Enhance Your Education

Distinctive Programs in Music

There are ample opportunities to enhance your studies in music through student research opportunities, College Honors, capstones, performance opportunities, off-campus study, and internships. These programs are integral to a Knox education, teaching you how to apply your skills in real world situations.

Student Research Opportunities and Creative Projects
Knox is a leader in promoting top-notch undergraduate research. In fact, more than 90% of all Knox students complete an independent research or creative project by the time they graduate. Many students' projects are supported by an unusually rich array of Knox College funding programs that together provide students more than $200,000 each year in support of their work. These sources include: Richter Memorial Scholars Program, Ford Foundation Research Fellows Program, Ronald E. McNair Fellows Program and departmentally supported independent studies. In addition, special fellowships awarded to Knox through national competitions and through the research grants of Knox faculty make Knox a leader in promoting top-notch undergraduate research.

College Honors
Outstanding students may elect to undertake College Honors in their senior year, carrying out an advanced research project presented and defended to a faculty committee that includes a distinguished outside examiner. Examples of recent Honors projects include:

Music Composition: "Mass for Six Unaccompanied Voices," Edward Frazier Davis '12.
Ethnomusicology: "Territory and Exchange: Hearing Locality in the Music of Ernest Dawkins," William Thomas Faber Jr., '07.
Orchestration of Sergei Prokofiev's "'Devilish Inspiration' Op. 4/4," John Eisemann, '10.
"A Performance Study of J.S. Bach's Sixth Suite for Unaccompanied Cello, BWV 1012 Prelude, Allemande, Courante," Emmie Barford, '05.
"Aesop's Animals: A Musical Pageant," Douglas Falk, '04.
Multimedia (English, Japanese, Art, Music, Theatre): "Between Creation and Translation: Concept to Story, English to Japanese, Story to Animation," Jasmine Jobe, '04.
Theatre and Music: "The Design and Staging of an Adapted Work," Mary Morales, '02.

Performance Opportunities
Knox offers many informal performances -- from concerts arranged by the campus radio station to impromptu jam sessions -- as well as the programs, listed with the curriculum, that are directed by faculty and carry academic credit. (Photo, right; Doug Smith wrote and performed in "The Ghost of Glastonbury," a murder-mystery, musical comedy presented by the Choir.) Performance opportunities include:

Off-Campus Study
For students interested in music, an off-campus program can provide exceptional experience and insight. Knox offers more than two dozen off-campus study programs. In the past five years, students in Music have studied in Chicago, Scotland, France, Italy, England, Russia, Mali, and China.

Internships
As a music student at Knox, you'll have the opportunity to expand your education -- to get that valuable experience you hear so much about -- by completing an internship. Internships provide an opportunity to explore and test career options, to gain experiences and skills needed to succeed as a professional, to build a resume, to network and make critical connections, and to experience a work environment. More and more employers are looking for college graduates with career-related experience. Knox's Center for Career and Pre-Professional Development specializes in helping you find an internship that best matches your goals and interests. Recent internships by music students include:

Spanish & French Translator, The Colman Group, Elkhorn, Wisconsin. Kathleen Harty '05, music major.
Post-Bac, Knox College, Galesburg, Illinois. Hannah Sherry '05, political science and music major.