Music Composition

The composition major gives students who wish to develop craft in the manipulation of musical materials a thorough understanding of contemporary harmonic, melodic, rhythmic, contrapuntal, and timbral elements. Over four years, composition majors study with members of the composition faculty on a rotating basis. Composition majors take required lessons on an instrument or voice in faculty studios and participate in student ensembles.

At Eastman, our passion is music. We believe that music enriches the heart, nourishes the mind, and heals the soul. We believe in the power of music to transform lives.

We study music in the classroom, engage with music in the rehearsal room, live with music in the practice room, investigate and reveal music through scholarship, perform music on stages, and share music throughout the community. A favorite T-shirt logo at the Eastman School of Music (ESM) is “Eat, Sleep, Music.”

Music does not exist in a vacuum—it lives in the real world. Music is about communication. As the great composer Gustav Mahler wrote, “If a composer could say what he had to say in words he would not bother trying to say it in music.” In order to have something meaningful to say, a musician must lead a rich and interesting life. Toward that end, we believe in educating the whole student—not just about the techniques of music, but also through the study of humanities, by interdisciplinary pursuits, and by converging music with other arts.