Vocal Performance Curricular Requirements and Bulletin Course Descriptions in US Bachelor of Music Degrees Raw Data

The objective of this study was to compare degree requirements for Bachelor of Music Vocal Performance (BMVP) programs as well as courses taught, learning outcomes, acquired skills, and musical genres studied based on publicly available information provided on school websites. We examined 272 BMVP programs in the United States as a representative sample of the 1,273 4-year institutions listed in the College Music Society directory. The 50 biggest programs based on faculty number were included automatically in the data sample, with an additional 222 randomly selected institutions proportionally divided by faculty number and location in the United States Census Bureau geographic regions for 95% sample confidence. We collected course titles, credit hours, program credit requirements, and required major credits for analysis from publicly available academic catalogs. The researchers then grouped program credit requirements into liberal arts, general music, and vocal performance, and course descriptions into salient categories such as choir, diction, recital, or theory. BMVP degrees average approximately 126 credit hours with roughly 33% of a program’s credits devoted to liberal arts requirements, 33% to general music courses, and 33% to major-specific vocal performance courses. Programs vary, but many course descriptions are vague and lack specificity. BMVP programs in the United States appear to remain centered on Western classical offerings based on use of terminology central to the genre, however, specificity around styles studied in programs is generally lacking.