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Prepare for your career as a professional musician in a uniquely creative, inclusive environment. In Steinhardt’s unparalleled facilities, you’ll study with world-renowned artist faculty and explore diverse musical traditions, with a complement of courses in Music Technology, Music Business, Performing Arts Administration, and the Arts in Education. While taking full advantage of NYU’s acclaimed liberal arts core, you’ll work one-on-one with today’s musical innovators, developing your personal artistry while acquiring the skills to succeed after graduation.  

Coached by dedicated faculty, ensembles and orchestras such as the World Music Ensemble, Latin Music Ensemble, NYU Wayne Shorter Ensemble, and the NYU All-University Jazz Orchestra offer extraordinary opportunities to interact and perform with your amazing peers. The NYU Symphony Orchestra and Broadway Orchestra present several concerts each year; additional ensemble experiences are available in collaboration with the Programs in Music Composition, Dance Education, and Vocal Performance, ranging from screen scoring projects and recording sessions to operas and musicals produced by leading professionals. 

Core Course Sequence

Only Steinhardt’s innovative performance curriculum allows you to simultaneously explore the University’s renowned liberal arts core; original offerings in music history and music theory in addition to foundational courses; and complementary coursework in Music Business and Performing Arts Administration, Music Technology, and Arts Education. A flexible elective component allows for Study Abroad, interdisciplinary minors, and double majors.

Our cutting-edge curriculum in music theory and history introduces you to a broad range of musical repertoire, analytical approaches, and critical listening skills for engaging with music from various styles and genres. You’ll have the opportunity to explore not only common-practice “classical” and contemporary music but also popular genres, jazz, musical theatre, and non-Western traditions.  

Instrumental Performance prepares its graduates to act as musical innovators and teaching artists, changemakers, practitioner-scholars, and policy makers in communities, schools, and performing arts institutions worldwide. 

Specialization Sequence

Performance majors benefit from personalized instruction in private lessons with master artists, ensemble coachings, and dedicated mentorship from world-class faculty. Master classes, repertoire classes, and intensive specialization courses prepare students for successful careers as concertizing and recording artists. For those interested in acquiring skills in Music Technology, Music Business, Performing Arts Administration, and the Arts in Education, we offer access to coursework – including for-credit internships, minors, double majors, and opportunities to Study Abroad –  which will enhance your knowledge of the performing arts in context. 

Sample Elective Courses 

Introduction to Performing Arts Administration

This course is an introduction to the concepts and techniques used to manage performing arts organizations. Subjects include organizational structure, trustee/staff relations, marketing, audience building, fund-raising, human resources, community engagement, performance measurement, leadership, strategic planning, and diversity, equity, and inclusion. Through readings, class discussion, case exercises, and engaging with professional arts managers, students will acquire an understanding of the challenges and opportunities facing performing arts managers.

Global Soundscapes: A Survey of Musical Traditions

This course introduces students to selected musical sounds and practices from cultural groups around the world. Through exposure to distinct musical cultures, from traditional to transnational, students learn to define and apply musical concepts such as rhythm, timbre, melody, and form. The socio-cultural context and relevance of musical practices are also examined, touching on issues such as race, gender, embodied participation, technologies of production and circulation, and relationship to religion, the state, and other social structures. 

Rights, Revenue & Relationships: What Music Creators Need To Know

Students pursuing careers in music creation — songwriters, composers, instrumentalists, vocalists, engineers, producers, and others — need to be well-versed in myriad ways to protect and maximize the rights, revenue streams, and professional relationships that flow from their work. As music marketplace opportunities and distribution channels widen and diversify, music creators have far greater choices than ever before. Students explore the essential elements required to build a career and a life in music, examining them from the creator’s perspective.

Global Electronic Music I

This studio course examines a mixtape selection of electronic music from NYC to Capetown to Tokyo using music theory and composition. Global electronic music necessitates diverse methodologies in critical discussion of the research of this music in a post/neo-colonial setting. The class will engage in critical discussion of the studio and the digital audio workstation as compositional tools on the continuum of improvisation, and the music itself as innovation, communication and historiography in global communities of the Information age.

Culminating Experience 

In degree recitals, Instrumental Performance majors demonstrate their mastery over their instrument, command of the repertoire, and personal performance aesthetic. Degree recitals are held in Steinhardt’s world-class performance venues and recorded to provide an archival document of professional quality. 

 

