Program Overview

Harpsichord Performance Degree

Overview

The Harpsichord Performance Degree at the University of North Texas is a comprehensive program designed to develop students into well-rounded performers on the instrument. The program aims to provide students with an understanding and command of solo literature of all national styles from the Renaissance through the early Classical periods, as well as significant continuo playing experience with period instrument ensembles and singers.

Program Details

• Degree Type: Bachelor of Music (B.M.)
• Format: On Campus
• Estimated Time to Complete: 4-5 years
• Credit Hours: 132

Program Goals

The Harpsichord division aims to develop students into well-rounded performers on the instrument by fostering their growth as solo artists and providing them with the tools and experiences to make them collaborative artists of the highest order.

Marketable Skills

• Performance communication
• Excellent memory capability
• Command of music computer programs
• Pattern understanding
• Improvisation and analytical capabilities

Program Highlights

• UNT is fortunate to have a large collection of early keyboards, including world-class instruments by some of the finest builders.
• Faculty members are dedicated teachers and nationally and internationally known performers who have performed with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Kansas City Symphony, Minnesota Opera Orchestra, Dallas Opera Orchestra, and many others.
• Opportunities to meet some of the world's top music scholars and artists through specialized lectures and events hosted by various divisions in the college.
• Being near Dallas and Fort Worth gives students additional performance opportunities, including those with the Dallas Bach Society, Texas Camerata, Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Dallas Opera Orchestra, and symphony orchestras in Irving, Plano, and Richardson.

Career Opportunities

This major will prepare you for a career as a member of a symphony orchestra, a professional band, and as a soloist or a chamber musician. You can also work as a studio musician for movies and television, become a church musician, or teach lessons in a private studio.

Notable Alumni

• Assistant principal oboist with the Cleveland Orchestra
• Principal timpanist with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra
• Second flutist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra
• Principal cellist with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra
• Principal euphoniumist with the United States Marine Band

Coursework

• Harpsichord Literature and Pedagogy (3 hrs)
• Music as Communication (3 hrs)
• Fundamentals of Conducting (3 hrs)
• Music History and Literature Since 1750 (3 hrs)
• Science and Technology of Musical Sound (3 hrs)
• Harpsichord (1-5 hrs)

Facilities

• The Murchison Performing Arts Center, which houses the Winspear Performance Hall and the Lyric Theater. Both performance halls, as well as the center's large rehearsal space, have state-of-the-art acoustics.