Commercial Music!

Today BYU's Media Music department made a fantastic announcement!  My major, Jazz Studies, Sound Recording Technology, and Media Music are all being combined into the Commercial Music major in Fall 2013!

The Commercial Music degree will make it easier for Jazz Studies, Sound Recording, and Media Music majors to take classes that are tailored for their chosen music careers.  Ironically, the courses I took included all of my Jazz Studies classes and as many Media Music and Sound Recording classes as I possibly could.

FYI: Commercial Music is any kind of music that is "commercially" viable.  It includes film scoring, songwriting, Broadway, orchestration, arranging, recording (engineering), mixing and mastering, library music, producing, etc.  Basically any music that generates revenue in a non-gigging or teaching way qualifies as commercial music.

Since I'm graduating before the change takes effect, my degree will still be in Jazz Studies.  But I'm very excited that other students will have their programs designed to broaden and increase their marketable music skills.  Current students can opt out of the new program by finishing their degrees in their original major.

I would not have a co-writer if I had not intently looked for classes that music students outside my jazz studies major were taking for their majors.  Hurray for cross-disciplinary learning and merging of three programs into one!  Here's a song, "The Moment," I co-wrote with Justin Jensen, a Sound Recording Technology graduate, who I met in a Media Music class!