Music: History
All prospective undergraduate music majors must audition on an instrument or voice and be accepted into the Mead Witter School of Music at the music major level (200 level) of performance study according to standard admission procedures. For students desiring to major in music history, subsequent private lessons are not required and may only be available as space permits in individual studios.
Students interested in this major must talk with the MUSIC 211 Survey of the History of Western Music or MUSIC 212 Survey of the History of Western Music professor (whichever course they are enrolled in at the time) and/or the chair of the musicology area. In addition, they must notify the music advisor of their intentions.
Students must prepare the petition for admission to the major during the semester in which they are taking the second music history survey course. They must also be completing or have already completed MUSIC 221 Musica Practica 3/MUSIC 271 Musica Practica: Aural Skills 3 and MUSIC 222 Musica Practica 4/MUSIC 272 Musica Practica: Aural Skills 4. The petition must consist of:
- a written request to the chair of the musicology area outlining the reasons they wish to declare a major in music history and
- a selection of papers and other written assignments completed for MUSIC 211, MUSIC 212, and other academic music courses.
All application materials must be submitted to the chair no later than the end of the semester they are completing the MUSIC 211–MUSIC 212 sequence. Applicants must also submit a campus copy of their transcript once final grades have posted.
Musicology faculty will consider the application at the next meeting of the musicology faculty. Applications submitted in May at the completion of MUSIC 212 will be reviewed in September. The Area will decide whether to admit students to the music history major on the basis of grades in MUSIC 211 and MUSIC 212, cumulative grade point average (GPA), samples of written prose, and letters of application. The admission decision is based on multiple factors, and there is no minimum GPA that will guarantee admission to the music history major. However, the musicology faculty does expect that a serious applicant would have attained minimum GPAs of 3.250 in the following areas:
As with admission to all majors within the Mead Witter School of Music, the musicology area faculty has the final authority to accept or deny a petition for admission.
The area will assign each admitted student a faculty advisor for planning advanced work in the major and supervising the senior capstone paper.
Students may not enroll in more than one advanced music history course following completion of MUSIC 211–MUSIC 212 pending acceptance to the major.
Students wishing to apply to the major after completion of MUSIC 211–MUSIC 212 and/or after completion of more than one advanced musicology course must submit an additional petition explaining why they are applying late. If a late applicant is admitted, the Area may choose to accept all, part, or none of the advanced-level work completed prior to acceptance to the major.
Music: History Option Requirements
To qualify for the music history option, a student must earn a grade of C or better in each music course taken after formal admission to and declaration of the option.
| Code | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Music Courses in Music Theory | ||
| MUSIC 121 & MUSIC 171 | Musica Practica 1 and Musica Practica: Aural Skills 1 (prerequisite course requirements) | 4 |
| MUSIC 122 & MUSIC 172 | Musica Practica 2 and Musica Practica: Aural Skills 2 (prerequisite course requirements) | 4 |
| MUSIC 221 & MUSIC 271 | Musica Practica 3 and Musica Practica: Aural Skills 3 (prerequisite course requirements) | 4 |
