Does the Composition Department offer lessons in popular and commercial music, and musical theater? Will I be expected to compose in a particular style?
The Department believes that the best training a young composer can have, regardless of his or her ultimate interests, is a thorough grounding in the techniques of Western art music from earliest times to the present, the so-called “classical” tradition. With training such as this as a background, composers can go on to write virtually whatever type of music they wish. Aside from a basic philosophy grounded in the tradition of Western art music, and a belief that all composition students should receive a thorough technical training, the Composition Department does not promote any particular compositional style or ideology; faculty and student composers alike represent many diverse stylistic outlooks.
