Music Major
Goals for the Music Major
The Music Department at Wellesley College offers students a program that integrates performance, research, critical thinking, and the creative process. We strive to enhance students’ knowledge and understanding of diverse musical cultures, and to guide them in applying that understanding to their engagement with music. Recognizing how contemporary innovations in technology and digital media are affecting musical performance and compositional practices in the 21st century, we also provide students with opportunities to study computer music as well as interdisciplinary new media that draw on visual arts and film studies. Music majors study the global and historical contexts, literatures, aesthetics, and critical and practical theories of music. They work closely with the materials of music, becoming fluent in analyzing and interpreting both written and heard music. We require majors to cultivate aural and keyboard fluency as well as perform in ensembles, and we offer opportunities for independent projects in research, performance, composition, and/or improvisation. Through this critical and applied approach, music majors learn new ways of reading, writing, performing, and thinking about sound.
Learning Outcomes for the Music Major
- Develop musical literacy and aural skills.
- Cultivate a scholarly voice through writing and speaking about music and/or composing.
- Identify and contextualize a variety of musical styles and traditions.
- Build collaborative skills through participation in ensembles.
- Discover one’s unique style within a performance medium.
- Initiate ways to use music for social advocacy and community building.
Requirements for the Music Major
The major in Music is a program of at least 10 units.
Beginning with students who enter Wellesley College in Fall 2024, the department has the following requirements:
Music Theory: 3 units
Music History, Cultures, Composition, Sound Media, and Musicianship: 4 units
Elective: 1 unit
Capstone Seminar (300 or 301): 1 unit
2 Years of Ensembles: 1 unit
Requirement for at least one: Thesis, Full Recital, Lecture-Recital, or other Formal Presentation or Performance
For students who entered Wellesley College prior to Fall 2024, the department offers three areas of concentration in fulfilling the Music major: Western Classical Music, Jazz and World Music, and Digital Media/Experimental Music. In addition, a student may elect to fulfill a Self-Designed Major, which they will plan in consultation with their major advisor.
The course requirements for each area of concentration are listed below.
MUS 100: Musical Literacies is an introductory gateway course that can be counted toward the Music major, unless a student exempts MUS 100 on the Music Theory Placement Evaluation (discussed in more detail below). If a student also exempts MUS 122, they will need to pursue other Music courses to add up to 10 units.
Students who declare a music major are required to participate in their choice of the department’s performing music ensembles for at least two academic years. AP and International Baccalaureate credit does not count towards the Music Major.
Music majors develop their musicianship through the acquisition of basic keyboard skills, ear training, private instruction in practical music, and involvement in the various performance ensembles of the department.
The specific course requirements for each concentration in the Music Major are as follows:
Western Classical Music
MUS 122 - Harmonic Concepts in Tonal Music
MUS 252 - Voices: Counterpoint through the Ages and Around the World
MUS 200 - Music History Topics I
MUS 201 - Music History Topics II
MUS 202 - Music History Topics III
MUS 300 - Music Capstone Major Seminar and/or MUS 301 Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing
MUS 315 - Advanced Harmony
3 electives (one of which may be MUS 100, or a full year’s lesson credit from MUS 149, 199, 249, 299, or MUS 344)
Two years of participation in department ensembles (MUS 260 or MUS 270)
Jazz and World Music
MUS 209 / MUS 309 - A History of Jazz
MUS 220 - Jazz and Popular Music Theory
MUS 245 / MUS 345 - Introduction to Ethnomusicology
2 among the following courses: MUS 200, MUS 201, MUS 202, MUS 210, MUS 215
MUS 276 - American Popular Music
MUS 398 - Performing Music (Jazz and World Improvisation)
2 electives which could include: MUS 100, MUS 122, ITAS/MUS 223, MUS 250/MUS 350, MUS 275, AMST 217.
MUS 300 - Music Capstone Major Seminar and/or MUS 301 Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing and/or MUS 314 Brazilian Music and the Politics of Culture
Two years of participation in Jazz and World Music Ensembles (MUS 260 or MUS 270)
Digital Media/Experimental Music
MUS 122 - Harmonic Concepts in Tonal Music
MUS 202 - Music History Topics III
MUS 275 - Introduction to Electronic and Computer Music: Histories and Practices
MUS 277 - Interactive Sound Art with Electronics
CS 111 - Computer Programming and Problem Solving
1 course in Cinema and Media Studies (CAMS) and 1 course in Media Arts and Sciences (MAS)
2 electives (one of which may be MUS 100)
MUS 300 - Music Capstone Major Seminar and/or MUS 301 Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing
Two years of participation in department ensembles (MUS 260 or MUS 270).
Self-Designed Major
A student may elect to create a self-designed major in consultation with their major advisor.
Honors in Music
The department offers a choice of three programs for honors: Program I, a research thesis; Program II, a composition or sound art project; or Program III, a performance-based project. All of these programs exist under the catalog numbers 360/370; honors students normally elect the two units in succession during the senior year. Eligibility for these programs requires a GPA of 3.5 in the major. Under Program I, the honors candidate carries out independent research leading to a written thesis and an oral examination. Under Program II, honors in composition, the 360 and 370 units culminate in a composition of substance and an oral examination on the honors work. Program III, honors in performance, culminates in a recital, a lecture-demonstration, and a shorter thesis on some aspect of performance. MUS 344 or MUS 398 must be taken in the senior year as a component of the MUS 360/MUS 370 sequence, and not for separate course credit.