Music Courses in India | Career in Music

Music is one of the main reasons why mankind and humanity exists on this planet still now. In this planet where we find people spewing hate on one another and refusing to exist peacefully with each other, music infuses some love in us. It is music that gives us a ray of hope, a small piece of sunshine when everything around us is so grey. That is why music becomes a passion to most of us who want to embrace positivity and spread kindness everywhere. If you too love music and are very much into it, thinking of making a career of it, then you need to have a fair idea about the courses and degrees that music has to offer. And you have come to the right place as we here will tell you about the music courses in India. Do stay tuned till the end if you want to know all about the courses and where to pursue them in India.

Career in music

Before proceeding to the courses, firstly you need to know the career scope in music, so that you can proceed with your dreams and goals accordingly. If you wish to be a musician or a technician in the field of music, there are courses for that too. With music by your side, you can be any of the following:

• Singer
• Instrument player
• Jingle writer
• Music composer
• Lyricist
• Music editor
• Music director
• Music teacher
• Sound engineer
• Recording engineer
• Producer
• Music designer
• Programmer
• Music sequencer

Music Courses

The education sector of our country is very advanced and flexible. From the basic school level itself, we get music as subjects in school although it is optional in nature. State boards, ICSE and CBSE offer classical music, instrumental music, western music as subjects both in Class X and XII. So, if you r school provides you with the choice of music as a subject then do go for it. After the school level, you will find the following music courses for your graduation and further studies:

B.A. in Music

A lot of colleges will offer you B.A. (Honours) in music. Now you have to choose your specialisation here. You can either opt for vocalic music, instrumental music, musicology, museology, folk music, dance and music, Hindustani classical music, or Carnatic music. A three-year course, the tuition fees is variable according to the institutions you enrol yourself into. It can fall between Rs.15000- Rs. 2,00,000 per annum.

B.P.A in Music

Bachelors in Performing Arts is a fresh branch that once again offers you a graduation programme in music. Similar to the B.A. course, B.P.A will also cost you around Rs. 15000- Rs. 1,50,000 depending on the college you choose.

M.A. in Music

Just like the graduation programme, you can pursue post-graduation courses in music as well. A two-year programme, you can again choose your stream and area of interest as you will get a plethora of options starting from classical music to instrumentals to Gurmat sangeet and Rabindra sangeet. The course fees is priced between Rs. 30,000- Rs. 2, 75, 000.

M.Phil in Music

After you complete your masters and before you enroll into your PhD programme, you can opt for an M.Phil in music, instrumental music, folk music, vocalic music and classical music. This is also a 2-year course with a fee quite akin to that of the masters’ courses.

D.Litt in Music

D. Litt stands for a Doctorate in Literature. A course which is similar to PhD, You can pursue a D.Litt in instrumental, classical, folk music and art and you will take about around 2 years to complete it. The course fee will be somewhere around Rs. 100,000 altogether.

PhD in Music

PhD or a doctorate degree in music is the ultimate and highest level of degree course that the Indian education policy offers. You will take around 3-5 years to complete this and if you qualify the NET exams then you can get a monthly stipend from your institution. You can pursue a PhD in vocal music, instrumental and classical music, folk music, arts and dance.

Music Certificate Courses

For those of you who want to pursue any course in music but for a short duration and also not as a regular course or any area of specialisation then you can go for the 6 months to 1 year certificate courses that are offered by the various music colleges and universities. Some of the certificate courses in music are based on instrumental music, therapy music, vocalic music. The tuition fees for these courses are all under Rs. 50,000.

Music Diploma Courses

You can now pursue diploma courses in music also which span from 3 months to 3 years. The diploma courses will enhance your specialisation field and you can take up a diploma in various streams of music like- vocals, instrumentals, classical- both Hindustani and Carnatic, Gandarva-Ved music. You can also pursue advanced diploma courses and post-graduate diploma courses in these areas. The course fees falls within Rs. 15000- Rs. 2,00,000 depending on the time duration of the course and where you enrol yourself into.

Admission Process

Most of the colleges and universities conduct entrance tests for admission to the various courses. Some of the colleges require a minimum of 50% in your secondary exam and for a graduation programme you must pass your class XII exams in order to qualify. Other than this there is no eligibility criteria as such.

Best Music Colleges and Universities

Since we have listed the best music courses in India, you must be curious to know from where you can pursue and study the subject of your dreams. For that we will list you the top 10 music colleges and universities. They are:

• Rabindra Bharati University
• Vishwa-Bharati University
• University of Calcutta
• Lovely Professional University
• Rama Manubhai Desai College of Music and Dance
• Sri Padmavati Mahila Visvavidyalayam
• Shaheed Udham Singh Government College
• School of Music (Mumbai)
• Delhi School of Music
• Ramjas College

So, here are all the details of the music courses that are available in India. As long as we listen to music, this industry will continually proliferate giving scope to various young talents and minds. The increasing YouTube channels and reality shows indeed tell us that there is a positive side of taking up music as your bread-earner. Now just study this wonderful subject, feel the beauty of music and become an erudite professional keeping everyone enchanted around you by your profound knowledge and deft skills.