Department of Theory, Composition & Musicology

For additional information contact Dr. Edward Jacobs, Department Chair.

Composition: The ECU School of Music’s Composition program is devoted to helping you develop the skills necessary to pursue a professional and/or academic career in the composition of contemporary concert music.  More information, including application guidelines, can be found here.

• Undergraduate Composition students pursue the Music BM, music Theory-Composition concentration, and a Composition emphasis
• Graduate Music Composition students pursue the Music MM, with a Composition concentration.

Music Theory: The ECU School of Music’s Theory program is designed to help you develop your skills in music analysis, with specialized instruction in counterpoint, Schenkerian and post-tonal analysis, as well as music theory pedagogy.  More information, including the application guidelines, can be found here.

• Undergraduate Music Theory students pursue the Music BM, Music Theory-Composition concentration, and a Theory emphasis
• Graduate Music Theory students pursue the Music MM, with a Theory concentration.

Musicology: The ECU School of Music’s courses in Musicology encompasses required undergraduate courses in Music History & Literature and World Music, and upper-division/graduate electives exploring the history of  specific musical eras, as well as topics in ethnomusicology. The undergraduate course of study is designed to give you a basic orientation to the repertoires and styles of music in various societies, and to the place of music in human history and culture. The graduate (MM) curriculum leads students deeper into research and exploration of historical and cultural through music’s past. More information, including application guidelines, can be found here.

• Graduate Musicology students pursue the Music MM; with a Music History and Literature concentration; and emphases in either Ethnomusicology or Historical Musicology.

Audition Day Exam Preparation

includes:

• Incoming freshman audition day examination information.
• Transfer student audition day examination information.
  (students transferring in credits from an institution other than the ECU School of Music)
• Graduate student audition day examination information.
• Graduate applicants to Theory, Composition & Musicology Department concentrations are required to take the GRE examination. The verbal and quantitative percentiles of the GRE are averaged and must be equal to or greater than the 30th percentile. Please note that students who are above the 60% percentile in both verbal and quantitative are often the most successful in this program.