Students who have already achieved intermediate or advanced proficiency at the keyboard may satisfy this requirement by examination. In addition, majors are expected to attend musical events sponsored by the department and by the university Performing Arts Series. Music majors are advised that German, French, and Italian are the most useful languages in music research and are encouraged to fulfill their foreign language requirement by taking any two of these languages through the second-year level. Music 102 does not count toward the minor. Membership in the university's choir, orchestra, and other performance ensembles is open to all qualified students.
Ensemble participation earns one half-course credit for two consecutive semesters of participation.
Students seeking departmental honors in music are expected to have a 3.5 average in music courses, must contribute to the musical life of the university, must pass the comprehensive exam with distinction, and must submit an honors thesis on a topic approved by a faculty advisor. For music performance concentrators a public recital may be considered as the honors thesis. Applied instruction is presently offered in piano, organ, voice, violin, viola, cello, guitar, and the orchestral woodwinds. An introduction to the great music of Western civilization from the Middle Ages to the present. The course begins with a discussion of the elements of music and proceeds with a chronological overview of music history.