Kathie Debenham School: School of the Arts

To Answer Questions: Kathie Debenham

Programs (CIP) Code: 50.0903

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Matthew S. Holland, University President

Utah Valley University

Ian Wilson

Vice President for Academic Affairs
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K. Newell Dayley

Dean
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Donna Fairbanks

Department Chair

Date: 10/18/2011


Executive Summary
Utah Valley University
Bachelor of Music in Performance
29 November 2011
Program Description

Utah Valley University’s proposed Bachelor of Music (BM) in Performance is a specialized professional degree that consists of 121 credits, categorized as follows:

Musicianship 31

Music Industry and Technology 7

Individual Musicianship Studies 26

Large Ensembles 8

Performance Areas (Instrumental, Piano, Vocal) 14

Total 121
Study in the major area of performance, including individual instruction, performance classes, recitals, and ensemble participation, comprises 48 credits, or 40% of the total program. This significant percentage of performance-related coursework is the degree’s defining factor, as well as the principle variant from the BA/BS in Music and BS in Music Education. In addition, a unique element of this degree is coursework in music industry and technology, which includes music technology and entrepreneurship as requirements, with electives in contemporary careers, recording studio, studio producing and arranging, film scoring, and jazz improvisation.
Role and Mission Fit

A Bachelor of Music in Performance will enable students to qualify for graduate programs and professional positions. This is a logical progression, given the current faculty’s strengths and student interest. The purpose of USHE as stated in the Regents’ Policy (R312) is “to meet the educational needs of the citizens of the State of Utah.” In accordance with the Regents’ Policy concerning the mission of a Master’s University, UVU is to build a foundation of “creative work to foster engaged learning.” A strong music performance program will serve as a hallmark for that commitment.

The Department of Music has eleven full-time faculty members assisted by thirty-six adjunct faculty, twenty-eight of whom hold masters or doctoral degrees. The involvement of signficant numbers of adjunct faculty is customary for Bachelor of Music programs. They are working professionals who bring a high level of expertise to the program and its students.

The request for this degree is student-driven with full faculty support. Music advisor Juanita Bushman reported in January 2011 that approximately 75% of the 30 to 40 annual incoming music students for the past two years have requested a music performance program. In a January 2011 poll of 122 active music majors at UVU, 71 responded and of those, 46 (65%) indicated they would be very interested in a music performance program, 19 (27%) indicated they were somewhat interested, and only 6 (8%) indicated no interest.

Grants

Reallocated Funds………………………….. X

Tuition dedicated to the program

Other
The BM in Performance program relies on the same overall curriculum as the BA/BS program. However, some courses offered as electives in the BA/BS program will be required coursework in the BM in Performance degree. The expansion of the Department of Music from five to eleven full-time faculty members, coupled with a significant increase in performance expertise among recently hired full-time and adjunct faculty members, has placed the department in a position to offer a strong program in music performance.
Similar Programs Already Offered in the USHE

A Bachelor of Music in Performance is standard for music programs in most universities. USHE universities currently offering this degree are Utah State University, the University of Utah, Weber State University, and Southern Utah University. The purpose of this degree is not to attract students from other USHE institutions but to better serve current students from Utah Valley who prefer to enroll in the UVU music program. In terms of curriculum, the proposed program is comparable to music performance programs at the aforementioned USHE institutions. However, UVU’s proposed performance degree includes courses in entrepreneurship, career options, industry, and technology, making it a unique offering compared to other USHE performance programs.

Utah Valley University requests approval to offer a Bachelor of Music in Performance degree, effective Fall 2012.

Utah Valley University’s proposed Bachelor of Music (BM) in Performance is a specialized professional degree that consists of 121 credits, categorized as follows:

Musicianship 31

Music Industry and Technology 7

Individual Musicianship Studies 26

Large Ensembles 8

Performance Areas (Instrumental, Piano, Vocal) 14

Total 121
Study in the major area of performance, including individual instruction, performance classes, recitals, and ensemble participation, comprises 48 credits, or 40% of the total program. This significant percentage of performance-related coursework is the degree’s defining factor, as well as the principle variant from the BA/BS in Music and BS in Music Education. In addition, a unique element of this degree is coursework in music industry and technology, which includes music technology and entrepreneurship as requirements, with electives in contemporary careers, recording studio, studio producing and arranging, film scoring, and jazz improvisation.
For a complete listing of program curricula, see Appendices A and B.
Purpose of Degree

A Bachelor of Music in Performance provides students with the necessary performance skills to succeed as professional musicians and in graduate programs. In addition, performance-based skills such as impressive levels of discipline, the confidence to communicate and present to large audiences, and understandings of complex symbolism and form, prepare students for success in a variety of professions.

