Degree Programs

Photo of 4 students playing string instruments The Department of Music offers six degrees options, the most flexible being the B.A. "individualized major" and the Bachelor of Arts with a Major in Music. The other degrees are more prescriptive and focused in nature.

Click here for the 2007-2008 Department of Music Handbook.

Click here for Course Catalog information and Music course descriptions.

Bachelor of Arts with a Major in Music (B.A.)
The B.A. program offers broad, flexible coverage of the field, and it is easily combinable with other majors and minors. It includes performance studies and the entire core of music theory, conducting, and history courses. Students have the option to take additional electives according to their interests.

Interdisciplinary Program in Music and Business (B.A.)
This popular and successful program involves a major in Music and a minor in either Arts Administration, Business Administration, or Sound Production. It includes an internship in the senior year, which may be at either a nearby or a distant location according to the student's interests.

Bachelor of Fine Arts in Musical Theatre (B.F.A.)
The B.F.A. is an interdisciplinary program co-sponsored by the Department of Music and the Department of Theatre & Dance.

Bachelor of Music Education (B.M.E.)
The four-year B.M.E. program offers students the professional skills needed to be licensed in Ohio as grade pre-K-12 teachers in vocal and instrumental music. Otterbein College is accredited by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) as well as the National Association of Schools of Music (NASM). These accreditations facilitate licensure in additional states. The program retains the advantages of the liberal arts framework that is the essence of Otterbein.

Beginning with the freshman year, all students are involved in a variety of observation and participatory public school experiences that are jointly provided by the Departments of Music and Education. Music education majors also have an opportunity to work with Otterbein's Kinderchor, our children's choir program. http://www.kinderchorohio.org/

Otterbein's placement record of its B.M.E. graduates is exemplary, achieving 95 to 100 percent each year.

Bachelor of Music with a Major in Performance (B. Mus.)
The B. Mus. Degree puts primary emphasis on the skills, concepts, and sensitivities essential to the life of the performing musician. This degree program is not combinable with other majors and minors.

Individualized Major (B.A.)
This degree track is the opportunity to create a personalized major for a focused goal that does not fit in within the present requirements of the department major/minor system.