Curriculum

The Brandeis University School of Creative Arts comprises the Departments of Music, Theater Arts, and Fine Arts. Across these disciplines is the shared belief that art is the great legacy of human accomplishment, essential to interdisciplinary learning.

By uniting musical expression with academic excellence, the Department of Music educates students to become accomplished artists and scholars, and engaged citizens prepared to contribute to a multicultural society. We adhere to the philosophy that a comprehensive understanding of technique, theory, and history informs the creative process. Our curriculum and repertoire explores the connection between the art of the past and the present; seeking new interpretive meanings to classical works, while creating and experiencing new music inspired by the visionaries who preceded us.

View the complete Department of Music curriculum.

Undergraduate Program

For undergraduates, we offer a Bachelor of Arts degree with a broad-based major or minor in music that combines the study of history, theory, composition, and performance. The undergraduate major provides a comprehensive music program that does not limit the student's career choice and options.

The core of the program consists of the study of the theory (with associated labs that provide further training in the musicianship skills necessary for all musical endeavors) and history of Western music. This core is complemented by additional study in one of four areas:

* Composition
The track in composition develops skills in composition and analysis through courses in composition selected in consultation with the faculty advisor.

* Cultural Studies
The track in cultural studies encourages students to develop an understanding of music of various traditions in their cultural and social contexts. Students in this interdisciplinary track select courses in cultural studies from offerings in the schools of creative arts, social sciences, and humanities.

* History
The track in history allows students to focus on the place of music in history through elective courses on historical topics chosen in consultation with the faculty advisor. Students are encouraged to select these courses from related disciplines to focus on a particular time or place.

* Performance
The track in performance, open to highly qualified students by audition, develops skill in performance through private study as well as through elective courses selected in consultation with the faculty advisor. Students also present junior and senior recitals.

The Undergraduate minor consists of six semester courses: one year of theory (with associated musicianship lab), two courses in music history, and any additional upper-level departmental course.

To be eligible for honors in music, candidates must demonstrate superior ability through their overall record and a capacity for independent thought beyond the limits of their course programs, such as a written thesis, an approved project in composition, or a senior recital.

Contact David Rakowski, undergraduate advising head, for more information about the undergraduate program.

For information on the music scholarship program, click here >

Graduate Programs

To apply online visit: Brandeis Graduate School of Arts and Sciences

Composition and Theory

The Graduate Program in Composition and Theory offers composers the time and means to develop a secure command of the craft of composition. Students in the program acquire greater facility with the structure and syntax of tonal music by studying it in analysis seminars and by writing it in proseminars. They study a wide variety of contemporary music in theory and analysis seminars. Individual creative work is undertaken in Composition seminars with guidance from the faculty in composition. Students also have the opportunity to pursue creative work in electro-acoustic music by working in the Brandeis Electro-Acoustic Music Studio (BEAMS) and to work toward performances of their music on the New Music at Brandeis concert series.

Students may choose among three degree programs: Master of Arts (M.A.), Master of Fine Arts (M.F.A.), and Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.). Under normal circumstances the M.A. is a one-year program, the M.F.A. a two-year program. The Ph.D. program typically entails one year of further training following the completion of the requirements for the M.F.A.

Contact Eric Chasalow, Graduate Advisor for Composition, for more information about this program.

Learn more about the composition program->

Musicology

The graduate programs in musicology are conceived as an integrated approach to the understanding of the nature, structural principles, and historical development of music. Courses on the graduate level consist of proseminars and seminars: proseminars typically survey an array of topics illustrating the representative avenues of research and methodological approaches; seminars are typically intensive investigations devoted to a single topic and stress original research. Students may elect to emphasize or concentrate either in Music History or in Theory and Analysis. In either case, three degree programs are available: Under normal circumstances the M.A. is a one-year program, the M.F.A. a two-year program. The Ph.D. typically entails one year of supervised dissertation research following the completion of the requirements for the M.F.A.

The program in Music History, which embraces the entire repertory of Western music from the Middle Ages to the present, introduces students to a variety of research methods and scholarly approaches including source studies, stylistic development, and historiography.

The program in Theory and Analysis emphasizes inquiries into the history of musical theory as well as analytic work in the context of theory construction. This approach involves the evaluation of analytic models addressing pretonal, tonal, and contemporary musical repertories.

Contact Allan Keiler, Graduate Advisor for Musicology, for more information about this program.

View the complete Department of Music curriculum.

Music & Women's and Gender Studies

The department offers an interdisciplinary program with Women's and Gender Studies, leading to a joint M.A. in Music & Women's and Gender Studies. Topics include feminist theory, gender studies, cultural history, and the investigation of work by and about women.

 Requirements for completing the program include:

  • WMGS 205a:Graduate Foundational Course in Women’s and Gender Studies, or another course designated as a foundational course.

  • One course in feminist research methodologies (WMGS 198a: Women’s and Gender Studies Research Seminar, or the Feminist Inquiry course offered through the Graduate Consortium in Women's Studies, or an alternate).

  • Two courses at the graduate level listed as electives in Women's and Gender Studies, one in Music, and one from another department.

  • Two courses at the graduate level in the Department of Music.

  • Participation in the fall semester noncredit Women's and Gender Studies graduate proseminar.

  • Attendance at all departmental colloquia.

  • Thesis: An analytical or historical study of a topic with a women's and gender studies focus, approved by the program advisor and the Women's and Gender Studies Graduate Committee; the thesis can be a chapter of a dissertation, an expanded and revised seminar paper, or other substantial study; the thesis is certified by the program advisor and at least one other faculty member. Two copies of the thesis must be submitted to the department chair in final form no later than December 1 for a February degree, or April 1 for a May degree.

There is a one-year residency requirement.  Proficiency in a foreign language is not required for the joint master's degree.

Contact Allan Keiler, Graduate Advisor for Music and Women’s and Gender Studies, for more information about this program.

View the complete Department of Music curriculum.