Degree and Certificate Programs
Explore our various undergraduate degree and certificate programs below.
Jump to How to Apply or Audition Information
The Bachelor of Arts, Drama is a 4-year Honours degree (BAH) or a 3-year General degree (BA). This degree integrates a variety of performance- and production-based learning with scholarship around theatre making and its role in society across cultures and over time.
As a student in this program, you will balance your study of Drama with other disciplines in the Arts or Sciences. You can also choose to pursue a Concurrent Education degree along with the Honours degree in Drama or work towards a Certificate in Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Creativity (QEIC-ENIN).
The DAN School offers two Music degree options: a Bachelor of Music or a Bachelor of Arts in Music. Both degree plans can be taken as part of the Concurrent Education program at Queen’s Faculty of Education. Students can also pursue a Certificate in Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Creativity (QEIC-ENIN) along with each of these degree programs.
Bachelor of Music (BMus Classical, Contemporary Instrumental and Vocal Genres, or Sonic Arts & Music Production)
The Bachelor of Music is a Specialist degree. Students apply to be in one of our three streams: Classical, Contemporary Instrumental and Vocal Genres, or the Sonic Arts & Music Production Stream. As a student in the Bachelor of Music specialization program, approximately two-thirds of your courses will be in Music.
All Bachelor of Music students will take common courses in Music Production, Music History and Cultures, Entrepreneurship, and Education. Students will then take other courses within their respective sub-plans. Within each sub-plan, students will take performance and creation, music history, music theory, ear training, and ensemble courses related to their areas of specialization. During their degree, students can take courses from other sub-streams and/or additional courses from the list above, or courses in entrepreneurship. We encourage students to both explore new interests and build their skill sets in their Major stream to prepare themselves for careers as professional musicians who could perform, create, teach, produce, work in libraries or museums, work in arts leadership or government, or pursue graduate studies.
Bachelor of Arts, Music (BA)
Our Bachelor of Arts, Music is a 4-year Honours degree or a 3-year General degree. This degree program is ideal for students interested in music but looking for a flexible degree program to balance their study of music with another discipline.
As a student in this program, you will have the opportunity to study a variety of music genres, learn to play a range of instruments, or explore the sonic arts, including recording and production. Choose from courses that investigate various issues in music, music education and pedagogy courses, as well as courses in entrepreneurship. You can audition to be part of any music ensemble or our Major Theatrical Production.
You can audition to receive private singing or instrumental lessons for credit (MUSC 124, 224, 324, or 424). Registering for private lessons (MUSC x24) for credit includes an additional fee ($1,600 in 2022-23).
Our Music Theatre program provides students with rich opportunities to delve into the critical study of music theatre as a liberal arts subject, along with intense practical training in the three core disciplines of acting, singing, and dancing.
This program begins with a two-year set curriculum at St. Lawrence College in which you will experience industry-focused training through personalized instruction and coaching, group creative work, and basic music literacy. The program culminates in two years of study at Queen’s DAN School, during which you will build on these core competencies by expanding your knowledge in various specialty areas, such as performance, creation, production, education, or research.
At the DAN School, students can earn a Bachelor of Arts degree with a Double Honours in Drama and Music. Through the Joint Honours program, you will develop a variety of artistic skills in both Drama and Music while also exploring the ways that you can integrate Drama and Music in performance, creation, or scholarship.
Like our other programs, as a student pursuing a Joint Honours in Drama and Music you will have the opportunity to develop your entrepreneurial skills as you increase your cultural understanding and deepen your creativity, communication, entrepreneurship, leadership, collaboration, and thinking abilities. You will also be able to pursue internship or practical opportunities that are offered at the DAN School or participate in various workshops, lectures, or masterclasses.
Students can audition to be a part of one of our musical ensembles or audition to be a part of our Major Theatrical Productions. You can audition to be part of any music ensemble or our Major Theatrical Production through audition and permission of the Department in the fall. You can audition to receive private singing or instrumental lessons for credit. Registering for private lessons for credit includes an additional fee ($1,600 in 2022-23)
The Bachelor of Arts in Media and Performance Production (MAPP) is a 4-year Honours degree. In this specialization program, students focus on Drama or Music along with Media Production.
As a student in this program, you will explore the creation and transmission of diverse art projects and the role of new digital technologies in preparing and presenting that work. The Media and Performance Production courses encompass a wider range of embodied action and dramatic storytelling, such as creating interactive stories using augmented or virtual reality along with live or recorded music or theatre, which you complement with other courses in Drama, Music, or Music Theatre.
You can also pursue a Concurrent Education degree or a Certificate in Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Creativity (QEIC-ENIN) along with the Bachelor of Arts in Media and Performance Production (MAPP).
Queen’s University offers Computing and the Creative Arts (CoCA), an innovative 4-year Honours degree program that is grounded in Computing with a specialization in Music or Drama.
Visit Queen’s Computing for details about this unique, interdisciplinary Computing and the Creative Arts program.
The DAN School offers a variety of courses in Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Creativity. These courses help students develop fundamental knowledge and skills in developing and establishing ideas that they can use to establish their own business or use in an employee situation.
You can take any of these courses in your undergraduate degree in Drama, Music, Media and Performance Production, or Computing and the Creative Arts. You can also pursue a Certificate in Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Creativity (QEIC-ENIN) while you are earning your undergraduate degree.
