B.A. Music
Attaining a degree in music opens up a world of possibilities. Not only is music enjoyable and mentally stimulating, it can be financially rewarding as well. The music industry is filled with careers that can combine your passions for music theory and performance, whether it’s teaching, performing or composing music.
Concordia University, Nebraska’s music department exists to prepare students to glorify God through the study, performance and teaching of music in the church and the world. We have award winning, published professors and offer the largest music program in the Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC). When you graduate with your bachelor’s degree in music from Concordia Nebraska, you will be able to perform, create, analyze and understand music in its historical, cultural and religious context.
Make great music and lifelong friendships!
Program Highlights
Why Study music at Concordia?
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 music, our faculty and instructors bring years of experience to the classroom.
Meet our students
My favorite part about being a music major is all of the performance opportunities you get. It's not an easy path, but I'm so glad that music is where I have been called.
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 music program graduate from Concordia University, Nebraska will be able to:
- Demonstrate a level of technical and artistic proficiency that is on par for the national standards for success in graduate school.
- Demonstrate a far-reaching exposure to and knowledge of literature in their area of expertise, as well as knowledge of multiple pedagogical approaches in music.
- Be prepared to contribute to the music community and the profession through performances on a professional level and to promote appreciation of music.
- Understand the role of music in society and participate in cultural experiences which will enlarge musical understanding and appreciation.
Music Minors
- Church Music
- Music
Career Outcomes
Choral 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
Musician
- Perform for audiences as part of an ensemble or solo
- Market your music through social media or websites
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.
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
Church Music
A degree in church music from Concordia University, Nebraska prepares you to lead and direct music in both traditional and contemporary worship settings. 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.
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.