Music Composition Certificate
Program Overview
Tools and software for music creation and notation, as well as work-sharing platforms like Soundcloud, Bandcamp, and YouTube, have been developed and imbedded into the fabric of our current music culture. As such, a number of non-composition music major students are exploring their own musical creativity outside of the formal setting of coursework. This certificate program would encourage and enable students to further hone their compositional skills, helping them to become more knowledgeable, adaptable, and ultimately, more marketable in their chosen field. The program emphasizes the skills, content knowledge, and experiences essential to a composer in the 21st century including three semesters of individual lessons, a course in orchestration, courses in music software and sound studies, and courses in advanced music theory.
Admissions Information
Freshman/First-Year Admission
Admission requires junior standing, an application interview with the certificate director, completion of MUS 2040 - Dictation and Sight Singing IV, non-composition music major, and completion of MUS 2020 - Music Theory IV with a minimum grade of C.
Transfer Admission
Admission requires junior standing, an application interview with the certificate director, completion of MUS 2040 - Dictation and Sight Singing IV, non-composition music major, and completion of MUS 2020 - Music Theory IV with a minimum grade of C.
Opportunities Upon Graduation
The program will benefit non-composition music majors such as those seeking to enhance their teaching of music through the experience of music creation, those performance majors enrolled in the new CMDI program, and/or those creating music for therapeutic purposes. The program gives them necessary skills for all of these endeavors such as score/part preparation, digital music creation and distribution, analysis, and arranging.