Standards
Overview: The Honors Bachelor of Musical Arts (BMA) is a degree with significant flexibility for the student who wants an active role in designing his/her undergraduate experience at CCPA, a music conservatory within a lively university. Students in this degree complete the curriculum provided for in the university catalog as well as the requirements put forward by the University Honors Program. As a starting place for planning how you could approach the BMA, here are five example tracks. A student using one of these tracks still works with his/her advisor to customize an individual plan.
1. Performance Plus: If you seek the experiences of a performance degree—four full years of lessons, ensembles, and active performance throughout—as well as a secondary, non-music area of study, this is a great approach. It is ideal for strong performers who want equally challenging academic work.
Highlights:
- Applied lessons in all four years
- Large and small ensemble opportunities in all four years
- Performance classes and/or coachings throughout your time
- 18 credits available in a secondary area (this is in addition to core electives in Math, Science, Social Sciences, and Humanities)
2. Arts Leadership: If you are considering a career in arts administration or other music and business ventures, this approach allows you to combine conservatory training with a range of classes in performing arts management, business, and public policy. Students with these interests embrace the programming and work of CCPA’s Center for Arts Leadership (CAL). These students meet with the CAL staff throughout their degree to discuss programming, research, and initiatives, and can partner with the CAL to plan their thesis project.
Highlights:
- Applied lessons in all four years
- Large ensemble opportunities in all four years
- 18–30 credits selected from courses in Arts Management, Business Administration, Business Law, Economics, Political Science, and Psychology
- Collaborative projects through CCPA’s Center for Arts Leadership
3. Music, Art, and Science: If you wish to compliment your music studies with traditional Arts & Sciences offerings, this track provides maximum flexibility. Including your electives, you take 60% of your classes in music and 40% in Arts & Sciences areas. This is a great path for students seeking to pursue graduate-level studies in a music academic field, such as musicology, ethnomusicology, or music theory.
Highlights:
- Many options for course combinations with traditional music study
- 9 credits of upper-level courses/seminars in music theory and music history (beyond the Musicianship and Music History core)
- Applied lessons and ensemble opportunities during part of your degree; larger blocks of time available for reading and research in your later years
4. Music, Mind, and Body: If you want to study in a music conservatory and wish to prepare for graduate-level work in music cognition or music therapy, this approach combines music classes with courses in psychology, biology, and human anatomy and physiology.
Highlights:
- Applied lessons in your primary area as well as music-making experiences in piano, guitar, and percussion
- Psychology offerings available throughout your degree
- Opportunities to propose and complete undergraduate research
5. Music and Event Mgmt.: Drawing together courses in music and those in hospitality and tourism management, this approach allows you to explore and prepare for work in fields such as music tourism and music event planning.
Highlights:
- Applied lessons throughout your degree, if desired
- Course options in multiple hospitality topics
- Courses in both the Music Conservatory and the College of Business