Popular Music (BA/BS)
https://musicanddance.uoregon.edu/popular-music
A Bachelor of Arts or Science degree with a Popular Music provides students with a comprehensive course of study focused on songwriting, music production, music performance, music theory, and popular music history and culture. It can also include preparation for music entrepreneurship through coursework in marketing, business, and law. Students choose from a variety of performance ensembles, including gospel choirs, a hip hop ensemble, and popular music combos, among others.
Students can use elective requirements to deepen their engagement with a variety of subjects, including music production, jazz, electronic music, and the history and culture of popular music. A degree in Popular Music requires approximately two years of music coursework with no audition or portfolio needed. Students can elect to take more music coursework to complete general elective requirements, and can take music courses for four years should they choose to.
Program's Admission Requirements
Please visit the program's website.
Program Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion of this program, students will be able to:
- Think, speak, and write clearly and effectively, and to communicate with precision, cogency, and rhetorical force.
- Have an informed acquaintance with the mathematical and experimental methods of the physical and biological sciences; with the main forms of analysis and the historical and quantitative techniques needed for investigating the workings and developments of modern society.
- Address culture and history from a variety of perspectives.
- Have an understanding of, and experience in thinking about, moral and ethical problems.
- Respect, understand, and evaluate work in a variety of disciplines.
- Have the capacity to explain and defend views effectively and rationally.
- Identify, and work conceptually with the elements of music such as rhythm, melody, harmony, form structure, timbre, texture.
- Accurately read and realize musical notation.
- Demonstrate understanding of compositional processes, aesthetic properties of style, and the ways these shape and are shaped by artistic and cultural forces.
- Demonstrate familiarity with a wide selection of musical literature, the principal eras, genres, and cultural sources, for example, classical, jazz, popular, and music from various cultures and people groups from around the world.
- Develop and defend musical judgments.
- Perform at levels consistent with the goals and objectives of the specific liberal arts degree program/concentration being followed.
- Perform in a variety of musical styles.
- Demonstrate knowledge and/or skills in one or more areas of music beyond basic musicianship appropriate to the individual's needs and interests, consistent with the goals and objectives of the specific liberal arts degree program.
Popular Music Major Requirements
| Code | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Theory and Musicianship | ||
| MUS 131 | Music Theory I | 2 |
| MUS 134 | Aural Skills I | 2 |
| MUS 249 | Popular Music Analysis | 3 |
| Theory and Musicianship Electives - Select courses from the following to reach at least 6 credits: | 6-8 | |
| Music Theory II | ||
| Music Theory III | ||
| Aural Skills II | ||
| Aural Skills III | ||
| Popular Piano and Musicianship I | ||
| Popular Piano and Musicianship II | ||
| Popular Piano and Musicianship III | ||
| Jazz Performance Laboratory | ||
| Jazz Performance Laboratory | ||
| Jazz Performance Laboratory | ||
| History and Culture | ||
| MUS 263 | US Popular Music 1800 to 1930 | 4 |
| MUS 358 | Music in World Cultures | 4 |
| History and Culture Electives - Select one course from the following: | 3-4 | |
| Elements of Electronic Music | ||
| US Popular Music 1930 to 1965 | ||
| US Popular Music 1965 to 2000 | ||
| Hip-Hop Music: History, Culture, Aesthetics | ||
| The Beatles and Their Times | ||
| American Musical Theater | ||
| Cultures of Musical Celebrity | ||
| Popular Musics in the African Diaspora | ||
| Popular Music Studies | ||
| Music and Emotion | ||
| Songwriting and Music Production | ||
| MUS 151 | Popular Songwriting | 4 |
| Select courses from the following to reach at least 6 credits: | 6 | |
| Digital Audio Workstation Techniques I | ||
| Digital Audio Workstation Techniques II | ||
| Digital Audio Workstation Techniques III | ||
| Audio Production Techniques I | ||
| Audio Recording Techniques II | ||
Additional Theory & Musicianship Elective courses | ||
Additional History & Culture Elective courses | ||
| Music Industry | ||
| MUS 346 | Music, Money, and the Law | 4 |
| Select one course from the following: | 4 | |
| Remix Cultures | ||
| Principles of Advertising | ||
| Introduction to American Law | ||
| Introduction to Business Law | ||
| Introduction to Entrepreneurship | ||
| Launching New Ventures | ||
