Don't know exactly what to call this but for those who wonder about music degrees in college, I'm gonna give my experience here.

Right now, I am in college for a piano performance degree. Now, for clarity's sake, I'm not in a School of Music or Music Conservatory. The program I'm in is just a Department of Music in part of a larger College of Arts deal. School of Music and Music Conservatory people have different experiences than mine and probably stricter "guideline" I guess, I don't know what to call them but I'll get to what I mean in a second. I'm pretty sure the core  of it stays roughly the same though, so here we go.

First of all, for getting into the Department of Music, you don't initially have to audition (again, NOT Music Conservatory or School of Music because I'm fairly certain those DO require auditions.) Our has three different degrees-- Bachelor of Arts in Music, Bachelor of Music in Music Education, and Bachelor of Music is Performance with a concentration in X instrument. In my case, that's piano.

What my school does is that they'll have posters up about auditions for the music program, but what they're really auditions for is a music scholarship. If you want in the Music Department for one of those degrees, all you have to do is declare one of them as your major while entering the school. Now, depending on that declared major, you'll have different requirements to hit at the end of the first two years and final year.

In my case, I entered as a Bachelor of Arts in Music under a music scholarship because I auditioned thinking I had to do that to get into the program. This scholarship is small in terms of college prices, it was more of a carrot dangled in front of my face saying that if I had "music" in some capacity as my major, I would get that sum of money. Still, anything is nice.

For Bachelor of Arts, each semester you're expected to learn two pieces of music from two different time periods. In the case of piano, it has to be memorized, but I'm not certain on any other instrument. At the end of your first semester you play those two pieces, along with whatever scales, chords, or arpeggios you've learned/ worked on in lessons, at something called a"jury." This jury is with every instructor for your particular instrument who grades you on your work for that semester. That is also your semester grade for instrument lessons.

My case, I played two pieces along with a few selected scales and chords in front of my two piano professors. I did not do arpeggios because I didn't know any ( I came in with no classical lessons or anything like that, I just like to play). One of those was my professor for lessons. They each gave me feedback and I got my semester grade. We continue on with life.

Second semster-- this is where the degree you chose matters. Two new things happen this semester for my school-- recital lab performance and degree related auditions.

Recital lab is a class where every music major must attend. You listen to people play a certain amount of times a semester, and if it's not your first semester there, YOU are on one of those performance days. It's all about practicing public playing. Trust me, only idiots like me actually like the performance part of it and EVERYONE is nervous. In your second semester, you get to play in that class.

The degree related auditions are exactly what they sound like. I don't believe a Bachelor of Arts has to participate in them and can just do a jury, but Music Ed. have do pass both an education test and music test, and Performance students have to do what's called a "performance hearing." This is exactly like the jurys except you are required to play your pieces in front of the entire music faculty who will decide if you're good enough to get into the Performance degree. For that hearing, and subsequent Performance major jury and hearings, you're required to play three different pieces, instead of two, from three different time periods. If you don't make it into the program on the first shot, there are two of three more chances to change majors.

For me, I passed the hearing and changed majors at the end of my first year. Another important piece of information is that if you've got a hearing, you do NOT have to do a jury.

Third semester is the same show as first except for the now permanent requirement of performing once a semester on recital lab. At the end of that semester, a jury takes place and if you haven't finished the scales, chords, and arpeggios (it's literally called piano proficiency, that way they know that information is drilled into you) it gets finished.

Fourth semester, end of sophomore year, is when the terror happens. This is the time of Upper Divisionals aka hell. It's effectively an audition to stay IN the music program. Every single person, with the exception of a music minor, has to do these. You go up, in front of the entire faculty, and play however many pieces you've worked in that's semester. If you pass, great. If you fail, it has to be done again at the end of your next semester. There are three chances to pass this thing, otherwise you're pretty much kicked out of the music program. At my school, it's a 50/50 as to if you pass on the first try, but the second try 99% of people do. It's EXTREMELY rare that someone doesn't on the third try if they are actually trying to stay in the program. Teachers can also finagle this around and push it back a semester if you're not ready to take the Upper Divisional at the end of sophomore year. If that happens, you just have a jury.

Let me also say this-- the teachers WANT to pass you. If they are there and they truly like their jobs and music in general, they aren't trying to find a reason to fail you. They genuinely want for you to pass any hearing, jury, or audition that's thrown your way.

Fifth semester is the same as first and third, exception being having to take the Divisional again.

Sixth semester, end of junior year, is another change of pace. This is where Bachelor of Arts students can still do a jury, as well as Bachelor of Education (depending on the plan with the teacher), but Performance majors are required to do a junior recital. Education majors are as well, although most of the ones at my school save it for their first semester of senior year.

For mt school, a junior recital requires roughly thirty minutes of music. This can vary by ten minutes in either direction. Piano performance students usually play a Bach Prelude and Fugue here, although that can wait until senior year. You also have to play something from three different time periods.

I wound up with:

Bach- Prelude and Fugue in Bb major, no 21 from Well Tempered Clavier book 1

Rachmaninoff -Moment Musicaux no. 3
Rachmaninoff -Moment Musicaux no.4

Glinka/ Balakirev -The Lark

Samuel Zyman - Two Motions In One Movement

It wound up being close to thirty minutes. I also had learned this stuff over the summer the year prior and semester before.

In order to perform this recital, you have a recital hearing. This is once again in front of the full faculty and they decide if it's good enough to go. You play some full songs, some excerpts. It sort of depends on what they ask for. This, along with every other hearing, is about fifteen minutes long.  This is also the time you are given for jurys.

Next semester is same deal as one, three, and five. If you're a music education major, you're probably going to do a junior recital here and have it be toward the 40 minute mark. If not, jurys. Sometimes it works that your aren't required to play in recital lab if you are giving a recital, but it depends on the teacher that semester who's leading recital lab as to what you can get away with. I've had both happen. The one constant is that if you are giving a recital, you don't have to do jurys.

In the last semester everyone has to do something. Music Education majors have likely already given their recital, but if they haven't they do it here. If they have, they're probably student teaching.

Bachelor of Arts have to do a senior project. This is decided by the student and it is usually a recital, although it can be a presentation, a presentation where they perform songs and talk about them, or a research paper. Performance students give a senior recital. For the presentation and recital, they end up being forty-five minutes to an hour, have a program with program notes written by the student, and if it's recital related, has a hearing beforehand to determine if the student is ready. This performance or project can be pushed back until the student's last semester of they're staying a little longer which is what has happened in my case.

Anyway, I have more but it'll be really long if I keep going. That's a small portion of it. I leave you with Chopin's Ballade no. 4 because it's beautiful and it's played by Arthur Rubenstein.

I'm an idiot and am learning this for my senior recital.