All Conservatory undergraduates pursue a five-year program leading to two degrees: the bachelor of music and the bachelor of arts in a field other than music. Conservatory students live, eat, and attend most classes with non-Conservatory students, and are fully part of the academic and social life of the College. Each Conservatory student has two academic advisers, one from the Conservatory and one from a field that the student is considering as a major for the BA degree.
Philosophy
The bachelor of music program contains many innovative components: all performance majors study composition, and the Conservatory Seminar integrates music theory and music history with special emphasis on their relation to performance. The curricula of the Conservatory and the College are flexible, allowing participants to create the sequence of music and other courses that best suits each student. The aim of the Conservatory and the College is to foster a unified learning environment where the serious study of music goes hand in hand with the education of the whole person.
Conservatory students take a full range of music classes including Conservatory students take a full range of music classes including Studio Instruction, Chamber Music, Orchestra, Conservatory Core Sequence in Theory, Analysis, and Composition, Aural Skills, Music History, Orchestra Repertoire Class, and Graduation Recital.
Bachelor of Music Degree Requirements
Requirements for the simultaneously awarded degrees of B. Music and B.A. can be summarized as follows:
1. A minimum of 160 credits, at least 64 of which must be taken at Bard. 2. A minimum of 40 credits outside the division of BA major. 3. Every student must take two semesters of First-Year Seminar. Transfer students may be exempt. 4. Every student must be promoted to the Upper College by passing moderation. 5. Every student must complete an acceptable BA Senior Project in a field other than music. 6. Distribution requirements: one course from each of the appropriate distribution areas. 7. Studio instruction (CNSV 100) in every semester of enrollment for performance majors. Composition tutorial (CNSV 102) in every semester of enrollment for composition majors. Studio instruction and Composition tutorial carries 4 credits. 8. Orchestra (CNSV 112) in every semester of enrollment for performance majors. Orchestra carries 0 credits. 9. Chamber Music: for all first-year Conservatory students: First-Year Conservatory Forum (CNSV108) for the fall semester of the first year. For the nine subsequent semesters of enrollment, for performance majors: Chamber Music (CNSV 110). Students may request a WAIVER for two semesters, by filling out the form and notifying the Chamber Music Coordinator before the first week of classes for the semester in question. (2 cr) 10. Core Sequence in Theory, Analysis, and Composition (CNSV 140, 240, 330, 332) four semesters (4 credits each): CNSV 140: Diatonic Harmony and Single Species Counterpoint CNSV 240: Chromatic Harmony and Combined Species Counterpoint CNSV 330: Contemporary Composition CNSV 332: Conservatory Seminar The order indicated by the numbering is strongly recommended, except that CNSV 330 and CNSV 332 may be taken in either order. 11. Aural Skills (CNSV 308, 309) two semesters, 2 credits per course. Some students may require supplementary studies to bring them up to the level of CNSV Aural Skills. They may take a Music Program Theory class. Some students may test out of the classes. 12. Music History: two semesters/courses of 4 credits per course. (MUS 264-265 in Language and Literature of Music are recommended, as preparation for graduate school entrance exams). With prior approval, students may choose courses from the Music Program’s history offerings. 13. Senior Recital Seminar (CNSV 403) 4 cr- includes recital preparation and program note writing, concert production, with a performance forum.
Performance Requirements and Assessments: (for students entering fall 2019, and after.) 1. First Year Jury 2. Second Year Jury 3. Third Year Midpoint Recital 4. Fourth Year Off-Campus Recital 5. Fifth Year Degree Recital and Promotional
Withdrawals A Conservatory student may withdraw from the Conservatory and continue as a BA candidate at Bard College. (Such a decision may have an impact on the student’s financial aid.) However, a student may not withdraw from Bard’s BA program and continue in the Conservatory.
Course Descriptions
Conservatory Course Descriptions
Studio Instruction
Studio Instruction
Weekly private lessons with artist teachers are at the center of the educational experience of every student at the Bard Conservatory. Drawing from the professional music world of New York City, Bard is able to attract world-class faculty who believe strongly in the special mission of the Conservatory double degree program. Private studio lessons are supplemented with frequent masterclasses with visiting guest artists.
