Performance
Bachelor of Music
Excellent performance education rooted in theory, technique and artistry
Overview
Music is a gift from God—an expression of beauty, creativity, and worship. At BJU, the Performance program equips you to develop professional-level musicianship while deepening your understanding of music’s role in glorifying God.
Program
- Music theory and technique—including tonality, harmonic sequences, and chromaticism
- Music history—from ancient to contemporary, exploring the cultural impact on Western music
- Performance experience—through juried evaluations, recitals, and faculty-coached lessons
- Mentorship—from your initial audition onward, you’ll be guided by caring, experienced faculty who tailor their instruction to your strengths and goals
All students participate in ensembles and receive regular one-on-one instruction, while progressing through skill checks and public performances that prepare you for a future in music.
Certificate Programs
In addition to required studies, several certificate programs are available.
- Church Music Ministry
- Collaborative Piano
- Composition
- Digital Audio Production
- Keyboard Pedagogy
- Music Business
Audition
If you want to study in a music program, you’ll need to audition so your music background and current skill level can be evaluated. The audition will help the music faculty assess your potential as a music student and will give them a good idea of how to equip you to reach that potential.
Program Objectives
General
- Apply knowledge of standard literature performance practices, music history and music theory relevant to performance settings.
- Evaluate literature, materials, methods, and technologies used in successful pedagogical practice.
- Perform public recitals that apply mature musical interpretation and advanced vocal or instrumental skills.
Tracks
Strengthen your technique and musicianship through focused classical guitar training. Develop expressive performance skills, expand your repertoire, and grow as a performer in solo and ensemble contexts.
Sample Course Outline
1st Year
2nd Year
- Essential Science
- Hermeneutics: Interpreting the Bible for Life
- Guitar Ensemble
- Recital Attendance
- Theory III
- Private Instruction for the Guitar Major/Principal
- Large Ensemble Elective
(1 credit) - Applied Secondary - Piano
(1 credit)
- The Making of the Modern World
- Ideas & Their Consequences
- Guitar Ensemble
- Recital Attendance
- Theory IV
- Private Instruction for the Guitar Major/Principal
- Large Ensemble Elective
(1 credit) - Applied Secondary - Piano
(1 credit)
3rd Year
4th Year
- Recital Attendance
- Entrepreneurial Musician Seminar-EXP
- Survey of Literature for the Instrument
- Eighteenth-Century Counterpoint
- Private Instruction for the Guitar Major/Principal
- Large Ensemble Elective
(1 credit) - Electives
(2 credits)
- Program
- BJU Core
- Elective
Learning Experience
Music Groups
Membership in the University’s bands, orchestras, ensembles or choirs will provide you with unparalleled opportunities for further development of your musicianship under the direction of our accomplished faculty conductors. You will also be challenged to achieve your best through private lessons, culminating in a senior recital.
Recitals
Once you complete your platform check during your sophomore year, you’ll prepare for two recitals: one in your junior year and one in your senior year. These recitals are a significant part of the performance program and play a major role in preparing you for your profession.
Each of these recitals is designed to help you build your repertoire and teach you how to prepare for performances.
The Gustafson Fine Arts Center Music Library
In addition to a variety of online music resources, the Music Library offers you access to:
- 15,000 bound scores
- 5,500 chamber and choral music pieces
- 7,200 biographies and books on music
- 7,100 LP recordings
- 8,220 musical CDs
- 850 musical DVDs
Performances
At BJU, you’ll experience a variety of excellent performances—as a performer and as a member of the audience. You’ll grow through personal performances, through junior and senior recitals, large and small ensemble recitals, the Concerto and Aria Competition, Annual Music Contests, and Student Recital Hours.
Additionally, you’ll be exposed to accomplished artists in the Concert, Opera & Drama Series, such as the King’s Singers, Canadian Brass and Prague Symphony Orchestra. You may have an opportunity to perform under professional guest conductors in productions that are part of this series.
