Program Learning Outcomes
Students will demonstrate:
Musicianship and Creativity
1. An understanding of and the ability to read and realize musical notation.
2. The ability to hear, identify, work conceptually, and implement the elements of music such as rhythm, melody, harmony, structure, timbre, and texture.
Critical Thinking, Speaking, and Writing
3. The ability to identify, analyze, and evaluate arguments about music.
4. The ability to develop and defend arguments about music.
Disciplinary Knowledge
5. An acquaintance with a wide selection of musical literature, genres, and cultural sources, as well as with current issues in music scholarship.
6. An understanding of compositional processes, aesthetic properties of musical style, and the ways these shape and are shaped by artistic forces and historical and social contexts.
Music Performance
7. A level of mastery in an instrument or voice commensurate with their level of study and specific to their area of focus, as defined by department standards and recommended by the National Association of Schools of Music (NASM) or National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS).
Departmental Writing Requirement
Each of the following courses includes a writing assignment in formal prose of about ten pages in length, following one of three approaches - analytical, historical, or a combination of these: MUSC 311 , MUSC 315 , MUSC 331 , MUSC 333 , MUSC 334 , MUSC 335 , MUSC 336 , MUSC 337 , MUSC 338 , and MUSC 339 . The organization of each paper should be clear, the writing appropriately literary, and grammatically and syntactically correct. The ideas should present a logical argument, as suggested by an earlier outline. The paper should be typed and doubled-spaced, with page numbers and one-inch margins. All sources consulted should be cited in a consistent manner in footnotes and a complete bibliography, following the standard format described in The Chicago Manual of Style or Kate Turabian’s Manual for Writers. It is the music historian’s responsibility to oversee the implementation of the writing requirement and to enforce a fair and equal standard for all papers submitted.
Students who plan to attend graduate school are strongly advised to complete two years of sudy of a language other than English.