Undergraduate Studies in Music at the UNL School of Music

Our Curriculum

Following is a quick guide to the various music degrees offered at UNL. Official degree requirements are spelled out at greater length in the Undergraduate Bulletin of the year in which you enter the program. During your studies you may switch to a subsequent bulletin, which will then become the authoritative source for you. Bulletins are printed every year and they are also available on-line. The School of Music

Undergraduate Handbook contains checklists for all the various degree programs. These checklists present the essential degree requirements in a more user-friendly form than the bulletin. The School of Music Undergraduate Handbook is also available on-line. Degree requirements are also built into DARwin, a web-based degree audit system that current UNL students can acccess and run through their on-line WAM accounts.

On-Line Undergraduate School of Music Handbook
On-Line current UNL Undergraduate Bulletin
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Our Degrees

To understand the various degrees available to undergraduate music students, it is essential to start with the point that they all share a common core curriculum. In upper-level courses, in the third year and beyond, the degrees offer very different educational and vocational directions and opportunities.

The BA Degree (Dance) - link to Dance
The Dance Program is part of the UNL School of Music in the Hixson-Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts. The Dance Studio and dance faculty offices are located in Mabel Lee Hall. Dance classes are also held in the Johnny Carson Theatre at the Lied Center for Performing Arts.
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The BA Degree (Music) - checksheets & semester plans
The BA degree in music (Bachelor of Arts with a music major) provides the greatest breadth of possibilities for students. It adds to the core curriculum in music the largest number of general education requirements and the greatest elective space of our degrees. It also requires a minor. Special emphasis minors exist in Business and in Arts Technology. Students choose a performance track or research track when pursuing this degree. Students can shape this degree not only to go on in performance, or to move into music education (through additional coursework after graduation), but also to prepare appropriately for other musical careers in higher education.  These careers can include areas in technology, the broadcasting and recording industries, music librarianship, business, and the like. This is also the most appropriate degree for students who wish to double major, and for those who intend not to pursue music vocationally after graduation.
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The BM Degree - checksheets & semester plans
The BM degree in music (Bachelor of Music in Performance, Composition, History, or Theory) provides the deepest exposure to coursework in music. Its general education requirements are less than for the BA degree, and its amount of elective space is also smaller. Absorbing these course credits, and all the credits of the BA’s minor, are additional required participation in lessons and ensembles, and requirements for a very significant block of additional coursework at the 400-level in music history, theory, literature, and pedagogy. This degree prepares students for a career in professional performance or for graduate study in performance, and it is an alternative to the BA in preparing students for graduate study in composition, history, and theory.
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The BME Degree - checksheets & semester plans
The BME degree (Bachelor of Music Education) adds to the core curriculum in music an intensive and rigorous package of courses in education and in the methodologies of music education. This degree prepares students for careers teaching choral and instrumental music in primary and secondary schools. It leads to an endorsement (certification) in both vocal and instrumental music, with an emphasis in either choral or instrumental music.
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The Minor in Music - checksheet
The Minor in Music takes the most essential coursework of the first year of our core curriculum and adds to it another year of lessons and ensemble participation. The first-year core may be taken as a block alongside music majors, or distributed over a number of years in order to accommodate the scheduling of classes outside the School of Music. This degree emphasizes performance, and students must audition to be accepted as a minor in music.
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Double Majors
It is possible for ambitious and academically successful music students to add one or more additional majors or degree programs outside the School of Music to their program of studies. This is normally undertaken from a home base in the BA in Music, but is also possible to arrange from a home base in the BM degree. Interested students should declare their intentions to their academic adviser as soon as possible.

Academic advising in the School of Music is done by music faculty.  Students are assigned to an adviser according to degree area (BA, BM, or BME). Special advising is available to music minors, transfer students, Honors Program students, and double majors. Students receive guidance not only about courses in their major, but also about General Education requirements and other degree requirements specified by UNL.
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