Practice Resources
Music practice is invaluable, and we have a number of resources available to help you master your instrument. Practice rooms are available in 4 buildings campus-wide, and you can take advantage of a music computer lab that is equipped with composition software such as Finale and MuseScore.
Faculty
Program Coordinator
BJU’s performance faculty are graduates of some of America’s finest graduate schools. Many currently perform in area orchestras such as Greenville Symphony and Spartanburg Philharmonic orchestras.
Some have also been winners in prestigious national contests such as the MTNA Collegiate Brass graduate division and the Holland America Music Society.
Train in piano or organ through solo and collaborative performance. Learn to accompany other musicians, improve your sight-reading, and refine your technique through studio classes and public recitals.
Sample Course Outline
1st Year
- Pathways
- Composition & Rhetoric
- Creation to New Creation: Exploring the Bible for Life
- Recital Attendance
- Theory I
- Practical Musicianship I
- Large Ensemble Elective
(1 credit) - Private Instrn: Keyboard Major/Prin
(2 credits)
- Composition & Literature
- Recital Attendance
- Introduction to Music Literature
- Theory II
- Practical Musicianship II
- Fundamentals of Speech
- Private Instrn: Keyboard Major/Prin
(2 credits) - Large Ensemble Elective
(1 credit)
2nd Year
- Essential Science
- Hermeneutics: Interpreting the Bible for Life
- Recital Attendance
- Theory III
- Large Ensemble Elective
(1 credit) - Chamber Ensemble/Accompany Elective
(1 credit) - Private Instrn: Keyboard Major/Prin
(3 credits)
- The Making of the Modern World
- Ideas & Their Consequences
- Recital Attendance
- Introduction to Music Technology
- Theory IV
- Large Ensemble Elective
(1 credit) - Chamber Ensemble/Accompany Elective
(1 credit) - Private Instrn: Keyboard Major/Prin
(3 credits)
3rd Year
- Doctrines: Bibliology to Angelology
- Recital Attendance
- History of Music: Antiquity to Baroque
- Oral Communication for the Professions
- Private Instrn: Keyboard Major/Prin
(3 credits) - Keyboard Pedagogy Elective
(2 credits) - Chamber Ensemble/Accompany Elective
(1 credit) - Large Ensemble Elective
(1 credit)
- Foundations of Economics
- Doctrines: Anthropology to Eschatology
- Recital Attendance
- History of Music: Classical to Contemporary
- Chamber Ensemble/Accompany Elective
(1 credit) - Private Instrn: Keyboard Major/Prin
(3 credits) - Large Ensemble Elective
(1 credit) - Keyboard Pedagogy Elective
(2 credits)
4th Year
- Recital Attendance
- Entrepreneurial Musician Seminar-EXP
- Survey of Literature for Keyboard
- Eighteenth-Century Counterpoint
- Large Ensemble Elective
(1 credit) - Private Instrn: Keyboard Major/Prin
(3 credits) - Electives
(2 credits)
- Worldview & Apologetics
- Recital Attendance
- Music & the Creative Image-Bearer
- Seminar in Performance-EXP
- Elements of Conducting
- Form & Analysis
- Private Instrn: Keyboard Major/Prin
(3 credits) - Large Ensemble Elective
(1 credit) - Electives
(1 credit)
- Program
- BJU Core
- Elective
Learning Experience
Recitals
Once you complete your platform check during your sophomore year, you’ll prepare for two recitals: one in your junior year and one in your senior year. These recitals are a significant part of the keyboard performance program and play a major role in preparing you for your profession.
Each of these recitals is designed to help you build your repertoire, teach you how to prepare for performances, and give you practice memorizing your pieces, playing in various styles and using appropriate technique.
Practice studios
Practice studios, each equipped with an upright piano or a grand piano, are available for your use across campus (including in a few residence halls). These studios are in addition to faculty members’ studios, which come equipped with grand pianos. If you’re focusing on organ performance, you can practice and perform on a handful of pipe organs or synthesizers that are scattered across campus.
