Music - Composition
Develop your compositional personality and experience Eau Claire's music scene with a bachelor's degree in music composition from UWEC.
Explore Compositional Styles and Techniques — and Develop Your Own
Led by accomplished, globally recognized faculty, this program will help you find and cultivate your compositional voice. And as one of the largest music departments in the region, you’ll find yourself surrounded by passionate, enthusiastic people just like you — ready to take the music world by storm.
Throughout the composition program, you'll enrich your academic experience with regular opportunities to write for a variety of ensembles. You'll also contribute to masterclasses with internationally renowned guest composers and professional ensembles who will respond to your music with valuable critiques and perspectives on the current music composition industry. Recent departmental residencies with groups such as yMusic, Zeitgeist, Yarn and Wire, Blue Streak Ensemble and Eighth Blackbird have provided one-on-one personal interaction and specific insights into writing for a particular instrument, genre or setting.
Program curriculum is designed so that students can learn how to approach music composition from different perspectives, think broadly and critically about incorporating different musical parameters into their own voice, apply different compositional techniques, develop their own musical languages and write idiomatically for various instruments. Composition students benefit from the university's partnership with the state-of-the-art Pablo Center at the Confluence in downtown Eau Claire. There, you will have the chance to hear your music performed and recorded in the newly installed recording studio housed within its facilities.
Accredited by the National Association of Schools of Music, our noteworthy composition major will give you the experience — and confidence — needed to tackle your future endeavors and launch into a career you love.
Program Details
Accreditation Information
All music degrees from UW-Eau Claire have been accredited by the National Association of Schools of Music.
The Eau Claire community welcomes UW-Eau Claire music students and invites them to become a part of the rich and vibrant music scene of Eau Claire. Here, you’ll have access to countless productions and on-stage experiences made possible thanks to our partnership with Pablo Center at the Confluence. Discover the Eau Claire Jazz Festival — the largest student-run festival in the nation — and the Viennese Ball, where music students like you provide the soundtrack to a night of Austrian specialties and Viennese waltzes.
Frequent guest artists, competitions and one-on-one time with professional musicians will help you to build your skill set and identify your preferred compositional style. You'll also have opportunities to perform in more than 200 events each year, which will provide you with a strong musical foundation and real-world, pre-professional experience. And unlike at other universities, you will have opportunities to write for our prestigious ensembles early on in your undergraduate career.
A rarity for the undergraduate music scene, students at UWEC have the unique opportunity to participate in the Contemporary Music Ensemble, which introduces students to a wide range of contemporary music from the 1920s to the present. Beyond compositions written in conventional notation, students are regularly introduced to other modern approaches, including graphic scores, electroacoustic genres and improvisation. This ensemble is also another excellent way to perform alongside your professors and gain pre-professional experience prior to graduation.
UWEC is home to multiple concert venues, six music classrooms, over 40 practice rooms (including chamber music practice rooms), percussion rooms, a reed room, organ practice rooms, harpsichord practice rooms, an audio recording studio, a music technology lab, a digital piano lab and several rehearsal rooms. We are also proud to partner with the Eau Claire community's newest performance venue, Pablo Center at the Confluence. This state-of-the-art facility is home to many UWEC classes, rehearsals and performances. It also houses a recording studio, where students can create and receive professional-quality recordings of their compositions.
Music majors regularly have the chance to travel domestically and internationally to interact and perform with other musicians. Experiences like these are excellent ways to learn new skills, make connections, and explore job possibilities.
Join one of 20 student clubs and organizations dedicated to celebrating music, theatre, and dance. Express yourself, learn new techniques, and network with other students. Many student organizations lead to volunteer opportunities, competitions and performances.
Blugold Stories
Music alumna Heidi Joosten returned to campus in November 2024 to accompany the premiere performance of a new arrangement of one of her 2014 compositions. The Blugold Symhonic Choir, the Red Cedar Choir from Barron County and a brass quintet performed the piece with Joosten's mother directing the Red Cedar and Joosten herself on piano.
Samuel came to UW-Eau Claire because of its strong music composition program and the Chippewa Valley’s vibrant music scene. UW-Eau Claire’s highly respected mathematics program was a bonus that allowed him to pursue both of his passions.
Justthe
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Where can the music - composition program lead me after graduation?
UW-Eau Claire composition alumni go on to compose award-winning music for films, television and professional ensembles. Earning a music - composition degree from UW-Eau Claire will provide you with endless opportunities and the ability to pick your own career path.
Example Careers
- Arranger
- Assistant to the composer
- Composer (concert and stage)
- Conductor
- Music editor
- Music professor
- Musical theater adapter
Recent Graduates
American Film Composer
California
Film, Television, and Ensemble Composer
California
Jazz Composer
Ohio
Saxophonist and Composer
Wisconsin
Instructor of Jazz
Wisconsin
Freelance Composer
New York
Led by highly trained and specialized faculty, rigorous curriculum throughout the music - composition major will help you to cultivate your musical skills, learn how to express emotion through musical composition and better understand what makes music sound pleasing to the ear. Coursework will encourage you to explore a variety of compositional techniques, learn how to transcribe music and master best practices.
A wide range of electives and ensembles available to composition majors allows students to explore passions and further personalize their studies.
Here are a few courses in Music - Composition at UW-Eau Claire.
MUSI 229
Music History & Society II
Development of Euro-American classical music from 1700 with comparative music examples from folk, popular, and jazz music traditions.
MUSI 150
Beginning Composition
Introduction to principles of music composition with an emphasis on recent art music. Composition and performance of student works for one to five players.
MUSI 260
Contemporary Music Ensemble
Includes study and performances of contemporary compositions as well as 20th- and 21st-century repertoire and styles.
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