Chamber Music
Chamber Music
Chamber music plays a particularly important role at the Conservatory. In addition to performing the standard masterworks of the chamber music repertoire, students work closely with the composition program of the Conservatory to perform works of the late 20th and the 21st centuries. Studio faculty members not only serve as coaches but often as players in ensembles so that students can hear firsthand and learn from the playing of a more experienced musician. The chamber music program is further enriched by master classes and concerts by guest artists groups.
Orchestra
Orchestra
The growth gained by rehearsing and performing music with peers in large ensemble is an irreplaceable part of any orchestral musician’s education. Bard places considerable emphasis upon this aspect of the Conservatory experience. The Bard Conservatory Orchestra rehearses twice a week and performs at least twice each semester in the beautiful and acoustically superb Fisher Center for the Performing Arts at Bard College. Under the direction of its music director, Leon Botstein, the orchestra also performs off campus in major cities in the US and overseas in tours of Asia and Europe.
Conservatory Core Sequence in Theory, Analysis and Composition
Conservatory Core Sequence in Theory, Analysis and Composition
The Conservatory Core Sequence is unique four-semester sequence of classes that integrate the study of music theory, music history, and composition in order to give students a richer understanding of these topics as vital and relevant to their work as interpreters:
Core Sequence Class I - Diatonic Harmony and Single Species Counterpoint: This course is the first of a two-semester sequence on harmony and counterpoint, the two dimensions of tonal music. Beginning with single species counterpoint in 2, 3 and 4 parts, using alto and tenor clefs, students will initially develop fluency in part writing. The study of diatonic harmony begins with the many possibilities of expanding the tonic key by the dominant. After surveying all the functions of diatonic chords in major and minor keys, the course ends with simple modulations from I to V in major and I to III in minor. There will be weekly writing assignments in harmony and counterpoint, and all musical examples will be drawn from the classical repertoire.
Core Sequence Class II - Chromatic Harmony and Combined Species Counterpoint: This course is a continuation of the material studied in CNSV 140. It covers the many possibilities of using non-diatonic tones in a key (i.e., chromaticism), spanning a variety of topics such as modal mixture, applied (i.e., secondary) dominants, the Phrygian 2 and the different forms of the augmented-sixth chords. This course also focuses upon the study of combined species counterpoint. In addition to understanding how combined-species patterns form the basis of diatonic sequences, the interaction between contrapuntal voice-leading techniques and genuine harmonic progressions will be clarified.
Contemporary Composition - By learning to compose, students develop a deep understanding of the compositional process, which is an integral skill for all performing musicians. Students produce several original compositions to be performed by themselves and others at a final concert. The class is taught by the conservatory composition faculty Joan Tower and George Tsontakis, two of our most celebrated composers and teachers of composition.
Conservatory Seminar - This is the capstone class for the Conservatory Core Sequence and is designed to give students the ability to place their music making in a larger historical, musical, sociological, and expressive context. Conservatory Seminar examines pieces from the conservatory orchestra repertoire and addresses broad questions such as the political and social context in which they were composed and understood, the relationship between the formal structure of the work and others of a similar general type, how the form of the work conveys meaning for particular sets of listeners and how these meanings have evolved through time.
Aural Skills
Aural Skills
This sequence of courses provides Conservatory students with skills in sight-singing, harmonic, melodic and rhythmic dictation, clef reading, keyboard harmony, harmonic analysis and other requirements of functional musical literacy.
Music History
Music History
In addition to the four-semester Conservatory Core Sequence in Theory, Analysis and Composition, students are required to take two upper level music history classes. These classes can be general survey classes or classes devoted to more specific topics in music history.
Orchestra Repertoire Class
Orchestra Repertoire Class
In this class for wind, brass, percussion and harp players works drawn from the core of the symphonic repertoire are studied and rehearsed in 2-hour sessions throughout the semester with all wind, brass, percussion players. This course addresses issues of ensemble playing, intonation, and musical expression, and broadens the knowledge of the symphonic repertoire through practical playing experience.
Graduation Recital
Graduation Recital
Students present a full length in the fourth or fifth years of the program. The repertoire is chosen in conjunction with the primary teacher and should demonstrate the unique musical strengths and artistic goals of the student.
Elective Music Courses
Elective Music Courses
Additional music electives are available in a broad range of topics, including classes in music history, advanced analysis, and courses studying music beyond the Western classical tradition. All courses in the Bard College B.A. Music Program—including those in electronic music, jazz, and world music—are open to students in the Conservatory.
