Music, B.A.

The program offers courses that fulfill general education and university requirements, lead to the Bachelor of Arts in Music and a Music Minor, and provide opportunities for all students interested in music to explore and develop critical and creative skills. 

Educational Objectives

Our robust curriculum is designed to empower you to achieve a comprehensive range of outcomes, including historical and theoretical analysis, community issues analysis, comparative analysis, and moral and ethical analysis that includes ethical considerations within the field of music.

Our extensive hands-on learning opportunities will enable you to engage in internships and other high-impact practices through community partnerships and mentorship with exceptional industry practitioners. 

Our opportunities for independent study will position you to develop high-level, specialized music skills through regularly scheduled, hands-on learning sessions and activities under the guidance of a faculty mentor-performer-director.

Our highly individualized student experience means you’ll craft a personal, inquiry-driven degree emphasis in response to a chosen research and creative agenda, leading to a scholarly-creative capstone thesis project that will set you apart in the job market.

For more information, please visit the Program Catalog

Complete all of the following courses:

• MPA 100 - Music Fundamentals Units: 3
• MPA 101 - Diatonic Harmony Units: 3
• MPA 102 - Chromatic Harmony Units: 3
• MPA 104 - Musicianship I Units: 2
• MPA 105 - Musicianship II Units: 2
• MPA 106 - Musicianship III Units: 2
• MPA 108 - Introduction to Music Production Units: 2
• MPA 110 - Keyboard I Units: 1
• MPA 114 - Introduction to Music Business Units: 3
• MPA 210 - Keyboard II Units: 1
• MPA 300 - Proseminar I Units: 1
• MPA 303 - Proseminar II Units: 1
• MPA 304 - Writing About Music Units: 3
• MPA 305 - Measuring Music Units: 3
• MPA 317S - Community Involvement Service Learning Units: 3
• MPA 340 - Music Production & Artistic Development Units: 1  (to be completed twice)
• MPA 384 - Music in Context Units: 3
• MPA 475 - Senior Capstone Units: 2 (to be taken twice, once each semester of the senior year)

Our location will place you center-stage in terms of extracurricular opportunities. Every spring semester, students in the program are invited to apply for a fall semester mentored internship with the Monterey Jazz Festival, which is the second longest running jazz festival in the country. Our partnership with the Monterey Jazz Festival also includes a series of educational activities and events, as well as a master class featuring jazz leaders.

As a student in the program, you’ll take the course Community Involvement Service Learning which fosters the development of arts education in local communities. You’ll employ a combination of community organizing skills and arts teaching strategies to facilitate arts education programs at specific sites, providing one-on-one or group tutoring in arts education.