Course Title Credits
Liberal Arts Requirements
Foreign Language4
Expository Writing
EXPOS-UA 1Writing as Inquiry4
ACE-UE 110Advanced College Essay: Educ & The Professions4
Foundations of Contemporary Culture
Texts and Ideas4
Cultures and Contexts OR Expressive Cultures4
Societies and the Social Sciences4
Foundations of Scientific Inquiry
Quantitative Reasoning4
Physical Science4
Music History
MPAJZ-UE 1121Jazz History2
4 credits from any of the following courses:4
MPATC-UE 1067
Music History I
MPATC-UE 1068
Music History II: Baroque & Classical
MPATC-UE 1077
Music History III
MPATC-UE 1078
Music History IV: Twentieth Century
6 credits from any of the following courses:6
MPATC-UE 1195
Songwriting History and Criticism: 14 Songs I
or MPATC-UE 1196
Songwriting History and Criticism: 14 Songs II
MPATC-UE 1500
Film Music: Historical Aesthetics/Perspectives
MPAJZ-UE 1602
Chicago Blues
MPAJZ-UE 1603
Music in World Cultures: Balkan Music
MPAJZ-UE 1604
Afro-Cuban Music
MPAJZ-UE 1607
New Orleans & the Jazz Experience
MPAJZ-UE 1608
Miles Davis Aesthetic
MPAJZ-UE 1610
Brazilian Music
Required Music Courses
MPATC-UE 1302Aural Skills I: Global Approaches to Music1
MPATC-UE 1321Aural Skills II: Tonal Harmony & Voice Leading1
MPATC-UE 1301Theory & Practice I: Global Approaches to Music 12
MPATC-UE 1311Theory & Practice II: Tonal Harmony & Voice Leading2
MPAPE-UE 72Keyboard Skills I1
MPAPE-UE 73Keyboard Skills II1
MPAPE-UE 74Keyboard Skills III1
MPAPE-UE 75Keyboard Skills IV1
MPAJZ-UE 1092Recital 32
Required Music Specialization Courses
MPAJZ-UE 1039Jazz Theory & Ear Training I2
MPAJZ-UE 1040Jazz Theory & Ear Training II2
MPAJZ-UE 1075Jazz Improvisation I3
MPAJZ-UE 1076Jazz Improvisation II3
MPAJZ-UE 1089Jazz Ensemble 48
MPAJZ-UE 1119Jazz Arranging & Composition I3
MPAJZ-UE 1120Jazz Arranging & Composition II3
MPAJZ-UE 1070Instrumental Jazz (Private Lessons) 224
Unrestricted Electives24
Additional Requirements
SAHS-UE 1
New Student Seminar
Writing Proficiency Examination
Total Credits128
1

Students are placed into this course through a placement exam.  Students who do not place into this course will first enroll in MPATC-UE 1300 Music Fundamentals. 

2

Required every semester for 3 credits.

3

Required one credit in Junior and Senior year.

4

Required every semester for 1 credit.

Plan of Study Grid
1st Semester/TermCredits
MPAJZ-UE 1070 Instrumental Jazz (Private Lessons) 3
MPAJZ-UE 1089 Jazz Ensemble 1
EXPOS-UA 1 Writing as Inquiry 4
MPATC-UE 1301 Theory & Practice I: Global Approaches to Music 2
MPATC-UE 1302 Aural Skills I: Global Approaches to Music 1
MPAPE-UE 72 Keyboard Skills I 1
Quantitative Reasoning 4
SAHS-UE 1 New Student Seminar 0
 Credits16
2nd Semester/Term
MPAJZ-UE 1070 Instrumental Jazz (Private Lessons) 3
MPAJZ-UE 1089 Jazz Ensemble 1
ACE-UE 110 Advanced College Essay: Educ & The Professions 4
MPATC-UE 1068 Music History II: Baroque & Classical 2
MPATC-UE 1311 Theory & Practice II: Tonal Harmony & Voice Leading 2
MPATC-UE 1321 Aural Skills II: Tonal Harmony & Voice Leading 1
MPAPE-UE 73 Keyboard Skills II 1
Physical Science 4
 Credits18
3rd Semester/Term
MPAJZ-UE 1070 Instrumental Jazz (Private Lessons) 3
MPAJZ-UE 1089 Jazz Ensemble 1
MPAJZ-UE 1121 Jazz History 2
MPAJZ-UE 1039 Jazz Theory & Ear Training I 2
MPAPE-UE 74 Keyboard Skills III 1
Texts and Ideas 4
Electives 4
 Credits17
4th Semester/Term
MPAJZ-UE 1070 Instrumental Jazz (Private Lessons) 3
MPAJZ-UE 1089 Jazz Ensemble 1
MPAJZ-UE 1040 Jazz Theory & Ear Training II 2
MPAPE-UE 75 Keyboard Skills IV 1
Foreign Language 4
MPATC-UE 1500 Film Music: Historical Aesthetics/Perspectives 2
Electives 3
 Credits16
5th Semester/Term
MPAJZ-UE 1070 Instrumental Jazz (Private Lessons) 3
MPAJZ-UE 1089 Jazz Ensemble 1
MPAJZ-UE 1075 Jazz Improvisation I 3
Cultures and Contexts 4
MPAJZ-UE 1603 Music in World Cultures: Balkan Music 1
MPAJZ-UE 1604 Afro-Cuban Music 1
Electives 2
 Credits15
6th Semester/Term
MPAJZ-UE 1070 Instrumental Jazz (Private Lessons) 3
MPAJZ-UE 1089 Jazz Ensemble 1
MPAJZ-UE 1076 Jazz Improvisation II 3
MPAJZ-UE 1092 Recital 1
Societies and the Social Sciences 4
MPATC-UE 1333 Advanced Theory & Practice: Non-Western Music 2
Electives 2
 Credits16
7th Semester/Term
MPAJZ-UE 1070 Instrumental Jazz (Private Lessons) 3
MPAJZ-UE 1089 Jazz Ensemble 1
MPAJZ-UE 1119 Jazz Arranging & Composition I 3
MPAJZ-UE 1608 Miles Davis Aesthetic 1
MPAJZ-UE 1610 Brazilian Music 1
Electives 6
 Credits15
8th Semester/Term
MPAJZ-UE 1070 Instrumental Jazz (Private Lessons) 3
MPAJZ-UE 1089 Jazz Ensemble 1
MPAJZ-UE 1120 Jazz Arranging & Composition II 3
MPAJZ-UE 1092 Recital 1
Electives 7
 Credits15
 Total Credits128

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