D'Angelo Department of Music

The Bachelor of Arts in Music provides students with the opportunity to pursue a full major in music together with an expanded emphasis on the liberal arts. The additional elective courses built into this degree allow students to incorporate a minor in another field of study without adding overload credits. Music majors benefit from the same general departmental offerings as those in the performance and education degrees—weekly private lessons, regular participation in ensembles, opportunities for stage roles, and the full range of music core classes—with the additional flexibility to design a broader four-year liberal arts curriculum, add a minor, or even double major with another field of study. This degree provides a solid preparation for graduate study in music, and, in some cases, professional performance opportunities, along with a strong grounding in the broader humanities. Concentrations within the Bachelor of Arts in Music are available in all areas of approved study (winds, piano, percussion, strings, and composition).

This Bachelor of Music allows students to develop the essential technical toolbox and broad aesthetic perspective needed to assume a place in the community of professional composers. Composition study offers an array of musical opportunities for graduates, including film scoring, commercial music, educational and church music publications, recording arts, and careers in higher education. The program aims to prepare each young composer for high-level graduate work and a music career. Applied composition is designed to unleash and develop the innate musical creativity of the natural composer through the active writing of music in a variety of forms and styles and for a wide range of instrumental combinations. The program provides students with the opportunity to hear live performances of every completed composition, from solo to large ensemble works and orchestral pieces. Students in the composition program are encouraged to develop their own unique musical voice and are urged to explore a broad spectrum of tonal and non-tonal musical languages in their writing.

This Bachelor of Music Program emphasizes musical proficiency at a pre-professional level through individual instruction, mentoring, and career guidance. Performance experience includes large and small ensembles, solo performance opportunities, solo work in large-scale productions, and solo recitals in the junior and senior years.

This Bachelor of Music program emphasizes musical proficiency at a pre-professional level through individual instruction, mentoring, and career guidance. Performance experience includes large and small ensembles, solo performance opportunities, solo work in large-scale productions, and solo recitals in the junior and senior years.

Music Therapy is an evidence-based and credentialed health care profession that utilizes the properties of music to accomplish non-music goals in a medical, therapeutic, or special education environment. The Music Therapy curriculum focuses on music, psychology, neurology, health care, and real-world clinical experiences within a wide variety of Erie-area health care facilities. All graduates of the four-year program who also complete a six-month internship will be eligible to sit for the national board exam, which leads to the Board Certified Music Therapist (MT-BC) credential. Students are encouraged to craft a minor or concentration in a related field to enhance their practice in a specific area of health care, such as psychology, neuroscience, or art therapy.

This Bachelor of Music in Music Education Program stars graduates who are sought after by school districts and are currently teaching all over the country. Students learn instructional techniques and classroom management skills while performing with a variety of ensembles similar to the ones they will supervise in schools. The education program has a contemporary curriculum designed to assist future teachers in fostering a lifelong love of music in their own students. To receive the degree and certification in music education, all candidates must meet all the requirements outlined in the education department section of the university catalog. Please refer to all standards, policies, and admissions/retention criteria specified for all education majors seeking a degree from Mercyhurst University and certification by the Pennsylvania Department of Education.

The D’Angelo Department of Music welcomes any student to audition as a music minor. Continue your passion for music by taking 30-minute weekly private lessons on your instrument or voice, studying music theory, aural skills, and music history, as well as participating in one of our large ensembles. If time permits, consider participating in a small ensemble, as well.

An organization of American music educators dedicated to advancing and preserving music education as part of the core curriculum of schools in the United States. All music education majors at Mercyhurst are required to be members of our chapter.

The principal U.S. accreditor for higher education in music. Mercyhurst’s programs are fully accredited by NASM.

A resource and organization dedicated to professional music therapists. Mercyhurst’s Music Therapy program is a member of AMTA.

Our excellent facilities include the Mary D’Angelo Performing Arts Center (850 capacity), Walker Recital Hall (250 capacity), and Taylor Little Theatre (230 capacity). Our classrooms, rehearsal spaces, and faculty offices are housed in the D’Angelo Music Building.

Students in our Music Therapy degree program come together in this club to promote music therapy on campus and help prepare them for their internship.

The culminating requirement for students in the Music Therapy degree program. Students have enjoyed prestigious placements throughout the country.

For an additional scholarship, join the marching band in the fall and the pep band in the spring. Arrive to campus the week before classes start for Band Camp.

Many of our music majors participate in the stellar Mercyhurst Theatre Program, which puts on several plays and musicals each year.

Be a part of this group’s tradition by performing in opera scenes performances each spring.

All music students perform a Senior Recital as their capstone, presented in the intimate and acoustically stunning Walker Recital Hall.

Earn a master’s degree in one additional year in a program such as organizational leadership or special education.