Mar 28, 2024  
Mansfield University 2020-2021 Undergraduate Catalog 
    
Mansfield University 2020-2021 Undergraduate Catalog [Archived Catalog]

Music, Bachelor of Arts


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Offered by the Department of Music


The Mansfield University Department of Music provides an environment that promotes academic, musical and personal growth as well as intellectual, ethical and aesthetic values. The department serves the regional, national and international communities by developing human and material resources. The Department of Music is committed to stimulating a continuous pursuit of knowledge, understanding and skills by students and faculty.

The Music Department offers the following degree programs: The Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree with a major in Music, the Bachelor of Music (BM) degree with a major in Music Education, and the Bachelor of Music (BM) degree with three concentrations: Music Performance, Music Business, and Music Technology. Please refer to the department website (http://music.mansfield.edu) for audition information and other entrance requirements.

The Bachelor of Arts in Music program provides a broad education in music rather than a heavy concentration on any single area. Students enrolled in this program develop musicianship and performance abilities as well as an intellectual understanding of the arts within the framework of a liberal arts degree. The program is appropriate for undergraduates who wish to major in music irrespective of specific career aspirations. It serves individuals who seek a broad program in general education rather than intense specialization at the undergraduate level.

The Music Department is an accredited member of the National Association of Schools of Music (NASM), 11250 Roger Bacon Drive, Suite 21, Reston, VA 20190-5248, (703) 437-0700, nasm.arts-accredit.org/.

Mission: 

The Faculty of the Mansfield University Music Department are dedicated to the development of musical excellence in all aspects of our programs.  (Revised December 2013)

Values: 

We promote leadership skills that emphasize Character, Scholarship, Culture and Service through a personalized educational environment using music as our communication tool.  We are committed to stimulating the continuous pursuit of learning, performance and skill acquisition.  We recognize and embrace the important role our liberal arts core education provides our students.  (Revised December 2013)

Vision:

 1. We will promote character.  Our faculty and students will exemplify the highest standards of ethical behavior, incorporating respect for self, others and our surroundings. We will devote ourselves to the holistic development of individuals, fostering personal accountability, honesty and advocacy through character education. Courage, integrity, and honor exemplify our core values.  As the art of music demands honesty and integrity, so too, will we expect our department to promote and encourage these values in all we do.

2. We will foster scholarship.   We will model a life of intellectual curiosity, celebrating the creation and dissemination of new ideas in music.  We will embrace the use of rigorous, responsible and critical inquiry to understand, acquire and share knowledge.  We apply what we learn by recognizing that each of us is both student and teacher engaged in the continuous pursuit of learning.  We will therefore maintain a faculty dedicated to the highest standards in teaching, musical performance and scholarship.

3. We will enhance culture.  We will serve and lead the region and beyond in promoting diversity and cultural awareness through music.  We will accomplish this mission by vigorously engaging with one another, capitalizing on the gifts bestowed on our community through the arts, and celebrating our similarities and differences. Through open discourse and performance, we will create meaningful experiences that compel us towards understanding and compassion for all humanity. 

4. We will advocate service.   Knowledge invests us with the power to improve our world and the responsibility to act.  We will be engaged in our community.  Our students, faculty and staff will partake in volunteerism and service activities as a natural outgrowth of the University Mission in order to impact lives now and in the future.   We encourage and actively promote on our campus and surrounding community an awareness of the importance of the role of music in the enrichment of the human spirit. (Revised December 2013)

Department Goals 

  • To prepare competent musicians, who are able to function in the career area of their choice, in an environment that promotes academic and personal growth as well as intellectual, ethical, and aesthetic values.
  • To offer music courses, ensembles, applied music instruction and concerts to the university community.
  • To maintain a diversified faculty with expertise appropriate to curricular needs.
  • To develop music awareness in the community.

Program Outcomes for all Music Degree Programs

  1. Students will perform effectively and musically in their primary performance area.  This will include proficiency in skills requisite for artistic self-expression, an overview understanding of the relevant repertoire and demonstrated ability to perform from a cross-section of that repertory.
  2. Students will be fluent in reading music notation, not only as pertains to their primary performance area, but also from full scores, the clefs and transpositions those scores utilize, and contemporary notational techniques.
  3. Students will utilize analytic techniques to effectively describe the large and small-scale structures of music in such a way as to reveal relevant and important information about the score.
  4. Students will demonstrate an understanding of the development of western music and listen critically to a varied repertoire of music-effectively describing the use of musical elements and expressive devices using advanced technical vocabulary.  These descriptions will include identification of historical periods, genres, and interdisciplinary connections within a historical context.
  5. Students will perform in ensembles and be effective, musical and constructive members of musical groups.  Successful participation in musical ensembles includes leading small and large groups and working with others to create musically coherent performances.
  6. Students will compose effective musical works that demonstrate an understanding of basic musical elements, including notation, form and harmonic coherence.
  7. Students will accurately sight-sing and take aural dictation.  Students will improvise on instruments and voice melodies, variations and accompaniments.
  8. Students will communicate effectively in written form.
  9. Students will demonstrate their proficiency on the piano/keyboard.  This includes the ability to prepare works, sight-read, and improvise harmonizations at the keyboard.
  10. Students will be able to produce a properly documented research paper as a result of their ability to identify, find, understand and evaluate sources.

Policies and Procedures

Students must successfully complete a live audition for admission to this program. Audition information may be found on the Music Department website at http://music.mansfield.edu/auditions/.  Students in all music degree programs are required to complete a core of essential courses in music theory, music history and literature, applied music and piano, and must participate in music ensembles. All music students are required to pass a piano proficiency. During the fourth semester of study, all students will complete a sophomore review which will consist of performance on primary instrument, piano, singing and sightreading, rhythmic reading and conducting, written career goals and grade point average. The review must be passed to continue into upper division music courses.  Students must also abide by the Academic Requirements for Progression in the Music Department.  Details concerning this and the Sophomore Review may be found in the Student Handbook available online at http://music.mansfield.edu/student-resources/. 

Program Requirements: Music (B.A): 120 s.h.


Total Credit Hours: 42


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