Are you surprised the College of Arts & Science has a music major? Between 30 and 40 students call the Bachelor of Arts program home, according to Director of Undergraduate Studies Brigid Cohen. 

“Our program emphasizes rigorous skills in writing, research, close reading, close listening, aesthetic interpretation, historical knowledge-building and imagination, and the creation of expressive works across a range of media,” Cohen said. “Compared to other music programs at NYU, we offer courses in a particularly wide range of musical traditions and genres.”

Program: Bachelor of Arts in Music

Number of Faculty: 22*

Facility: N/A

*Core and adjunct faculty

Course examples:

The Art of Listening:

A course teaching a basic vocabulary of musical terms, concepts and listening skills to describe their responses to musical experiences. Students examine the structure and style of influential works in the Western art music repertoire, popular music or other musical cultures, with attention to the wider social, political and artistic context.

Special Topics Seminars

These seminars focus on specific soundscapes, cultures or time periods. Example courses include Reggaetón as a Decolonial Movement, which explores the genre’s influence in 20th and 21st-century American popular culture, and Music Between the Cracks: Listening to, Notating and Composing Non-Grid Musics allows students to develop structural analysis and close listening skills in music from composers throughout music history. 

Common internships/postgraduate opportunities:

Sound studios, concert halls, museums, libraries, record companies, sound engineering, music business, music scholarship and arts administration (law, medicine, psychology, computer science, journalism, information science, archival studies)

Perhaps you’ve heard of the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music even before thinking about college from that viral video of musician and producer Pharrell Williams discovering Maggie Rogers during a masterclass. Between 60 and 70 students are admitted as Recorded Music majors annually, according to Clive Davis Institute Associate Chair Nick Sansano. 

“[The] department promotes creative entrepreneurship,” Sansano said. “If you’re coming to the Clive Davis Institute, you’re agreeing to take courses in music theory and songwriting, but you’re also making an obligation to taking core courses in business and legal affairs, history and criticism of popular music, production and learning how to operate a recording studio –- both digital and analog.”

Unlike other music majors at NYU, Recorded Music students are required to study away for a semester. They have the option to participate in the Clive Davis Berlin program and learn from industry professionals within Berlin’s music scene. Around 25 students are admitted to study in Berlin per semester, according to Sansano.

Program: Bachelor of Fine Arts in Recorded Music

Number of Faculty: 66*

Facility: 370 Jay St., Brooklyn, NY (on NYU Tandon campus)

*Full-time and adjunct faculty

Course examples:

Producing the Record

A two-sequence course titled Sides A and B aimed to both teach and provide hands-on learning about music production in the studio.

Mix Intensive

Along with every facet of music production, mixing audio has been hugely impacted by the paradigm shift created by digital technologies. The objective is to refine mixing skills and expand the repertory of techniques. 

Common internships/postgraduate industries: 

A&R, music editing, music supervision within film and TV, publishing, composition, journalism, production, legal affairs and artist management