Majors & Minors

Overview

The Bachelor of Science in the Music Industry is a professional degree that prepares students to enter a variety of careers in the music industry of today. Students must fulfill a series of core requirements for the degree.

Entrance Requirements

Admission to Thornton programs is granted through the USC admission process. Applicants are screened by appropriate faculty selection committees. Specific entrance requirements are reviewed on an annual basis and published online at music.usc.edu.

General Education Requirements

USC's General Education program, revised in fall 2015, provides a coherent, integrated approach to the study of the liberal arts, with the goal of nurturing habits of thought that are essential for professional success, personal development, and meaningful lifelong learning. Eight courses are required in six Core Literacies, in addition to two courses in Global Perspectives, two courses in Writing, and one General Education Seminar taken during the first year at USC. With careful planning, certain courses (including courses required for the music major) can fulfill more than one of these general education requirements. Academic advisers in the Thornton School carefully guide Thornton students in making their course choices. This typically will result in Thornton students taking a total of eight courses (including two writing courses) in order to fulfill all of the USC general education requirements.

Business-related Requirements

In addition to the above general education requirements, the following courses offered through the USC Marshall School of Business, the USC Leventhal School of Accounting and the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences are required.

Capstone Project

A capstone project must be completed under approved faculty supervision and guidance. The faculty of the department of the student's major program determines the detailed requirements of the project, including content, length, format and other specifications. In cases in which a performance venue is required in order to present the project, reservations must be made according to the current guidelines of the Music Operations office.

A minor in the music industry is offered for undergraduate students to provide them with the background necessary to enter varied fields in the music business and to familiarize them with standard practices and procedures. A minimum of 20 units is required for completion of this minor. The minor is not available to music industry majors.

Prerequisite

Acceptance into the program might require a personal interview by the Thornton School of Music.

Students admitted to this minor will be expected to have a minimum GPA of 2.0 and to maintain that average with no grade lower than a "C" for all courses taken in the minor.

Overview

The Bachelor of Music in Music Production consists of course work in the major area, core music classes, USC's general education and writing, as well as electives to take advantage of the offerings of the Thornton School and of the entire university.

Entrance Requirements

Admission to Thornton programs is granted through the USC admission process. Applicants are screened by appropriate faculty selection committees. Specific entrance requirements are reviewed on an annual basis and published online at music.usc.edu.

General Education Requirements

USC's General Education program, revised in fall 2015, provides a coherent, integrated approach to the study of the liberal arts, with the goal of nurturing habits of thought that are essential for professional success, personal development, and meaningful lifelong learning. Eight courses are required in six Core Literacies, in addition to two courses in Global Perspectives, two courses in Writing, and one General Education Seminar taken during the first year at USC. With careful planning, certain courses (including courses required for the music major) can fulfill more than one of these general education requirements. Academic advisers in the Thornton School carefully guide Thornton students in making their course choices. This typically will result in Thornton students taking a total of eight courses (including two writing courses) in order to fulfill all of the USC general education requirements.

Capstone Project

A capstone project must be completed under approved faculty supervision and guidance. The faculty of the department of the student's major program determines the detailed requirements of the project, including content, length, format and other specifications. In cases in which a performance venue is required in order to present the project, reservations must be made according to the current guidelines of the Music Operations office.

A successful career in the 21st century music industry often requires that musicians be the songwriter, performer, producer and/or audio engineer on any given project. The minor in Music Production allows students to develop the creative, collaborative and technical skills required to compose, arrange and produce for contemporary music projects.

A minor in music recording is offered for undergraduate students to provide them with the background necessary to enter the field of audio engineering and to familiarize them with the standards and techniques used in audio recording, editing, mixing and mastering.

Prerequisite

Acceptance into the program might require a personal interview by the Thornton School of Music to assure that the student has sufficient musical background and skill.

Students admitted to this minor will be expected to have a minimum GPA of 2.0 and to maintain that average with no grade lower than a "C" for all courses taken in the minor.

Students must apply for this minor, and admission is based on successful completion of MTEC 277x. Generally, students who earn a B or better in this course and have a GPA of 2.0 or higher are admitted. Declared engineering (ENGR) majors with a GPA of 3.0 or higher may be admitted before completing MTEC 277x .

This 18-unit program in musical studies, with an emphasis in performance, incorporates the study of music theory, music history, performance, and ensembles. Students may enter the program in their freshman year. An audition is required for this minor, which is not available to music majors.

Musical theatre performers are multi-hyphenate artists. Beyond the intense requirements of a musical theatre performer to be a triple threat, the BFA degree in Musical Theatre is a four-year, professional training program focusing on providing students with the skills needed to be healthy and expressive artists, creators and innovators in the 21st Century. Through a partnership between the School of Dramatic Arts (SDA) and the School of Cinematic Arts (SCA), we will train the student of musical theatre to perform, create and innovate storytelling on various platforms. We are amongst the first institutions to offer this type of groundbreaking training for musical theatre artists. The program's values are deeply rooted in Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Access (EDIA). Our curriculum reflects the opportunities available in the 21st Century for representation in the post-pandemic entertainment industry. The curriculum will be implemented by emphasizing classical and contemporary material from the global canon and innovative training techniques influenced by many cultures.

During the first three semesters of the program, the focus will be on introducing and practicing the foundational skills needed in each of the four disciplines in our program. In the following three semesters, the emphasis is on integrating skills between the art forms in project-based workshop classes employing a variety of platforms. At the same time, the students become proficient in each of the four disciplines in technique classes. 

During the first semester of the senior year students will discover their unique artistic form of expression through classes in innovation and creation. Students experiment with new working methods, refine their skills and delve deeper into advanced techniques, such as creating a mini-movie musical, building a cabaret, pop-rock singing, etc. They can explore and expand their interests by choosing a specialization and working on a creative project.

Students focus on their professional potential in their final semester by expressing their unique artistic identity. In addition to preparing their senior showcase, their curriculum will concentrate on the business skills needed to be a self-sufficient artist in the 21st Century.

All BFA theatre majors are required to earn a minimum grade point average of 2.75 (A= 4.0) in their theatre courses each semester. BFA students that fail to earn a minimum GPA of 2.75 in their theatre classes will be placed on probation the following semester. Students who remain on probation for a second consecutive semester will be disqualified from the BFA program. A student disqualified from continued study in the BFA program for failing to meet the GPA standards outlined above will be given the option of transferring to the BA program. 

The minor in musical theatre, interdisciplinary in nature, is a 20-unit program incorporating the study of acting, dance or movement, vocal arts and related musical subjects. Admission to the minor requires an audition for music but not for theatre.

A minor in nanotechnology consisting of 20 required units is available to undergraduate majors in various fields. Nanotechnology involves the study of matter at length scales that are intermediate between the molecular and the bulk. In this minor, students will (1) learn in detail the properties of material structures on the nanometer scale, (2) examine a range of nanoscale materials, including metallic, ceramic, and polymeric particles as well as proteins, and (3) be exposed to a variety of specialized probes capable of visualizing matter on these length scales.