The Gustafson Fine Arts Center Music Library
Available for your use are more than:
- 15,000 bound scores
- 5,500 chamber and choral music pieces
- 7,200 biographies and books on music
- 7,100 LP recordings
- 8,220 musical CDs
- 850 musical DVDs
Performances
At BJU, you’ll experience a variety of excellent performances—as a performer and as a member of the audience. You’ll grow through personal performances, through junior and senior recitals, large and small ensemble recitals, the Concerto and Aria Competition, Annual Music Contests, and Student Recital Hours.
Additionally, you’ll be exposed to accomplished artists in the Concert, Opera and Drama Series, such as The King’s Singers, Canadian Brass and Prague Symphony Orchestra.
Piano/MIDI Lab
The piano lab contains several Yamaha Clavinovas that give you more flexibility than acoustic pianos. Each Clavinova comes equipped with MIDI ports so you can easily compose, record and share files with the help of computer software.
Ensembles/music groups
There are more than 20 groups you can get involved in, ranging from a number of larger choirs to smaller instrument ensembles, such as the trumpet choir or the handbell choir. These groups will give you experience as one part of a whole, so you’ll be better prepared to lead others in similar situations.
Outreach ministries
There are numerous outreach opportunities each week. Many of them will stretch you by using your music skills, either as an instrumentalist or in leading the music. You’ll learn how to minister alongside others, so you’ll feel better prepared for the ministry you’ll take part in after graduation.
Faculty
Program Coordinator
BJU’s performance faculty are graduates of some of America’s finest graduate schools. Many currently perform in area orchestras such as Greenville Symphony and Spartanburg Philharmonic orchestras.
Some have also been winners in prestigious national contests such as the MTNA Collegiate Brass graduate division and the Holland America Music Society.
Success
Daniel Overly, ’12
I would recommend the keyboard studies program of Bob Jones University to any Christian young person who is serious about developing as an artist in the framework of a Christian worldview. As a student, I found myself challenged in every way: academically, musically, personally and spiritually. Academically speaking, I received a strong foundation in music history and theory as well as in other important liberal arts subjects, such as English, philosophy and history. I grew musically as I received private lessons, participated in large ensembles, and performed in a variety of settings. My interactions with godly and experienced faculty members and enthusiastic fellow students helped me to develop personally and spiritually. The need for Christians in the arts is great. If you aspire to such a goal, then BJU is a perfect place to take your first steps in that direction.
Choose from a wide range of orchestral instruments and hone your performance in both solo and ensemble settings. Gain technical mastery and artistic expression while developing your understanding of the instrument’s role in orchestral literature.
- Bassoon
- Cello
- Clarinet
- Double Bass
- Euphonium
- Flute
- Harp
- Horn
- Oboe
- Percussion
- Saxophone
- Trombone
- Trumpet
- Tuba
- Viola
- Violin
Sample Course Outline
1st Year
- Pathways
- Composition & Rhetoric
- Creation to New Creation: Exploring the Bible for Life
- Recital Attendance
- Theory I
- Practical Musicianship I
- Private Instru: Instrument Maj/Prin
(2 credits) - Applied Secondary - Piano
(1 credit) - Instrumental Ensemble Elective
(1 credit)
- Composition & Literature
- Recital Attendance
- Introduction to Music Literature
- Theory II
- Practical Musicianship II
- Fundamentals of Speech
- Instrumental Ensemble Elective
(1 credit) - Applied Secondary - Piano
(1 credit) - Private Instru: Instrument Maj/Prin
