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Music Composition

Bring your original music to life with Converse’s Music Composition major. Develop your unique compositional voice through various active projects and learn to compose anything from a piano etude to an orchestral film score. Study alongside our diverse community of distinguished faculty, industry professionals, and world-class visiting musicians. A life and career filled with musical creativity are within reach at Converse University.

Degree Offered

  • Bachelor of Music in Composition

Related Degree

  • BMA in Contemporary Music (Media Applications)

About Music Composition

If you are truly passionate about creating music, a Composition degree will provide you with the foundation in music creation and analysis you need to launch your career! In addition to performing, you will study music historically and analytically, alongside other disciplines, and develop your original work under the mentorship of talented professionals who are also caring, dedicated teachers.

  • Our faculty members are practicing composers, producers, and performers
  • Our remarkably low student/teacher ratio ensures ongoing personal interaction with faculty
  • Explore unique, interdisciplinary courses and honors classes

Create Your Own Music–And Your Own Ensemble

At Converse, students can create their own ensembles centered on their interests. Want to write a piece for flute, oboe, and xylophone and get it performed? Go for it–the sky’s the limit! You’ll earn ensemble credit while developing relationships with fellow student musicians who will be part of your musical network for life.

The Annual Pajama Concert

One of Converse’s beloved traditions is the annual Pajama Concert featuring Converse composers and friends. Student and faculty composers, performers and friends wear their favorite jammies for an evening of original music written and performed by Converse’s own. Many styles of music are represented from classical to electronica to singer/songwriter.

A Bachelor of Music (BM) in Composition emphasizes the creation of music. As a composition major, you will take private lessons in composition for all four years of your program, in which you will focus on developing aural and analytical skills, composition techniques, expanding your unique creative instincts, and discovering your own compositional voice. You will also develop self-knowledge, a historical understanding, and a better appreciation of your own creative voice. As a composition student, you will develop composition skills and gain an in-depth understanding of history, theory and literature.

In your senior year, you will present a recital of original works, and have the opportunity to present an Honors Thesis.

Sample Courses

  • Composition Lessons
  • Diverse Cultures and Their Music
  • Principles of Harmony
  • Counterpoint
  • Electronic Music
  • 20th-Century Idioms
  • Piano Class
  • Music History
  • Fundamentals of Conducting

For full course requirements, see the academic catalog.

Kiya Heartwood ’10, singer-songwriter, saw her senior project “Lying to the Sea Gypsy”, come to life as a fully-staged musical performed by a local community theatre group.

What are common careers in Composition?

  • Freelance Composer
  • FIlm and Video Composer
  • Performer
  • Conductor
  • Music Teacher
What are Composition alumni doing?

Our alumni are consistently creating, performing and producing new music all over the world, composing in a multitude of genres and styles.

Next Steps

  • Request info Get more detailed info Opens new window
  • Visit the campus Discover our campus
  • Apply online Find out what you need

Department News

Converse Music Business Students Produce Concert with Nashville Veterans

Written by John Jeter Isaiah Caston ’25 plays regular gigs around Spartanburg and works at a local music store,  so he knows his way around a microphone. But then the …

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Music Faculty Present ‘Music for Parkinson’s Patients’ at Conference

Dr. David Berry, Don Scott, and Liz Eggerding presented ‘Music for Parkinson’s Patients: One Melody, Many Rhythms’ at the Great Lakes Region of the American Music Therapy Association in April …

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Making a Difference: Libby Cuttino Tilson ’79

Libby graduated from Converse in 1979 with a Bachelor of Music in music education. Following graduation, she received a Master’s in Music with a concentration in Choral Conducting from Southern …

Read More

Programs of Study

Converse offers over 100 majors, minors, certificates, and graduate programs across 2 campuses and online.

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