<p>I'm not sure if this has been discussed before, but an interesting idea popped into my head the other day. I'm a junior in high school, and I'm currently well into my search for where to audition/apply. I value academics and have worked very hard so far in high school, but music is where my passion lies, and where I'd like to develop a career. However, I'd like a college program that has a strong amount of liberal arts/academic requirements and opportunities while still pursuing a BM in Piano Performance.</p>
<p>I know that there are some great programs for students to pursue a BA/BM double degree (Eastman/U of R, Peabody/JHU, Northwestern, Oberlin, among others), but typically the BA in this situation is thought of as a more academic field of study - History, Math, etc. What about combining a BA in Music with a BM in Piano Performance? Considering the amount of academic coursework involved in a BA in Music, it seems like this would allow for the most academic learning while still maintaining the rigorous training of a BM. Additionally, I would think that there would be some overlap in the requirements for each degree, which would make it slightly less difficult to complete.</p>
<p>Is this a completely ridiculous idea? Or is it a fairly common path for kids in my situation that I just haven't read about? Thank you for your ideas/input!</p>
<p>It’s most likely overkill. Much of the music academic (theory, aural training, musicology, music history) is a “heavier” version of the BA equivalent, or requires a couple of additional semesters beyond what the BA equivalent mandates. The BM also has more participatory/ensemble requirements than a BA. </p>
<p>If you want more “music”, you might consider a BM double major within music. Performance/composition, or perf/music history, perf/music theory, perf/ music ed (or pedagogy). Many schools offer that option (either as 4 or 5 year programs). Also there a few BM/MM combo programs out there that are typically of 5 year duration. </p>
<p>I just can’t see the logic of a BA music/BM as a dual pursuit, but I may be missing something.</p>
<p>The difference is in the depth of study required in musicology for a BA (and the faculty - BA faculty will be mostly PhD’s, often with composers teaching theory). A BA in music at Harvard or Berkeley, for example, requires more courses in music history, and some in ethnomusicology, and fewer in some of the theory requirements typical for a BMus. A BA degree also requires more academic courses overall. The tradeoff is fewer performance requirements, and many are simply extracurricular. Even at Oberlin, where there is a large academic faculty, especially in theory, the requirements for a BMus. in performance includes only 1 (2 for piano) upper division theory and upper division music history (2 for piano) course of your choice, and no ethnomusicology is required. It is possible to double major in musicology (at Oberlin you can’t do a double degree in music performance and music history, though – it is a double major BMus), or just take the courses that are of interest and are not required. But the courses outside the major in the college would be less extensive.</p>
<p>A BA in music is usually a “general” degree that includes music history and analysis (which is like the theory requirements in a conservatory), some piano skills, some performance activities; depending on the school, it could include ethnomusicology (Stanford is an exception) or theory (Berkeley has no theorists; composers and adjuncts teach the analysis and counterpoint courses, etc.). It is primarily music history, i.e., most of the faculty have PhDs in musicology (music history). West of the Mississippi, there aren’t many theory departments, though it is common in the NE universities.</p>
<p>It is not likely that a BA in music will require any courses that a regular BM would require, so this is not necessary. You could pursue a BA in another liberal arts/humanities curriculum or a BS in a mathematical/scientific area concurrent with your music studies. If you enter with many AP or otherwise acquired advanced placement credits, it will be easier to make it all work. Good luck.</p>
<p>Oberlin specifically prohibits the BA in Music as an option in their double degree program. If you want a BM and a BA there, the BA must be in some other field. Their BA Music program is approximately structured as two years of mostly core courses (with maybe one music course per semester) followed by the rough equivalent of the first two years of the BM program (with about one non-music course per semester.)</p>
<p>the requirements for academic music courses for a major at a typical university BA program are significantly greater than for those in a BMus program. For example, UC Berkeley, a top music department, requires harmony and musicianship and around 10 additional courses in history/ethno - in addition to all the breadth requirements for a BA.
