Music Department

Degree Requirements

Many Reed students are interested in music. To encourage and develop these interests, the music department offers courses in music history, theory, and performance, many without prerequisites. Majors and nonmajors alike are welcome to take classes in all areas of music history, theory, and performance.

Prospective majors should begin their course of study with Theory II (211) and the Historical Survey (221 and 222) in the first two years. Students should make early inquiry into their preparation for Theory II by taking the placement examination, which is given at the beginning of each year. We recommend that majors also take piano lessons if they have never done so. Majors are expected to participate in performance activities; therefore, fees for private instruction are waived for junior and senior music majors.

Music majors must complete Theory II, two semesters of Historical Survey, and at least one other course at the 200 or 300 level in order to make formal application for junior status; still another course at the 200 or 300 level must be completed before the junior qualifying examination. The department strongly recommends that one of these courses be Theory III (312).

For the junior qualifying examination in music, students will write essays about musical selections from the Medieval to postmodern periods and about selected prose passages about music from those eras.

Topics not ordinarily included in the regular curriculum may be offered to juniors and seniors with special interests as independent study courses (481).

Requirements for the Major

  1. Theory courses—Music 211, 312, and 343.
  2. History courses—Music 221 and 222, which should be taken before the junior year.
  3. Four semesters of ensemble from among 104 (orchestra), 105 (chorus), 107 (Collegium), 108 (jazz ensemble), 109 (chamber music); one-half unit to be taken in each of four semesters.
  4. Thesis (470).
  5. Three more one-unit music courses.

Recommended but not required: piano lessons.

Senior Thesis

Students planning to do theses in music must demonstrate their competence, before the senior year, in the particular area in which they wish to work. That is, they may not use the thesis as an occasion to explore an entirely new area, which may be done in a regular 481 (independent study) course. The thesis may be an extended historical or analytical essay or a composition thesis, which must include a printed score and a tape of a performance. To be considered for a composition thesis, a student should have already taken composition and at least one semester of independent study in advanced composition. At the beginning of the senior year, students prepare short written statements describing the nature of their theses and meet with the entire department to discuss their thesis proposals.