| Music Performance | 6 | |
| Three MUP courses on one or more instruments 1 | ||
| Music Ensembles | 3-6 | |
| Select three ensembles courses, including at least one of the following: 2 | ||
| Chamber Ensemble: [Topic] ((Hip Hop Ensemble)) | ||
| Chorus: [Topic] ((Gospel Singers, University Gospel Choir, University Gospel Ensemble)) | ||
| Additional Music Coursework | 9 | |
| Select at least 9 credits of additional MUJ, MUP, and/or MUS credits from the categories above and/or from the following list, including any upper division credits necessary to reach 24 total upper division credits in music: | ||
| Jazz Theory | ||
| Jazz Improvisation I | ||
| Jazz Improvisation II | ||
| Jazz Composition 1 | ||
| Jazz Composition II | ||
| Tonal Analysis: Analysis of Popular Music | ||
| Digital Audio and Sound Design | ||
| Senior Project | ||
| Total Credits | 60-66 | |
| 1 | See also, General Limitations in the Registration and Academic Policies (http://catalog.uoregon.edu/admissiontograduation/registration_policies/) section of this catalog. |
| 2 | Ensemble Courses: Collegium Musicum (MUS 391), Oregon Electronic Device Orchestra (MUS 393), Chamber Ensemble: [Topic] (MUS 394), Band: [Topic] (MUS 395), Orchestra: [Topic] (MUS 396), Chorus: [Topic] (MUS 397), Opera Workshop (MUS 398), Jazz Laboratory Band III (MUJ 390), Jazz Laboratory Band II (MUJ 391), Oregon Jazz Ensemble (MUJ 392), Small Jazz Ensemble: [Topic] (MUJ 395) |
Popular Music Major - Music Production Concentration
| Code | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Theory and Musicianship | ||
| MUS 131 | Music Theory I | 2 |
| MUS 134 | Aural Skills I | 2 |
| MUS 249 | Popular Music Analysis | 3 |
| Select courses from the following to reach at least 6 credits: | 6-8 | |
| Music Theory II | ||
| Music Theory III | ||
| Aural Skills II | ||
| Aural Skills III | ||
| Popular Piano and Musicianship I | ||
| Popular Piano and Musicianship II | ||
| Popular Piano and Musicianship III | ||
| Jazz Performance Laboratory | ||
| Jazz Performance Laboratory | ||
| Jazz Performance Laboratory | ||
| History and Culture | ||
| MUS 263 | US Popular Music 1800 to 1930 | 4 |
| MUS 358 | Music in World Cultures | 4 |
| Select one course from the following: | 3-4 | |
| Elements of Electronic Music | ||
| US Popular Music 1930 to 1965 | ||
| US Popular Music 1965 to 2000 | ||
| Hip-Hop Music: History, Culture, Aesthetics | ||
| The Beatles and Their Times | ||
| American Musical Theater | ||
| Cultures of Musical Celebrity | ||
| Popular Musics in the African Diaspora | ||
| Popular Music Studies | ||
| Music and Emotion | ||
| Songwriting and Music Production | ||
| MUS 151 | Popular Songwriting | 4 |
| MUS 476 | Digital Audio Workstation Techniques I | 3 |
| MUS 477 | Digital Audio Workstation Techniques II | 3 |
| MUS 478 | Digital Audio Workstation Techniques III | 3 |
| MUS 480 | Audio Production Techniques I | 3 |
| MUS 481 | Audio Recording Techniques II | 3 |
| MUS 482 | Audio Recording Techniques III | 3 |
| MUS 483 | Audio Effects Theory and Design | 4 |
| MUS 488 | Analog Recording Techniques | 3 |
| Music Industry | ||
| MUS 346 | Music, Money, and the Law | 4 |
| Select one course from the following: | 4 | |
| Remix Cultures | ||
| Principles of Advertising | ||
| Introduction to American Law | ||
| Introduction to Business Law | ||
LAW 305 | ||
| Introduction to Entrepreneurship | ||
| Launching New Ventures | ||
| Music Performance | 6 | |
| Three MUP courses on one or more instruments 1 | ||
| Music Ensembles | 3-6 | |
| Select three ensembles courses, including at least one of the following: 2 | ||
| Chamber Ensemble: [Topic] ((Hip Hop Ensemble)) | ||
| Chorus: [Topic] ((Gospel Singers, University Gospel Choir, University Gospel Ensemble)) | ||
| Additional Music Coursework | 9 | |
| Select at least 9 credits of additional MUJ, MUP, and/or MUS credits from the categories above and/or from the following list, including any upper division credits necessary to reach 24 total upper division credits in music: | ||
| Jazz Theory | ||
| Jazz Improvisation I | ||
| Jazz Improvisation II | ||
| Jazz Composition 1 | ||
| Jazz Composition II | ||
| Tonal Analysis: Analysis of Popular Music | ||
| Digital Audio and Sound Design | ||
| Senior Project | ||
| Total Credits | 79-85 | |
| 1 | See also, General Limitations in the Registration and Academic Policies (http://catalog.uoregon.edu/admissiontograduation/registration_policies/) section of this catalog. |
| 2 | Ensemble Courses: Collegium Musicum (MUS 391), Oregon Electronic Device Orchestra (MUS 393), Chamber Ensemble: [Topic] (MUS 394), Band: [Topic] (MUS 395), Orchestra: [Topic] (MUS 396), Chorus: [Topic] (MUS 397), Opera Workshop (MUS 398), Jazz Laboratory Band III (MUJ 390), Jazz Laboratory Band II (MUJ 391), Oregon Jazz Ensemble (MUJ 392), Small Jazz Ensemble: [Topic] (MUJ 395) |