With an international reputation for innovation and excellence, Wesleyan’s Music Department attracts students from around the globe to study, perform, and compose music that draws on the diversity of the world’s rhythms and technologies. Music majors enjoy the benefits of a rigorous and creative liberal arts experience, along with diverse offerings in music, including Western classical music, new music with an emphasis on acoustical explorations, African American, Indonesian, Indian, and African musics, and European and American music outside the art tradition.
Wesleyan music majors have attained recognition as recording and concert artists, music producers, journalists, scholars, and composers. MA and PhD programs are also offered.
What You'll Study
- As a music major, you’ll design your own individualized program, balanced between classroom and performance courses, in consultation with your advisor.
- Possible foci of study include Western classical music; new music with an emphasis on acoustical explorations; African American, Indonesian, Indian, and African musics; and European and American music outside the art tradition. Because diversity of musical experience is expected, at least two music credits must be outside your main area of interest.
- Music major requirements include four courses in each of three capabilities (theory/composition, history/culture, and performance) and two 300-level seminars. A senior project—a concert, written thesis, substantial musical composition, or combination of those options—is also required.
- Music is international. In many areas of study, at least one foreign language is essential.
