Performance


The KU School of Music offers a BA, BM, and BFA in several academic disciplines, including brass and percussion, jazz, music theory and composition, musicology, organ, piano, strings, theatre and voice, voice, woodwinds, and music business, as well as a MM, MME, DMA, and PhD. 

School of Music website

Sample of Related Skills

  • Hear, identify, and work with musical elements: rhythm, pitch, harmony, structure, timbre, texture
  • Read and realize musical notation fluently
  • Recognize and articulate an understanding of compositional process and musical style with reference to artists, technologies, events, and cultural forces through the major periods of music history
  • Use research tools and analysis independently to develop, defend, and write musical judgments
  • Demonstrate technical, musical, and interpretive skill in solo and ensemble performance, in a variety of formal and informal settings
  • Develop familiarity with an appropriately representative body of solo and ensemble music literature, and an awareness of applicable performance practices
  • Perform capably as a soloist and within an ensemble
  • Organize the sounds of music through basic composition

Popular Career Paths

Performance: Involves conducting, playing an instrument, and/or singing.

Business: Includes managing artists, negotiating contracts, and arranging events/performances for musicians.

Education: Could involve private instruction and/or teaching music in a school setting. 

Jobs to Consider

Places to Seek Employment

  • Amusement Parks
  • Armed Forces Bands and Orchestras
  • Ballet Productions
  • Church Choirs
  • Clubs and Restaurants
  • Community Choral Groups
  • Cruise Lines
  • Dancebands
  • Musical Theaters
  • Opera Companies
  • Orchestras
  • Radio, Television, and Motion Picture Industries
  • Recording Industries
  • Rock or Jazz Groups
  • Self-Employed/Small Business Owner
  • Small Ensembles
  • Public/Private Schools  

Explore More Career Resources  

American Musicological Society - professional organization that provides music related career information  

Chorus America - non-profit organization for choral music. Promotes professional, volunteer, and youth choruses. Provides a listing of choral industry job openings 

Entertainment Careers.net - search for jobs and internships at studios, networks, production companies, record companies, TV and radio stations, VFX, animation, and broadcasting​ 

League of American Orchestras - search for internships in the music performance field  

Musical Chairs - search for international performance, teaching, and administration jobs in classical music 

Music Job - search for music jobs in the United Kingdom, Germany, Brazil, and the United States​   

Show Biz Jobs - job search function for finding a job in the entertainment business