Do I only take music classes?
By Adrian Wong
Is music school just about music?
Do I still have to take an English class or a Math class?
God forbid I pick up a Calc textbook again!
These were the questions floating through my head when I got accepted to music school. After all, a lot of us are in music school because we can’t possibly imagine doing anything else!
I was looking forward to 4 years of only counterpoint, private lessons, aural skills, and music history—but I soon found out that is not the case! At the University of Michigan, there was a minimum number of required electives and writing (the English, not the music kind!) courses that I had to take. And I was one of the lucky ones—my IB scores tested me out of a bunch of classes, so I had much more time to compose and practice during my first couple of years. So do well on your IB/APs!
Like most college courses, this minimum number of non-music courses you have to take is calculated in credit hours. If you are not from the United States or are just confused by the credit hour system like I was, click here for an in-depth explanation of what they mean!
So how many credit hours of non-music classes do I have to take?
This differs across most schools. A good rule-of-thumb is that conservatories (like Curtis, Juilliard, Colburn, etc.) require fewer non-music classes than music schools that are attached to a university (like UMich, Jacobs, USC, etc.). A conservatory education is going to be laser-focused on music, whilst a music school education will allow you more freedom to explore other interests. I will talk more about the differences between music schools and conservatories in an article coming out soon!
Every school structures its program so that you will have to take a core of required music courses, a smattering of required non-music courses, and a minimum number of music and non-music electives in order to graduate.
How do I find out what this mix of courses will look like?
Do some online sleuthing and find a document called a silent advisor or a course catalog for the program you’re looking at. These documents will break down what classes a student needs to take to graduate and when they should take it, offering a “standard track” that a student can follow when structuring their college career. If it’s not online, you can email and request it from an admissions officer!
For example, below is the silent advisor for the BM in composition at the University of Michigan - Ann Arbor, where you are recommended to take 14-18 credit hours per semester:
The left column lists all the music courses that you HAVE to take. There’s no missing these—you can maybe test out of a few of them, but these courses make up the bulk of your academic career in school. Note the “400-level Theory elective” and “400-level Musicology or Theory, or listed Jazz elective” that you have to take—these mean that you can take any of the 400-level Theory/MusicologyJazz courses, which can range from Motet Writing to History of Opera to Formal Analysis to Jazz Improvisation. There is some built-in flexibility in these required courses! On top of the required ones, you can do as many music electives as you want, as long as it fits your schedule.
The right column lists all the non-music courses that you HAVE to take. Note the stipulation that all non-music credits, including the required First Year Writing, Upper Level Writing, and Race and Ethnicity courses, must add up to more than 30 credit hours. This is where you can take your Astronomy, Computer Science, and Physics courses.
All schools have a minimum total credits required in order to graduate—make sure you hit that number! If you do the minimum recommended number of credit hours per semester at UMich, it comes out to 14*2*4 =112 hours, which is less than the 120 hours required to graduate.
Now it’s your turn to make sense of a silent advisor! Here is Juilliard’s silent advisor for their BM in composition—can you figure out what the required and elective courses are? What’s the minimum total number of credits required to graduate? More importantly, how does the Juilliard program differ from the UMich program?
Going through these silent advisors and course catalogs can help you make more informed choices about which schools you apply to and which programs you want to attend!
So, Adrian, what non-music electives did you take at UMich?
I took Photoshop, Illustrator, and Introduction to Drama 😅.
Born and raised in Hong Kong, Adrian Wong is a composer who aims to create engaging and moving music full of imagery, drama, and unapologetic conviction. Adrian takes inspiration from a wide array of subjects, from the impending climate crisis to matters of identity, as well as the smaller things in life, from the lullabies his mother sang to the tastes and textures of his favorite foods. Besides composing, Adrian currently works as Musical Studies Faculty and Coordinator of Community Performance at the Curtis Institute of Music. Check out his website here.