Music Performance BM Organ
Program Purpose
This is a limited-enrollment program requiring departmental admissions approval. Please see the college advisement center for information regarding requirements for admission to this major.
The purpose of the BM in Organ Performance degree is to prepare students for professional work as a performer, a studio teacher, or a combination of both. It is intended to attract students with exceptional technical development and artistic ability in organ. The program is designed for students who will benefit from private study, juried performances, and peer-group ensemble experiences.
Curricular Structure
The BM in Organ Performance includes a core of classes required of all music majors. In addition, organ students have other requirements that mix in a combination of the following: private instruction, pedagogy, literature, practicum, supervised teaching, workshops, and electives, so that the total required hours for any emphasis is 120 hours. (See specific requirements by selecting a link below.)
Major Academic Plan Music Performance Organ Emphasis
Learning Outcomes
Meeting the Aims of a BYU Education
We support the aims of a BYU education, to strengthen students' lives spiritually, enlarge their intellectual experience, build their character, and prepare for lifelong learning and service.
As reviewed and approved by the National Association of Schools of Music (NASM), all music students, through the core requirements of all music degrees, show proficiency in music theory, music history, performance, ensemble participation, conducting, sight singing, and music dictation.
Prepare performances at the highest possible level, including knowledge of applicable solo and ensemble literature, and perform from a cross-section of that repertory.
Understand and demonstrate the fundamentals of music pedagogy as they apply to private and group organ instruction.
Show mastery of the basic cultural and historical background of civilization, and the important musical styles that have emerged therefrom.
Demonstrate command of music's organizing principles from the common practice period to the present.
Understand how specific technologies serve the student's chosen field of music.
Evidence of Learning
Faculty members use exams, projects, papers, recital attendance, and juried performances to evaluate their students. The curriculum is designed to establish specific goals. Students' readiness to present public recitals is evaluated by faculty at a juried exam three to six weeks prior to the performance. The performance may also be juried. Each semester of performance study is evaluated by the organ faculty. All students are encouraged to complete faculty and course evaluations at the end of each course.
Direct Measures
School of Music faculty prize certain subjective, critical components of a music education such as musicality, creativity, and originality. They recognize the difficulty of assessing such elements objectively, and understand the very act of measuring them drains away their virtue and value. Faculty assess other more explicit evidence of learning using traditional tools throughout the course of classes and lessons, and at periodic advisement points as determined by the college advisement center.
Indirect Measures
Indirect evaluations include reviewing the following information:
- Student evaluations
- Letters from students who report using these skills in the professional world
- Admissions of graduates into fine graduate schools, and receiving top scholarships and assistantships
- Opportunities to play degree recitals on fine Salt Lake City organs: Assembly Hall, Cathedral of the Madeleine, Cathedral Church of St. Mark's, and St. Ambrose Catholic Church
Learning and Teaching Assessment and Improvement
Professors are represented by individuals who serve on the Undergraduate Council. This committee supervises the undergraduate curriculum and policies and serves to assess all areas of the program. The Performance Council supervises all performances in the School of Music, equipment, rehearsal space and related matters to the physical needs generated by the curriculum. The Assistant Director for Admissions and Scholarships and the Assistant Director for Development oversee recruiting, scholarships and admission procedures. All performance faculty are involved in the recruitment of the most prepared and talented students. Recruiting is a diverse and multi-faceted commitment and may include, for instance, teaching pre-college students, faculty recordings and broadcasts, concerts, masterclasses, a highly visible and consistant private studio and festival and adjudication participation.