered in music.
The student takes approximately 65 percent of their required credits in the major area and in the 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 concert practice, 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. Students are encouraged to teach with remuneration in the Townsend School of Music Preparatory Program.
Other required supportive courses in music for this degree consist of sequences in music theory, musicianship, form and analysis, counterpoint, music history and conducting. An additional 12 music elective credit hours must be chosen from the array of course offerings within Townsend School of Music. The general studies requirements are met by taking 29 credits of the Common Core and 12 credits from the Distributional Program within the College of Liberal Arts.
Additional requirements for this degree include a functional keyboard proficiency examination, a sight-singing skills proficiency examination, attendance at 72 recitals during the undergraduate years of study, a 30-minute junior recital and a 45- to 60-minute senior recital.