Music – Music Production & Songwriting Track, B.A.

Why study music production & songwriting at Whitworth?

• Learn from our talented faculty artists who compose their own commercial music, and who provide their students with dedicated teaching and mentoring inside and outside the classroom. One-on-one lessons are a cornerstone of this program.
• Prepare to launch your career by developing a variety of skills. In addition to individual instruction in composition, songwriting and production, you will take courses in recording, production and the music industry.
• Gain firsthand experience using music technology. You will use digital audio workstations, synthesizers and other tools of the trade as part of your weekly lessons.
• Build community with fellow students through weekly composition seminars, and share your work with one another in several composition forums each semester.
• Study in the state-of-the-art Cowles Music Center, which contains a recording control room with high-end microphones and preamps, as well as a keyboard and production lab.
• Broaden your knowledge through electives in other disciplines, which may include marketing, film studies, computer science, and audio and digital storytelling.
• Grow your leadership and intercultural skills. Music composition fosters leadership skills since students organize, rehearse and often conduct their own work. You will also be exposed to a variety of cultures through coursework, music study, and guest clinics and performances.
• Connect your faith or worldview to your studies. Students are invited to consider their vocation as composers, performers and producers in the context of their faith.
• Take master classes – and converse one-on-one – with Grammy-winning, chart-topping, and world-class visiting musicians, conductors and composers. Recent guest artists include Grammy-winning jazz artists Pat Metheny and Branford Marsalis, noted South African ethnomusicologist Johann Buis, and internationally renowned composers Gwyneth Walker and David Maslanka.
• Become who you're meant to be.

Ask our faculty

Our music grads make a difference (and get jobs)

The music production & songwriting track prepares you for a career in the commercial music industry. Potential career paths include creating music for the church, general audiences, advertising, film, multimedia or video games.

Recent music department alumni who have gone on to entrepreneurial music careers include:

• Peter Underhill, composer, pianist and music technologist; DMA composition student at the University of Georgia
• Benjamin R. Barker, freelance composer (self-published and published by Murphy Music Press) and music teacher at International School of Tokyo
• Lane King, freelance musician, composer and music producer in Nashville, Tenn.
• Nick Kmet, freelance composer, music editor, sound designer, scholar and adjunct professor in New York City
• Brian Schappals, freelance clarinetist, composer, producer and educator in Seattle
• Denin Slage-Koch, guitarist, composer and recording artist; faculty member at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville

Our recent music department grads further their studies in top programs at institutions including: 

• Arizona State University
• Boston Conservatory of Music
• Eastman School of Music
• Indiana University
• Louisiana State University
• New York University's Tisch School of the Arts
• North Carolina School of the Arts
• Peabody Conservatory
• University of Washington

Opportunities outside the classroom

• Perform and develop lifelong friendships in one (or more!) of Whitworth's more than 20 vocal and instrumental ensembles. Music scholarships are available.
• Enter composition competitions. Each fall, composition students may submit an original composition for possible inclusion in the Whitworth Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition. Many student composers also submit their work to external competitions, including the Opus 7 Undergraduate Choral Composition Competition, which two Whitworth student composers have won in recent years.

Pack your bags!

Music students who are involved in our major ensembles (wind symphony, jazz ensemble I, choir and symphony orchestra) perform regionally, nationally and internationally. Recent locales include Italy, Thailand, Costa Rica, Spain, New York City and Norway.

Music students can also participate in Jan Term international study programs, including:

• Power & Politics of Art: Rome, Florence, Vienna and Berlin
• The Arts in Christian Worship: Geneva, Paris, London, Rome and Florence

What related majors can I explore?

• Interdisciplinary Computer Science
• English
• Business Management
• Theology