College Life

Private Schools That Are Well Known for This Major

• Southern Methodist University
• Boston College
• Berklee College of Music
• Juilliard School
• Princeton University

State Schools That Are Well Known for This Major

• University of California at Berkeley
• Indiana University
• Temple University
• University of Michigan
• Florida State University

Classes in the Major

Musical Theory: If you're studying music, you'll need to take classes in musical theory. It's here where you'll learn the basics, like the different clefs, key signatures, major and minor scales, and arpeggios. If none of that sounds familiar, it's pretty safe to say you need these classes as early as you can get in them. You probably won't find many people raving about how fun they are, but they're necessary to becoming the next Miles Davis.

Musical History: Knowing music history and what it's evolved into is essential to mastering it. You'll study the progression of music, as well as the effect it's had on cultures, from the minstrels of yesteryear to the titans of the industry, like Bob Dylan. Culture aside, you'll also have a better idea as to whether you're being a copycat, which is always nice.

Computers in Music: Even though we haven't gotten to the point of saying, "Siri, make me a chart-topping hit," we're getting pretty close. In this class, you'll learn how to record music and how to use all the different software applications. These courses will help you be more knowledgeable about music production, which most musicians have to deal with eventually if they want to enter the industry.

Jazz: Studying music in the United States mean you'll definitely learn about jazz. Jazz stands out as one of the most important artistic contributions that our country has given the world, so it makes sense that you'll learn about it here. The improvisation alone, which helped put jazz on the map, could take multiple semesters to study and devote time to. Even so, some schools condense it to one puny course. Lazy bums...

World Music: Studying a single type of music is no way to learn. Instead, you'll likely be expected to study world music. That's right, all of the music. In the world. Okay, not really. Although it can incorporate any culture, a world music class often (arbitrarily) seems to emphasize traditional African and Asian music. We're not sure why. This is more of a breadth course, but who knows? Maybe learning the sitar or studying Japan's music history could lead to big personal breakthroughs. Just ask The Beatles.