General. Students in a Conservatory degree program are required
to pursue full time one or more Conservatory majors in every semester
of enrollment, and are expected to work toward completion of the requirements
of a major at a rate suggested by the recommended distribution of
major requirements shown for each Conservatory major. Recommendations
regarding major study are somewhat different for double-degree students,
and are described in the double-degree section of this catalog.
Major Requirements. Requirements for each major are described
in this catalog each year. Conservatory students must complete the
requirements for their Conservatory major which were in effect upon
entering Oberlin. Should the requirements for a major change while
a student is enrolled, the student may elect to follow the requirements
in effect when entering Oberlin or those in effect in any subsequent
year. However, the student must elect to follow a complete set of
requirements in effect in one of these years.
When determining whether a Conservatory student has completed requirements
for a major, the Registrar assumes that the student is following requirements
described in the course catalog for the year the student entered Oberlin;
if the student elects to follow requirements of another catalog, he
or she must notify the Registrar of this intent.
For students who have withdrawn from Oberlin for more than four semesters
and who wish to return to complete a major, the requirements in effect
at the time the student reenters Oberlin, or in any subsequent year
of enrollment, are those which must be followed.
The regulations governing major requirements for double-degree students
are somewhat different, and are described in the double-degree section
of this catalog.
Change of Major. Requests for change of major or for addition
of a second major are initiated in the Office of the Associate Dean
in the Conservatory.
Changes to a different Performance major, or the addition of a second
Performance major, involve an audition before a committee of the department
of the new major, arranged by the Conservatory Admissions Office.
Changes involving majors other than Performance involve an interview
with the appropriate division director.
If a student is denied continuation in a major by action of the Academic
Standing Committee, he or she is permitted to enroll for the following
semester without a major for the purpose of finding a new major; more
than one semester of enrollment without a major is not permitted.
Major Status. In addition to Enrollment Status, which is a
function of the number of credit hours completed toward graduation,
the Conservatory also recognizes Major Status, a function of the number
of requirements for a major a student has completed in a given semester.
Major Status for each major is defined in the section of the catalog
where that major is described.
Minor Study
General. Minors are offered in music education, music history,
community music, piano pedagogy, music theory, ethnomusicology, composition,
and in the following performance areas: piano, organ, voice, trumpet,
horn, trombone, tuba, harpsichord, fortepiano, recorder, Baroque flute,
Baroque oboe, Baroque violin, and Baroque cello/viola da gamba.
To be eligible for a minor, a student must be a degree student in
the Conservatory. If a student is admitted to a minor program which
did not exist in the year of the catalog that governs his or her major
requirements, he or she will follow the requirements for a minor in
a subsequent catalog.
The specific requirements for each minor are described below along
with the description of requirements for each major.