The music program has graduated many award-winning composers. With its strong emphasis on self-direction and expression along with comprehensive skills in acoustic and electroacoustic music, graduates are working as composers, performers, and teachers, as well as in music/sound software development, post-production sound in film and video, sound design for theatre and dance performance, and audio production in various related industries.

“The music program at SFU is highly diversified. You can write music to stand on its own, or combine it with dance, theatre, and visual art. This interdisciplinary artistic practice is an all-encompassing experience that allowed me to grow and develop as a composer within the artistic community.”

Christa Lynn (BFA Music, 2000)

“I found the School for the Contemporary Arts at SFU offered outstanding education for a mature student. I was allowed to bring my experience as a professional jazz musician to bear and began working immediately at a level that worked for me as an individual. The focus on multi-disciplinary activity has given me an invaluable ability as a composer to communicate well with artists of other disciplines.”

Bill Clarke (BFA Music, 1997)
MUSIC

The Music program at the School for the Contemporary Arts is renowned for its innovative and experimental approach to music study through its focus on composition. A full range of acoustic and electroacoustic composition courses form the foundation of the program, augmented with courses in theory, history and criticism, world music, gamelan, and performance. The goal of the program is to graduate a community of composers with integrated skills who are able to adapt creatively to the 21 st Century musical environment.

A student in Contemporary Arts benefits from being part of one of Canada’s outstanding universities. Simon Fraser University is noted for its spirit of innovation, its sense of exploration, and its bold educational initiatives. The School for the Contemporary Arts is nationally and internationally recognized for exemplifying these attributes and for its unique interdisciplinary approach to artistic study and practice. The philosophy of the School emphasizes that the thinking and doing of art cannot be separated.

The School offers two options in Music:

Major in Music (BFA)
Extended minor in Music

To graduate with a BFA, major in Music, students must complete 76 credit hours for the major itself, plus the 30 credit Faculty of Arts Breadth requirement for the total of 120 credits required for the degree.

(Please refer to SFU Calendar for full details.)

An extended minor in Music requires a minimum of 44 credit hours in music and related areas in Contemporary Arts.

The curriculum includes:

20th century music
Music composition and theory
Electroacoustic music
Contemporary music performance
World music
Gamelan
Contemporary music analysis


The interdisciplinary nature of the School offers music students unique opportunities for collaboration with artists in dance, theatre, film, video, and visual art. A series of composition workshops featuring readings of student music by professional musicians is an anticipated event of every semester. Studios for electroacoustic composition and workstations with music notation software offer outstanding technical support for emerging composers. Courses in Javanese gamelan taught by master musicians from Java as well as courses in art and culture studies and world music offer an expanded musical perspective for students at SFU.

Each semester features a number of student music concerts, including the Professional Ensemble Show, HouseBand student ensemble, Electroacoustic Evenings, and the Gamelan performance, as well as opportunities to participate in interdisciplinary activities throughout the School, including the Black Box Theatre, Off-Centre Performance Company, and the student dance shows.