Music Major

Your research opportunities are limited only by your imagination. Our BA in music students have produced EPs and LPs and composed original theme music for podcasts, underscores for theater productions, soundtracks for dance shows, art shows and community events, and compositions for Hamline ensembles. They've investigated the intersections of music with other liberal arts studies, from studying music and second language learning and exploring religiosity in songwriting to examining legal battles over ownership in the entertainment industry.

From your first semester, you'll connect with greater Twin Cities communities by sharing your music with audiences in formal and informal settings. Your flute ensemble may perform for the residents at a neighborhood retirement home; if you are a jazz musician, your senior recital may be performed at a St. Paul jazz club; as a member of choir, your voice will uplift congregations in local churches.

Learn more about undergraduate research at Hamline 

We make sure you leave Hamline with music work experience on your resume, and the opportunities are boundless. Whether you want to explore a career in sound design, music production, advertising, or more, we have internship opportunities for you.

Examples of internships held by our music majors include:

• Greater Twin Cities Youth Orchestra, rehearsal assistant
• St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, educational outreach intern
• Shifting Paradigm Records, marketing and operations assistant
• Essential Sessions, recording studio assistant
• Tinderbox Music, radio and streaming services assistant
• Keys 4/4 Kids, nonprofit piano donations & distributions administrative assistant

Explore internships

Our innovative courses and one-on-one mentoring by faculty will give you the tools to succeed in a variety of jobs, such as:

• Recording and post-production producer
• Freelance composer-arranger
• Sound designer
• Grants and special events manager
• Front of house sound engineer
• Retail experience manager
• Music ministry coordinator

You can also put your degree to work in any number of fields, including:

• Performance and instruction
• Recording and technology
• Music business
• Arts administration

Our graduates have gone on to graduate schools across the country in the pursuit of master’s degrees. Examples of programs and schools include:

• Master's in Vocal Performance, Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University
• Master’s in Scoring for Film, Television, and Video Games, Berklee College of Music (Valencia, Spain campus) 
• Master of Music in History and Literature, University of Northern Colorado.
• Master of Music in Orchestral Conducting, Manhattan School of Music
• Graduate Certificate in Scoring for Motion Pictures and Television, USC Thornton
• Master of Music in Voice Performance, Lionel Hampton School of Music, University of Idaho