A Contemporary Music Program: a Music Industry Program for Today's Collegeds Anduniversities

This paper describes the development of a new musicindustry program whose purpose is meant to meet theneeds of the following three demands: 1) Sectors ofthe music industry are nearing extinction and neednew and well-prepared leaders to create innovativemeans of revitalizing business; 2) Traditionalschools of music need new program designs tostimulate their declining enrollments; 3) Studentsneed well-designed curriculums that adequatelyprepare them for careers in today's music industry. Astrategically designed program is the key toanswering all three of these ever-presentdemands. This new program design evolved from the study ofover 100 educational institutions, the standards andguidelines established by NASM, the curricularanalysis of five leading music industry programs, andthe author's experience as a music industryprofessional and lecturer. With this newly acquireddata, the author outlined a "Bachelor of Music"example as one of this program's possible degreeformats. This design adhered to NASM's guidelines byhaving the correct percentages and course types(General Education Courses, General Music Courses, Music Industry Courses, and Emphasis Area Courses.