Stand Out.

Why choose the BGSU College of Musical Arts?

In the College of Musical Arts, opportunity is everywhere. Take advantage of it or create your own experience. Our faculty dedicate their time to creating a nurturing learning environment for students. We connect with our campus and broader community through performance, education, and scholarly research to make an impact. Our network of alumni working in the music profession spreads far and wide through the Midwest and beyond. Partnerships with regional schools, the Toledo Symphony Orchestra, the Toledo Opera, the Toledo Museum of Art, WGTE Public Media, the Marathon Center for the Performing Arts, the Detroit Symphony, and more, offer students the chance to get hands-on experience from the moment they begin their degree, and networking and job opportunities upon graduating.

Learn more about our unique opportunities for music majors at BGSU below. We would love to connect with you to talk further about how this could be the right fit for your future. Reach us today at musicadmissions@bgsu.edu.

  • Bravo Music Awards: These competitive music scholarships are awarded to incoming undergraduate students based on their audition. Approximately 40-45% of the students accepted into the College of Musical Arts will receive a Bravo Music Award. Awards start at $1,000 per academic year and are renewable for three additional years, as long as students fulfill the scholarship contract obligations (take music lessons, play in major ensemble, carry 3.0 cumulative GPA). All students are considered for these scholarships when they audition.
  • Privately funded scholarships for music students: In addition to talent awards, the CMA also offers approximately 60 different scholarship opportunities available to both prospective and current music students. These funds are made available through generous donations. Students must apply for these awards through the online portal Academic Works. The CMA faculty and Scholarship Committee determines recipients of these scholarships each year.
  • The Hansen Music Fellowship: The Hansen Fellowship Program provides funding to selected undergraduate students for musical experiences vital to students’ long-term advancement. From travel, to music summer training programs, to  recording and performance opportunities, Hansen Fellows will be uniquely and more impressively prepared for their musical careers. There is no other program like this throughout the country. Hansen Fellows are given extraordinary opportunities for professional development that are more typical for master's and doctoral study.
  • Pro Musica Grants and Scholarships: The Pro Musica organization provides $30,000+ in grants annually for music students to participate/attend creative activities or scholarly endeavors, and provides an annual scholarship for an undergraduate and graduate student. Alumni, friends, parents, and the Bowling Green community participate in a wide variety of musical events and provide financial support for music students through Pro Musica.
  • Detroit Symphony Orchestra Civic Youth Ensembles Teaching Artist Mentor Program: The BGSU College of Musical Arts partners with the DSO through the Teaching Artist Mentor Program, providing opportunities for select BGSU students to serve as performers and teaching artists for the Civic Youth Ensembles. These paid, contracted positions, offer significant  opportunities for CMA students to engage with some of the finest high school musicians in the region through side-by-side performances and sectional rehearsals. Additionally, CMA students have opportunities to work closely with the DSO artistic and administrative staff, and DSO musicians.
  • The annual Toledo Symphony Orchestra Readings at Bowling Green State University are a unique opportunity for students to hear their work read by a professional orchestra. A new graduate student in composition each year is selected for the Toledo Symphony Orchestra scholarship, which provides, in addition to an assistantship, a $10,000 stipend over two years and a guaranteed spot in the reading session in their second year.
  • Approximately 40 graduate assistantships become available for master’s candidates each year. All students are also considered for partial to full tuition scholarships, which may be awarded in lieu of assistantship awards. Additionally, all students admitted into the Doctor of Musical Arts in Contemporary Music program are awarded an assistantship.

  • Cooperative School Field Program: The music education undergraduate program, among the largest in the nation, provides a highly sophisticated cooperative field component beginning in the sophomore year and concluding with student teaching.
  • MidAmerican Center for Contemporary Music: The college and its faculty have established a national leadership role in the development and presentation of new music. Part of the New Music from Bowling Green initiative is a radio series devoted to living composers and their works. Produced by WGTE Public Media and hosted by Brad Cresswell, Living American Composers: New Music from Bowling Green draws primarily on live concert recordings from the BGSU New Music Festival and Music at the Forefront concert series, as well as commercial recordings featuring the Bowling Green Philharmonia and the BGSU Wind Symphony.
  • Student Competitions: The College of Musical Arts offers several annual competitions for music students, including a concerto competition, chamber music competition and art song competition, that offer cash prizes and performance  opportunities for the winners.
  • Music Plus: This innovative outreach project provides musical and academic enhancement for Toledo inner-city public school students. Music education majors in the college participate as mentors.
  • Music Technology and Recording Studios: These state-of-the-art facilities incorporate sound generation computer  applications to music and video presentations and enable the college to offer one of the few recording technology minors in the state.
  • BGSU Academy Bands: The Academy Band program is an extra-curricular performance opportunity for high school and middle school students in northwest Ohio, which includes full group rehearsals, sectional instruction, and elements of comprehensive musicianship, culminating in a performance in BGSU's Kobacker Hall. Students meet weekly at the College of Musical Arts, and all rehearsals, sectionals, and activities are led by music education faculty, graduate students, and undergraduate students.
  • Music Community: The oldest special interest housing at BGSU is home to 75 undergraduate music majors and non-majors who are interested in music. Directly across the street from the Moore Musical Arts Center, it is a popular housing option.
  • Arts Village: Students with an interest in music, art, theatre, dance and creative writing have a new opportunity to live and learn together in the Arts Village learning community.

A major cultural resource in northwest Ohio, the College of Musical Arts annually sponsors over 600 musical events, all open to the public. Series events include:

  • Hansen Musical Arts Series: The Dorothy E. and DuWayne H. Hansen Musical Arts Series Fund was established in 1996 to bring to the campus and the Bowling Green community significant representatives of the musical arts to share their talents. The college hosts annual residencies with major artists, providing performances, master classes, and engagement opportunities for our students and community.
  • Helen McMaster Endowed Professorship in Vocal and Choral Studies: Helen and the late Harold McMaster established this endowed professorship in spring 2000. The college presents an annual residency with a major choral ensemble or artist within the vocal/operatic field that includes a performance and engagement activities with the college and community.
  • New Music Festival: Features performances of new music and multimedia compositions, visual arts presentations, lectures, seminars and related sessions.
  • Orchard Guitar Festival: The annual Orchard Guitar Festival features two days of performances by soloists and ensembles, highlighting the virtuosity of the guitar. Made possible through the generous support of BGSU alumni Tom '75 and Martha '73 Orchard, recent guests have included Pat Martino, John Scofield and Mike Stern.
  • Choral and Instrumental Ensembles: Five bands (Falcon Marching Band, Wind Symphony, Concert Band, University Band and Athletic Band); two Jazz Lab Bands; an orchestra (the Bowling Green Philharmonia); five choral groups (Collegiate Chorale, A Cappella Choir, University Men’s Chorus, University Women’s Chorus and University Choral Society); more than 20 instrumental and vocal chamber music ensembles; about 700 student participants in all groups.
  • Faculty Artist/Scholar Series: Weekly performances and lectures by BGSU music faculty.

By the numbers


310

Undergraduate Majors

160

Graduate Majors

100%

Job Placement of 2017 and 2018 Music Education Graduates

600+

Performance Opportunities Each Year

48%

Music Majors Receiving a Talent-Based Scholarship

$30,000+

Annual Pro Musica Grants to Fund Music Student Travel and Development

830

Seats in Kobacker Hall

230

Seats in Bryan Recital Hall

Updated: 08/01/2023 06:13PM