In recent years, approximately half of all incoming Conservatory students have matriculated as double-degree candidates, with the intention of combining professional study in music and study in the liberal arts, leading both to the Bachelor of Music and to the Bachelor of Arts degrees, the latter with a major other than music. Students have completed combinations such as vocal performance and German, music education and government, jazz composition and economics, piano pedagogy and biology, cello performance and physics, to name a few. The double-degree program attracts students to the university who are gifted musically and intellectually, and permits them to pursue a wide variety of interests, to change focus to a single degree when appropriate, or to persist to earning both degrees. The Bachelor of Arts with a major in music requires 21 credits in courses other than music, including electives and the specified general education courses required of all students in the B.A. program. In addition, the music major comprises 15 credits in music, including performance, keyboard skills, required sequences in music theory and history, and music electives.
Students often complete a second major using their electives to fill requirements of that major.