The purpose of this Handbook is to provide undergraduate music students with a guide to the various programs in music that are offered at Rutgers. It summarizes the requirements of each program and the rules that govern the day-to-day routine of music study.

Although it necessarily duplicates much of the information given in the Undergraduate Catalog, the Handbook goes into greater detail about many things. If you find that your questions about programs or policies are not answered in these pages, you should ask for clarification from the Chair or the Undergraduate Director.

Even the degree requirements for the Bachelor of Arts music major and the various concentrations in the Bachelor of Music program are modified from time to time. Because the faculty makes changes in order to improve a program in some way, it is best if you attempt to accommodate new requirements.

Technically, however, your requirements will be the ones in effect when you entered the B.M. program or declared the B.A. major. If previously required courses are dropped or replaced, the faculty will identify acceptable substitutions.

It is your responsibility to keep pace with changes. Check your mailboxes. Inform the department <%lois%> if your residence or phone numbers change.

Undergraduate Degree Programs In Music

The Department of Music offers undergraduate studies leading to the Bachelor of Arts and the Bachelor of Music degrees. The Bachelor of Arts is offered only to students enrolled in the School of Arts and Sciences (SAS). The Bachelor of Music is offered only to students enrolled in the Mason Gross School of the Arts. It is possible, with the appropriate approval, for a student to transfer from one degree program to the other (see Transferring).

The two degree programs, B.A. and B.M., are described separately on the pages that follow. Although they are different in their emphases, they have important things in common.

Both combine four kinds of study: solo performance, ensemble performance, academic music courses, and courses in other subjects. It is the balance among these four elements that determines the differences in character between the programs. The Bachelor of Music degree places greater emphasis on achievement in performance; for that reason, entrance into the B.M. program requires an audition. The Bachelor of Arts degree places greater emphasis on the study of music as an academic discipline within the humanities; no audition is required for the declaration of a music major in the B.A. program.

Although the balance is different, both degree programs require success in both artistic and academic work. B.A. students must demonstrate skills in theory and musicianship before declaring their major, and B.M. students must demonstrate competence across a broad range of subjects in order to complete their degree.

These shared artistic and academic goals are basic to the philosophy that governs the study of music within a university context.

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