Department of Music

Declaring the Concentration

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Declaring the Concentration

The declaration consists of a 500-1000 word personal statement, a course plan, and responses to a few shorter essay prompts (including a question about the proposed senior project).

Prospective concentrators should meet with the Director of Undergraduate Studies, Professor Eric Nathan, to discuss their goals and interests in Music. Once the student has done so, they can draft a concentration declaration in ASK (ask.brown.edu).

The course plan should contain exactly ten credits, distributed as follows: two credits in music theory; four credits above the 1000 level in music scholarship, production, or advanced theory, at least one of which must be in musicology or ethnomusicology; and four credits in additional electives. Half-credit courses (ensembles, AMP, and Advanced Musicianship I and II) should be counted accordingly. Students may take more than ten credits in Music—and many of our concentrators do—but the declaration should be limited to ten.

Senior Project

We expect that students’ interests will evolve as they progress through the concentration, and that plans for the senior project may change. We only ask prospective concentrators to start thinking about possibilities early to help guide conversations about course planning and advising.

At the beginning of the senior year, concentrators must declare their plans for the senior project, either by submitting an honors thesis proposal or by indicating how they intend to complete the capstone requirement.

Concentration Advisors

While we make every effort to take student preferences and interests into account, we assign Concentration Advisors in order to distribute the advising workload equitably among Music faculty. Concentrators who wish to change advisors may contact the Director of Undergraduate Studies, Professor Eric Nathan.

Schedule Appointment with Professor Eric Nathan

Additional Information

Concentration

Our revised concentration offers a single, flexible set of requirements that can be tailored to each individual student’s interests.

Concentration Requirements

The music concentration requires ten (10) course credits including Music Theory, Music Scholarship, Production and Advanced Theory and Electives.

Undergraduate Courses

The Department of Music offers a diverse range of courses from music history to advanced Ghanaian drumming and dancing. Explore our Undergraduate courses in music.