Carleton draws upon these skills to foster a critical appreciation of our intellectual, aesthetic, and moral heritage and to encourage original thought. A major is a fundamentally different kind of experience from a collection of introductory classes. Depth is achieved through a variety of experiences that broaden the student's knowledge of a discipline, strengthening analytical power while leading to a deeper, fresher, more complex perspective.
Depth is an enemy of arrogance.
Moreover, the creation of musical compositions themselves is not only within reach of the music major but an integral aspect of the curriculum. The music major, then, despite the non-verbal essence of music itself, is really much like other majors because it focuses on such standard aspects of liberal arts education as logical thinking, critical analysis, literacy, historical consciousness, and values. Like any other major, it provides the basic skills which professional schools look for in their applicants. What major the student chooses in order to acquire and improve these skills is unimportant. In fact, many Carleton music majors have gone on to law schools and other professional programs outside music.