Welcome!
At Baylor, we work to guide young composers in developing their unique voice. Composition students are trained to be versatile composers and musicians. The curriculum is structured to include a high level of performance on an instrument or multiple instruments, conducting experience, electronic music, improvisation, orchestration, and other composition, theory and history courses.
Our Unique Composition Studio
Students in the composition studio work well together and encourage risk and experimentation as they work to advance compositional possibilities. Students often meet to read each other's works, improvise as a group, and provide feedback to each other.
Those studying composition have exclusive access to Alinea (our experimental technology lab set up specifically for composers) and "Comp Lab" (a space set up for printing and publishing).
We have a few different ways we offer students opportunities to get their works regularly read:
- program their works on their colleague's recitals, instrumental hour performances, studio classes, chamber performances, etc.
- composition faculty organized large ensemble competitions
- typically the top 3 works are read by the ensemble and the top work is performed
- each year a different ensemble is featured (rotating through choir, orchestra, and wind ensemble)
- composition faculty organized Composer Lab
- all students that want to participate get a solo work read by a Baylor faculty applied professor