At Eastman we foster a community of passionate and talented students who possess the self-discipline and intellectual curiosity to succeed in music.  The Bachelor of Music curriculum is a four-year* program designed to develop not only students’ performance abilities, but also their practical and academic skills.

The core curriculum of this degree centers on applied lessons, ensemble participation, music theory, music history, keyboard proficiency, and humanities. A student who chooses the BM degree program is typically preparing to become a performing musician, music educator, composer, theorist, musicologist, or a professional in another musical field.

The University of Rochester offers a Bachelor of Arts in music, which has more of a liberal arts focus, and aims to prepare students for different goals (see www.sas.rochester.edu/mur/).

Many Eastman alumni lead entrepreneurial lives, combining different aspects of music into a satisfying whole. They may play in a symphony orchestra while teaching in a college; have a studio of private students while directing a church
music program; or free-lance on a steady basis while presenting solo and chamber recitals. Eastman alumni also become lawyers, doctors, consultants, engineers, ministers and administrators. They discover that the discipline they
develop through their training at Eastman prepares them for a wide range of career options. Eastman’s Institute for Music Leadership offers students additional training in arts leadership and entrepreneurship.

*Some students may take longer, including those completing two degrees or participating in Take Five, or Kaufman Entrepreneurial programs.  See Academic Opportunities for more information about these programs.  The Forte program is a ninth semester of tuition free enrollment for selected music education majors, to be devoted exclusively to the student teaching experience.

Some students wish to undertake the bachelor of music degree, but have such strong interests in another field that they also wish to complete the bachelor of arts or bachelor of science degree. The fact that Eastman is a school within the University of Rochester makes such combined degree programs possible.

Eastman is one of the professional schools of the University. In addition to Eastman, the University has a division known as the College, which offers the Bachelor of Arts degree and the Bachelor of Science degree. Applicants who wish to obtain both a Bachelor of Music degree from Eastman and a Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science degree from the College must complete both the Eastman application and a College application.

This autonomy of admission processes gives each school the latitude to enroll its ideal students. At Eastman we define our ideal student as a passionate and talented musician with a high level of musical and academic achievement, and with the self-discipline and intellectual curiosity to become a successful professional in many diverse career paths.

Once applicants are successfully admitted to Eastman and to the College according to the individual criteria of each division, they are considered dual degree students of the University.

More information about dual-degree study is available through Eastman’s Office of Academic Affairs and on the University website.

Eastman students have a wide range of opportunities to pursue academic interests, both at the Eastman campus and the main campus of the University of Rochester.  At a minimum, all students will need to meet the humanities requirement of the Bachelor of Music degree (24 credits, or one course each semester for 8 semesters).  These courses can be taken within Eastman’s own Humanities Department, whose full-time faculty fosters a rich liberal arts education that supports Eastman students’ professional aspirations.

In addition, many Eastman students also choose from a myriad of academic options at the College of Arts, Sciences, and Engineering.  The College, located at the University’s River Campus, offers multiple academic departments offering numerous undergraduate majors and minors.

Any Eastman student can enroll in courses at the College, whether to fulfill a Humanities/Sciences requirement as an elective course, or to complete an academic minor.

Through a selective process, some Eastman students are also able to add the Musical Arts major, participate in the Take Five Scholars Program, or e5, formerly the Kauffman Entrepreneurial Year (KEY) program.

Master’s degrees with majors in composition and music education may be undertaken either within the division of graduate professional studies (the MM as described in this section) or within the division of graduate research studies (the Master of Arts). All MM degree programs, including composition and music education, have a strong performance emphasis, and require an audition on an applied instrument or voice. The MA does not require an audition for admission, but may include applied study on the secondary level.

Because the MA is a research degree, a strong emphasis is placed on writing and research skills. Full command of written English is assumed for students admitted to MA programs, and is required before students are permitted to begin a thesis or dissertation project.

Composition and music education may be undertaken within the division of graduate research studies (the MA as described in this section) or within the division of graduate professional studies (the Master of Music). These two programs have differences in emphasis and course content.

MA does not require an audition, with the exception of the MA in Music Leadership. It is especially important that composition and music education applicants decide whether they should apply to the MA or MM program, based on their backgrounds and goals.

The DMA degree is awarded for high attainments in the practice of music, with emphasis on the arts of performing and teaching. A candidate for this degree must be a capable artist who demonstrates intellectual attributes of the highest order.

Studies in composition and music education may be undertaken within the division of graduate professional studies (the DMA as described here) or within the division of graduate research studies. The respective programs have differences in emphasis and course content. In terms of applying, the Doctor of Musical Arts program requires an audition on an applied instrument or voice; the Doctor of Philosophy program does not require an audition for admission. Emphasis is on practical applied music in varying degrees in each of the DMA majors, and constitutes a distinctive feature of the division. Thus the composition and music education majors contain a strong performance component in the DMA degree program, and have a distinctly different emphasis in the PhD degree program.

The doctor of philosophy degree is awarded for completion of scholarly research satisfactorily defended in a dissertation or for outstanding creative work in the field of composition. It is assumed that recipients of this degree are not only well-versed in the subject matter and techniques of a specific discipline, but also have demonstrated a breadth of interest and originality of outlook that indicate real promise of success in research or composition, as well as mastery of the teaching of their disciplines

A combined MA/PhD program is offered in the Composition, Theory and the Musicology departments.

Doctor of philosophy students majoring in music education will have earned a master’s degree before being admitted to the PhD program. Doctor of philosophy students majoring in composition, musicology or theory may be admitted having earned only a bachelor’s degree and in that case will earn the master’s degree en passant. Study by composition and music education majors may be undertaken within the division of graduate research studies (the PhD as described here) or within the division of graduate professional studies (please see section for the DMA degree). The respective programs have differences in emphasis and course content. In terms of applying, the doctor of musical arts requires an audition on an applied instrument or voice; the doctor of philosophy does not require an audition for admission. Composition and Music Education majors emphasize research and writing in the PhD degree program, and performance in the DMA degree program.