(2 credits)
2nd Year
- Essential Science
- Hermeneutics: Interpreting the Bible for Life
- Recital Attendance
- Theory III
- Private Instru: Instrument Maj/Prin
(3 credits) - Instrumental Ensemble Elective
(1 credit) - Chamber Ensemble Elective
(1 credit)
- The Making of the Modern World
- Ideas & Their Consequences
- Recital Attendance
- Introduction to Music Technology
- Theory IV
- Chamber Ensemble Elective
(1 credit) - Private Instru: Instrument Maj/Prin
(3 credits) - Instrumental Ensemble Elective
(1 credit)
3rd Year
- Doctrines: Bibliology to Angelology
- Recital Attendance
- History of Music: Antiquity to Baroque
- Elements of Conducting
- Oral Communication for the Professions
- Private Instru: Instrument Maj/Prin
(3 credits) - Instrumental Ensemble Elective
(1 credit) - Chamber Ensemble Elective
(1 credit)
- Foundations of Economics
- Doctrines: Anthropology to Eschatology
- Recital Attendance
- Orchestral Repertoire
- History of Music: Classical to Contemporary
- Private Instru: Instrument Maj/Prin
(3 credits) - Instrumental Ensemble Elective
(1 credit) - Chamber Ensemble Elective
(1 credit)
4th Year
- Recital Attendance
- Entrepreneurial Musician Seminar-EXP
- Survey of Literature for the Instrument
- Eighteenth-Century Counterpoint
- Instrumental Ensemble Elective
(1 credit) - Private Instru: Instrument Maj/Prin
(3 credits) - Electives
(1 credit)
- Worldview & Apologetics
- Recital Attendance
- Music & the Creative Image-Bearer
- Seminar in Performance-EXP
- Form & Analysis
- Private Instru: Instrument Maj/Prin
(3 credits) - Instrument Pedagogy Elective
(2 credits) - Instrumental Ensemble Elective
(1 credit)
- Program
- BJU Core
- Elective
Learning Experience
Music Groups
Membership in the University’s bands, orchestras or choirs will provide you with incredible opportunities for developing your musicianship under the direction of our acclaimed faculty conductors. You’ll also be challenged to achieve your best in your principal through private lessons, culminating in a senior recital.
Recitals
Once you complete your sophomore-year platform check, you’ll prepare for your junior and senior recitals. These recitals are a significant part of the performance program and play a major role in preparing you for your career.
These recitals will help you build your repertoire and teach you how to prepare for performances.
Gustafson Fine Arts Center Music Library
The Music Library offers you access to a variety of online and print music resources.
- 15,000 bound scores
- 5,500 chamber and choral music pieces
- 7,200 biographies and books on music
- 7,100 LP recordings
- 8,220 musical CDs
- 850 musical DVDs
Performances
At BJU, you’ll experience various excellent performances both as a performer and an audience member. You’ll grow through personal performances, junior and senior recitals, large and small ensemble recitals, the Concerto and Aria Competition, Annual Music Contests and Student Recital Hours.
You’ll also observe accomplished artists in the Concert, Opera & Drama Series, such as The Queen’s Six, Canadian Brass and Prague Symphony Orchestra. You may even have an opportunity to perform under professional guest conductors in these productions.
Practice Resources
We have many resources available to help you master your instrument through invaluable practice. Four buildings across campus contain practice rooms, and you can use the music computer lab equipped with composition software such as Finale and MuseScore.
Faculty
Program Coordinator
BJU’s performance faculty are graduates of some of America’s finest graduate schools. Many currently perform in area orchestras such as Greenville Symphony and Spartanburg Philharmonic orchestras.
Some have also been winners in prestigious national contests such as the MTNA Collegiate Brass graduate division and the Holland America Music Society.
