Beyond two years of music theory and analysis and music history, composition undergraduates are often expected to choose electives in advanced music theory, including advanced form, advanced tonal analysis, counterpoint and 20th- and 21st-century analysis and repertory. Both conservatories and schools of music will also have ongoing performance studies requirements. You may be required to participate in performance groups while studying composition. The Eastman School of Music, for example, requires its composition students to work with all of its professors in rotation, take composition tutorials and attend Composers Forum Concerts and Lectures.
Your first composition classes will include other kinds of music majors who are interested in the creative processes, aesthetics, and techniques these courses offer. Beginning electroacoustic and computer music courses introduce you to working in a music studio with equipment that may include both early and state-of-the-art technology. By your junior or senior year, you will be required to study advanced composition or take composition seminars. The program at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music, however, begins composition lessons in the second semester of the freshman year. These offer one-on-one experiences or small classes in which you will work on your first composition in large form, such as a lengthy piece or a suite.
At the undergraduate level, you will work on both group and individual projects while using studio space. Projects may have compositions as learning outcomes, but you may also be tested to show your knowledge of using composition software, digital hardware and analog instruments and technology. Since composition today relies so heavily on digital technology, you will learn how to do sound editing and mixing, use sequencers and possibly some programming. As a composition student, you will be expected to share your music through performances that may be mostly attended by your classmates.
Though conservatories and schools of music offer these degrees, you can design a similar program or take a similar program to the Bachelor of Music in composition at a liberal arts college or at a university that offers a Bachelor of Arts in music composition with an emphasis on computer music. The University of California, San Diego’s Department of Music offers a Bachelor of Arts in composition and in interdisciplinary computing in the arts-music, which requires core music coursework and courses in music acoustics, electroacoustic music and film music and scoring.