The diploma is given upon completion of a minimum of seventy-four semester hours (s.h.), as outlined below. A minimum two-year residency is required.

GENERAL REQUIREMENTS
Performance 36 s.h.
Major lesson 24 s.h.
Additional departmental requirements (listed below) 12 s.h.

Musical Studies 38 s.h.
Fundamentals 2 s.h.
Harmony I, II 8 s.h.
Counterpoint I, II 4 s.h.
Form 2 s.h.
Keyboard Harmony 2 s.h.
Solfège I, II 8 s.h.
Music History I, II 10 s.h.
(Some majors require additional performance and musical studies courses: See Additional Departmental Requirements below.)

Career Studies 2 s.h.
Foudations of Engagement 1 s.h.
The Twenty-First-Century Musician 1 s.h.

Liberal Arts
No specific requirements

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ADDITIONAL DEPARTMENTAL REQUIREMENTS
Composition Majors
Performance
• Chamber Chorus
• Composition Seminar
• Supplementary Piano
Musical Studies
• Applied Orchestration I, II
• Score-Reading

Conducting Majors
Performance
• Chamber Chorus
• Lab Orchestra
• Score Analysis
• Supplementary Piano
Musical Studies
• Analysis of Orchestration
• Score-Reading
Career Studies
• Conductors' Forum

Keyboard Instrument Majors
Performance
Piano majors
• Chamber Chorus
• Chamber Music
• Piano Repertoire Seminar
• Graduation Recital
Harpsichord majors
• Chamber Chorus
• Chamber Music
• Early Music Performance
• Supplementary Piano
Organ majors
• Chamber Chorus
• Elements of Conducting
• Organ Class
• Supplementary Piano
Musical Studies
• Keyboard Studies I, II
Career Studies
Organ Majors
• Sacred Music Seminar

Orchestral Instrument Majors
Performance for all orchestral instrument majors
• Chamber Music
• Orchestra (required for age sixteen and older)
• Orchestral Repertoire
Class/Sectionals (string, woodwind, brass, or percussion)
• Supplementary Piano
Special performance requirements by department
Percussion majors
• Orchestral Repertoire Classes (both brass and percussion)
• Performance, at least once a semester, of solo or chamber music on a regularly scheduled student recital
• Full ninety-minute recital including representative solo and chamber music, including chamber works with nonpercussion instruments
Violin, viola, and violoncello majors
• Graduation Recital

Voice Majors
Performance
• Acting Seminar
• English, French, German, and Italian diction classes and coachings
• Supplementary Piano
• Voice Performance Seminar
• Voice Repertoire Coaching
Musical Studies
• History of Singing
• For singers with a limited background in musical studies, Curtis
offers a separate two-year course in place of the required sequence of Harmony, Counterpoint, and Solfège.

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TRANSFER PROCESS FROM DIPLOMA TO BACHELOR OF MUSIC
Diploma students who wish to transfer to the bachelor's program must provide all required application documents (see Application Information) by September 1 for a first-semester transfer or December 1 for a second-semester transfer.

Diploma students may take no more than two one-semester liberal arts courses prior to an official transfer to the bachelor's program.
The GED will be accepted by Curtis as a supplement to evidence of exceptional academic achievement as part of the application for the bachelor’s program only when prior permission has been obtained from the dean, the registrar, the director of student services, and the chair of the liberal arts department. A permission form is available in the Registrar's Office.

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