Musical kid but doesn’t want music school

URichmond has revamped their curriculum to include more diverse musical interests and backgrounds: Major & Minor Requirements - Music - School of Arts & Sciences - University of Richmond

Off topic but quick comment that many schools are doing this in the interest of diversity. Harvard changed their curriculum a few years back in a similar way.

Here is the text from the URichmond site:

The Department of Music will implement a new curriculum this Fall 2021, which is meant to welcome students with a variety of interests and backgrounds. This curriculum redesign was motivated by three fundamental goals:

  1. removing hidden barriers, performance and theory prerequisites, and non-credit bearing classes
  2. implementing a curriculum that invites students from all musical backgrounds into the department
  3. providing sufficient curricular flexibility so that a wide variety of student goals and interests can be served.

Students who enter the music major or minor already capable of reading music notation and singing or playing an instrument will continue to have meaningful pathways for developing those skills in our new model. Additionally, students interested in composition will continue to have relevant courses and opportunities to develop their skills. The exciting change is that students who are interested in music production, music technology, song writing, music business, music criticism, music scholarship, or music journalism will now be able to assemble a series of MUS courses that serve their educational goals. **Note that students already enrolled in the pre-fall 2021 curriculum can continue to follow those pathways. Please contact the chair with any questions.

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