BA vs. BM

College Majors Music Major
1

<p>Hello,</p>

<p>This may be a thread started elsewhere that I have yet to stumble upon but I was wondering what everybody thinks about a Bachelor of arts in Music vs. a Bachelor of Music degree. Also, for people who are very interested in music but may want to go on to Law school which degree would be more beneficial. I know a BA in music would encompass more applicable skills to be used in law school but wouldn't it be easier to have a high GPA in a BM program while still taking pre-law conscience classes? Finally, how did all the BM students out there decide they wanted to pursue music full time? </p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

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<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/991007-difference-between-bachelor-music-bach-arts.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/991007-difference-between-bachelor-music-bach-arts.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Are you talking vocal or instrumental?</p>

3

<p>Don’t decide based on future plans for law school. That would be my advice, anyway.</p>

<p>The BM is intensely focused on music, and performance, obviously, with 3/4+ classes geared to music and lot of time spent practicing, rehearsing, performing.</p>

<p>The BA is usually 1/3, or 1/2 at the most, classes in music, with emphasis on academic music classes such as history, theory, ethnomusicology, composition. Some schools w/BA programs have classes that involve performance, but most instrumental/voice study is on your own, in lessons, and you have to find time to practice. Student orchestras and ensembles are available at almost all schools.</p>

<p>Schools with BA music majors differ in the requirements outside of music. Some have extensive distribution requirements, others don’t.</p>

<p>Other options are majoring in something entirely different than music and doing music on your own, with participation in ensembles; double degree BA/BM (Bard, Oberlin, Tufts/NEC for instance) or double degree BA/MM (Harvard/NEC).</p>

<p>Visit some conservatories, and some college music departments. Think about what you want to do for those 4 years. You can apply to law school if you follow either path, and you may end up not even wanting to go to law school anyway.</p>

<p>By the way, don’t assume you would have a higher GPA in a BM program! And don’t assume a music major in a BA program is easy, either!</p>

4

<p>A Bachelor of Arts is an academic degree; most course work is in theory, musicology, etc. with some performance; A Bachelor of Music is a performance degree, with some course work in theory, musicology, other academic subjects, but a major emphasis on performance. Be sure to check carefully; depending on the school, a BA degree may not even offer substantial credit for performing ensembles, lessons, etc.
The end result in the “real world”: both are excellent credentials for whatever one may want to do in life; the decision is about the particulars of the courses, and especially whether performace will be a big part of the undergraduate experience or not.</p>

5

<p>The truth is that there are really no “pre-law” classes that do much to prepare you for law school, except maybe for classes in which you write. So I agree that you don’t need to worry about that too much.</p>