Music

Major

Music

If Lawrence is your first choice, apply by Nov. 1 to receive your admission decision by Dec. 1. Early Decision applicants also receive financial aid offers and select housing early, making senior year feel more settled.

Program Overview

The BA music major at Lawrence provides a uniquely flexible and inclusive approach to doing music.  As part of your liberal arts education, you will build your own pathway in alignment with your developing goals and aspirations.  Production, recording, composition, sound design, performance, music education, dance, entrepreneurship, arts management, music theory, and musicology are all possibilities for study and future career paths.

Opportunities for creativity span multiple modalities and perspectives, from private study to interdisciplinary analysis to collaborative thinking and making, always fostering an awareness of specific contexts, systems of value, and music’s worldmaking possibilities.  Artistry and intellectuality, body and mind, are not distinct categories but integrated ways of being and making.


Program Highlights

Build a curriculum around your interests, experiences, and goals as you develop your own creative voice.

Bring ideas from different areas of study into dynamic, creative interaction through performance, composition, research, and collaboration.

Strengthen your skills as a performer, creator, communicator, collaborator, and entrepreneur for a wide range of career paths.

Design a culminating project that reflects your experiences, ambitions, and vision for your future in music.


Types of Degrees

Students can pursue a Bachelor of Arts in Music, for which they will create their own nexus of study.  Students can also add a minor or another major.  Students can also choose courses or areas of study that will enrich their music study and interdisciplinary possibilities. A minor in Music is also available.


Advising

At Lawrence, academic advising helps you shape an educational experience that reflects your interests, goals, and aspirations. Your faculty advisor will support you as you plan your path, connect with campus resources and communities, and make informed decisions that prepare you for a meaningful and fulfilling future.


Faculty

Engage deeply and collaboratively with professors who are experts in their field and committed to supporting your education.

All Faculty

  • Julie McQuinn (she/her/hers)

    Professor of Music

    julie.mcquinn@lawrence.edu

    I teach courses on Claude Debussy, opera, film music, music and gender, music and memory, music and the fairy tale, and music and disability.  My teaching converges with my research…

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Learning Spaces

Students will have opportunities to learn, listen, create, and collaborate in many different spaces across campus.  All students are welcome in the production studios in the Con:  The C.A.V.E. (the Conservatory Audio Visual Enclave) and SOL (Students of Lawrence) Studios.  And there are multiple spaces in the Hurvis Center for Film and Media Studies (https://www.lawrence.edu/academics/college/film-and-media-studies/hurvis-center-film-studies) for multimedia makings.


Spotlight

Lawrentian Spotlight

Student Perspective

“You have some of the best professors here who really care. You come to them, and they’ll drop everything for you. They want to see you succeed. I feel that every time I come to them.”

Tomi Oladunjoye ’23 Music (Self-directed) Lynn, Massachusetts

Additional Resources