Program Description
Vermont State University’s Bachelor of Arts in Music program has a strong reputation for helping students find and explore their passions, and training musicians for outstanding careers. Students benefit from small class sizes and individual attention, a talented and caring faculty with a wealth of experience, supportive atmosphere, and a collaborative program offering numerous ensemble and performance experiences and opportunities to explore individual career goals and disciplines.
“Music is the universal language of mankind.”- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Music majors develop skills on/in an instrument/voice, piano, conducting, theory, music history and world music, and individual and ensemble performance. The major offers flexibility in the upper-level classes and Capstone Project so that students can focus on their personal interests in music. Many students participate in musical theater productions and theater classes or pursue a minor or second major in a different discipline of interest. Students will graduate with the foundation to pursue music and music related fields for the rest of their lives. Students looking for in-depth performance study may audition to pursue the Performance concentration which includes presenting a junior and senior recital.
“Music is the language of the spirit. It opens the secret of life, bringing peace, abolishing strife.”-Kahlil Gibran
In addition to coursework, students have many opportunities to connect with the professional performing arts world. Faculty are well-connected working artists including professional opera singers, musicians, conductors, and music educators. The program regularly brings in outside artists and clinicians and collaborates with professional musicians and other ensembles including Barn Opera, Calliope Brass, Rutland Area Chorus, the Vermont Collegiate Choral Consortium, and Green Mountain Mahler Festival. Students are offered membership in ACDA and NAfME, attend conferences across the US that offer great networking and educational opportunities, and have the opportunity to travel regionally and internationally. Recent trips include attending America Cantat 8 in the Bahamas, and choir/cultural tours to Cuba and Costa Rica. A trip to Puerto Rico is bieng planned for Spring 2025.
Graduates go on to graduate school, performance, studio teaching, technical music production, community ensemble directing, church music positions, and non-music fields.
Program Outcomes
General Concentration:
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Identify fundamental roles of music and performance practice in selected global cultures and historical periods.
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Develop skills in primary instrument/voice individually and within an ensemble, piano, and conducting.
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Develop proficiency in tonal music theory and musicianship.
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Develop an understanding of employment and enrichment opportunities within music related fields.
Performance Concentration:
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Demonstrate technical proficiency and artistry on their primary instrument/voice through performance labs, juries, recitals and participation in ensembles.
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Demonstrate the ability to produce and present a Junior and Senior Recital including repertoire selection, performance notes, promotion, and presentation.
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Demonstrate appropriate proficiency in tonal music theory and musicianship, piano and conducting.
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Identify fundamental roles of music and performance practice in selected global cultures and historical periods, with specific attention to literature appropriate to the primary instrument/voice.
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Demonstrate an understanding of appropriate pedagogy for individual studio and ensemble instruction.
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Demonstrate an understanding of employment and enrichment opportunities within music related fields.
