BA in Music

Wartburg College is an accredited, institutional member of the National Association of Schools of Music (N.A.S.M.). Students completing the American Music Therapy Association (A.M.T.A.) approved music therapy degree program are eligible to sit for board certification by the Certification Board for Music Therapists (C.B.M.T.). Wartburg is the only private college in Iowa to offer the music therapy major. Completion of the Bachelor of Music Education or the Bachelor of Music Education/Music Therapy degree leads to licensure in education in the state of Iowa.

The Bachelor of Arts in Music degree provides you with a variety of career options in the music field. You may choose the general music major, which allows you to combine a music major with another major or minor field. Or you may choose the Church Music track, which combines coursework in music and religion to prepare you for leading music programs in churches or for further study in graduate school.

Music Department Fast Facts

• Wartburg offers four-year majors/degrees. This means one year less tuition and one more year of salary when compared with a state university.
• The college offers the only B.A. in church music in Iowa.
• Wartburg is the only private college in Iowa with a music therapy degree.
• The music department boasts a 100 percent job/graduate school placement rate for ALL graduates.
• Wartburg is one of only three colleges in Iowa to be certified by N.C.A.T.E (National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education).
• The college is the only Iowa school that offers ethnomusicology as an active part of the music curriculum.
• Music education students start field experience in their first year.
  
  

Course Requirements

13½ -14 course credits:

• MU 105 Music Theory I
• MU 106 Music Theory II
• MU 107 Aural Skills I
• MU 205 Music Theory III
• MU 207 Aural Skills II
• MU 315 Music History I
• MU 316 Music History II
• MU 318 20th-Century Music

• One non-applied music course credit or
• MU 322 Music in Christian Worship (Church Music concentration only) or
• MU 209 General Music Methods: Grades K-8 and
• MU 181 Field Experience in Elementary General Music Grades K-8 (Piano Pedagogy concentration only)

• MU 401 Form and Analysis or
• MU 324 Conducting (Church Music concentration only)

• MU 461 Perspectives in Music or
• RE 460 Church in the Modern World (Church Music concentration only)

• Three major applied music credits and
• One minor applied music credit or
• Four applied music credits, including 1½ credits in keyboard (Church Music concentration only) or
• Four major applied music credits (Piano Pedagogy concentration only)

• Participation in music ensemble each term
• Pass piano basic skills, if non-keyboard emphasis
• Pass freshman jury
• Pass sophomore barrier
• Third-year recital (15 minutes)
• Fourth-year recital (30 minutes)

Church Music Concentration

Music major plus 7 course credits:

• RE 101 Literature of the Old and New Testaments

• RE 301 Old Testament Themes or
• RE 302 New Testament Studies

• RE 315 History of Christianity I
• RE 371 Internship

• RE 372 Internship or
• One RE course credit

• RE 374 Church Leadership After Christendom

One course credit from

• RE 215 Contemporary Moral Problems: Poverty or Racism
• RE 222 Sexual Ethics
• RE 310 Living with Death
• RE 350 Christian Ethics

Piano Pedagogy Concentration

Music major plus 5 course credits:

• MU 153 Collaborative Pianism (four terms)
• MU 156 Applied Piano Pedagogy (two terms)
• MU 170 Applied Voice (two terms)
• MU 221 Piano Literature and Materials
• MU 227 Piano Pedagogy–General Methods
• MU 228 Piano Pedagogy–Studio Methods
• MU 450 Independent Study and Research: Pedagogy

Bachman Fine Arts Center

Opened in 1991, the Bachman Fine Arts Center houses the departments of music and art. The Bachman Fine Arts Center offers excellent equipment and facilities for rehearsal and practice, 50 grand and upright pianos, 22 practice rooms, and 16 music studios. The building also houses a music therapy facility that includes an observation laboratory. The Presser Music Technology Classroom is equipped with computer equipment, MIDI keyboards, and software for composition, music theory, and ear training. Art facilities include a gallery, graphic design computer stations, classrooms, and studios.

Wartburg performance spaces can accommodate audiences of 150 in Orchestra Hall, 300 in McCaskey Lyceum, 650 in Wartburg Chapel, and 1,200 in Neumann Auditorium. Organ students have access to five pipe organs on campus.