<p>Hey Guys,
I just finished visiting the campus for the second time and I love BU.
Now I was wondering if any one had any information regarding if BU has a minor in music.
If not Is there a double degree program?
And If not how difficult is it to double major between CAS and the College of Fine arts.</p>
<p>Any information would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks Alot.</p>
<p>There is a minor in music, available to any student, and a CAS BA in music in addition to the BM through CFA.
You may pursue a double degree starting in the second year through BUCOP: Boston University Collaborative Degree Program. This program is not terribly well organized, and very few people actually complete both degrees.
What do you play?</p>
<p>Just a guess but getting an actual double degree with CFA has to be very hard; CFA requires a lot of time and you won't have that much overlap between your CFA and other school requirements.</p>
<p>It is very hard, and those who do it invariably say that their work in both areas of study suffers because their energies are so diffused.
I am a CFA music student, and I was briefly a double degree student (with CAS) but found that I preferred the focused work of one degree. Consider this. Instrumental lessons bear three or four credits (three for the first two years) but require as much as 5-6 hours daily practice for some instruments-- like mine-- totaling 35 or so hours per week. A heavy workload from a CAS class MIGHT require 12-16 hours per week, but only in exceptional circumstances, and half of that would still be normal.
Similar discrepancies exist with ensembles-- you receive 1 credit each for 7.5 hrs of orchestra and chamber music per week.
My point is that taking 20 credits as a CFA/CAS double-degree student means doing work for more like 26 credits worth of CAS classes.</p>
<p>Thanks Alot guys.
Fiddlefrog you said there was a minor in Music at CFA?
NOw i know there is the theory minor available at Cas, but I wondering about more of a performance or education based minor avaliable at CFA?
Also if I major at Cas, do I still have to audtion at the CFA to take advantage of these minors?</p>
<p>oo and BTW I play Alto Sax.</p>
<p>Thanks alot</p>
<p>I don't think you can minor at CFA in a performance field if you are in CAS. You can find this in the CFA Bulletin. All the Bulletins are on the BU site.</p>
<p>I do not think there is a performance "minor" at BU. All performance majors must audition and be accepted on their instrument (including voice). The music minor is not a performance one...Fiddlefrog...correct me if I'm wrong.</p>
<p>You're right, there is no performance or education-based minor.
It's unlikely that a CAS student would be accepted as a student by a CFA professor, although that may change as the new initiative to break down curricular barriers between schools moves forward.</p>
<p>I think there is one CAS kid in the CFA orchestra, but I don't know how that happened.</p>
<p>True-- one! That person is an alum of a prestigious youth orchestra, which was a bit of an "in."</p>
<p>I assume you mean senior GYBSO, which is based at BU, or NEC's Philharmonic - all kids who are thinking of professional careers anyway. </p>
<p>The All-Campus Orchestra, Big Band and Jazz Band play very well.</p>
<p>Well, it was another orchestra (not in Boston), but it doesn't matter, and I'd rather not discuss the details of an individual's education on here.</p>
<p>I've got to say, though, that for a student with sufficient ability to be considering a career in music, the All-Campus Orchestra would not be at all interesting or adequate. It's a bit of a pickle. BU is not a particularly good school for talented musicians who don't want a BM.</p>
<p>If you want a career in music, you need to go to a music school not to a liberal arts school. Playing in a student orchestra and having a music major is nowhere near a music school level.</p>
<p>Lergnom, The college of fine arts at BU offers an excellent music performance major. BU is NOT a "music school" per se. But the music department is considered a conservatory environment within a university. The reality is that even at a conservatory, the student is playing in a "student orchestra". Now...if you are referring to having a music minor and playing in the all campus ensembles, I would agree that for most students, that probably would not be sufficient challenge for a performance career. </p>
<p>Boston University has turned out some fine music majors who have successful careers as musicians.</p>
<p>This is a just a weird semantic point.
BU's CFA music students aren't actually "music majors." Since our degree is a BM, we are more properly defined as "(insert instrument or voice-type) performance majors" or "composition/theory majors" or "music education majors." Saying that someone is a "music major" is saying that they concentrate on music within a broader degree, and that music is the most important component in their degree, but fundamentally the term "music major" refers to a student of the liberal arts and sciences.
While we attend a university and take liberal arts courses for our degrees, such is the dominance of music in our studies that the study of "string performance-- violin" within the degree of Bachelor of Music is analogous to English within a Bachelor of Arts. Music is the large category, within which we have concentrations. For a real music major, liberal arts are the large category, and a broad humanistic approach to music is the specialty.</p>
<p>That was really my point, that music school is the only way you can concentrate in performance and that music school is not a liberal arts college but is more of a "trade" or "craft" school. Same for painting, etc. in CFA.</p>
<p>Happy Thanksgiving, all.</p>
<p>Yes! Happy Thanksgiving!</p>