The program is geared toward preparing students for graduate school or for careers as professional composers. The instructors are working composers, who provide a professional intensity to the undergraduate experience by means of one-on-one tutorials from the very first quarter, small seminar courses unique in approach and creative in design, and special projects. Typical past projects have included courses devoted to the recording of student-authored music, production of a musical cooperatively authored by the students as a group, as well as efforts pairing student composers with student choreographers and resulting in a public show. The College also sponsors short-term residencies by visiting composers of national and international stature, with an accent on student access to these figures.

Students considering the music emphasis should have a basic knowledge of musical rudiments, be able to read and write standard musical notation, and must also demonstrate a talent for composing in the work submitted upon application. Successful admittees commonly demonstrate a great deal more musical background than the average college freshman.

CURRICULUM OUTLINE

The highly malleable CCS curriculum design enables an individual’s course of study to bend in the direction of personal interests and goals, even as it maintains solid integrity in the form of a core curriculum. At the very center of this core is individual instruction with a composition teacher who also serves as an academic adviser. While this direct composition instruction is provided by CCS, students also take many courses in the Department of Music in the College of Letters and Science.

A thumbnail sketch of a typical four year program includes:

Years One and Two:
Required work in Harmony and Ear Training (a 2-year course sequence in each). Private composition instruction supervised through CCS. Work on University General Education requirements and the College’s “breadth requirements,” a group of 8 courses broadly distributed in the arts and sciences. A first jury must be passed at the end of year two.

Year Three:
A second jury of student work must be submitted at this year’s end, and must be entirely fresh in content. Required upper division coursework in orchestration (one full year), counterpoint, and contemporary compositional techniques (one full year). Required completion of three courses of music history, with historical focus eras chosen by the student. Full participation in specialized CCS seminar courses is also expected in both years three and four. In every year, participation in the class that records student work is required of all students.

Year Four:
Crowned by the student’s graduation recital, this year continues the work begun in year three. Additionally, the adviser will usually prescribe at least a year’s work in one of several available course streams in computerized/electroacoustic music.
Further coursework might include a course in tonal (traditional) analysis or an elementary conducting course, or possibly a course in alternative musical tuning systems.

Ensemble and private instrumental instruction are not required but highly encouraged. Almost all students subscribe to one or both. But as the above sketch makes clear, the program is overwhelmingly focused on COMPOSITION.

For further information please contact
Dr. Jeremy Haladyna
Prof. Leslie Hogan