<p>If student finds out that they don't want a straight performance degree (BM), is it possible (or how hard would it be) to switch degree to BA in Music? A general question....just in case :)))</p>
<p>It’s usually fairly painless going from a performance BM or BFA to a music BA within the matriculated institution, a bit harder going from the BA to BM/BFA as there typically is a departmental approval and audition process.</p>
<p>But the devil is in the details, and the ideal place to start is within a school’s undergrad handbook (and/or music specific supplement). The undergrad handbook is the operative policy document for all aspects of an institution’s working nitty-gritty, and will explain the necessary processes and procedures to change degree paths/majors. </p>
<p>Things to look for are the effect on private lessons (you may go from faculty to a TA/GA as the instructor, time may drop from an hour weekly to a half hour, lessons may now be at added cost); certain ensembles and performing organizations for BM candidates may be closed to BA or non-major students; change in degree paths will change degree requirements, so it is important to look at additional coursework requirements in changing paths. It may add some extra time if the student needs to play catch-up. Remember that a BM is typically more music course centric, and a BA has more credits within liberal arts and elective requirements. The music credits earned as a BM candidate may not all apply to meet the BA degree requirements, as there may be limits to total credits within a concentration.</p>
<p>violadad, you are truly amazing. You have such a huge wealth, breadth and depth of knowledge of this music process. What’s even more incredible is your insanely rapid response time!!! Although I obviously do not know you, I feel very confident and secure in the information that you pass on to the parents as well as the kids. As I have mentioned somewhere along the way, I only wish that I had found this site BEFORE the application and audition process :)) Would have saved some stressful moments…lol.</p>
<p>Thanks again for this information. SO helpful, as usual ;)</p>
<p>While it would depend a lot on the individual school or schools involved, a BA degree often involves distribution requirements in many different subjects that normally would not be covered in a BM program. If you are talking about switching after first semester of freshman year, it may still be possible without adding an extra semester to the normal curriculum. Much later than that and you are probably looking at taking more than four years to get the BA.</p>
<p>The normal curriculum for a first year BM would include the applied lesson, a music theory/ear training class, a music history class, participation in an ensemble or two, a basic skills piano class (if not a keyboard major), a freshman writing class and maybe one elective. A voice major would have a foreign language class (probably Italian first year) and a diction class, possibly at the expense of moving the music history sequence back a year.</p>
<p>Of those, the writing class and the foreign language class, plus maybe the music history class might serve to cover part of the BA distribution requirements. Others might fit into free elective slots in the BA curriculum, but then the student would not have many free electives left probably until senior year if at all.</p>
<p>If a transfer is involved, the situation can be even worse because music schools are notorious for not allowing transfer credit for another school’s music theory classes. A student transferring from a BM program at one school into a BA program elsewhere might be able to test out of part of the music theory requirement, but the credits for having taken the classes usually will not transfer.</p>
<p>Thanks, but the reason I’m here is to try and help others make sense of this process, which we as neophytes found intimidating and confusing. Son was looking at narrowing grad school choices when I wandered in, and I was astonished to find such a wealth of knowledge and helpful contributors already here.</p>
<p>I just “joined the club”.</p>
<p>This comment probably is not relevant to jmom91’s specific situation. Just wanted to mention that not all colleges/universities offering Bachelor of Music degree also offer Bachelor of Arts in Music. Also, for some places that offer both, the BA might not be administered (?) by the music dept./school, but by the division of arts and sciences within the college/university.</p>
<p>Quite true, which is why a transfer may be needed to make the change from BM to BA.</p>
<p>Bassdad, I have a hypothetical question about what you just said. In some colleges/universities with very strong music schools, the admission is strongly linked to audition and some great musicians who are accepted to a top music school might not have been admitted to the college of arts and sciences of the same college/university. Would such a person have an easier time transferring into arts and sciences for music major than the same person would have had applying to arts and sciences in the first place, in which academics would have been a bigger factor and there would have been no audition? For example, I have heard of people who were accepted to Oberlin Conservatory but NOT the college. Would such a person have an easier time transferring in from the conservatory?</p>
<p>Oberlin is a special case. Conservatory students take an average of one class per semester in the College. It is possible to transfer from being only in the Conservatory to the Dual Degree program pretty easily. All it takes is filling out a form and getting recommendations from two teachers from the College whose courses you have taken as electives. Someone could do that, and then drop the major in the Conservatory. Note that it is not possible to be a music major simultaneously in the Conservatory and the College, so if someone in the Con wanted to become a music major in the College, it might be simpler to do another way. It would theoretically be possible, however, to declare a non-music major in the college for the purpose of getting into the dual degree program, then drop the Conservatory program and then change majors in the college. If that is the intent, I would highly recommend talking to the College music department, because they may prefer the student to take a direct route rather than the roundabout one.</p>
<p>Transferring into the dual degree program from the College side is not at all easy, because the auditions still have to be passed. It happens occasionally, but not nearly so much as traffic going the other way.</p>
<p>There may or may not be similar paths for students at other schools to transfer from Conservatory to College. Obviously someone wishing to transfer into a BA program is going to have to meet the admissions standards of the receiving school when more than one school is involved.</p>
<p>Rice has an established path to transfer from BM to BA in music to accommodate those students who discover while they are there that the life of a career musician or singer is not what they want. They do change the lessons, the performance requirements and ensembles and some of the other required BM classes. You cannot enter Rice for a BA in music, you can only transfer into it. </p>
<p>Much better to help those students transition to music as an avocation than to turn out degreed students that are not well served. I imagine each school is different though.</p>
<p>I’ve learned you have to plan out your 4 years of study from day 1. Find out the degree requirements for BM and for BA. Usually the first 2 years are very similar, so you have time.</p>
<p>My son is a freshmen, and has decided to go for the BA so he can double major with Business. Even so, he is likely to end up 3/4 of the way to a BM. He wants to go to grad school in voice, and there are a lot of classes that he should have even if the BA doesn’t require it (like 3 languages vs. 2).</p>
<p>Planning out a full program of studies from day 1 is a very good idea for those who want to graduate without requiring an extra semester or two. I find that the similarity between BM and BA programs depends a lot on the school and the particular curricula involved.</p>
<p>Voice majors are more likely to find a change possible later in their academic career because the foreign language studied in the first year of a BM program will usually correspond directly to the requirements for the BA. Extra languages studied in later years can sometimes be made to count for something required for the BA as well. </p>
<p>An instrumentalist may have more credits in music courses in the first four semesters of a BM program than one in a BA program would get in four years. If the switch is made at the end of the second year in a case like that, there may not be enough time left to satisfy all of the breadth requirements outside of the major, particularly if some of them have to be taken in strict sequence. The moral is to study those course catalogs very carefully and make frequent updates to the plan that was made on day 1.</p>
<p>Thank you all so much for your responses! D would be staying with one school, not transferring. (one hopes she will love it as much at the end of 4 years as she does now!) But she is also becoming more cognizant of the realities of the job market at the end of those 4 years without some general studies courses.</p>
<p>This has been quite an experience! Too bad my 2nd child is not on the music path, because I am almost an expert now, thanks, in part, to all of you!!!</p>
<p>BassDad, ViolaDad, THANK YOU.</p>