BWW Blog: What My Bachelor of Music Degree Means to Me

I am currently a senior pursuing my BM in Musical Theatre at Anderson University. A lot of people hear that and say "What? Your BA?" And I have to explain that, no, I am not getting a BFA in Musical Theatre, or even a regular old BA, but a BM. And people then ask: what does that mean?

Well, it means quite a few things. First of all, the stigma around NOT getting a BFA in Musical Theatre amongst collegiate artists must be recognized. Even I fall prey to it, more often than I would care to admit. The BFA is seen as the pinnacle of education that one can be receiving to pursue Musical Theatre at a collegiate level. Most people you hear about being on Broadway either did not even go to college, or went and dropped out of a BFA program, or were straight up in a BFA program. Schools like UMich, Carnegie Mellon, Park Point, CCM, and many others are premiere schools for Musical Theatre. Even here in Indiana, where I am from, there are two major universities that offer BFAs: Indiana University and Ball State University.

There can be a sense of inadequacy from those of us who either chose not to or (I'll admit this) did not make it into a BFA program when they were auditioning in high school. I had the feeling that maybe I shouldn't even try to go to school for MT anymore, if I couldn't study at a BFA level, even though I had mentors who often told me that it didn't really matter, not if you put the work in. All of that to say that BFA programs are amazing, and are prestigious for a reason. But the "type" of degree you get does not decide what type of performer you will push yourself to be, and what type of performer you will choose to be. That is up to the individual student.

Now that I've cleared that up, I can move on to the bigger question. What is a BM? BM stands of Bachelor's of Music, usually something that only music performance majors receive at the undergrad level, as well as a lot of music composition majors. The university I attend offers two Musical Theatre tracks now: either the BM or the BA. The biggest difference is that as a BM student, I took 3 semesters of Music Theory and Aural Comprehension, and I had to take 2 Music History classes as well as a World Music course. The Musical Theatre program is also housed in the School of Music, Theatre, and Dance (a school of the arts, if you will) which means that all MT students do juries, and upper divisionals, and senior recitals, just like any other kind of music major or minor.

While all of this is a LOT of work, as on top of all of that we take acting classes, voice and movement classes, and acting through song classes, and then our liberal arts courses (plus dance classes! How could I forget?)! The Musical Theatre BM track at my school comes in second place for the number of credits needed to graduate, beat out only by the nursing program. But I can sight read music with relative ease. I feel comfortable singing in a choral chamber ensemble or in a chorus for A Chorus Line. Working towards my BM means I don't have to be a musician last in this field, which is sometimes the case.

Also, bottom line is this: it doesn't matter whether you get a BFA or BM or BA or no degree at all. Some people on Broadway didn't even get a degree in Musical Theatre at all (see, a personal favorite of mine: Jessica Vosk). What matters is the work that you put into it. There are good teachers everywhere. Sometimes you can be taught by people who are not your professors. Keep looking, keep searching, keep learning, and keep your ears open. Education is everywhere, and as cliche as this sounds, if this is your passion, you can and will learn the craft.

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