Music
Music, BA
The BA in Music at Northeastern engages students in the study of how music works and the many contexts in which it is created and received. Students encounter a wide range of musical repertories, theoretical approaches, and research strategies.
The Bachelor of Arts in Music at Northeastern provides a course of study through which students develop a breadth and depth of musical knowledge, engaging with how music works technically, psychologically, and socially, and its cultural importance both historically and across the world. As a field, music encompasses a diverse set of skills, including performance, composition or songwriting, quantitative analysis, cultural interpretation, and research.
While many students opt to major in music alone, many others enroll as part of a double major. This is especially true of young scholars who are aiming for careers in engineering, sciences, business, medicine, and fields in the humanities and social sciences but who still want to pursue their interests in music.
The BA in Music offers a set of advising paths to help students tailor their course of study to their particular musical interests and goals. Students are not required to follow one advising path, but are encouraged to explore them and consult relevant path advisors as they discover their passions and the field’s possibilities. Advising paths for Music BA students include: Popular Music Studies, Music Performance, Music Composition & Songwriting, Music History & Ethnomusicology, Music Theory (Analysis & Visualization), Music in the Community (Education, Activism, Outreach), Music & Health Research, and Music Humanics.
Co-op Opportunities
Boston Symphony Orchestra
Boston, MA
World Music/CRASHarts
Cambridge, MA
Rolling Stone
New York, NY
Career Opportunities
Advocacy
Arts Administrator
Culture Writer
Editor
Ethnomusicologist
Music critic
Music Theorist
Musician
Musicologist
Multidisciplinary Skills
Research and analysis
Critical reasoning
Critical listening
Persuasive writing
Public speaking
Creativity
Improvisation
Cross-cultural knowledge
Learning Outcomes
Musical aptitudes, including the abilities to identify, apply and work conceptually with musical elements in the context of multiple musical traditions, through both listening and creating music
Cultural knowledge, including the abilities to identify and describe musical styles, their aesthetic values, social contexts and functions, the lives and creative processes of musicians, and technological developments that have affected musical production in different historical periods and pards of the world
Interpretive and Analytical Skills, including the abilities to debate musical meaning, as well as what music is and does, in different historical periods and parts of the world, and to write about music in various genres (such as reviews, trade publications, scholarly publications)
Research Skills, including abilities to assess the state of knowledge on a musical topic, identify unanswered or unsettled questions, and craft original, evidence-based arguments in oral and written form
Tuition & Aid
Alumni
Northeastern Alumna Andrea Lieberherr Douglass Brings Global Perspective to Music Performance and Teaching
Northeastern University alumna, Andrea Lieberherr Douglass, is an ethnomusicologist, performer, and educator with an impressive background in a variety of ensembles performed around the world. From playing in an outdoor amphitheater while on-tour in Brazil to jumping into an all-female […]
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