Music Program, Associate's degree

The Community College of Rhode Island Music Program provides affordable access to an associate’s degree with a concentration in classical or jazz studies. Through excellent teaching, quality course offerings, and ongoing transfer agreements with many schools, we offer music students the opportunity to acquire the knowledge and skills necessary for effective transfer to a four-year music degree program. In addition, the CCRI Music Program offers a broad array of courses to complement a well-rounded liberal arts education by nurturing the creative potential and inspiring love for the creative process in students and community members alike.

Upon completion of the A.F.A. degree with either a Music or Jazz concentration, program participants will be able to exhibit the accomplishment of the following:

Perform with fourth-semester collegiate ability on a principal instrument or voice, demonstrating readiness for a transfer audition at the end of the fourth semester.

Exhibit ensemble score-reading skills, counting, listening, following a director, and collaborating with other players.

Exhibit analytical melodic and harmonic skills, including 13th chords, foreign modulations, 12-tone series (Music only), and basic forms (Music and Jazz concentrations).

Exhibit computer capability in skill-building, notation, and other music software programs. Be able to conduct discerning Internet searches and research on music topics.

Mastery of basic piano skills required for proficiency exams after transfer.

All students will show mastery of rhythms and meters.

Have a cohesive overview and understanding of the history of Western classical music from the Middle Ages through the contemporary period or the same for the History of Jazz plus Western classical music after 1750 for Jazz concentration.

Mastery of basic skills in music composition.