Major in Music

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Let’s take it from the top.

Whatever has ignited your passion for music, you can stoke that fire as a music major in any of four tracks of study: performance, composition and theory, history and criticism, and technology.

As a music major, you’ll get involved and begin playing the moment you arrive on campus. Whether you’re interested in recording technology or hoping to get on stage, you’ll meet and collaborate with innovative professors and peers, benefiting from a liberal arts education that will enable you to create your best music and prepare for work in a variety of musical fields.

Catalog Requirements for:

Major

Minor

Why Study Music at Clark?

Hone your musicianship in Estabrook Hall’s rehearsal space, recording studio, and practice rooms — or take to the stage in the Traina Center for the Arts’ Razzo Hall.
Perform as a member of Clark’s many vocal and instrumental ensembles, including chamber music ensembles, Clark Concert Choir and Chamber Chorus, Jazz Workshop, Concert Band, and the Sinfonia string ensemble.
Work closely with renowned faculty mentors who can guide and support your practice.
Explore music’s potential to advance social causes, and use your talents to generate political action and social justice — whether by serving at-risk youth in Worcester, or volunteering with a local arts organization.

Our Stories

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Your Will. Your Way.

The Major Path

As you begin to study music at Clark, you’ll take foundational courses that begin to build the intellectual and critical tools you’ll need for advanced work in music performance, theory, history, and technology. As you complete foundational courses, you’ll put your knowledge into action through workshops and seminars, and learn the intellectual, practical, and personal skills that are the hallmark of Clark’s LEEP model of education. In workshop courses, you’ll build “communities of practice” by bringing your developing proficiencies and interests to bear on challenging project-based tasks that require collaboration and integration of skills. For example, in MUSC 225: Jazz and Popular Music Composition and Performance, faculty mentors work with students as composers, performers, critics, and audio engineers to create new compositions from concept to recording.

Private Lessons

Private lessons for nonmajors and majors are offered with or without course credit in several areas. See MUSC 180 – Private Instruction in Instruments and Voice (for credit for majors and minors) and MUSC 018 Private Instruction for Instruments and Voice (noncredit).

Visit the catalog to view courses

Double-Majors and Minors

Clark Visual and Performing Arts Department (V&PA) majors are a motivated, tight-knit group. In fact, many music majors often double-major or complete a minor in another V&PA discipline (art history; media, culture and the arts; screen studies; studio art; or theatre arts), each of which has its own distinct curriculum — and faculty who encourage collaborative work.

Skills you will learn include:

Music theory — the study of the practices and possibilities of music
Critical thinking and analysis — music composition and music history
Collaboration — performance and academic workshops and group projects
Technical skills — audio engineering/sound synthesis studio
Leadership — performance groups, academic workshops, and group projects

Robert P. Manero Memorial Music Award
The Robert P. Manero Memorial Music Award was established in 1987 by the Clark University music program in honor of lecturer Robert P. Manero. The awards are given to outstanding seniors in the Visual and Performing Arts Department music program.

Robert. P. Manero Prize for Musical Scholarship
This prize recognizes an outstanding scholarly work written by a Clark undergraduate that addresses music. Any scholarly project that explores music from a historical and/or critical perspective is eligible for consideration. This work may take any form, typically an academic paper written for a course or seminar, but other formats, including electronic publications, are eligible. Possible approaches include music analysis, music history, musicology, cultural studies, music cognition, music in politics, or music as social text. The submissions will be judged on the basis of their depth of research, critical and historical acuity, strength of documentation, and clarity of thought and presentation.

Robert P. Manero Prize for for Musical Creativity
This prize recognizes an outstanding creative project involving music created by a Clark undergraduate. This work may take any form, typically a notated musical composition, a recorded project, an electro-acoustic composition, a multi-media project with a substantial musical component, or a recital performance. The submissions will be judged on the basis of their music quality, the level of technical skill, creativity, and clarity of conception and presentation.

Patricia M. Plamondon Undergraduate Award in Visual and Performing Arts
The Patricia M. Plamondon Award is given to juniors and seniors who have demonstrated their talent in and commitment to the arts and for whom the award will serve to enhance their studies, research, or project-related travel. The award is made annually by a vote of the full-time faculty of the Department of Visual and Performing Arts.

