School of Arts and Sciences
Department of Music

BA in Music, Sound, and Culture

The BA in Music, Sound, and Culture empowers students to chart their own musical path, and provides them with the creative, scholarly, social, and professional tools they need to confidently embark on this journey. This major is open to undergraduates with any and all prior backgrounds in music; it is designed around the interests and needs of individual students. Everyone is welcome!

 

The open structure of the Music, Sound, and Culture major enables a rigorous, balanced study in many disciplines of music—such as composition, cultural studies, ethnomusicology, musicology, performance, psychology, technology, and theory—and varieties of music, such as classical, popular, international, film, and more.

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Program Requirements and Policies

  • The Music, Sound, and Culture (MSC) major requires 11 courses falling within three phases: Embark (4 courses), Explore (4 courses), and Expand (3 courses).
  • We recommend that EMBARK courses be taken early in the sequence of major courses.
  • All major courses must be taken for credit, for a letter grade (not Pass/Fail).
  • Please see the Music Department Website for complete major requirements and policies.

Course Requirements

Embark 
These four courses introduce essential modes of musical inquiry, and emphasize an integrated, community-oriented approach to music studies.

  • Theory and Musicianship: Take MUS 11 (Sound and Structure 1, course plus lab; offered every Fall); or MUS 112 (Sound and Structure II, course plus lab, offered every Spring).
  • Tools and Methods: Take two of the following -- MUS 21 (American Music), MUS 48 (Music in the Age of Empires), MUS 57 (Sound and the Sonic Imagination), MUS 125 (The Cultural Study of Music), and/or MUS 150 (Listening and History)
  • Performance: Take one Private Lesson or Ensemble course (anything from MUS 7-9, 67, or 69-94. Music Scholarship at Tufts (course plus lab; offered every Spring)

Explore 
These four courses encourage testing out new areas outside the student's comfort zone. Offerings may come from MUS 12-66, 95-97, or 100-198.

Expand 
These three courses are meant to represent the culmination of a student's experience in the MSC major, where they not only familiarize themselves with musical scholarship and creative endeavors, but actively contribute to and expand the musical culture at Tufts as individuals. Students may take 3 courses from 127-139 or 145-199 to fulfill this requirement. Alternatively, they may take two classes from that range and complete a senior capstone project, either MUS 68 (Juried Senior Recital, one semester), MUS 198 (independent study, one semester), or MUS 199 (senior honors thesis, two semesters).

Senior Project

Music Sound and Culture majors have the opportunity to craft a senior project to culminate their time in the Music Department. Such projects can take various formats though which they can express their personal academic and creative interests.

Senior Thesis
A Senior Honor Thesis is an extended paper on a selected topic related to music analysis, theory, history, ethnomusicology, etc., for which you provide original work. To register for a senior honors thesis, you must be a MSC major, a senior, in good academic standing, have been on the Dean’s list at least twice before this senior year, meet departmental criteria (see checklist), and receive approval from a thesis advisor within the department. This is a yearlong 8-credit course (MUS-199). Each semester counts as 4 credits towards your credit load. You will earn 8 credits at the end of the second semester. See important deadlines here.

Senior Capstone
In your senior year, as a music major, you have the opportunity to complete a capstone project in the form of original creative work. This is an opportunity to benefit from the infrastructure offered in the department to advance personal interests or expand your portfolio. Such creative work can be the production of an original composition, a podcast, a juried recital or any other form of creative work approved by a capstone advisor within the department. This work would include a written component which could be, for example, in the form of program notes, or a diary-like reflection on your creative process. Your capstone project can also be an extended paper such as a critical literature review or a documented opinion piece. Such capstone is a one semester 3-credit course MUS-198, to be completed in the Fall or the Spring semester of your senior year, or MUS-68 if a juried senior recital.

Senior Honor Thesis Examples

  • "Time for Joya: The Forgotten and Remarkable Life of Joya Sherril" -- Matthew Winkler, 2025 [for History Dept].
  • "Music in Online Activism: The Soundtrack of the #MeToo Movement." -- Teresa Turnage, 2024.
  • "The Sound of the Psyche: How Mental Disorders are Reflected in Film Scores" -- Stephanie Leah Evans, 2018.
  • "The Portrayal of Domestic Violence in Broadway Musical Chicago: Historical Context, Musical Analysis, and Musical Theater as Violence Prevention." -- Megan C. McCormick, 2017.
  • "Reimagining the Swing Era: Darcy James Argue and Contemporary Big Band Jazz" -- Erik Broess, 2016.
  • "Alejo Carpentier and the Reconceptualization of a Cuban National Identity: The Fusion of Music and Language in "Los pasos perdidos" as an Expression of Cuban Hybridity and Multiplicity" -- Melissa Weikart [for Spanish dept]. 2016

Capstones Examples

  • "The Lock Grove" (film) -- Abigail Sommers, 2025 [joint with FMS]
  • "A Moment of Everything" (10-minute piece for orchestra and analytical essay) -- Jackson Carter, 2023.
  • "Piano Concerto in G Minor (Second Movement): Brief Analysis and Full Score" -- Adam J. Xu, 2023.
  • "Our Place: Senior Recital of Caleb Martin-Rosenthal" -- Caleb Martin-Rosenthal, 2021.
  • "The Stormlight Symphonic Poem: Analysis and Intention" -- Kristen Schretter, 2020.

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