Requirements for the Music Performance Minor

Minor Requirements – 36 Total Credits

The Minor in Music Performance has a prescribed area of focus for a student who wishes to pursue excellence in music performance or conducting.

Prerequisite: minimum two credits of juried lessons at the 200 level. Entry into the minor is by audition only. Auditions will usually take place during juries held at the end of each term, arranged through the applied teacher and area coordinator. Once the audition is successfully completed, the student should declare their minor through Workday in or after their sixth term at Carleton.

Music Foundations and Theory – Required 2 – 6 credits

One course from

Jury Applied Lessons – Required 10 credits

  • Any combination of 1- or 2-credit juried lessons ( MUSL 2XX starting 2025-2026 academic year; previously MUSC with “J”).
  • Normally these 10 credits of applied study will be on the same instrument/voice, but in areas such as non-Western and American folk, students may petition to count lessons on more than one instrument/voice.
  • Composition MUSC 153: Private Lessons in Composition and MUSC 253: Private Lessons in Composition do not satisfy this requirement.

Ensemble – Required 3 credits

Three credits from any course number MUSE 185 to MUSE 199 (inclusive) starting in 2025-2026 academic year, previously MUSC.

Music Performance Seminar – Required 3 credits

  • MUSC 342: Creative Music Performance Seminar

Recital – Required 3 credits

Must be taken once, may be repeated for elective credit

Music Electives – Required 11 – 15 credits

Any additional Music credits, including classroom courses, ensembles, applied lessons or CGSC 130 The Musical Mind.

Additional Departmental Notes

It is recommended — though not required — that students minoring in music performance take additional courses in theory, history, composition, or world musics.

*Students who score a 4 or 5 on the AP Music Theory exam are granted 6 general education credits. This does not grant students automatic exemption from MUSC 103: Musicianship I and/or MUSC 110: Theory I: The Principles of Harmony; exemption in these courses is determined by the music department placement exams. Credits earned via the AP exam do not count for elective credit in the major or minor. Students who are exempted from MUSC 101: Music Fundamentals or MUSC 103: Musicianship I will need to take two additional credits to obtain the 36 credits required for the minor.