The School of Music of the University of Washington has world-class teaching staff, offering a complete range of music majors, including vocal music, composition, drama, opera, music, jazz, instrument performance, orchestra and choir conductor, string instrument performance, wind instrument performance, keyboard instrument performance, folk music, music education, music history, music theory research, etc.
Bachelor of music degree； BM degree offers the following major branches.
1. Composition: The major of composition emphasizes the mastery of technology and encourages students to develop their own artistic voice.
2. Music Education: Music education students can conduct in-depth music learning together with world-class artists and teachers who have a series of advantages and interest fields. The undergraduate degree in music education prepares students to teach in primary and secondary schools.
3. Orchestral Instruments: The woodwind and brass instruments courses of the school include various degree paths and performance opportunities, as well as preparation for music career.
4. Organ/Piano: This course is the oldest teaching field of UW, and its history extends to the early days of Washington University. At present, the program offers bachelor's, master's and doctoral degree courses in piano and organ performance, as well as advanced degrees in harpsichord performance (MM and DMA).
5. String Instruments: String music courses prepare students to engage in solo, chamber music or large-scale ensemble performance, as well as the career of educators. This major emphasizes mastering playing skills in specific tools.
6. Voice: UW Conservatory of Music has an outstanding tradition of vocal music and chorus. The bachelor's degree in vocal music is a comprehensive degree course guided by performance, including the curriculum requirements of vocal music teaching methods, foreign language vocabulary, art song repertoire and hands-on personal vocal music guidance.
Bachelor of Arts degree； The BA degree offers the following major branches.
1. American Music: for students interested in the region, race, nationality, sacred, secular, community and cultural diversity represented by American music. Students are strongly encouraged to develop personal learning plans under the guidance of the teachers and supervisors in the plan.
Ethnomusicology: Ethnomusicology includes the study of music and culture, and integrates musicology and anthropology, as well as all aspects of music performance, history and theory. Students of this major learn music and musicians from a variety of backgrounds and perspectives.
3. Music: In addition to the core courses shared by the Conservatory of Music, this major focuses on the degree courses in its key musical instruments.
4. Music Theory: Music theory includes many research fields, from the relatively traditional (Schenck analysis, set theory) to the recent emergence (New Riemann theory, symbolism). Recently, theories have been closely linked with other disciplines, such as mathematics, psychology, ethnomusicology and philosophy. The undergraduate course of music theory introduces students to the teaching, research and foundation of the changing field.
5. Early Music/Music History: Students of this major explore music from ancient times to the new millennium. Teachers teach and research in cultural background, interdisciplinary research and critical theory, and encourage students to work in the constantly developing fields of music history, such as digital humanities, historical performance practice, American pop music culture and film music. Early music undergraduate degrees allow students to explore music from medieval chants to Broadway musicals, consider aesthetic issues, cultural forces, and shape the practice of music creation, performance, and acceptance.
6. Voice: UW Conservatory of Music has an outstanding tradition of vocal music and chorus. The bachelor's degree in vocal music is a comprehensive degree course guided by performance, including the curriculum requirements of vocal music teaching methods, foreign language vocabulary, art song repertoire and hands-on personal vocal music guidance.
7. Guitar: The guitar course provides a way to master technology at a professional level, and prepares students for their careers in guitar playing and teaching. In addition to completing the core courses, guitar students studying for a degree in instrumental performance will also receive key technical training, laying a solid foundation for listening training, history, theory, piano proficiency and repertoire.
8. Jazz Studies: This major has always been a catalyst for the direction of new music innovation, and has prepared students to play the highest level of music ability in the professional field. This major has laid the foundation for important historical figures, works, styles and movements of jazz, and has given encouragement to push boundaries and expand art forms.
9. Orchestral Percussion: The percussion research plan emphasizes technical mastery and musical talent, and its actual purpose is to enable students to perform well in a wide range of professional music environments. Graduates of the program teach in universities, perform internationally as band conductors and percussionists, perform in musical works from Seattle to Broadway, and perform in jazz orchestras, orchestras, experimental contemporary music orchestras and pop music groups.
