Department of Music
Park Street Music and Art
Complex 793 Park Street, S.W.
Telephone: (404) 880-8211

Dr. Michael Decuir
(Interim Chair)
mdecuir@cau.edu

The mission of the Department of Music is to provide the highest quality of Liberal Arts training for students with the primary objective of developing highest artistic expression in the areas of performance and creativity.

We have a vision of the Department of Music as a training center for music professionals seeking opportunities to serve as music educators, performers, composers, and producers nationally and internationally. The program of study by the department of music at Clark Atlanta University is designed to prepare the student of music both for various careers in music and for post-baccalaureate study.

The music major’s professional preparation includes a judicious mixture of the following: music theory; music history and literature; individual music performance; performance in ensembles; and special skills that include basic piano, conducting, practical applications of and exposure to technology and/or methodologies, skill sets, and in-depth knowledge relevant to the various concentrations. Additional opportunities for participation in our performing ensembles are also available to the general student population. Large ensembles include The University Concert Choir, Concert and Marching Bands, Jazz Orchestra, Opera Workshop, and The Atlanta University Centerwide Orchestra. Smaller non-credit performing ensembles are organized through the department’s Performance Seminar courses. Membership in the ensembles is by audition.

The Bachelor of Arts in Music is a Liberal Arts Degree that offers great flexibility. The degree enables the student to forge a program of study tailored to his/her interests and aspirations. Further expanding these options, the department offers concentrations in the areas of vocal studies, piano studies, jazz studies, commercial composition, and church music. The music program is designed to prepare well rounded professionals in each of these areas through a course of study in which the theoretical and the scholarly are balanced with the practical. Students of music pursue a course of study that includes a judicious mixture of music theory, music history, individual music performance, and performance in ensembles while emphasizing practical applications and exposure to the technology and/or methodology relevant to the various concentrations. For musically talented students pursuing other disciplines, the Department also offers a minor in each concentration.