You are a listener. You dream of leading choirs, conducting orchestras, teaching students, or composing your own works. Learn music theory, aural skills, arranging, music technology and more.
A like-minded group of faculty, students, and staff with a shared passion for all aspects of music, Winthrop’s Department of Music provides supportive mentorships to foster your development as a musician and to prepare you for a career in music.
Winthrop offers four undergraduate and three graduate music degree programs, including a nonperformance-based program: the Bachelor of Arts degree in Music with a Concentration in Music Technology. Courses cover fundamentals of music technology, audio recording/post-production, synthesis/signal processing, and audio for visual media.
The Bachelor of Arts in Music with a concentration in Commercial Music provides instrumentalists and singers with an immersive education in commercial music performance and includes a minor in a secondary discipline. Students take private lessons with our accomplished faculty, perform in WU’s Commercial Music Ensemble, study music theory (traditional and commercial/popular), take courses in music technology, business, and study the history of American popular music. Additionally, students will perfect their writing and arranging techniques, culminating in a senior capstone performance project. If you want to pursue a degree that focuses on American popular music (pop, rock, jazz, R&B, country, hip hop, etc.), this program is for you!
LEARN MOREThe Bachelor of Arts in Music with a concentration in Commercial Music provides students with a liberal arts degree centered around an immersive education in commercial music performance and includes a minor in a secondary discipline. Students will acquire and expand their knowledge and application regarding commercial music performance, history (American popular music and traditional European), construction (including courses in European and commercial music theory), and pedagogy. The minor broadens a student’s competencies, providing them with the ability to pursue career opportunities that are interdisciplinary or entrepreneurial in scope.
Our music faculty are dedicated to developing relationships with each of our students. Nearly 95 percent of the full-time music faculty hold the highest degree possible in their teaching specialty and perform professionally outside of the university and across the region.
Elisa Koehler
Chair, Department of Music
Office: 129 Conservatory of Music
Phone: 803/323-2255
E-mail: koehlere@winthrop.edu
Are you ready to join the ArtsWinthrop family of creatives? We can't wait to meet you!
