Music Theory

This major is intended for students who have achieved an advanced level with aural and written theory skills. First-year admission is rare; it is more common for a student with another major, such as applied music, to add the theory major after completing the core theory curriculum at an advanced level. Music theory majors take required lessons 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.