College of Charleston Music Department

Music Theory/Composition Concentration

The program in Composition and Theory at the College of Charleston gives promising students a chance to study various courses with three practicing composers who will oversee their progress and help them to develop their creative and analytical skills.

Faculty

Recommended Course of Study

In addition to the courses listed below, each student should be a performer who takes part regularly in an ensemble, (i.e. chorus, jazz band, orchestra, or instrumental ensemble) and who takes applied music lessons throughout the course of study at the college. A composer needs to know of music from every direction. Performance, analysis, detailed knowledge of the music of all areas and ages but especially of the modern era (20th and 21st c.), should become a part of the student's persona.

  • First Year:
    • Theory I, II (MUSC 246, 247)
    • Theory Labs I, II (MUSC 238, 239)
  • Second Year:
    • Seminar in Composition (MUSC 351, 352)
    • Music History I, II (MUSC 381, 382)
    • Theory Labs III, IV (MUSC 338, 339)
  • Third Year:
    • Independent Study in Composition: MUSC 460 *
    • Theory III, IV (MUSC 481, 482)
  • Any Time:
    • Applied Music (8 hours)
    • Ensembles (3 hours)

* If at all possible, students should try to take an additional semester of Independent Study in Composition to allow for two full years of private study alternating among the three composition professors and encouraging a diversity of approaches and understanding which we consider most valuable for the development of the craft of musical composition.

NOTE: All music majors must pass a piano proficiency exam or take at least two semesters of piano or class piano.

"Doubling Up"

Occasionally a student will decide rather late in his/her career here to become a composition major. By special permission of the instructors involved, he/she may take some of the courses out of sequence in order to graduate without having to take an extra year of courses. This has proven barely successful; i.e. students do get the courses completed, but are "cheated" out of a more leisurely process through the program wherein they may more completely absorb and learn to apply the craft of musical composition.