Whether you’re a turntablist, rapper, beatboxer, or producer, you thrive on making music that engages a crowd and excites people. And the Peabody Conservatory’s undergraduate degree program in Hip Hop can help you take your skills to the next level.
The Bachelor of Music in Hip Hop combines the resources and strengths of Peabody’s industry leading Music Engineering and Technology programs with the Conservatory’s long history of excellence in performance training. The department is headed by award-winning composer, producer, beatmaker, pianist, and professor Wendel Patrick.
Following the one-on-one studio model of a traditional conservatory education, you will develop your skills in lessons with a private instructor—turntable majors will study with a world-class turntablist; Rap majors with a chart-topping emcee. And you’ll get to perform, with and for your colleagues, in an environment that encourages experimentation and authenticity.
Of course, Hip Hop exists in a context, so in addition to your private lessons, you’ll learn about the cultural history and sociopolitical environment in which Hip Hop was born; developments in style, technique, and technology; and the genre’s rise in popularity and influence.
You’ll also take courses in Peabody’s unique Breakthrough Curriculum, designed to develop the business and career skills you’ll need in the real world. And leveraging our affiliation with Johns Hopkins, you’ll have opportunities to share your ideas and collaborate across disciplines with artists, engineers, and innovators at one of the world’s leading universities.
Additional faculty to be announced
Equally at home performing on stage with his band, behind two turntables, beatboxing, improvising, or playing a Mozart Concerto with orchestra, Wendel Patrick has been referred to as “David Foster Wallace reincarnated as a sound engineer” and as “wildly talented.” XLR8R magazine called him “a hip-hop producer that could easily make any fan of Squarepusher, Boards of Canada, or Madlib flip out.”
Computer Music is offered as a four-year, undergraduate degree program that combines music and technology with a strong focus on composing both traditional and experimental music. Students work with the latest digital synthesis hardware and software and learn through private and classroom instruction to develop composition techniques which take advantage of the unique capabilities of electronic and digital music technology. Studies include computer composition, computer performance and improvisation, and multimedia studies (including audio, video, dance, and graphics with music). Students have the opportunity to earn a Master of Music degree in Computer Music with one additional year of study by applying to the five-year BM/MM program.
Offered as four-year Bachelor of Music and two-year Master of Music degrees, students in Music for New Media: Film and Game Scoring study the art and craft of composing music for film, TV, games, and other media. Through additional coursework in game audio implementation, mixing, sound design, music theory, instrumentation/orchestration, keyboard studies, MfN students will be prepared for a career as a media composer in addition to numerous related fields in the industry. Compositions for traditional instruments are scored through software emulation and virtual Instruments, with many opportunities to record and mix music in Peabody's world-class professional recording studios and have their music performed by the Peabody Symphony Orchestra.