As a liaison between students, the Department of Music, and Enrollment Services, the Academic Advisors can assist with:  

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Frequently Asked Questions

• Q: I am a new student. How do I get started and what steps should I take?

  A: See the New Student Checklist and set up a meeting with your academic advisor.

• Q: Does UAA require an audition for admissions?

  A: UAA is an open enrollment institution, for that reason we do not require an audition as part of the admissions process. However, students must audition for placement into private lessons. Students can either sign up for one of the Music Department’s Audition Days, or can set up an individual appointment with a faculty member to audition. See the Auditions & Placement web page.

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• Q: What is the difference between a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Music and a Bachelor of Music (BM) in Music?

  A: A Bachelor of Arts (BA) is a liberal arts degree. The term liberal arts come from the Latin artes liberals – meaning the artes (i.e. general skills) that a liberals (i.e. free person) would need in order to be a contributing member to society. In other words, the BA in Music is a broader and more flexible degree program that allows students to focus their education on music, while still instilling a wide range of universal skills. These skills will help students to become life-long learners with a more widespread spectrum in terms of career paths.

  A Bachelor of Music (BM) is a professional/technical degree. In the pursuit of professional/technical degrees, students focus on honing a more specific set of specialized skills. In other words the BM in Music allows students focus on the development of skills, concepts and sensitivities essential for success as a performing musician, or, students work towards a four-year degree that provides initial training for a career in teaching music.

• Q: How do I find the requirements for my program?

   A: The Catalog is a student’s official educational agreement with the university. It lines out exactly what requirements must be met in order for a student to earn their degree. These same requirements can be found in a student’s DegreeWorks audit (available through UA Online). DegreeWorks tracks students’ progress toward degree completion by showing them what requirements they have completed and the requirements they still have remaining.

• Q: How do I know what classes I should be taking and when?

  A: Set up an appointment to meet with your academic adviser. Students should be checking in with their academic adviser and faculty adviser at least once a semester to make sure they are staying on track.  

• Q: What is the difference between an academic advisor and a faculty advisor?

   A: An academic advisor provides academic assistance to students. They help you to register for classes, monitor your academics, navigate your way through the university system, stay on track for graduation, etc.

  A faculty advisor is more of a mentor. They are a professor here at UAA who will help to evaluate a student’s skills within their field of study, suggest courses/opportunities that will help a student grow within his/her major, and provide feedback on growth.

• Q: How do I register for classes?

  A: Follow the directions outlined for using the Student Schedule Planner (PDF) &/or watch the Schedule Planner video tutorial for information on how to register using the Schedule Planner. (Allows a student to register for all classes at once, and shows where to find further/more detailed video tutorials.) Or, follow the directions for Step-by-Step Online Registration (PDF). (Allows students to register on a class-by-class basis). These, and further directions, can be found under the “How to Register” section of the Registration Guide.

• Q: The class I need is full, how do I use/get on the waitlist?

  A: There is detailed information on using the waitlists in the Registration Guide. Click on the How to Register button, scroll to the “Waitlisting” heading, and then click “Waitlisting Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)” button for directions.

• Q: When I try to register of a class I get an error message, what does it mean?

   A: There is a list of error message a student may come across, as well as their meanings, in the Registration Guide. Click on the How to Register button, scroll to the “Step-by-Step Registration” heading, and click on the “Common Registration Error Messages” button.

   

• Q: Private lessons courses, how do I know which I should be taking, and how do I get instructor approval in order to register?

   A: Here in the UAA Music Department we offer three types of lessons: (1) juried, (2) non-juried for music majors, and (3) non-juried for non-music majors. All types of lessons require department approval before a student is permitted to register. There are special forms that the Music Faculty must fill out before a student may register for lessons. The following should help determine in which type of lessons a student is interested:

  	Juried	Non-Juried for Music Majors	Non-Juried for NON-Music Majors
  Course Numbers	MUS ending in 61 or 62 (i.e. MUS A161)	MUS ending in 63 (i.e. MUS A163)	MUS ending in 64 (i.e. MUS A164)
  Purpose of Course	For Music majors who are ready to perform	For Music majors who are not ready to perform	For NON-Music majors who would like lessons
  Applies toward Music Degree Requirements	Yes	No	No
  Audition Required	Yes	Yes*	No
  Recital attendance & Tech. hours required	Yes (6 recitals & 4 hours of tech for freshmen)	No	No
  Instructor Approval Form Required	Private Lessons Form	Non-Juried Private Lessons Form	Non-Juried Private Lessons Form

  *When a student auditions for juried lessons and the faculty member determines that the student’s skills are not quite up to performing the student will be instructed to register for MUS courses ending in “63.”

  If the student wishes to take lessons at the non-juried, non-major level that does not require an audition. If a student wishes to take lessons at the juried level that would require an audition, which means (s)he would perform two selections from his/her repertoire. That could be done in an office visit, or, by signing up for one of our audition days. See the Auditions & Placement web page.

  Once the appropriate online lessons form has been completed and processed the student will receive an e-mail indicating that they can now register.

•  Q: How much is tuition and fees?
   A: See the Costs: Tuition & Fees web page. 
• Q: How do I know what books I will need?

   A: After you have registered for classes follow these directions: Login to UA Online > Student Services & Account Information > Registration > Register/Add/Drop Classes, scroll to the bottom of the screen and click the “Get Books” button.

  Or Go to the Textbooks section of the Campus Bookstore’s web page and click on the “Find your Textbooks” button.

• Q: When I transferred to UAA many of my Music courses transferred in as electives. Is there any way I can get those to count toward specific requirements for my major?

  A: Students can request that UAA consider allowing the use one (or more) of their transfer courses to meet the intent of a specific requirement (or more) here at UAA via an Academic Petition (which can be found on the Registrar’s Forms web page under the “Degree Services” heading). Please meet with your academic adviser to discuss potential petitions.

• Q: How do I know if I am ready to graduate?
   A: Students should meet with their academic adviser to verify that they are ready to apply to graduate.
• Q: When and how do I apply to graduate?
   A: The graduation application deadlines are found on the Registrar’s Dates & Deadlines web page.

  The directions on how to apply to graduate can be found on the Degree Services web page.

  Should students wish to participate in the commencement ceremony they will need to acquaint themselves with the Commencement web page and RSVP to the ceremony.

Faculty Advisors

Faculty Advisors are permanent full-time faculty members well versed in degree requirements who act as your point of contact within the department on academic issues. 

Unable to Contact Your Academic Advisor?

If  you are unable to make contact with the Academic Advisor for the Fine and Performing Arts, you may try contacting the Academic Advisor for the Humanities. To see a list of the other College of Arts and Sciences Advisors (and the subject areas for which they advise) please visit the College of Arts and Sciences Advising webpage.