The faculty in the Department of Music bring a wealth of academic and professional expertise from their experience with performance programs at other universities. They are fully familiar with the design and function of performance programs and the standards for such programs as set forth by the National Association of Schools of Music (NASM). Both the Department Chair and the Dean are specialists in music performance management, with decades of experience administering these programs at universities where they were previously employed, and their extensive participation in professional music organizations at the state and national levels. The music faculty jointly designed the proposed program based on comparable programs and in accordance with NASM standards. They also have relied on their broad and extensive experience working in some of the finest performance programs in the nation. They will require no new training for the administration of this program. The BM in Performance program relies on the same overall curriculum as the BA/BS program. However, some courses offered as electives in the BA/BS program (such as Performance Class, Junior and Senior Recitals, Small Ensembles, Pedagogy, Diction and Literature) will be required coursework in the BM in Performance degree. This will result in larger class sizes and possibly additional sections of these courses. Student recitals are currently held in a large recital room (GT 416), which has an impressive nine-foot Steinway grand piano. An increase in recital performances will result in tightened schedule of this space and exploration of alternative on- and off-campus venues. Because music industry and technology are rapidly expanding areas of expertise for music performance, the BM in Performance includes courses in these areas. UVU is fully equipped to support these areas with a state-of-the-art recording studio and computer lab. The Department of Music has requested a full-time faculty position in Commercial Music for the 2012-13 academic year to oversee the expansion of this area both for BM students and for other students studying music industry and technology. Dependent on anticipated growth in the BM in Performance program, we expect to request another full-time tenure-track faculty position to support this program during the third or fourth year. Administrative staff will manage the BM program as they do existing degree programs. The only administrative action required is training the music advisor on how to advise students who are enrolled or interested in the program.

The addition of required faculty has already been implemented over the past several years and is now in place. The expansion of the Department of Music from five to eleven full-time faculty members, coupled with a significant increase in performance expertise among recently hired full-time and adjunct faculty members, has placed the department in a position to offer a strong program in music performance.

All current full-time faculty hold doctoral degrees from presitigious institutions, and are fully qualified to oversee the BM in Performance program. They are assisted by thirty-six adjunct faculty, twenty-eight of whom hold masters or doctoral degrees, which is in line with comparable programs at other universities. Signficant numbers of adjunct faculty customarily support Bachelor of Music programs at universities nationwide. They are professionals who work in the music profession as performers and teachers, bringing a high level of expertise to the program and its students. Adjunct faculty at UVU include musicians who perform in prestigious musical venues locally, nationally, and internationally, and several who have years of experience in performance instruction. The academic qualifications and professional experience of full-time and adjunct faculty are detailed in Appendix C.
Staff

No additional staff will be required.

UVU’s state-of-the-art Learning Resource Center Library houses musical materials – in print, databases, CD’s and DVD’s – with ample room to grow. Typically, 4% of the library budget is spent on music. Within the last six years, all acquisition requests extended by the Department of Music have been honored.

Music monographs are located in three related Library of Congress call number ranges.

The UVU library currently subscribes to nine music periodicals which are shelved on the third floor of the library.

In the video collection, UVU has 467 music titles (1199 items). An additional 50+ DVD video titles are in the ordering process. Videos are located on the second floor of the library near the music CDs and music scores.

The music CD collection has 4,164 titles (4,964 items). An additional 600+ music CD titles have been ordered and received and are waiting to be cataloged. UVU also has access thru the library homepage to the Naxos Music Library, which has approximately 54,000 music CDs for online streaming.

Students entering a Bachelor of Music in Performance will be required to pass a performance proficiency test. Although this test is already in place for all music majors, stronger evidence of performance skills, as well as a solid base of performance repertoire, will be required for entrance into the performance major.

Students entering a performance program will follow the same method of advisement already in place for music majors. All music majors are required to take proficiency tests, the results of which are forwarded to the music advisor who then meets with the students and facilitates their registration into music-major classes. In addition, all music majors are required to meet with the music advisor as part of their Sophomore Review, a series of evaluations which determine a student’s readiness to enter into upper-division coursework. Music majors are also required to meet with the advisor as part of their application for graduation.

The Bachelor of Music in Performance totals 121 credit hours, including 35 credits of General Education, 31 credits of core supportive musicianship, 7 credits of music industry and technology, and 48 credits in the major area of performance and electives.

On April 12 - 14, 2010, Dr. Jo Ann Domb conducted an on-site visit to review the UVU Department of Music in preparation for accreditation by the National Association of Schools of Music (NASM). Dr. Domb is a Professor of Music at the University of Indianapolis and a professional consultant for NASM. In her consultant report, she noted the following strenghts of UVU’s Department of Music, all of which indicate readiness for a performance program:

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  Performance experience of new faculty
  
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  Newly purchased instruments: Steinway pianos, etc.
  
• 
  Flexibility for positive change at this time with support from administration
  
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  New laboratory equipment: computers and electronic pianos
  
• 
  Dramatically improving ensembles
  
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  Outstanding part-time faculty that bring solo performance skills, as well as expertise in various needed areas: voice, film scoring, percussion, music education, etc.
  
• 
  Organization of the Ensemble Music Library
  
• 
  Growing number of talented and bright students
  

Among her list of recommendations she included: “Continuing to develop an active performance program.” She also added this complimentary statement: “All can be proud of the momentum of increasing performances and performance standards at Utah Valley University…The future is very bright.”

The above table reflects Bachelor of Music headcount and total music department salaried faculty headcount.

The proposed program is not an expansion of an existing program.

Three factors indicate a need for this program, as explained in detail elsewhere in this proposal: First, students are better served in the current labor market by having the option of an intensive BM in Performance degree in addition to the less-intensive BA/BS in Music degree. Second, student demand is high. According to a January 2011 poll (detailed below), 65% of music major students at UVU would choose the BM in Performance degree if it were available. Third, the current faculty composition of the UVU Department of Music is ideally suited for offering such a degree.