Bachelor of Music: Performance
Applied lessons at the 200 and then the 400 level, a senior recital, Musica Practica through its fourth semester, history, conducting and ensembles, around 90 credits of the 120.
University of Wisconsin–Madison · an unofficial reading
The School of Music’s programs, mapped
Every undergraduate and graduate program of the Mead Witter School of Music, read from the public 2026–2027 Guide on 20 October 2026: what each program requires, and which courses come before which. Each program has a guide and a map. Nothing here is the university’s; check anything that matters against the undergraduate and graduate Guide.
- 64programs, options and paths
- 278courses they name
- 30credits of Core General Education
- 120credits to a bachelor’s
Undergraduate programs
How each one adds upThe Guide lists the Bachelor of Music in two programs, each with named options, and the Music major (BA or BS, the same requirements under either degree) with three. Each option is its own program here.
Bachelor of Music: Education
The professional sequence and student teaching, with education courses from outside the school, leading to licensure in general and choral or instrumental music. Over 100 credits of the 120.
Music major (BA or BS)
A 14-credit core of Musica Practica and the history survey, and at least 30 credits in a named option: 44 credits within a Letters & Science degree.
Graduate programs
In the GuideThe Guide divides its graduate degrees into paths of its own, internal to each program: they appear in neither the application nor the transcript. Each path is its own program here, and so is each path of the doctoral minor that PhD and DMA students take for breadth.
Master of Music: Performance
Applied study at the master’s level, a recital, nine credits of musicology and music theory, and each path’s own ensembles, pedagogy or literature: 34 credits.
Doctor of Musical Arts: Performance
Doctoral-level applied study, research materials, nine credits of musicology and music theory, degree recitals and a DMA research project, with a doctoral minor for breadth: 51 credits.
Master of Music: Education
Seminars in music education, musicology and music theory, and a final project: 34 credits.
Music, MA
Musicology or music theory, with research methods and a thesis: 30 credits.
Music, PhD
Seminars, research methods, two languages, a doctoral minor and the dissertation: 51 credits.
Music, Doctoral Minor
Twelve or thirteen credits of breadth for a PhD or DMA student in another specialty: a second instrument, conducting, composition, theory, musicology or opera.
- Brass Instrument Performance
- Choral Conducting
- Collaborative Piano
- Composition (Plan I)
- Composition (Plan II)
- Early Music
- Guitar Performance
- Harpsichord Performance
- Musicology
- Jazz Studies
- Music Theory
- Opera Production
- Opera/Voice Coaching
- Instrumental Conducting
- Piano Pedagogy
- Piano Performance
- String Instrument Performance
- Woodwind Instrument Performance
- Vocal Performance
How this was read
Courses come from the Guide’s MUSIC and MUS PERF pages in full, and from other subjects only the courses a program names. Each requisite is kept in the Guide’s words. A map draws a line only where those words read cleanly as courses: “MUSIC 212 or declared in Music…” and “6 credits from…” are shown as written and draw none. Electives a program counts from a long approved list are noted, not drawn. Moving from 200-level to 400-level lessons is the faculty’s assessment, not a course prerequisite, so no line joins them. The graduate pages list one course, MUSIC 823, that has no page among the Guide’s courses; it is named in a note where it appears and not drawn.