Success
Laura Majewski, ’13
I chose Bob Jones University because I knew I could trust the spiritual, musical and academic content of the education I would receive. I have not been disappointed! The rigorous liberal arts core challenged my thinking and prepared me to interact professionally with future colleagues and students. My music classes and performance opportunities honed my skills and offered me real-life experiences that will be an asset in my future endeavors. I am thankful for the variety and abundance of performance experiences I received here (band, orchestra, opera, small ensembles, competitions and tours) that are not available to my peers at other institutions. However, the spiritual climate has impacted me the most. The emphasis on doing all — from Bible, English and science to music theory and opera — for the glory of God will influence me for the rest of my life. I am thankful for the faculty members in every department who communicated passion for the Gospel in and out of the classroom. My teachers not only taught history, hermeneutics and counterpoint; they taught students. And they have inspired me to do the same.
Pursue classical vocal training with an emphasis on diction, language, and expressive performance. Learn to interpret and deliver music in multiple languages (including Italian, German, and French) and develop the vocal and interpretive skills to succeed in professional settings.
Sample Course Outline
1st Year
2nd Year
- Applied Secondary - Piano
(1 credit) - Choral Ensemble Elective
(1 credit) - Private Instruction for the Voice Major/Principal
- Recital Attendance
- Theory III
- Hermeneutics: Interpreting the Bible for Life
- Ideas & Their Consequences
- Essential Science
- Advanced Diction for Singers
- Choral Ensemble Elective
(1 credit) - Applied Secondary - Piano
(1 credit) - Private Instruction for the Voice Major/Principal
- Recital Attendance
- Theory IV
- Introduction to Music Technology
- The Making of the Modern World
3rd Year
- History of Music: Antiquity to Baroque
- Opera Workshop I
- Opera/Musical Chorus/Role
(1 credit) - French Language Elective
(3 credits) - Choral Ensemble Elective
(1 credit) - Private Instruction for the Voice Major/Principal
- Recital Attendance
- Doctrines: Bibliology to Angelology
- Elements of Conducting
- History of Music: Classical to Contemporary
- Choral Ensemble Elective
(1 credit) - Opera/Musical Chorus/Role
(1 credit) - Private Instruction for the Voice Major/Principal
- Recital Attendance
- Doctrines: Anthropology to Eschatology
- Foundations of Economics
4th Year
- Eighteenth-Century Counterpoint
- Entrepreneurial Musician Seminar-EXP
- Opera/Musical Chorus/Role
(1 credit) - Choral Ensemble Elective
(1 credit) - Private Instruction for the Voice Major/Principal
- Recital Attendance
- Voice Pedagogy
- Oral Communication for the Professions
- Form & Analysis
- Choral Ensemble Elective
(1 credit) - Private Instruction for the Voice Major/Principal
- Recital Attendance
- Seminar in Performance-EXP
- Survey of Literature for Voice
- Opera/Musical Chorus/Role
(1 credit) - Music & the Creative Image-Bearer
- Worldview & Apologetics
- Program
- BJU Core
- Elective
Learning Experience
Recitals
Once you complete your platform check during your sophomore year, you’ll prepare for two recitals: one in your junior year and one in your senior year. These recitals are a significant part of the voice performance program and play a major role in preparing you for your profession.
Your junior recital features five or six memorized songs in various languages and style periods. This recital helps you prepare for your senior recital, which features an operatic aria and art songs in several languages. Your senior recital offers you some flexibility in memorization if you choose to include other performers in a chamber group that features you as soloist.
Each of these recitals is designed to help you build your repertoire, teach you how to prepare for performances, and give you practice memorizing your pieces and singing in various languages and styles of music.
Performances
At BJU, you’ll experience a variety of excellent performances—as a performer and as a member of the audience. You’ll grow through personal performances, through junior and senior recitals, large and small ensemble recitals, the Concerto and Aria Competition, Annual Music Contests, and Student Recital Hours.
Additionally, you’ll be exposed to accomplished artists in the Concert, Opera & Drama Series, such as the King’s Singers, Canadian Brass and Prague Symphony Orchestra. You may have an opportunity to perform under professional guest conductors in productions that are part of this annual series.
You’ll also have opportunities to participate in state and regional auditions sponsored by the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) and the Metropolitan Opera Association.
