B.Mus. Church Music
With a church music degree, you will learn to serve Jesus Christ through music, sharpen your skills as a musician and help others encounter God through the abilities He has given you.
A degree in church music from Concordia University, Nebraska prepares you to lead and direct music in both traditional and contemporary worship settings. Here, you’ll study with artist faculty who are inspiring performers and passionate teachers, perform in ensembles and have the opportunity to lead and participate in chapel and praise services. Your church music curriculum will include classes in religion and private study of piano, organ and voice, as well as conducting and composing music.
The degree also leads to rostered status in The Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod as a director of parish music for individuals who are members of an LCMS congregation and can prepare you with the aptitude and proficiency necessary for pursuing music ministry beyond church and school settings, as a performer, composer or publisher of sacred music.
Use your musical abilities to glorify God!
Program Highlights
Why Study Church Music At Concordia?
The church music degree program at Concordia University, Nebraska prepares students to lead and direct a comprehensive music ministry in a variety of parish settings. Emphasis is placed upon leading the song of the congregation through the organ, the piano, the choirs and the instrumentalists. The church music program seeks to help students glorify and share the word of God through music.
Concordia Nebraska is an institutional member of the National Association of Schools of Music (NASM), an organization of schools, conservatories, colleges and universities whose degrees and credentials adhere to national standards, making our music program one of rigorous academics, excellent performance and high professional quality.
- About a third of Concordia students participate in music through lessons, ensembles and classes.
- Several ensembles tour nationally, and the A Cappella Choir takes an international tour every four years.
- Music majors from 20+ different states call Concordia home.
- Students may spend a semester in Cambridge, England’s leading center for choral and church music.
- There are 12 organs on campus by 11 different builders.
- Most pianos in the music department were manufactured by Steinway, and we are on the way to becoming an all-Steinway school.
- Concordia students won the biennial Richard Hillert Award in Student Composition in 2018, 2020 and 2022.
- Concordia students won the biennial Norma Aamodt-Nelson Student Scholar Award of the Association of Lutheran Church Musicians in 2021 and 2023.
- A Concordia graduate was a 2023 winner of the Metropolitan Opera’s Eric and Dominique Laffont Competition.
Learn more about music performance at Concordia
MEET OUR EXPERT FACULTY
As experts in church music, our faculty and instructors bring years of experience to the classroom.
Meet our students
This experience has given me many ideas to help prepare for church work, especially all of the things that happen outside of the worship service on a Sunday morning. I understand more about what the role of the church musician may look like.
Accreditation
Concordia University, Nebraska is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission, a regional accreditation agency recognized by the U.S. Department of Education.
The music program is accredited by the National Association of Schools of Music.
Degree Goals
A church music program graduate from Concordia University, Nebraska will be able to:
- Perform, create, analyze and understand music in its historical, cultural and religious context.
- Lead music in a church or worship setting.
- Demonstrate an understanding of form, dynamics and style.
- Engage members of a congregation to share and hear the word of God through music and worship in order to create a vibrant life of faith.
Music Minors
- Church Music
- Music
Career Outcomes
Choir Director
- Manage a choir, ensemble or glee club in a school, church or other musical organization
- Compose music and lead practices performances of vocal and/or instrumental music
Composer
- Write and direct original music
- Create new instrumental and/or vocal compositions
Recording Artist
- Record worship or Christian songs, either of your own creation or those others have written
- Perform in live shows
FAQs
Students at Concordia can perform in ensembles, regardless of major. There are also opportunities for individuals and groups to perform in the community. In the past, student-led praise bands have given concerts at the Red Path Gallery of Art, the bandshell, the Evangelical Free Church and Seward’s Harvest Hall.
Concordia’s large vocal and instrumental ensembles regularly perform in St. John’s sanctuary and Weller Auditorium. Our smaller ensembles and soloists regularly perform in the Borland Center for Music and Theatre's Recital Hall, a beautiful space that contains a Casavant pipe organ and a 7-ft. Steinway grand piano.
Many of our music ensembles also go on tour around the world, performing and spreading the Gospel through music.
Students at Concordia can perform in ensembles, regardless of major. There are also opportunities for individuals and groups to perform in the community. In the past, student-led praise bands have given concerts at the Red Path Gallery of Art, the bandshell, the Evangelical Free Church and Seward’s Harvest Hall.
Concordia’s large vocal and instrumental ensembles regularly perform in St. John’s sanctuary and Weller Auditorium. Our smaller ensembles and soloists regularly perform in the Borland Center for Music and Theatre's Recital Hall, a beautiful space that contains a Casavant pipe organ and a 7-ft. Steinway grand piano.
Many of our music ensembles also go on tour around the world, performing and spreading the Gospel through music.
The innovative Borland Center for Music and Theatre at Concordia University, Nebraska is home to enhanced practice rooms, performance spaces and acoustics to inspire your creativity, refine your musical abilities and prepare you to create music that can transform lives. The Borland Center features:
- A recital hall containing a 3-manual, 38-rank Casavant organ and a Steinway Model D 9-foot concert grand piano
- 3 ensemble rehearsal rooms
- 11 teaching studios
- 22 practice rooms
- A percussion studio
- A piano lab
- A black box theater
- A soundproof recording studio
Organ students also have access to the 3-manual, 47-rank organ by Orgelbau Kuhn of Männedorf (Switzerland) in Weller Chapel and to the 3-manual, 50-rank Schlicker organ at St. John Lutheran Church, across the street from Concordia.
Each year, in addition to other financial aid such as academic scholarships, grants and loans, Concordia University, Nebraska awards talent-based scholarships in voice, piano, organ, brass, woodwinds, percussion, strings and guitar.
A limited number of full-tuition scholarships are awarded every year to students intending to major in music and who demonstrate outstanding musical skill and potential. There are also a limited number of talent-based scholarships, in variable amounts, awarded every year to students who intend to participate in music. These scholarships are available to music majors as well as non-music majors.
Learn more about the music scholarships available as well as the audition process.
Related Programs
Christian Education Leadership
The Christian education leadership major from Concordia University, Nebraska can help you serve Christ’s church through education as a Director of Christian Education (DCE), youth or camp ministry leader, Christian teacher or as a national or international missionary by equipping you to bring Christian values and leadership to God’s people in a church or school.
Music
As a music major at Concordia University, Nebraska, you will participate in ensembles, either choral or instrumental or both, as part of the requirements for your major. Since ensemble participation doesn’t necessarily factor into your official course load, you may find that you have more opportunities within your schedule to take additional electives that interest you to help round out your career options.
Music Education
A degree in music education from Concordia University, Nebraska prepares you to teach vocal and instrumental music to students K-12 in Lutheran, Christian, private or public schools. Some music teachers instruct students in a certain instrument, while others teach general music classes.
1 Recent graduates attending graduate school or employed within six months of graduation.