Programs and Admissions > Undergraduate > - Majors & Degree Reqts.
The Bachelor of Music Majors
The School of Music admits undergraduate students to specific majors in the Bachelor of Musc (B.Mus.):
- Every major includes four years of private instruction in an instrument or voice. Students can expect private lessons on at least one instrument in every year of their undergraduate program.
- At the heart of each B.Mus. program is a core curriculum of performance (4 years), music scholarship (2 years) and non-music electives (4 years).
- Each major involves a different distribution of required and elective courses, in Music and in other subjects.
General Degree Requirements
Majors
1. Advanced Performance
- Applicants who meet higher standards of performing ability may audition for acceptance into the majors in Advanced Performance:
Note: applicants whose auditions do not qualify them for the Advanced Performance majors are automatically considered for admission to the General Studies major.
2. General Studies (GMUS)
- General Studies is designed to provide a broad, flexible, general higher education in music, including private lessons on the instrument the student plays best.
- General Studies gives students the freedom to choose many elective courses, allowing continuation into various professional options, including graduate degrees.
- Most students in the B.Mus. program are registered in General Studies. Audition requirements.
- Applicants admitted at the General Studies level may freely move between the GMUS, the GSEM and the GSSM majors.
- General Studies majors may:
- audition for transfer to an Advanced Performance major at the end of both first and second year, with permission of the division;
- apply for transfer to the Composition major at the end of first and second year (preferably having taken MUSC 107C); or,
- apply for transfer to the Music Scholarship major at the end of second year.
- Requirements. Advising worksheet.
3. Music Education (GSEM & GSSM)
4. Composition (COMP)
- Students who can demonstrate a special aptitude for Composition may apply to major in it.
- Students applying for enrolment in the Composition Major must enter with proficiency on at least one instrument. Requirements are the same as those for the General Studies concentration on all instruments except piano, where a somewhat lower level (about RCM Grade 8 for 1st year) will be given consideration if the applicant is especially strong creatively.
- If you have chosen the Composition Major (regardless of whether it is your first or second choice), you must submit 3-6 original scores, which are bound double-sided paper copies, plus corresponding labelled CD recordings to the School of Music. Please submit copies (NO hand-written pencil or ink masters) of original scores.
- About the Composition Division.
- Requirements. Advising worksheet.
5. Music Scholarship (MUSS)
Students are not admitted to the Music Scholarship major until the beginning of their third year of studies and may be enrolled in the General Studies Major during their first two years.
Music Scholarship is for students entering third year who have a special aptitude for research in music history, music theory, or ethnomusicology, and who meet the performance requirements of the General Studies major. Students who do not meet the performance standard may also study music scholarship in the Bachelor of Arts with a major in Music.
To gain admission in third year to the Music Scholarship program, students must enter with proficiency on at least one instrument; requirements are the same as those for the third year of the General Studies Major.
- Normally an applicant will not be admitted without at least an overall 80% average in the first- and second-year core courses in music theory and history, at least a 75% average in first-year English.
- Students applying to transfer into the third year of the Music Scholarship major must also:
a) Submit original research papers on historical or analytical topics to the School of Music. One paper is sufficient, but two (good papers) give a better idea of your range of skills, especially if one paper is a history essay and the other a musical analysis.
b) Include an explanation of interest in the Music Scholarship specialization when completing the BMUS Supplementary Application Personal Goals essay question. - About the Theory, Ethnomusicology and Musicology divisions.
- Requirements. Advising worksheet.