| MUSIC 222 & MUSIC 272 | Musica Practica 4 and Musica Practica: Aural Skills 4 | 4 |
| Music Courses in Music History | ||
| MUSIC 211 | Survey of the History of Western Music | 3 |
| MUSIC 212 | Survey of the History of Western Music | 3 |
| Music Courses in Advanced-level Music History | ||
Select four of the following: | ||
| Music Cultures of the World: Africa, Europe, the Americas | ||
| Musical Cultures of the World | ||
| Musical Cultures of the World | ||
| Music of S.E. Asia: Tradition, Innovation, Politics, and Religion | ||
| Seminar: Cultural Study of Music | ||
| Survey of Music in the Middle Ages | ||
| Survey of Music in the Renaissance | ||
| Survey of Music in the Baroque Era | ||
| Survey of Music in the Classic Era | ||
| Survey of Music in the Romantic Era | ||
| Survey of Music in the Twentieth Century | ||
| Music in the United States | ||
MUSIC 500 | ||
| Historical Performance Practices | ||
| Survey of Opera | ||
| Music Course for Senior Capstone Paper | ||
| MUSIC 499 | Directed Study | 3 |
| Music Elective Courses | ||
| Select 3 credits of music electives | 3 | |
| Music Course in Piano | ||
| MUS PERF 102 | Beginning Class Piano (or pass proficiency exam) | 2 |
Residence & Quality of Work
2.000 GPA in all MUSIC, MUS PERF and major courses
15 credits in MUSIC and/or MUS PERF, taken on campus
Courses that count toward this requirement are:
| Code | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Music (660) Courses | ||
| MUSIC 40 | Wind Ensemble | 1 |
| MUSIC 41 | Concert Band | 1 |
| MUSIC 50 | Concert Choir | 1 |
| MUSIC 52 | Women's Chorus | 1 |
| MUSIC 53 | Choral Union | 1 |
| MUSIC 55 | Masters' Singers | 1 |
| MUSIC 61 | Chamber Orchestra | 1 |
| MUSIC 62 | University Symphony Orchestra | 1 |
| MUSIC 211 | Survey of the History of Western Music | 3 |
| MUSIC 212 | Survey of the History of Western Music | 3 |
| MUSIC 221 | Musica Practica 3 | 3 |
| MUSIC 222 | Musica Practica 4 | 3 |
| MUSIC 256 | University Opera | 1-2 |
| MUSIC 262 | Jazz Ensemble | 1 |
| MUSIC 265 | Ensemble-Woodwind | 1 |
| MUSIC 266 | Black Music Ensemble | 1 |
| MUSIC 267 | Ensemble-Brass | 1 |
| MUSIC 268 | Ensemble-Percussion | 1 |
| MUSIC 269 | Ensemble-String | 1 |
| MUSIC 270 | Ensemble-Guitar | 1 |
| MUSIC 271 | Musica Practica: Aural Skills 3 | 1 |
| MUSIC 272 | Musica Practica: Aural Skills 4 | 1 |
| MUSIC 273 | Contemporary Chamber Ensemble | 1 |
| MUSIC 319 | Topics in Music and Ethnicity in the United States | 3 |
| MUSIC 331 | Jazz Improvisation | 3 |
| MUSIC 332 | Jazz Improvisation | 3 |
| MUSIC 340 | Pedagogy | 1-2 |
| MUSIC 345 | Practicum in String Pedagogy | 2 |
| MUSIC 361 | 1 | |
| MUSIC/AFROAMER 400 | Music Cultures of the World: Africa, Europe, the Americas | 3 |
| MUSIC/FOLKLORE 401 | Musical Cultures of the World | 3 |
| MUSIC/FOLKLORE 402 | Musical Cultures of the World | 3 |
| MUSIC/FOLKLORE 404 | Music of S.E. Asia: Tradition, Innovation, Politics, and Religion | 3 |
| MUSIC 411 | Survey of Music in the Middle Ages | 3 |
| MUSIC 412 | Survey of Music in the Renaissance | 3 |
| MUSIC 413 | Survey of Music in the Baroque Era | 3 |
| MUSIC 414 | Survey of Music in the Classic Era | 3 |
| MUSIC 415 | Survey of Music in the Romantic Era | 3 |
| MUSIC 416 | Survey of Music in the Twentieth Century | 3 |
| MUSIC 419 | Music in the United States | 3 |
| MUSIC 461 | Collegium Musicum | 1 |
| MUSIC 467 | Language Diction for Singing I | 2 |
| MUSIC 468 | Language Diction for Singing II | 2 |
| MUSIC 497 | Special Topics in Music | 1-3 |
| MUSIC 499 | Directed Study | 1-3 |
| 500 level and above | ||
| Music Performance (664) | ||
| MUS PERF 342 | Piano Accompanying Lab | 1 |
| MUS PERF 347 | Third Year Composition | 3 |
| MUS PERF 348 | Third Year Composition | 3 |
| 400 level and above | ||