The Commercial Music Performance concentration seeks to educate students in all aspects of current popular music, including solo artist performance, songwriting techniques, audio production, familiarity with current digital audio workstation software, studio and orchestral arranging, and musical improvisation. The program includes many real-world musical experiences, such as performances in several popular Memphis music venues, which provide our students with much needed community exposure. We also offer students use of our state-of-the-art recording studio on campus, which can provide them with recordings of their performance ability or songwriting. Memphis is a very diverse, vibrant music city, and our students will be exposed to concerts, clinics and masterclasses given by students, faculty, local professionals and visiting artists.
Program objectives of the BM in Commercial Music Performance are: (a) An awareness of the diversity and cultural impact of commercial music throughout its many style periods; (b) The ability to analyze chord progressions and song forms, using both traditional methods, and newer techniques such as the Nashville number system; (c) To be able to communicate musical ideas to fellow musicians in both live-performance and recording studio situations; (d) To have confidence in their own performing and writing skills; (e) To exhibit musical professionalism; (f) To have the ability to adapt in all performance conditions; (g) To be confident enough to successfully face any challenge encountered in today’s real-world popular music environment.
