Concord University Gets a B.A. in Music

Concord University will very soon have a Bachelor’s of the Arts in Music for the first time since the 1970s. According to Dr. Timothy Mainland, Professor of Music, the Department has been trying to get this done for years. “It’s gone back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. There’s been some question about costs to the institution.  This matters these days because of the problems with budget and state funding. It became an issue, and it has been difficult over the years to convince administrators that it won’t cost us [the University] anything. And it won’t. I think it will bring in students, and we’ve had quite a few music students that have wanted this program for a very, very long time.”

In one of the earlier drafts of the proposal presented to get this program, it lays out the details of what this major would entail. Completion of this new Bachelor’s in music will require the completion of 120 semester hours, including six hours in one foreign language, the core music program, an applied area, and a program of electives selected in consultation with a music advisor. There are four different applied areas to choose from; they are instrument, voice, keyboard, and composition. Dr. Mainland pointed out that while there is a lot of applied music in this major, it is not a conservatory degree. For those that do not know, a conservatory is a school that is designed specifically to teach music. 

This will be the first time since roughly 1974 that Concord University has had a Bachelor’s Program in Music. According to Dr. Mainland, the program was retired due to the political situation in West Virginia in the 1970s. Concord University, being a state university, receives state funding. At the time, the state government wanted an allocation of function between the bigger universities and the smaller universities. What this essentially meant was that by having a degree in Music at that time was causing unwanted competition between Concord University and larger schools like West Virginia University and Marshall University. Therefore, the program was cut. This allocation of function is also the reason why Bluefield State College is mostly a technical and a two year school while Concord University is mostly a liberal arts school. It was to prevent having two schools in close proximity vying with each other for state funding. 

Dr. Mainland stated that in the 1980s, for every dollar spent on a student in college, 80 cents of it came from taxes. In the 2010s, that amount has shrunk to roughly 25 cents for every dollar spent on a student. It is clear from that, along with another round of statewide budget cuts incoming, that the University is losing state funding. Therefore, the University does not want to waste the money it does get on programs that do not get a good student turnout. However, Dr. Mainland believes that this new degree will bring students in, and hopefully raise enrollment. “A music degree, we keep being told, is not viable for a career. That seems to be the conventional wisdom, that music isn’t a real field. But it actually is. I know a lot of people making a living doing music. Lots of people. And when you think about it, music is a multi-billion dollar industry in this country. I mean, who doesn’t buy music? You listen to it on TV and movies, people buy recordings, people pay for concerts, it’s taught in schools, and people pay for lessons. It really is good business. The conventional wisdom is that music is a basket-weaving degree comes from people that have never tried it. It is a very hard degree. So we had to fight the perception that we don’t do anything.” 

He went on to say that he believes that there is a student interest and that prior to the interview, he had just advised a student that wondered whether or not they could they could apply for graduation after the degree is instituted if he finishes before it is. “I think that there are people that have left and there are people who would have come and people who did graduate with an interdisciplinary degree who would have rather had a BA in Music.” Mainland said that it has recently passed committee and that President Boggess was a supporter. At the time of this writing, the proposal is at Charleston, waiting to be approved by the state. Anyone that has questions or comments about the new major may contact the Academic Dean’s office via email at vpad@concord.edu.