Undergraduate Music Studies at Duke
The
undergraduate curriculum of the music department is designed
for the student who wishes to pursue a broad range of musical
interests within the context of a liberal arts education. Emphasis
is given to a variety of musical disciplines, including composition,
theory, performance, ethnomusicology, and musicology (music
history). The music major is designed not only to prepare the
student for graduate work in music scholarship, performance,
or composition, but also to offer a solid foundation in one
of the most ancient of the liberal arts.
This section of our web pages describes the major and minor in music--why someone might choose the major or minor, how to make best use of the opportunities they afford, what they might portend for a future in music. This handbook also offers suggestions for coherent paths within the major and descriptions of various procedures. For more information about undergraduate offerings in music, please contact Susan Dunn, Director of Undergraduate Studies.
The music major may be considered a component of one's general education--a central focus of an otherwise diverse experience--or it may be treated as a pre-professional program. The two views, though, are certainly not mutually exclusive: the choice of this major need not imply any specific vocational commitment. In practice, the music major can provide either a general survey of music as a liberal arts experience or as a path into various subsidiary areas of specialization. The music department cuts a wide swath across the fields of music. In keeping with its goal of musical excellence within the liberal arts environment, the music department has attracted a versatile faculty of distinguished performers, conductors, composers, and scholars. The music minor offers students the opportunity to immerse themselves in music study while pursuing another primary degree.
What happens to students after they leave the music department? Many graduates have continued their academic and professional studies at universities and professional institutions in this country and abroad. Many enjoy active careers as college teachers, private teachers, classical and jazz performers, musicologists, composers, conductors, and opera or concert managers. Others have held posts such as the first professional president of the New York Philharmonic, the chair of the National Endowment for the Arts, the artistic director for a large recording company, and as arranger-conductor for Hollywood TV productions. Our graduates have won the BMI Young Composer Awards, the ASCAP Foundation¹s Grants to Young Composers, and the Charles Ives Fellowship from American Academy of Arts and Letters. Thus, the professional relevance of a major in music seems to encompass a wide range of careers. Many students have chosen not to pursue music as a career, but have nonetheless found the music major to be an excellent focus of their liberal arts education, preparing them for graduate and professional study in fields such as law, medicine, or business.