The Music Department at Emory offers three tracks for fulfilling a major in music: Composition, Performance, and Research. Students must select a track by the end of the sophomore year and fulfill all course requirements in the track in order to earn a major in music. In addition to the music major requirements, students may also complete the Arts Management Concentration.

Since significant portions of the music curriculum are based on mastery of sequential study, the department recommends early declaration of the major. This allows students maximum benefit from private lesson study since the department provides a half-subsidy for private lessons for declared music majors.

To declare a music major, click here: Declaring a Music Major/Advising.

To complete the track selection form, click here: Music Major Track Selection Form.

General requirements and information:

• Students will complete 45 credit hours to fulfill requirements in each track.
• AP Music Theory Exam -- A score of 4 will transfer to Emory as MUS 114. A score of 5 will transfer to Emory as MUS 121 and the student may move on to MUS 122 in the spring semester. IB theory is not accepted.
• MUS 121 Theory and Analysis I is the foundation course for all music major tracks.
• No course for the major may be taken S/U.
• A total of 16 hours of MUS 300, 320, and 310 may be applied toward the 124 academic hours requirements for graduation, although all applied music and ensembles must be taken for credit.
• Students may not apply MUS 300, 310, or 320 as electives in any of the tracks.
• No more than three credit hours of Supervised Reading or Study Abroad courses may count toward fulfillment of the music major.
• An internship may not count toward the music major.
• Any transfer credits from another institution, before or after enrolling at Emory, must be approved in writing by the Director of Undergraduate Studies in order to count toward the music major or minor, even if the College has accepted credit for the courses.
• Performance track students enrolled in MUS 320 must also be co-enrolled in a MUS 300 primary ensemble. The following ensembles will count toward this requirement: Collaborative Piano, Concert Choir, Guitar Ensemble, Emory Jazz Ensembles, Emory Symphony Orchestra, University Chorus, Emory Wind Ensemble.

History and Culture Courses (all Tracks)

(Students may not count the same course for two categories)

Concert Attendance

Attendance at concerts is an important part of the student's musical education. When possible, students should be present at concerts sponsored by the Department of Music. Several music courses require students to attend concerts at Emory or in the Atlanta area. Visit the Arts at Emory web site for a list of artists performing at Emory during the current academic year.

Department of Music Learning Goals

1. Analytical skills: Students will demonstrate aural and written skills required to analyze basic harmonic, melodic, and textural examples of tonal music. Students will acquire the necessary theoretical and methodological tools to engage with music from a diverse spectrum of cultures, styles, and historical periods.
2. Critical thinking skills: Students will demonstrate skills in writing and critical thinking by considering issues surrounding a wide variety of music and their larger connection with history, culture, and contemporary society. Intellectual curiosity will be encouraged by employing methodologies and strategies of cultural inquiry through assignments requiring analysis, synthesis, evaluation, and argument.
3. Creative and performance skills: Students will acquire the facility to engage creatively with music through composition, improvisation, and performance. Students will develop their skills in various forms of music-making, including concert performance, production and composition, collaboration, and digital music applications.
4. Knowledge of content and context: Students will demonstrate knowledge of the historical and theoretical framework for ways in which music and sound intersect with aesthetic trends, geography, technology, race, gender, sexuality, and economics. Students will acquire broad knowledge of western music and representative composers, and examine the range of contemporary and historical music performance practices found in a diverse global community.