The Bachelor of Arts in Music (BA)

The Department of Music announces exciting new opportunities for enhanced music study at The College of New Jersey.  Beginning in January 2010, we are offering a Bachelor of Arts degree in Music (B.A. in Music) for students with musical, creative, and academic talents who are interested in studying the intersection between music, culture, technology, and society.  Students who pursue the B.A. in Music will have the opportunity to take courses across a wide range of disciplines, and combine serious music study with other concentrations in innovative and individualized ways.  We expect that these options will be exciting to both prospective students and the larger college community.

The B.A. in Music degree will offer students the possibility to study the broader implications of music by investigating cross-disciplinary connections with such areas as African-American Studies, Business, History, Interactive Multimedia, Literature, Philosophy, Physics, and Women’s and Gender Studies. Students will work closely with faculty mentors to balance core music courses with flexible elective options, resulting in a customized degree experience. Comprehensive individual advising will ensure that creative and engaging options are combined with rigorous fundamentals in theory and history.  Ultimately, the B.A. in Music degree prepares musically inclined students for a life in the arts and related fields that will contribute to the vibrancy and vitality of their communities.

In general, Bachelor of Arts degrees provide great flexibility, and are appropriate for students who have diverse interests, want to spend time abroad, pursue a minor or double major with another discipline, or have extensive outside or extracurricular involvements.  To complement and expand our existing offerings, the Department of Music invites students who are interested in pursuing their passion for music through a degree that provides a wealth of options.

At TCNJ, the B.A. in Music degree offers intensive music study in the context of a competitive Liberal Arts environment.  B.A. in Music students can spend more hours exploring course offerings outside of music, but will also have many options for solo and ensemble performance experiences with first-rate artist-teachers, and access to state-of-the-art technological and academic facilities.  The types of music courses a B.A. student will take include a range of Historical and Cultural Studies in Music offerings, Music Theory, and a Senior Capstone experience that culminates in an individual scholarly and/or creative project of significant depth.  Elective opportunities in music include Ensembles, Studio Lessons, Conducting, Music Technology, Audio Recording, and other areas.

The student who pursues this major will graduate with a Bachelor of Arts in Music.

Course Sequence Guides and Program Planners

For further information about our Bachelor of Arts in Music degree, please contact:

Gary Fienberg
fienberg@tcnj.edu
609.771.2550