Bachelor of Music

A Bachelor of Music (BMus or BM) is an academic degree awarded by a college, university, or conservatory upon completion of a program of study in music.^[1] The degree may be awarded for performance, music education, composition, music theory, musicology / music history (musicology degrees may be a Bachelor of Arts rather than a Bachelor of Music), music technology, music therapy, sacred music, music business/music industry, entertainment, music production, or jazz studies. Since the 2010s, some universities have begun offering degrees in music composition with technology, which include traditional theory and musicology courses and sound recording and composition courses using digital technologies.

In the United States, the Bachelor of Music is a professional degree, and the majority of work consists of prescribed music courses and study in applied music, usually requiring proficiency in an instrument, voice, or conducting. One of the most renowned is Juilliard School in New York, a professional educational arm of the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.^[2] Juilliard offers bachelor’s degrees in music, dance, and drama.^[3] Berklee College of Music also offers a variety of such degrees, including a four-year professional degree,^[4] as well as instrumental and online undergraduate courses.^[5]

In Canada, the B.M. is often considered an undergraduate degree. Programs typically last from three to four and a half years.^[6]

In the United Kingdom, the Bachelor of Music is generally a first degree lasting three years or four years and consisting of a wide range of areas of study (normally including performance, composition, music theory, musicology/music history), but at the University of Oxford^[7] and University of Cambridge^[8] it was a one-year postgraduate degree which could only be taken if a student were to have been a graduate in music with honors at those universities; the undergraduate course is in the Faculty of Arts and leads to the Bachelor of Arts (and subsequently the Master of Arts (Oxbridge)). In Scotland, as part of its undergraduate Bachelor’s degree programme, the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland offers a BMus in Jazz,^[9] while Edinburgh University through its Edinburgh College of Art offers a three year BMus degree, with the option for a fourth ‘Honours’ year, styled ‘BMus(Hons)’.^[10]

In Australia, Music Bachelor Degree study programs are available at, among others, the University of Sydney,^[11] Monash University,^[12] the University of New South Wales,^[13] the University of Adelaide,^[14] Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University,^[15] and the University of Tasmania.^[16] The University of Canberra offers a 'Bachelor of Creative Industries (Contemporary Music Practice)'.^[17]