Within your degree, you will have mandatory (required and optional) and elective course requirements. The online calendar contains a list of all the degree program requirements (e.g., types of required courses) as well as a complete list of courses. You will also find courses and degree programs offered at other departments in the Faculty of Arts and Science.
My undergrad experience at Queen’s was formative, inspiring, and beyond valuable to me both personally and professionally. Having the ability to immerse myself in courses from both the Film & Media and Drama programs helped shape my understanding of storytelling and my voice as a creator, which continues to influence my career as a filmmaker every day.
Naseem Loloie
BAH 2014, MAPP Alumni
All students must submit applications through the Ontario University Application Centre (OUAC).
Students in the Bachelor of Arts program will be assessed based on their high school transcripts. Applicants to the Bachelor of Music or Bachelor of Music Theatre programs will additionally complete an audition. Information on the audition process can be found below.
Audition Information
Audition requirements for the Bachelor Music: Contemporary Vocal and Instrumental Genres, and the Bachelor of Music: Sonic Arts & Digital Production will be available here.
To audition for the Bachelor of Music program, you must prepare a 15-minute program of two or three works of contrasting styles/periods that you will perform at an in-person or recorded audition. Some instruments may also require you to perform some technical patterns (e.g., scales or arpeggios) and may also ask you to sight-read (or play a brand-new piece).
Through your audition, you will need to demonstrate your abilities on one primary instrument. We will be assessing your technical and musical abilities as well as your ability to interpret different types of pieces or songs.
Audition Requirements by Instrument
Booking your Audition
Audition dates for the 2024/2025 academic year will be announced in the Fall.
Music Theory Placement Test
We know that students of different musical interests and backgrounds will come into our program with different levels of music theory knowledge: some might be quite fluent in concepts such as key, chords, and rhythms while others might be relatively new to working with musical notation. We have considered the required music notation background in each of the music plans. Auditioning students will be asked to complete an online music theory placement test. This test does not impact a student’s acceptance into the program, but does allow us to place you in the best first-year theory course for your skillset. Students who accept entry into the program will also be provided with study materials to build on their skillset prior to entry into the program in September. Our theory placement test can be completed online at any point after your audition is confirmed. Instructions for submitting your theory test will be distributed once the DAN School has received your application.
Our Music Theory Placement Test includes:
• Key Signatures identification for (major and minor)
• Interval Identification (perfect, major, minor, diminished and augmented in all clefs)
• Writing Intervals (choosing what note would create the given interval)
• Triad Identification (major, minor, diminished and augmented)
• Chord Identification (major, minor, diminished, augmented, dominant seventh, diminished seventh)
• Chord Inversion Identification (root position, first inversion, second inversion, third inversion)
• Scale Identification (any scale from any scale degree – i.e. a C melodic minor scale from submediant to submediant)
• Time Signature Identification (you will be given a bar of rhythm and choose which time signature is correct)
This stream is for musicians with an interest in performing in any contemporary genre, such as musical theatre, jazz, pop, rock, or country/folk, among others. You may be a singer/songwriter, musical theatre singer or pit musician, rock/pop musician, or a multi-genre musician.
We want you to show us whatever represents your experience and ability best. Click on the button to learn more about the audition requirements. This audition has 2 components: repertoire and technique. The repertoire guidelines are meant to provide some choice and structure to help you showcase the breadth of your artistic abilities. We have provided some choice in your repertoire selection, since we know that people learn and perform music using different tools and approaches. The technical component is meant to assess your vocal or instrumental facility.
If you have questions about the audition requirements, please email programs.danschool@queensu.ca.
Audition Requirements by Instrument
Booking your Audition
Audition dates for the 2024/2025 academic year will be announced in the Fall.
This stream is for students interested in sound design, music-based performance art, and/or digital music creation, production, recording, and composition across all genres (including beat–, sample–, and loop–based music) . These requirements are meant to help you showcase your artistic ideas and technical abilities with various digital tools. While some students applying to this stream may play a standard instrument, we expect that some applicants may not play a traditional acoustic instrument and will instead use a computer as their primary means of creating sound.
Please prepare the following for your application:
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Three works of your choosing that show off your creative ability. These may be performances or compositions (or a combination of both). These may be live-performed, submitted as a recording, or submitted in a common file format (e.g., MusicXML, .mp3, YouTube link, etc.). We may contact you during the admission process for another format or more documentation if we want to see more detail about your creative process.
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A personal statement that details your inspiration and creation process for each piece, as well as your desired learning structure at Queen’s (i.e. what instrument(s) and genre(s) you are most proficient in as well as other areas you would like to learn). An online form will be provided for this component which you will fill in before your audition.
Booking your Audition
Audition dates for the 2024/2025 academic year will be announced in the Fall.
The Bachelor of Music Theatre is a joint program with St. Lawrence College, and auditions are conducted by St. Lawrence College. You can audition in person at St. Lawrence College, on Zoom, or via electronic submission. The Bachelor of Music Theatre audition requires you to demonstrate your singing, dancing, and acting abilities.
Audition Requirements: The specific audition requirements, as well as information about in-person audition dates, Zoom auditions, and electronic submission procedures, are outlined on the St. Lawrence College website.