here is the list of requirements for an undergrad music degree – lots of academic courses but only 3 semesters of performance:
Lower Division:
49A, Introduction to Criticism
Musicianship series (49B, 50, 51)
Harmony series (49C, 60, 61)
History and Culture series: four courses from 74-77 as follows:
76 (18th and 19th centuries)
74 (topics in musics of the world)
75 (music to 1700) or 77 (20th century)
75, 77, or another section of 74
Upper Division:
One seminar from 170-189
A minimum of 21 additional units of music major courses from 130-189 and other upper division music courses with an M suffix. Must include at least three semesters of performance from 140-149 and/or 150A-H (excluding 150C).</p>
<p>Just proof-read # 7, and I left out a “not”. Should have been “It is not likely that a BA in music will require any courses that a regular BM would NOT require.” (On my way out the door, sorry about that mistake.) The BA is the academic degree as opposed to the BM in applied music or music theater, BME in music education, or BMT in music therapy. In the same way, the PhD is the doctoral degree for a musicologist or theorist, but the DMA is the doctoral degree from performers and composers, and the EdD is the doctoral degree from most music education programs. Dissertations are more performance based in the DMA, though there will be a written document.</p>
<p>It’s definitely a bit easier to schedule additional music academic coursework into a performance BM curriculum than it would be to add performance based curriculum into an academic music BA pursuit. Flexibility would vary across institution. A number of schools offering the BA limit private lesson times (or add additional fees), and any number of higher level ensemble opportunities may be closed to all but performance majors, although a high level performer may be able to wrangle a way in.</p>
<p>Once the non music academic degree requirements are out of the way, remaining electives could be slotted with music coursework in as broad or narrow an area of interest as the schedule and student’s interests allow.</p>
<p>Good AP scores and institutional policy might also allow some of the general degree requirements to be fulfilled, freeing up additional open slots.</p>
<p>It’s very doable to have an extremely academically music focused degree beyond the minimal BM requirements. The question becomes what is the purpose of the second music centered BA.<br>
Is the extra sheepskin itself the goal, is it for the purpose of acquiring a broader general overview, or a deep concentration in a specific sub discipline, or a potential change of direction for post grad study? </p>
<p>It may also be possible to treat the extra academic music as a minor. Institutional policy would dictate the parameters and requirements, as well as the whether the minor is “official” and recognized as such on the transcript.</p>
<p>Okay, this is all definitely starting to make more sense to me… I don’t think I completely understood the differences between a BM and BA in Music. Violadad, the purpose of the BA would be to get a broader scope of music as a whole and to be as well-rounded in music as possible. So would the best way get a performance degree and training while still having a broad academic learning experience would be to pursue the BM but fill my elective slots with “broader” coursework? Specifically, I’d like to study higher level theory, conducting, and arts administration alongside Piano Performance.</p>
<p>you could probably add conducting, theory, and arts administration (if offered…probably not a typical offering in either BA or BMus programs) in a BMus program. They are not really going to be any central part of a BA program (with the possible exception of theory, but then you are talking advanced theory, like Schenkerian analysis); maybe one or two courses would be offered, because conducting and arts administration are not academic subjects. Unless you want to take a lot of music history and general courses (a.k.a., breadth requirements, distribution requirements, core courses), you needn’t go the BA route for piano performance, conducting, or even arts administration.<br>
The DMA route has a different trajectory than the PhD - musicology professors usually have PhDs and most departments won’t hire a DMA for those positions. There is so much competition for jobs that even PhDs with publications have a hard time finding them.</p>
<p>Have you found the degree requirements for BM piano performance degrees on the websites of the schools you’re interested in? (Sometimes you really have to look hard - info may be in a downloadable student handbook or other PDF file.)</p>
<p>I think you might be pleasantly surprised at the number of music courses outside of applied music lessons and ensembles that BM degrees typically require. For example in theory, many BM programs require 2 full years of “basic” theory - ear training, analysis, etc., a semester of “Form and Analysis”, a counterpoint class and an additional theory elective or two. If you test out of the earlier requirements, you can start the sequence at a higher level and add more electives of your own choice. Similarly with music history, generally 2 or 3 semesters required plus an elective of choice. Conducting is standardly offered or required in BM programs as is some type of Symphonic Literature or Chamber Literature or Opera Literature or Whatever Literature! The BA in Music may well require far fewer music courses, but more courses in other disciplines.</p>
<p>Don’t know if that’s the sort of course work you’re hoping for - but directly comparing requirements at a few places may be interesting for you.</p>
<p>Fiddlestix - I was looking around at a few of the degree requirements today, and it sounds like the BA in Music/BM thing I was talking about is indeed completely unnecessary. Northwestern in particular allows piano perf. majors 12 units of electives, 6 of which must be outside of music. The other 6 can be music or something else. Additionally, there are 6 required units at the College of Arts and Sciences in Psychology, History, Science, etc. This sounds like an ideal program for me - it combines a performance degree with the opportunity for a broad musical education against some liberal arts coursework, assuming I’m reading all of this correctly. However, a few other programs that I looked at seem to have much less flexibility within the BM program for electives, both music and non-music.</p>
<p>Rice has some pretty broad elective requirements, too, 12 classes over 3 broad distribution areas, only 3 covered with Music history. I think you will find that sort of thing in the universities’ music schools instead of conservatories.</p>
<p>I would check any conservatory of interest before assuming that the liberal arts or general education credit requirements will be insignificant. It’s pretty typical that one liberal art/gen ed course (or AP credit) is expected for most semesters even at stand alone conservatories like Juilliard, NEC, CIM. You can probably find course listings on-line along with the degree requirements.</p>
<p>If you are going to get a double degree, you might as well get the BA in another field. The BA Music requirements tend to be a subset of the BM degree. That then allows you take additional courses outside your major to fullfill the remaining credit requirements. If you do a double degree, then all your BM courses would apply to the BA degree, and you are left with additional “electives” to fullfill the additional credit requirements of the double degree. At that point, the “electives” might as well be the other academic major that is of interest to you. There are not that many general music classes that you will not take as a BM major that you would take as a BA major.</p>