Music History and Literature

Career potential

While many students who major in music history and literature become teachers, a bachelor's degree with this major will provide you with the critical thinking skills to succeed in many careers.

A background in music history and literature can help you become a curator of a museum focusing on music, a music critic, or a program announcer at a classical radio station. You could combine a major in music history and literature with study in library science to be a music librarian.

You may also major in music performance as well as in music history and literature to become a performer or a private instructor. If you plan to study and write about music history and teach at a university or conservatory, you will need to earn a master's and a doctoral degree.

UNT's Career Center can help you prepare to pursue your career. The center has information about jobs and employers, and the staff can help you with resume and letter writing, job search strategies, and interview preparation.

Majoring in music history and literature

As a music history and literature major, you will study the forms and styles of music from the earliest known music to the present. You also may take courses in popular music in American culture; music of Africa, Asia and the Middle East; symphonic, operatic, choral, concerto and chamber music from the Baroque to the present; and music of American composers from colonial times to the present. During your senior year, you may take courses that specialize in music history and literature of Western cultures or in ethnomusicology - music history and literature of non-Western cultures.

You also must complete two years of French or German and 12 hours of private lessons in voice or in your instrument, taught by faculty members. You will need to complete 4 hours of piano lessons unless your instrument is the piano. If your instrument is the piano, 4 hours of lessons in another instrument or in voice is required.

As a music history and literature student, you may meet some of the world's top music scholars each year through a lecture series sponsored by the division of music history, theory and ethnomusicology. You also may be invited to join UNT's Graduate Association of Music History and Theory Majors. Through the association, you may watch graduate students present the same type of music research at professional meetings that you will give if you anticipate entering graduate school and becoming a music historian.

UNT's music history and literature faculty members are dedicated teachers as well as nationally and internationally known scholars. The director of the Collegium Musicum ensembles has been awarded the Thomas Binkley Award for excellence in collegium direction by Early Music America.

The College of Music is accredited by the National Association of Schools of Music (11250 Roger Bacon Drive, Suite 21, Reston, Va. 20190-5248, telephone 703-437-0700). This accreditation means the college has passed strict academic standards for excellence in education. In addition to earning this national accreditation, the college also:

• features faculty members who have won the Chopin, Cliburn and Haskil competitions
• is home of the first Jazz Studies program in the nation
• received high marks from Rolling Stone magazine in its publication Schools that Rock: The Rolling Stone College Guide

The College of Music's facilities are located in seven buildings and include 300 practice rooms, eight performance halls and numerous classrooms and rehearsal halls. In addition, UNT's Willis Library includes one of the nation's most extensive music libraries.

Faculty members in the college include many internationally known musicians. Yet our faculty members are as dedicated to teaching as they are to performing and research. Fourteen faculty members have been named Regents Professors for their outstanding teaching and research. Regents Professors devote at least half of their teaching load to introductory-level classes. Four faculty members have received UNT's 'Fessor Graham Award, named after a former College of Music faculty member, for outstanding and unselfish service to students. One faculty member was named a Toulouse Scholar for outstanding teaching and research.

Getting hands-on experience

During your senior year, you will complete a research project that will help you acquire the investigative skills needed to attend graduate school and become a music historian. Past senior research projects by other students focused on the music of 20th-century American composer Charles Ives, analysis of the Baroque flute's role in French impressionistic music, and the transcription and editing of 18th-century operatic pieces.

As a music history and literature major, you must participate in a UNT student band, orchestra or choir for about four semesters. If you play an instrument, you may perform with the Concert Band, Symphonic Band, Symphony Orchestra, Wind Ensemble, one of nine jazz lab bands, a contemporary music ensemble, brass choir, flute choir, horn choir, trombone choir, tuba-euphonium ensemble or one of at least 40 chamber music groups that form during a long semester.

If you were in your high school marching band, you may participate in UNT's Marching Band. A smaller group performs at all home basketball games. If you play a period instrument, you may perform in a Baroque orchestra, viol consort, recorder consort, or in a variety of mixed groups.

Ensembles for singers include the A Cappella Choir, Chamber Choir, Concert Choir, men's and women's choruses, the acclaimed Jazz Singers, and the Opera Theater.

Preparing for UNT

If you are a high school student, we suggest you prepare for college by becoming computer proficient and taking:

• English … 4 years
• Math … 4 years
• Social science – economics, geography, government, history … 4 years
• Science … 3 years
• Foreign language … 3 years
• Fine arts … 1 year

You will need to take courses in most of these subjects under the university core curriculum required of all undergraduates, in addition to your major courses. Talk with your high school counselor about preparing for college, including the entrance exams (SAT Reasoning Test or ACT) that you should take during your junior year.

As a benefit for transfer students, UNT participates in the Texas Common Course Numbering System. This system makes it easier to transfer credits for general academic courses from one Texas institution to another.

If you're attending a Texas community college, you should consult the UNT Transfer Guide, the UNT Undergraduate Catalog and an academic counselor/advisor to discuss your degree plan. Proper planning will help you receive the maximum amount of transfer credits.

You must be admitted to the College of Music through an audition before declaring a major in music history and literature. Auditions are held on and off campus during the spring semester for enrollment for the following fall. If you cannot audition in person, you may submit a recording. Once you are accepted into the college, you will take placement exams in music theory and piano.

To prepare for a major in music history and literature, you should take private lessons and participate in your high school band, choir or orchestra. You also should study music theory and take piano lessons. With approval of the music history and literature faculty, you may declare a major in music history and literature upon enrolling at UNT, although most students do not enroll in the program until their junior year.

Charting your path with academic advising

Academic advisors in the College of Music will help you each semester to select courses necessary to earn your degree. The undergraduate advising office is in the Music Building, Room 260. Your professors also will give you guidance on selecting courses and career advice. The division office is in the Music Building, Room 245.

Curious about courses and other features of this major?
See the current catalog.