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.
Bachelor of Music Degree Requirements
Course Requirements
The requirements (by semester) of the bachelor of music degree in the Conservatory are:
Studio Instruction (all)
Aural Skills (two)
Conservatory Seminar (four)
Music History (two)
Chamber Music (all)*
Orchestra (all)*
Graduation Recital
*Performance majors only
Information about the Bard College bachelor of arts curriculum may be found here.
Course Requirements
Requirements for the simultaneously awarded degrees of B. Music and B.A. can be summarized as follows:
A minimum of 160 credits, at least 64 of which must be taken at Bard. (Students who enrolled before Fall 2011 are required to complete a minimum of 156 credits.) A minimum of 40 credits outside the division of BA major. Every student must take two semesters of First-Year Seminar. Transfer students may be exempt. Every student must be promoted to the Upper College by passing moderation. Every student must complete an acceptable BA Senior Project in a field other than music. Distribution requirements: one course from each of the appropriate distribution areas.
Studio instruction (CNSV 100) in every semester of enrollment for performance majors. Composition tutorial (CNSV 102) in every semester of enrollment for composition majors. Orchestra (CNSV 112) in every semester of enrollment for performance majors. First-year performance majors are required to take Introduction to Chamber Music (CNSV 108) during their first semester. After the first semester they must take Chamber Music (CNSV 110) in every semester of enrollment. Conservatory Seminar (CNSV 140, 240, 330, 332) – four semesters. Aural Skills (CNSV 308, 309) – two semesters. (Does not apply to students who enrolled before Fall 2010.) Music History (MUS 264-265) Conservatory Senior Project (CNSV 403) – includes recital. (Does not apply to students who enrolled before Fall 2011.
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.
Music Electives
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.
Course Descriptions
Conservatory students take a full range of music classes including:
Studio Instruction
Chamber Music
Orchestra
The Conservatory Core Sequence in Theory, Analysis, and Composition
Aural Skills
Music History
Orchestra Repertoire Class
Graduation Recital
Course Descriptions
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 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 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 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:
Harmony and Counterpoint - an accelerated introduction to species counterpoint and traditional harmony.
Composing in Classical Forms - the study of musical form through the creation of model compositions: a Baroque dance movement, a set of variations on a ground bass, a waltz, and a complete sonata exposition.
Composition for Performers - 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 meaning have evolved through time
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 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 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 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.
Composition with Conducting Concentration
This track within the Conservatory Composition concentration offers students training in conducting, in conjunction with composition studies.
Students in this track take beginning and intermediate conducting with maestro James Bagwell, co-director of the Graduate Conducting program. After completion of these courses students enroll in the graduate conducting seminar which meets in weekly sessions with two pianos or with a small orchestral ensemble. Additionally, students are required to complete three courses from the following list.
Composition with Conducting Concentration
Students are required to complete at least three of the courses from the following list.
Ear Training and Score Reading for Conductors
Keyboard Skills
Secondary Lessons in orchestral instruments or in voice
Foreign Language Study (offered through Bard College language programs)
Diction (Italian, French, German, English)
Sample Five-Year Plans
The sample five-year plans below are modeled after actual course schedules of some recent graduates from the Conservatory. These show just a few of the many possible combinations of instruments and academic majors:
The oboe faculty at Bard has designed a comprehensive curriculum that addresses orchestral, solo and etude repertoire, as well as reed making, instrument repair, and training on the English horn. The instructors, Elaine Douvas, Alexandra Knoll, and Ryan Roberts function as a team and foster a supportive group atmosphere.
One of the three oboe instructors comes to Bard almost every week to give private lessons and a 2-hour class. Group sessions are efficient and valuable because the students benefit from hearing each other and observing the instruction of their fellow students on a weekly basis.
The orchestral literature class meets once a month, taught by Ryan Roberts, English hornist of the New York Philharmonic Fifty complete works are covered in a 3 to4-year rotation, following a well-outlined syllabus. Students are asked to study two or three major works per month, preparing independently, listening to three recorded examples, using a complete oboe part and a full score.
Etude class also meets once per month (8x per year) and is taught by Elaine Douvas, principal oboist of the Metropolitan Opera. The entire Barret method is covered in a two to four year cycle, following an organized syllabus. Ferling etudes are added for students in their 3rd, 4thand 5thyears and are also taught in private lessons. The oboe faculty seeks to perpetuate the tradition of teaching universal musical principles through etudes, and to prepare students to be effective teachers themselves.
Training on the English horn is essential for all oboists, and English horn class is taught by Ryan Roberts.
Reed making class is held about 5 times per year, taught by Alexandra Knoll, Principal Oboist of the American Symphony and Acting Associate Principal of the NYC Ballet, although reed making instruction also takes place in individual lessons. Bard owns 2 gougers, an RDG and an Innoledy. Students working in small groups help each other and progress more quickly. Detailed written material is provided.
Repair skills are essential to be able to play the oboe fluently, to handle emergencies, and to become an expert teacher. Repair class, taught by Ryan Roberts, mainly covers adjustment screws, but additional subjects can be covered in one more class, if desired: crack gluing, pad changing, spring changing, octave vent and tone-hole cleaning, and tuning of tone holes.
In order to prepare students for professional orchestra auditions, two placement auditions are conducted each year at Bard. (We use the eight-semester rotation of audition repertoire used at Juilliard.)
We hope this course of study sounds exciting for you; we believe you can master all of your repertoire and skills in this well-organized way. We teachers will try our very best to prepare you for a happy life in music!
