A fundamental grounding in music theory, music history, and performance during the first two years of study leads to more specialized study of composition, history, or performance during the last two years of undergraduate work.

Students who graduate with a B.A. in music from UC Davis have gone on to careers as composers and performers, in academia, and in the concert, media, and computing industries. Others have continued in medicine, law and business.

All students take the same coursework in their first two years of study and must pass a placement exam to begin the music theory sequence for music majors: Elementary Theory (Music 6A), Elementary Musicianship (Music 16A), and Keyboard Competence (Music 2A). This series begins once a year in the fall quarter.

In the third and fourth years, students choose to follow a specific track: performance, composition, or history, theory and ethnomusicology. An honors track is offered for either composition/theory or history. Each of these tracks concludes with a required senior project. All majors must have chosen a track by the time they enter upper-division course work (typically, the start of the junior year). For more details about each track, click on the track heading in the list below. See an adviser to declare a major and every year thereafter to monitor progress throughout the program.

Assessment

The Undergraduate Committee of the Department of Music will, from time to time, review student portfolios, notably including the results of the capstone Senior Project (MUS 195) to assure that the major is meeting its goals.