| The Bachelor Of Music Program |
The three areas of study within the Bachelor of Music program are Music Education, Jazz Studies, and Performance. Informally, the familiar word "major" is commonly used to describe these areas or the individual instrument within an area (as in "music ed major" or "piano major"). The official term is "concentration." This term is admittedly more awkward, but it is used in the Undergraduate Catalog and at most places in this Handbook.
Each student is admitted to the program in one of the three
concentrations, and each concentration has its own entrance
requirements, its own curriculum, and its own graduation
requirements. All of this is described in detail under
Degree Requirements,
where the three concentrations are considered individually.
The procedures for combining concentrations or moving from one
to another are described below. The following
section of the Handbook is concerned with aspects of the B.M.
program that are common to all three concentrations.
When students enter the Bachelor of Music program, they are accepted in Performance, Jazz Studies, or Music Education. A student who wishes to change to a different concentration must have the formal approval of the Music Department. The request for a change of status must be presented in writing to the Undergraduate Director (<%ugdir%>), who will take it up with the relevant faculty members and set up a process for approving it. The change may depend on jury results, an interview, or some other criteria to be determined on a case-by-case basis.
Different concentrations have different degree requirements.
If already completed courses do not satisfy requirements in the
new concentration, additional semesters may be required for
completion of the program. This is almost always the case when
students move from a concentration in Performance or Jazz Studies
to one in Music Education.
If you are interested in completing two different major programs, you need to remember the following:
1. You must be accepted into each major. This may occur at the time of admission. If a second major is to be added after you arrive at Rutgers, the addition must have the approval of the faculty. The process is the same as for Changing Your Concentration.
2. Where the two majors in question have different
requirements, you must complete both sets of requirements. Any
course common to both majors will count toward both.
Students who wish to combine majors in Jazz Studies and
Music Education should consult with the Undergraduate
Director to determine which courses from the Jazz curriculum
will also satisfy requirements in Music Education.
The current Music Department policy does not allow students to
major on more than one instrument, since this would require
reserving for four years a studio space that would otherwise
be available to another student. Taking lessons on a second
instrument may be permitted when studio space is available and
if you perform at the appropriate level. If you do take lessons
on more than one instrument in any semester, you will be expected
to perform in an additional ensemble on that instrument.
Because the distribution of degree requirements in music and in other subjects is narrowly specified for students in the Bachelor of Music program (see curricula outlines), there is no practical way for a B.M. student to complete a second major outside music within eight semesters. The Mason Gross School of the Arts will recognize such a second major, however, for those students who are willing to remain beyond eight semesters to complete the requirements in both music and a second subject. A minimum of five years is likely to be necessary for a combined program of this sort. Course requirements for a major are listed in the entries for each department in the Undergraduate Catalog.
A student who intends to complete a second major must inform the Mason Gross Dean's office (the Dean of Students). There is a form for this purpose, available from the Dean's office or the Music Department. Here are the steps to follow:
MGSA does not require a minor in a subject outside the Music Department. It is possible to satisfy the requirements for a minor in another department, however. In most departments the minor consists of courses totaling 18 credits.
The procedure for completing a minor is similar to the procedure for a
second major (see above).
It is possible to transfer from one unit of Rutgers to another. This is called a "school-to-school transfer." Students who wish to leave Mason Gross and matriculate at some other unit of Rutgers University must submit an application for a school-to-school transfer, which is available online at http://admissions.rutgers.edu/schooltoschool.
Students transfer for a variety of reasons. Because it is hard to estimate in advance the level of commitment that is required in pursuing a professional career in the arts, there is no reason to expect that everyone who begins the Bachelor of Music program will want to remain in it. Some students simply change their minds and transfer in order to study in another area. The evaluations of artistic progress that are done at the end of each semester, which may lead to Artistic Probation (or Dismissal), may be the stimulus for a student to begin thinking about other careers.
The two most common difficulties that interfere with a transfer
are the timing of the application and the need to meet another
college's entrance requirements. Because the formal evaluation
of a student's artistic progress (jury and performance grades)
happens at the very end of a semester, the decision to transfer
because of artistic difficulties is often made when the semester
is over, too late to meet the application deadline for another
school. Those students who are having difficulty with
course-work in the music curriculum may also find that their G.P.A. is too
low to be acceptable to another college. In these circumstances
the Dean of Students will sometimes allow a student to remain registered for
one additional semester at Mason Gross without taking the normal music
curriculum, during which time the application for a school-to-school
transfer can be made. If a student has been dismissed for
artistic reasons and is given an additional semester to apply for
a school-to-school transfer, he or she should not expect to receive
lessons during that semester.
Transcripts of students who transfer to the Bachelor of Music program from another institution are evaluated by the Music Department (for music courses) and the Mason Gross Dean's Office (for liberal arts courses). Normally credits earned elsewhere will be transferred if the courses in question are recognized as appropriate for university credit and the grade is C or higher. Some difficulties may be encountered when courses taken elsewhere are compared with the required curriculum at Rutgers, however, and transferred credits will sometimes not satisfy Rutgers requirements. The following points should be noted:
Degree credit for liberal arts courses is awarded for scores of
4 or 5 on the College Board Advanced Placement exams. These credits are not
included in the cumulative grade-point average. AP credit in
music is treated as elective credit only; it cannot be used to
satisfy any major requirements.
Students admitted to the Bachelor of Music program must have
completed 16 academic courses in high school, including two years
of Algebra and one of Geometry. Any deficiencies at the time of
admission should be remedied in the first year at Rutgers.
Failure to take the necessary remedial courses may result in
dismissal from the B.M. program.
