Music Performance

MajorBachelor of Music

A Note-Worthy Journey Awaits.

Music Performance majors at Butler have the unique opportunity to choose from concentrations in instrumental, piano, and vocal performance. Throughout your academic journey, you’ll find yourself performing in world-class venues, honing your skills in various courses such as music theory, aural skills, and basic conducting. Collaborating with exceptional faculty, you’ll have the chance to create music and engage in noteworthy performances. Additionally, the program offers exciting opportunities to study abroad and interact with local arts professionals.

Upon completion of the Music Performance program, you’ll discover a multitude of pathways open to you. While many graduates choose to pursue advanced degrees in graduate school, you will be uniquely positioned to explore diverse career options aligned with your interests and aspirations. Whether you aspire to further academic pursuits or seek professional opportunities in the music industry, our program equips you with the skills and experiences to carve out your own distinct path.

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Program Information

Curriculum

Sample courses in this program include:

MT 101 – Theory 1
MT 111 – Aural Skills 1
MH 305 – Music History and Literature 1
MT 311 – Basic Conducting
MT 413 – Form and Analysis

See all Music Performance curriculum information

Concentrations

Instrumental
Piano
Vocal

Life as a Music Student

Student Organizations

Balance your academics with professional and social involvement.

Performance Ensembles

Refine your musicianship with diverse performance opportunities.

Meet Your Faculty

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Dana Zenobi

Associate Professor – Music

Dana Zenobi is a nationally recognized inerpreter of art song by women and voice pedagogy scholar. She teaches Studio Voice, Voice Pedagogy, Lyric Diction, and Vocal Literature courses and researches voice acoustics, music performance anxiety, & art song

Kate Boyd

Professor of Piano, School of Music

An active soloist and chamber musician, American pianist Kate Boyd has performed solo recitals at Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall, Schubert’s birth house in Vienna, the National Concert Hall in Dublin, the Musikhalle Hamburg, in addition to many places…
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Zachary Cooper

Assistant Professor – Music

Dr. Zachary Cooper is a dedicated performer and educator and he is passionate about cultivating the next generation of musicians. Cooper’s devotion to teaching horn has shaped the careers of numerous students, many of whom have earned scholarships to…
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Butler was uniquely flexible in working with me to create my own path.

“My three majors don’t necessarily make sense at first glance. Whether it’s drilling a tough spot in a piano piece, proving a theorem, or debugging code, they all scratch that itch to solve a problem. At Butler, I could study what I wanted, without having to limit myself to one thing. That’s not something most schools do. I think that the opportunity to learn such a broad range of things really enriched my time at Butler.”

Walker Demel ’21
Computer Science, Mathematics, Music Performance-Piano triple major

Music Performance FAQs

A music performance degree is worth it if you are looking to pursue music as a career and want to dedicate and structure your time honing your craft, preparing for performances, and networking with connections in the industry. Butler’s Music Performance major is ideal for students who are interested in one of the following three concentrations: instrumental, piano, and vocal performance.

The best degree for music is the degree that aligns best with your career goals as a musician. If you are more interested in the business side of music, Butler’s Music Industries Studies major may be best for you. If you want to teach music privately or in a school setting, Music Education is an excellent choice. Music Performance is best suited for students looking to spend focused time developing their skills as a performer with the technical skills to succeed.

At Butler, students can study Music as either a major or minor, while Music Performance can only be studied as a major. Students studying Music do not typically have a concentration built into their curriculum, providing a more generalist approach to a music career. Music Performance majors emphasize the performance aspects of their practice and earn their Bachelor of Music (BM) instead of a Bachelor of Arts (BA) like other music majors. Following their BM, many students pursue graduate school after graduation.

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Whatever path you’re interested in pursuing, there’s a place for you at Butler.

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