The B.Mus. program in Theory/Composition offers students advanced theory training and composition skills as they develop a personal style. A senior recital of original compositions is presented. Students must show evidence of composition skills to be admitted to this concentration.

The Cali School of Music at Montclair State University offers an exciting Theory and Composition concentration as one of its Bachelor of Music Degrees. On the faculty are several world renowned, award-winning composers, representing a diversity of styles from the avant-garde to the popular. These composers teach both classes and private instruction in a variety of topics including traditional and electronic composition; orchestration and arranging; and analyses of counterpoint, style and history.

The Cali School is the home of the Harry Partch Institute, and hosts the largest collection of Partch Instruments in the world. The Institute is run by Dean Drummond, internationally know composer and foremost authority on the music of Harry Partch. Theory/Composition Majors can take advantage of this unique opportunity to work with Professor Drummond and the Partch Instruments.

Guest composers and theorists are frequently invited to lecture and interact with our students. Recent guests have included Allen Forte and Thomas Oboe Lee.

The goal of the Theory/Composition program is to prepare students for both the professional music world and for continued study at first-rate graduate and doctoral programs. The Cali School prides itself on being open to all styles and aesthetics of music as demonstrated by the varying styles of the faculty. Students are encouraged to find their own compositional voices, as well as discovering and studying old and new sounds and aesthetics.

The Bachelor of Music in Theory/Composition includes six semesters of music theory; six semesters of private theory or composition lessons; eight semesters of the composition seminar; three semesters of music history and one of world music; four semesters of private study on an instrument; and courses in keyboard study, conducting, electronic music, and instrument methods. In addition, candidates for the degree give a Senior Recital featuring their original music. A Master of Music in Theory/Composition is also offered.

MSU faculty composers have been awarded numerous awards and prizes from the Guggenheim Foundation, the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York Council on the Arts, the New York Foundation for the Arts, the New Jersey Council on the Arts, the Lila Wallace/Readers Digest Fund, and the Aaron Copland Fund. Faculty composers hold graduate degrees from Yale University, the Eastman School of Music, the New England Conservatory, Brandeis University, California Institute of the Arts, and New York University.

For more information, contact:
Prof. Ting Ho
973-655-7221
hoti@mail.montclair.edu
 

Audition Information

Sample course sequence for Theory/Composition

See course listings from the University Catalog below: