Bachelor of Music

Ready to Compose

For you, life has a rhythm and a sound. You hear it all through music — and you long to express your feelings, your thoughts and your worldview through notes, dynamics and tempo. 

The Composition program at Georgia Southern continuously creates opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students to develop their artistic voice within the musical landscape of the 21st century. An environment that encourages exploration and creative collaboration, supported by first-class sound technology and sophisticated performing spaces, allows our students to create and present a wide range of musical works for acoustic and electronic media. 

Program features include:

• The undergraduate degree in composition includes an introductory class followed by six semesters of individual instruction
• a weekly forum in which students of all levels present their works and receive feedback from their peers and the faculty
• Students eligible to participate in several musical ensembles 
• Accreditation by the National Association of Schools of Music 

Do You Have Questions? Contact Us!

Dr. Martín Gendelman
912-478-7903
jmgendelman@georgiasouthern.edu

Ready to Take the Stage

The audience is quiet. The stage is lit. The conductor lifts the baton. Are you ready? 

Our students dig in from day one, joining one of several award-winning ensembles or choirs. Coached by faculty who are nationally and internationally recognized musicians, you’ll have unlimited opportunities to hone your skills and connect with fellow students — and with audiences. 

Program features include:

• Students can focus in, instrumental performance, vocal performance or keyboard
• Students eligible to participate in several musical ensembles 
• Accreditation by the National Association of Schools of Music 

Student Learning Outcomes

SLO 1: Graduating BM Performance students will be able to perform music from a variety of musical periods at Level 4 in a professional manner. Progress towards this learning outcome is assessed every semester and through a comprehensive assessment in the senior year recital jury and capstone performance.

SLO 2: BM Performance students will identify the common elements and organizational patterns /forms / structures of music and their interaction in aural, verbal, and visual analysis.

SLO 3: BM Performance students will demonstrate the ability to place music in historical, cultural, and stylistic contexts.

CURRICULA

Instrumental Performance

Curriculum

Piano Performance

Curriculum

Vocal Performance

Curriculum

The Keyboard Area at Georgia Southern University serves the needs and interests of pianists in a variety of ways. Music majors declaring piano as their primary instrument may pursue the Bachelor or Master of Music degree in Performance, Music Education, or Composition. Students seeking a Bachelor of Arts or Minor in Music may also fulfill degree requirements in part through private piano instruction.

Members of the piano faculty are specialists in various areas, including performance, pedagogy, and collaborative performance. Studies in accompanying, piano literature, and piano pedagogy round out the student pianist’s experiences. Music majors who choose piano as their primary instrument will develop collaborative playing skills in a supervised setting, both by performing with other pianists and by serving as accompanists for other music majors. Piano literature courses offer students the opportunity to explore the wealth of music written for the instrument while gaining understanding about various performance practices, styles, and composers. Finally, courses in piano pedagogy prepare students for careers in piano teaching—both privately and in group settings—by providing the tools necessary to work with students of various age groups, backgrounds, and levels of difficulty.

Please visit the audition page and the piano performance audition page for more information about entrance requirements.

For more information contact:
Dr. David Murray
912-478-5019
dsmurray@georgiasouthern.edu

The Music Technology program at Georgia Southern University offers forward-looking education and training to students interested in the intersection of music and technology. The Music Technology program offers a Master of Music degree, a Music Technology minor, and a second discipline in Music Technology (combined with an Information Technology Degree). Both undergraduate and graduate students gain a unique and sophisticated technological skillset.

Under the direction of Dr. John Thompson, the Music Technology program maintains several well-equipped studios and labs. Technical proficiency with the tools of the trade is balanced with an emphasis on creative exploration in the medium. Students are encouraged to delve beyond the surface of the common tools of music technology and into the depths of musical systems programming and interactive media. A variety of courses are offered in the Music Technology program including: Sound Design and Processing, Interactive Media, Digital Audio Montage, and Advanced MIDI Sequencing. Courses cover the historical foundations, theoretical underpinnings, and aesthetic ramifications of technology upon music.

The M. M. in Music Technology is an advanced program offering students training in the musical use of cutting edge digital audio tools. Students explore areas from musical signal processing to studio techniques, examining both the technical aspects and the aesthetic consequences of technological advancements in music. While technology plays a major role, music and creativity remain the focus of the Master of Music degree in Music Technology. Students take advantage of elective courses either outside the department (computer science, art, information technology, etc.) or within to tailor the degree. The capstone is a final project developed and produced in consultation with a teacher/mentor.

The Music Technology area at Georgia Southern University offers forward-looking education and training to students interested in the intersection of music and technology. On the Statesboro campus, the Music Technology area offers a Master of Music degree and a Music Technology. Both undergraduate and graduate students gain a unique and sophisticated technological skill set.

Under the direction of Dr. John Thompson, the Music Technology program maintains several well-equipped studios and labs. Technical proficiency with the tools of the trade is balanced with an emphasis on creative exploration in the medium. Students are encouraged to delve beyond the surface of the common tools of music technology and into the depths of musical systems programming and interactive media. A variety of courses are offered in the Music Technology program including: Sound Design and Processing, Interactive Media, Digital Audio Montage, Recording Studio Techniques, Digital Audio Workstations, Electronic Ensemble, and Audiovisual Composition. In addition to technological expertise, these courses, together with the course Music, Technology, and Contemporary Culture, also investigate the historical foundations, theoretical underpinnings, and aesthetic ramifications of technology on music and of music technology upon society and culture, including  legal and ethical principles, laws, and considerations.

The M. M. in Music Technology prepares students to enter one of the many potential career paths in the field or to begin doctoral work through technical proficiency and musical use of cutting-edge digital audio tools. While technology plays a major role, music and creativity remain the focus of the degree, and students also learn about the field’s historical, theoretical, cultural, and ethical underpinnings. The capstone experience is a final project developed and produced in consultation with a teacher/mentor.

Equipment and Spaces

The Music Technology Lab – A general purpose classroom environment for music technology. It hosts 16 individual student stations, each featuring a computer, a keyboard controller, and an audio interface. All stations are equipped with a variety of software packages. Also available are a host of sensors, arduinos, and analog components that are at the disposal of students interested in analog audio circuitry, new interface creation, and other creative hardware.

Recording Studio – A fully outfitted recording studio with live room and control room.

Studio A – Our studio for recording, mixing, and composing. The centerpiece of the studio is an SSL AWS 948 mixing console.  There is an abundance of outboard processing equipment and mastering hardware. The studio also keeps an impressive variety of microphones at the ready.  The Studio houses several analog synthesizers and processors, as well as a ¼” reel-to-reel tape machine. A wide variety of programs and software packages are utilized for musical creation.

 Studio B – A studio for multichannel audio, production, and experimentation with new interfaces for musical expression. Studio B serves as our studio for advanced work in Spatialization (up to 10.1 surround) and  Electroacoustic Composition.

 Audio-visual Creativity Studio – A room that houses a virtual reality system and equipment for creating audio-visual compositions and productions. The audio-visual creativity studio meets the needs of those doing advanced work in audio-visual interactivity, especially in the context of virtual reality.

The Foy Music Building is connected to a dedicated set of networking switches for delivering audio. The recital hall, the percussion room, the choral room, Studio B, the Recording Studio, the Music Technology Lab, and even the recital hall lobby are all on this network. This allows any and all spaces to be connected to the Recording Studio or in novel configurations.

Graduate Assistantships

The program currently offers two new graduate assistantship positions each year on a competitive that provide tuition remission and a stipend. In the first year, the graduate assistant helps in the classroom, manages the studios, or supervises a team of undergraduates who record departmental concerts. If work and progress toward degree completion are judged to be exceptional, these students become teaching assistants during their second year and, after pedagogical training, are instructors of record for undergraduate-level music technology courses.

Applicants interested in priority consideration for new assistantship slots should complete and submit their application to the M.M. program and the separate application for an assistantship by March 1 of each year for the following fall semester.

Application Information

The admission and course requirements for the 2-year Master of Music degree are listed below. Courses are offered in the evening in order to accommodate working students.

Regular Admission Requirements:

1. A completed bachelor’s degree in music or equivalent.
2. A minimum 3.0 (4.0 scale) cumulative grade point average in undergraduate work.
3. Two letters of recommendation.
4. Statement of Purpose
5. Packet containing examples of your work in Music. Examples of work in Music Technology are particularly helpful.

Graduate Study

The M. M. in Music Technology is an advanced program offering students training in the musical use of cutting edge digital audio tools. Students explore areas from musical signal processing to studio techniques examining both the technical aspects and the aesthetic consequences of technological advancements in music. While technology plays a major role, music and creativity remain the focus of the degree. Students take advantage of elective courses offered by Georgia Southern’s Department of  Information Technology, Department of Art, and Department of Computer Science to augment their facilities in computing arts while also taking electives within the Fred and Dinah Gretsch School of Music to further their musical skills. The capstone is a final project developed and produced in consultation with a teacher/mentor.

Studios, Lab, and Electronic Music Ensemble

Audio and Video Examples

Below are some examples of student works from current and former students.

Composition in Loops

Media Info:

Created by Zak Berkowitz
A composition in loops. All visuals are generated live, in real-time using Pd/GEM.

Telesonic

Media Info:

Created by Michael James Olson
Telsonic explores the juxtaposition of individual sonic events and larger sound masses. The video illuminates the individual events through drastic changes in color and composition of the images. This elevates them from barely perceptual moments to visually important elements. The larger sound masses are represented through streams of images, that present a continuous representation. The juxtaposition of the individual and the corporate eventually collide, resulting in an incomplete presentation of both; what was once whole now becomes fragmented. Throughout the piece, rapid sonic gestures give way to explosions of dense sonic material, careening from moments of dense complexity to simple rapidity.

“to Synaesthesia” – Fixed Video Sample

Media Info:

Created By John Buteyn
to Synaesthesia is a composition resulting from John M Buteyn’s thesis research, “Toward the Aesthetics of Visual and Sonic 3D World Design.”

The composition utilizes the COSM toolkit in Max/MSP/Jitter for the creation of an interactive 3D visual environment and the SuperCollider programming language for ambisonic encoding/decoding and sonification. The user is immersed into a navigable visual and sonic interactive experience. The research explores the design and creation of an aesthetically charged audio/visual environment in which narrative potentials are delivered in a non-linear manner. The composition is designed for an interactive media installation. This video is simply a fixed sample of the composition in an unfinished state.