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Compose your legacy at HSU in Abilene, Texas.
The Music Composition Department offers students the opportunity to study a wide range of writing styles, including jazz, film scoring, symphonic, chamber, worship, and electronic music. Students gain practical experience through performances with university ensembles such as choir, orchestra, wind ensemble, jazz band, worship ensemble, and chamber groups. Coursework emphasizes both creative and professional development, including collaboration with peers and performers, as well as training in the business side of composing. Students are encouraged to build connections through live performance opportunities and networking with faculty and guest artists. The program prepares graduates for diverse careers in composition, performance, and related fields.
The Bachelor of Science in Music, Composition Concentration degree, is designed for students seeking a liberal arts degree in music that focuses on preparing them for a career as a composer. The curriculum of this program is designed to ensure that students receive a solid grounding in the fundamentals of music composition, theory, and history, while receiving individual instruction in their vocal or instrumental specialty. Students also participate in various musical ensembles appropriate to their area of musical study. After completion, students earning this degree generally pursue advanced composition degrees in graduate school or immediately enter the field as composers. Students who have studied composition at HSU have been accepted into prestigious graduate programs, entered public and private education, and become church music ministers, active composers and arrangers, arts administrators, and business owners.
Courses
Required courses include music theory and history core, six terms of composition study, ensemble, private instrument or voice studies, and several courses in upper-level music theory.
All courses and course descriptions for each degree type can be found in the Undergraduate Catalog.
Requirements
An audition on an instrument or voice. This audition also determines scholarship award money.
Why Study Music Composition at HSU?
Why Study Music Composition at HSU?
Fun Opportunities
Faculty Experience
Career Flexibility
The rigorous training the student receives prepares them for a great variety of careers in music and related fields.
Outcomes
Students who have studied composition at HSU have been accepted into prestigious graduate programs, entered public and private education, and become church music ministers, active composers and arrangers, arts administrators, and business owners.