Choral Program
The choral program is composed of eight choirs: University Singers, Conductor’s Chorus, Collegiate Choir, Concert Choir, Lyric Choir, Chorale and Chamber Singers.
All students are welcome to audition and are placed according to their classification and abilities. Singers are re-auditioned periodically to determine proper placement. Performance venues include concerts of standard choral literature and church music and opera and oratorio performances.
Opera
The best way to prepare for singing in an opera is, of course, to sing in operas. That’s why at BJU you’ll be able to audition for our award-winning opera productions. Students have been cast in supporting roles and have even understudied the primary roles in famous operas including Rossini’s The Barber of Seville, Saint-Saens’ Samson et Dalila and Verdi’s Il Trovatore. In the past few years, our grand productions have placed in the top 3 in the professional category of the National Opera Association’s annual video competition.
As you prepare for the opera performances, you’ll grow in your understanding of the voice profession and of the challenges you’ll encounter in it.
Faculty
Program Coordinator
BJU’s performance faculty are graduates of some of America’s finest graduate schools. Many currently perform in area orchestras such as Greenville Symphony and Spartanburg Philharmonic orchestras.
Some have also been winners in prestigious national contests such as the MTNA Collegiate Brass graduate division and the Holland America Music Society.
Success
Deborah Marks Bertling, ’83
Performing Arts Scholarship Foundation
The BJU voice faculty were amazing. Supportive and encouraging, but demanding and honest. It was apparent from day one that BJU did not aspire to mediocrity, but rather to excellence.
Our biweekly voice seminars gave all of us music majors a chance to perform in front of peers and faculty. Learning how to prepare for performance—always by memory—and how to take care of our voices properly was vitally important for future success. The discipline required for daily vocal exercise and practice time (including translating foreign text for opera and researching background material or interpretive customs for the pieces one is working on) is not easy; but, establishing those habits early in life gave me a step up when I was out on my own trying to work as a performer. Occasionally a fellow performer will comment on my work ethic, and it is an excellent way to open the door to conversations about the God I serve and why excellence is so important.
At this stage in my life, I am navigating more in theater roles. I still enjoy opera outreach in schools for Opera Santa Barbara, but most of my performing these days is concert solo work or musical theater roles.
Whether I am preparing for a play, a musical or concert, I rely on the tools I received from BJU and the good habits my teachers helped me develop. I am thankful for the career guidance and the spiritual guidance I received at BJU from so many faculty members. Their caring attention and wisdom will always be a part of who I am as a performer.
Your Future
Jobs
The performance program at BJU opens the door to many career possibilities.
- Solo Performer
- Studio Musician or Recording Artist
- Private Instructor
- Accompanist or Collaborative Artist
- Church Musician or Fine Arts Program Leader
- Orchestra or Band Performer
- Opera Singer or Choral Performer
- School or Community Music Teacher
- University Faculty Member or College Instructor
Graduate Schools
Our performance graduates have been accepted into graduate schools such as:
- Yale School of Music
- Eastman School of Music
- Indiana University
- Peabody Conservatory
- Cleveland Institute of Music
- University of Cincinnati—College-Conservatory of Music
- Florida State University
- Rice University—Shepherd School of Music
- University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
- Concordia University
- Baylor University
- Arizona State University
Graduate Experience
Our graduates have held various positions including:
- International Opera Singer, Deutsche Oper Berlin
- Faculty Member, The Juilliard School
- Assistant Conductor, The Metropolitan Opera
- Professor of Voice, Eastern Michigan University
- Principal Clarinet, San Francisco Ballet
- Section Leader, Kansas City Symphony
- Director of Choral Activities, Davidson College
- Music Director, Impact World Tour
- Associate Editor, Beckenhorst Press
- Professional Musicians in symphonies, bands, churches, and universities across the country
Career Support
BJU’s Center for Career & Calling provides career advising, resume preparation, job-search assistance, recruitment conferences and more for students and alumni.