As a music student, you’ll spend a lot of time in the Traina Center for the Arts, which features a recital hall, multimedia center, and resource library, and in Estabrook Hall, which includes rehearsal space, practice rooms, and a recording studio.

During your junior year, you might be accepted into the music honors program. Joining the program means you’ll work closely with a professor to create a thesis or project on a topic of your choice. Examples of recent honors topics are:

Thesis: “Just Like ‘Clockwork:’ An Analysis of the Symbolism of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony in Anthony Burgess’s and Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange”
Composition: “Craven angels” for String Quartet; premiered: Razzo Hall, Clark University, QX String

Building your foundation

The Clark Experience

We structure our curriculum around Liberal Education and Effective Practice (LEEP), which connects classroom learning with action through world and workplace experiences.

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At Clark, your education extends beyond the classroom. Visit the Career Connections Center to learn more about internship opportunities that complement your coursework and put your music knowledge into practice.

The music major is designed to help you learn outside the classroom. You might compose a soundtrack for a film, perform in a jazz or a cappella ensemble, study voice or a musical instrument, or learn to use a multitrack recording studio.

Music majors engage with the community through internships and service-learning work with the Worcester Chamber Music Society in the Neighborhood Strings program; some work in arts management internships, while others teach neighborhood students.

Many students take advantage of other internship opportunities during the academic year or over the summer to connect what they’re learning with professional development.

In the summer after your junior year, you might be eligible for the Sara Bickman Music and Arts Summer Internship for Undergraduates, which provides financial support for summer internships for undergraduates majoring in the Visual and Performing Arts.

Other opportunities include:

Students may audition for a variety of groups which rehearse regularly and perform several concerts every year.

Chamber Music Ensembles

Yelena Beriyeva, Distinguished Artist in Piano and Director of Chamber Ensembles

Hailed as “the paragon of the concert pianist” by the L.A. Examiner and “a standout performer” by the Boston Musical Intelligencer, Georgian-born American pianist Yelena Beriyeva continues to hold esteem as one of the finest artists of her generation.

Clark Concert Choir and Chamber Chorus

Daniel Ryan, Director of Choral Activities

Daniel P. Ryan is an active conductor and singer in the Boston area. Along with his work at Clark, he is the artistic director of In Good Company Theatre Co., conductor of the Boston City Singers advanced men’s choral group “The Fellas,” and associate conductor with VOICES BOSTON, directing five of their ensembles.

Jazz Workshop

Eric Hofbauer, Director

Eric Hofbauer “has become a significant force in Boston’s improvised-music scene,” declares David R. Adler of Stereophile. “His aesthetic evokes old blues, Americana, Tin Pan Alley, bebop, and further frontiers. There’s a rule-breaking spirit but also an impeccable rigor, a foundation of sheer chops and knowledge, that put Hofbauer in the top tier of guitarists.” Learn more

Concert Band

Samantha McGill, Director

As an undergrad at WPI, Samantha McGill was an active student and music filled her calendar of extracurricular activities. She played flute and piccolo in the Concert Band, Symphony, and Pit Orchestras, and was the head drum major in the WPI Pep Band. Fortunately, her involvement with music has continued, long after graduation.

Sinfonia

Peter Sulski, Director

The Clark Sinfonia is a string ensemble focusing on repertoire of the Classical era and beyond. The group runs without a conductor, allowing the musicians greater freedom and responsibility. Director Peter Sulski was for many years a member of the London Symphony Orchestra and a player in the orchestra’s educational Discovery Program. Learn more

In alignment with Clark’s Liberal Education and Effective Practice (LEEP) curriculum, participation in a Study Abroad and Away program is an opportunity to gain world and workplace experience to complement your on-campus work. Clark approves semester, yearlong, and summer opportunities to earn credit through academic coursework, internships, community-based learning, or research. Explore our Study Abroad and Away page, where you can search programs by academic interest, location, and language; after you’ve identified some appropriate programs, ensure they fit into your four-year plan by talking with your faculty adviser as early as possible.

