Music composition is about creativity, imagination, communication and collaboration. It requires highly developed multilinear critical analytical skills, excellent organizational skills and a great deal of attention to detail. Music brings people from different backgrounds and communities together, enhances creativity, develops imaginations and helps you to make emotional connections with people.
Several of our Music Composition program alumni have had highly successful and diverse careers as composers of abstract music and as faculty members and administrators at major institutions. Many others have successfully aligned their creative endeavors with interdisciplinary pursuits in areas such as multimedia, music for film, music therapy, music business, music and management, or entertainment law. Over the years, the Music Composition program has also graduated many alumni who have had highly successful careers in other diverse disciplines: from the sciences, to medicine, to finance, mathematics, and management.
Our Music Composition majors are expected to take composition lessons for at least six semesters, study orchestration and take classes in music theory, music history, electronic music and computer music. Graduating seniors are required to present a senior composition recital which involves 60 minutes of original music and demonstrates their ability to function as independent composers. Music Composition majors also participate in ensembles and are strongly encouraged to take instrument lessons. Piano proficiency, in particular, is generally considered as an invaluable tool for composition.
Though it is not required, composition majors are encouraged to take Composition for Electronic Media and other electronic and computer music courses through the Music Science and Technology program. Composition for Electronic Media examines theoretical and practical aspects of the study of computer and electro-acoustic music composition. Through individual composition projects, this course focuses on developing computer and electro-acoustic compositional techniques with projects in pre-recorded material manipulation, sound synthesis and analysis, music signal processing, algorithmic composition, and music performance systems design, to name a few. There are many other courses offered in the Music Science and Technology that we encourage composition majors to take in order to strengthen their foundations in composing with electronic media. These include Introduction to Computer Applications in Music, Music and Digital Signal Processing, and Algorithmic and Computer Music. For more information regarding these courses please see the Music, Science, & Technology program description.
Our music complex includes a 1,000-seat auditorium, Dixon Hall, a 200-seat recital hall, Dixon Recital Hall, a choral hall, a band room, two computer music labs, and practice rooms that are available 24/7 by student ID card access for students enrolled in music courses. At the end of Spring 2019, construction of a new state-of-the-art recording and electronic music studio will begin. This will be available for use after taking the required training for use of the studio. As the Newcomb Music Department is an All-Steinway School, all of our practice and performance spaces are equipped with Steinway pianos. The University also owns a wide range of other instruments which are available for students to borrow.
Students admitted to the University as intended music majors are eligible for Musicianship Awards. Musicianship Awards are partial scholarships offered to incoming freshmen who are selected by the Office of Undergraduate Admission based on recommendation from faculty and staff to students who have academic credentials and a history of talent and dedication to music, and is only granted to students intending to major in music.