Every student at Rutgers must demonstrate basic competency in English and mathematics. All students entering from high school must take placement tests in both English and math to determine their placement. Students transferring from another college or university must also take the placement tests in English and mathematics unless they have already taken courses that the Mason Gross Dean's Office has officially recognized as the equivalents of the required courses at Rutgers.
At Rutgers every student must pass English 101: Expository Writing. This course should be taken in the first semester. If a student is placed at a lower level in English composition, all courses preliminary to English 101 should be taken in sequence immediately upon entering the B.M. progam. This applies as well to remedial English courses, which must be completed satisfactorily before other academic coursework may begin. Failure to take and pass the required courses in English will be regarded as failure to make progress in the B.M. program and may result in dismissal.
Every student must demonstrate competency in elementary
algebra, either on the placement test itself or by taking courses
in math at Rutgers. Failure to do so on the placement test will
result in placement in Math 025 (Elementary Algebra) even
if high school courses in algebra have already been passed. Any
student in Jazz Studies or Performance who is placed at a higher
level than Math 025 after the placement test need not take any
math courses. Students in Music Education are required to take
one math course at the 100-level or higher, however. Normally
this requirement is satisfied by Mathematics 103: Topics in Math
for the Liberal Arts.
In certain areas of study it is possible for a student to receive
credit for a course by passing an examination. There is a fee
for attempting such an examination. Requests for information
should be made to the Undergraduate Director
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.
No credit can be awarded in this way for courses in performance.
The merit-based scholarships that are awarded by the Music Department come from a variety of sources. Some have special conditions attached to them and some do not. In most cases a scholarship awarded to an incoming student will be renewed in subsequent years, provided that the student remains in good standing artistically and academically. Occasionally, however, a scholarship may be offered on a one-time basis, when funds become available in a given year. If you are receiving scholarship assistance, be sure you understand the nature of the assistance and any conditions that may be attached to it. Requests to be considered for a new scholarship or for an increase in an existing scholarship should be addressed to the Scholarship Committee and submitted to <%lois%>.
Students receiving financial aid in the form of scholarships are
expected to maintain a cumulative grade point average of 3.0 or
higher and to be in good standing artistically. If a student is
placed on Artistic Probation or if the cumulative G.P.A. falls
below 3.0 at any time, the scholarship may be removed.
All new students in the B.M. program meet with a faculty member or <%lois%> to schedule classes for the first semester. Thereafter, students have to register themselves for each new semester, accessing the online website. A listing of courses offered in the coming semester is available at the Registrar's website.
Registering online places a great deal of responsibility on students for knowing program requirements. If you are unsure about which courses you need, you should contact the director of <%medir%> music education or <%ugdir%> the undergraduate director.
In the summer before the last year, the Dean of Students and the
undergraduate director review each student's transcript and
provide a list of all remaining requirements for graduation.
Sometimes this review reveals things that students should already
have taken but somehow overlooked. To avoid surprises of this
sort students should check their progress through their programs
each year to make sure they are keeping pace with the requirements.
The Undergraduate Director can help with this.
The Student Advisory Committee consists of the Department Chair
(<%chair%>) and student representatives from each of the three concentrations
in the B.M. program, from the B.A. program, and from the graduate
programs. The Committee meets on a regular basis to discuss any
problems that affect student life in the Department. If you have
a problem you would like discussed or a suggestion for improving
things, contact a Committee member and ask that it be considered
at a Committee meeting.
A student's artistic progress in the Bachelor of Music program will be measured by the level of achievement in performance lessons, on juries, in ensemble participation, and in those courses -- above all, Fundamentals I-III -- in which musicianship skills play a central role. Achievement in performance lessons will be indicated by both the instructor's grade and the reports of faculty members hearing juries. Regular attendance in Music Assembly and at Department concerts is also expected.
Artistic Probation and Dismissal will not normally occur after the first two years of a student's participation in the B.M. program at Rutgers. The special circumstances that might justify dismissal at a later time are poor grades based on extensive absences, which reveal a lack of commitment, or a failure to meet conditions for continuing in the B.M. program that are spelled out following a semester of probation within the first two years.
Except in extreme circumstances, such as receipt of an F in the performance lesson or jury, a student will not be dismissed without having first been placed on probation for one semester. On the other hand, a student will not normally be placed on probation more than once; after a probationary semester, performance that would justify further probation will normally result in dismissal.
Artistic Probation and Dismissal are not subject to appeal. Because grades in courses involving performance are arrived at differently by different teachers, the following criteria will not necessarily result in probation or dismissal but should be regarded as the adequate justification for such action.
A student may be placed on probation for any of the following reasons:
Policies concerning academic performance are established for all students in Mason Gross and can be found in the Mason Gross section of the Rutgers Undergraduate Catalog. Each student's academic progress is monitored each semester by the Dean's office. When problems arise, they are resolved by an Mason Gross Scholastic Standing Committee chaired by the Dean of Students.
There are specific guidelines for deciding when a student should be placed on probation or dismissed. The guidelines are as follows:
Any student, including first-term first-year students, whose term average is lower than 1.8 is placed on Academic Probation. Students are notified in writing of probationary status before the start of the next term. While on probation, students must maintain full-time academic status and must complete successfully at least 12 credits per term.
There are no automatic dismissals for first-term first-year students. Students are ordinarily dismissed when their term average is 1.4 or less regardless of their cumulative grade-point average or preceding term average. Students may also be dismissed if their term average falls below probationary level in any two consecutive terms, in any three non-consecutive terms, or if their cumulative grade-point average at any time is less than the following:
Academic Dismissal may be appealed to the Mason Gross Scholastic Standing Committee. The appeal process is described in the Mason Gross section of the Rutgers Undergraduate Catalog.
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