Composition

Composition Degree Summary

Students wishing to pursue careers as composers may complete a degree in music composition. The School of Music has a distinguished faculty for this academic concentration who can help students realize career opportunities involving musical creativity.

• Significant emphasis is placed on applied (private) lessons.
• Students attend weekly composers' forum meetings each semester to explore important relevant topics with other student and faculty composers at SHSU. These discussions focus on issues such as notation, self-promotion, applying to calls for scores, compositional process, score/parts creation, opportunities for publication, self-promotion, and exploration of new works and composers.
• The student composers at SHSU produce one or two programs each academic year comprised of their original compositions, performed by SHSU students and faculty. Audio and video recordings of these programs are made, and composers may use these recordings for their own promotion, study, and applications to calls for scores and competitions.
• All composition students are advised individually and unique plans are made to accommodate career goals involving composition.
• All composition students are members of the SHSU student composition production group known as Ars Perpetua.
• At the end of each semester of study, composition students submit portfolios of their work for a final evaluation.
• Composers have opportunities to interact with professional composers from around the USA, both live on campus and Zoom.

For more information about music composition at SHSU, click HERE.