You can participate in Clark’s many clubs, organizations, and athletic teams as a way to complement your academic work. Here are some student organizations that might be of interest to you as a music student:

Internships

Hanover Theatre for the Performing Arts
The Etchings Festival
Live Nation
Worcester Chamber Music Society
Boys and Girls Club of Worcester

Clark is committed to action-based learning, which means as an undergraduate you can join faculty and graduate students in their research and creative work. This tends to fall into four areas where our full-time faculty have expertise: composition, musicology, electronic music and soundtracks, and performance.

You also can apply for funding to support your own research on a project of your choice during the academic year or during the summer.

Collaborate with faculty
Recent collaborative student-faculty research and creative work includes:

The Etchings Festival for Contemporary Music: Each summer a music student interns in arts management with Professor John Aylward, founder and director of the Festival in Auvillar, France, and works with the international roster of performers and composers.
Music Research Blog: Students from Professor Ben Korstvedt‘s Workshop in Music History and Criticism course work with him on a collaborative research blog focused on a wide spectrum of music and musical topics, including Haydn String Quartets, music and politics, and classical music as recorded art.
Professional Recording: A former student, who is now a recording engineer at New England Conservatory, recorded Professor Matt Malsky‘s most recent compact disc at Mechanics Hall. A Clark music tech student was the assistant engineer.
The Music program regularly arranges concerts, teaching sessions, readings of student works and residencies connected with coursework with outstanding music ensembles and performers. Recent guests include the Radius Ensemble, Keith Kirchoff, Sylvia Berry, the Mobius Guitar Trio and the Worcester Chamber Music Society.

Present your work

Clark’s annual Fall Fest and Academic Spree Day are opportunities to share your research or creative work with the Clark community while you hone your presentation skills. Some projects music students and recent alumni have presented are:

Recording an Album of Original Compositions in Worcester
The Sublimity of Bon Iver’s “22, A Million.”
Composing music for Clark University’s admissions information session video, “Moments“
Composing and recording three scores to film clips as a capstone and LEEP project
Beyond Swing, Beyond Standards: The Rise of Sublime Aesthetics in Modern Jazz

You also can submit your research results for publication in our student-run Scholarly Undergraduate Research Journal.

At Clark you’ll get more than a great education; you’ll also be prepared for a long, productive career and life of consequence. And once you’ve completed your degree, you can join other Clark alumni who have gone on to work for great organizations and attend some of the best graduate schools in the world.

Graduate School Placement

Graduate schools attended by music graduates from Clark include:

New York University; Ph.D. in composition
The Boston Conservatory; M.A. in education
California Institute of the Arts; M.A. in music composition
University of New Hampshire; M.A. in music history
The Boston Conservatory; M.A. in vocal performance and pedagogy

Career Outcomes

Elementary, secondary, and college teaching; private instruction
Professional singer, musician or composer
Producer/recording engineer
The Music Palace
Marketing, sales/special events
Central Massachusetts Convention and Visitors Bureau
Production manager
AS220, Providence, R.I.

We’ve Got It Covered

Featured Courses

MUSIC 182

Performance Workshop

Learn everything you’ll need to enjoy your instrument at the highest level–from focus and meditation techniques to performance style and injury prevention strategies, while connecting with other musicians on campus.

MUSC 142

Recording Practice and Audio Art

Explore sound recording as a process and an art — along with the science and technology behind it — while creating a multitrack recording. Then, write a short composition, and use software to process and edit it.

MUSC 191

Improvisation and Aleatory

Whether you’re a composer, music producer, or performer, exposure to the theory and practice of improvisation, aleatory (random choice techniques), and open-form music can help you take your work to the next level.

MUSC 242

Soundtracks

Experience how sounds and music work with (and against) moving images while you explore elements of narrative sound and audiovisual analysis, postproduction techniques, and historical sound and music conventions.

MUSC 235

POP

Community Music and Social Action

Explore how music professionals and other artists can support and generate social change. You’ll work with at-risk youths in a free, local music program, and/or intern with a prominent local arts organization.

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Explore what the Visual and Performing Arts Department has to offer.

Learn More

Major in Music

Why Study Music at Clark?

Our Stories

The Major Path

Private Lessons

Double-Majors and Minors

Skills You Learn

Academic Achievement Awards

Facilities

Honors Program

Related Programs