BA - The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music

The Bachelor of Arts in Musicology welcomes students from diverse musical backgrounds and allows them to shape programs of study that reflect their individual interests and goals. In groundbreaking, unique courses that cover virtually every period, style, and genre, students learn to research, analyze, and understand many different musics: ancient and recent, classical and popular, Western and global, within culture and through a critical lens.

The major culminates in a year-long capstone project in which each student conceives and executes individual research on a specialized topic, ultimately presented as a substantial written essay or in an alternate format, such as a lecture-recital or video/audio presentation. Graduating seniors organize a public conference presenting their capstone work each spring. The major also includes a performance requirement, which can be fulfilled in a number of ways and does not require formal musical training.

Michael Beckerman and Michael Schachter on Music and Memory in Terezín
How does a composer reimagine music written in a concentration camp? Dean Michael Beckerman speaks with composer Michael Schachter about Four for Gideon, inspired by folk songs arranged by Gideon Klein …
Yvette Janine Jackson’s radio opera ‘Harvest’ sows seeds of sound at UCLA Nimoy Theater
From the Daily Bruin: The Center for Musical Humanities hosted award-winning composer Yvette Janine Jackson with her Radio Opera Workshop at the Nimoy.
Childhood and the Operatic Imaginary
Professor Joy H. Calico has curated a new collection of essays for Oxford University Press examining the role of childhood in opera. Featuring perspectives on opera from around the globe, …

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Mentorship in the creation and realization of music for concerts, opera, and visual media
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The scholarly study of the histories, cultures, and critical interpretations of music and music-making
Music Performance
Study and training towards professional performance careers in Western classical music