Bachelor of Music (B.M.)

Composition

At URI, composition students receive individual instruction.  They are provided with a rich variety of performance opportunities to showcase their compositions and enhance their skills.  Regular end-of-semester composers’ concerts allow students to hear their compositions played by peers, providing invaluable experience.  Our orchestral conductor frequently organizes orchestral composition contests; every piece is read, and the winning piece receives a performance the following semester.  The director of the wind ensemble also offers readings and performance opportunities.  Chamber ensembles such as the clarinet ensemble, various jazz ensembles, and the University Chorus also perform students’ works when feasible.  The URI Music Department frequently hosts guest ensembles to perform or read students’ works, and to offer workshops.

B.M./Composition Program Advisor: Adam Hanna

Curriculum

A minimum of 120 credits is required for graduation.

Students selecting the music composition option must complete

  • 8 semesters of applied composition (MUS 210 V, 410V: Applied Music – Composition), 2 credits per semester (16 credits total);
  • 8 semesters of MUS 300: Music Convocation;
  • and 4 semesters of secondary applied music areas (MUS 210), one credit per semester (4);

MUS 171 and 172 (Class Piano I and II) are required if students select piano proficiency option II. Students who have not passed the piano proficiency examination by the end of MUS 172 will be expected to take MUS 271 and 272, which can count as secondary applied music areas.

  • MUS 169: Percussion Methods
  • MUS 170: Guitar Methods
  • MUS 173: Voice Methods
  • MUS 175: String Methods
  • MUS 177: Woodwind Methods or
  • MUS 179: Brass Methods
 

Also required are 8 semesters of major ensembles, appropriate to the principle applied music area (8 credits). 

  • MUS 292: Concert Band
  • MUS 293: University Chorus
  • MUS 394: Symphonic Wind Ensemble
  • MUS 395: Concert Choir or
  • MUS 397: University Symphony Orchestra

For the studio composition specialization, credits in MUS 396 (Jazz Studio Ensemble) may be included.

Also required are:

  • MUS 115: Musicianship Lab I 
  • MUS 116: Music Theory I 
  • MUS 117: Musicianship II
  • MUS 118: Music Theory II 
  • MUS 119: Introduction to the Music Profession 
  • MUS 215: Musicianship Lab III 
  • MUS 216: Music Theory III 
  • MUS 217: Musicianship Lab IV 
  • MUS 218: Music Theory IV (A4/B3)
  • MUS 220: Music as Global Culture (A3/C2)
  • MUS 222: History of Classical Music 900-1900
  • MUS 235: Introduction to Music Teaching
  • MUS 322: Genre as Identity in 20th & 21st Century Music (A3/C3)
  • MUS 311 Choral Conducting Lab or 
  • MUS 312: Choral Conducting Lab or orchestral conduction Lab
  • MUS 367 Integrative Career Studies for Musicians (D1) 
  • MUS 416: Form and Analysis
  • MUS 417: Orchestration
  • MUS 420: Eighteenth-Century Counterpoint (or 424 Jazz Theory)
  • an upper-division music history course
  • MUS 450: Senior Composition Recital (capstone)
  • MUS 280 and 480 (capstone)
  • and six credits of electives, at least three of which should be in upper-division music courses