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California Institute of the Arts

BFA: World Music

The Herb Alpert School of Music at CalArts

African music ensemble performing on stage at CalArts.

Traditional techniques meet emerging innovations

With a focus on high-level performance in non-Western traditions, CalArts’ four-year BFA in World Music Performance immerses you in a broad spectrum of diverse music styles and influences, equipping you with the skills and broad perspective to utilize both traditional techniques and global, 21st-century innovations in your expression. A solid grounding in music theory, musicianship skills, and music history and literature is foundational to our uniquely interdisciplinary course of study, which encourages you to participate in the vast spectrum of World Music styles offered by our faculty.

A woman in a striped outfit shouts while holding a stick up as if sword fighting with another, similar stick held by someone outside the frame. They are on a stage with a vivid pink and purple background.

Music and culture

BFA World Music Performance

CalArts was founded on a commitment to experimentation, and that spirit informs our unique approach to the study of performance in non-Western music traditions. Departing from traditional ethnomusicology or anthropology-based curricula, CalArts’ BFA in World Music Performance is rooted in faculty-student instruction and performance projects, supported by classes in music cultures of the world, relevant theoretical studies, and ethnology.

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Where the wild things play

A lone performer plays a saxophone, standing in the middle of an empty stage in a futuristic bandshell with a lawn in front and trees and sky in the background.

The composer Morton Feldman used the term “Wild Beast” as a metaphor for the ineffable generative force in art—making it the ideal name for CalArts’ iconic variable-use, indoor-outdoor music pavilion.

As a student in the four-year BFA World Music Performance program, you will closely study music and dance practices from a variety of musical cultures. Through this expansive course of study, you’ll gain high-level performance skills in both solo and ensemble situations; facility with both notated and oral methods of learning music; and awareness of the cultural, theoretical, and social aspects of multiple musical traditions.

BFA students have the opportunity to explore a wide range of world music offerings without having to declare and commit to one particular tradition. Working with your faculty mentor, you will design an individual course of study that draws from the wide diversity of World Music curricula offered at CalArts, including North Indian Music, Balinese and Javanese Music and Dance, African Music and Dance, and World Percussion. You may also choose from our substantial offerings in Persian classical music, Latin Percussion, Latin jazz, Balkan music, Japanese music, world percussion, and a series of courses in music cultures from around the world. In the spirit of CalArts’ collaborative atmosphere, we encourage you to explore areas of performance, technology, and composition outside of the program as well.

All undergraduate programs in The Herb Alpert School of Music at CalArts offer a broad and rigorous general musical education alongside highly individualized lesson instruction and mentoring. As a BFA student, you’ll engage in intensive shared training in musical techniques and concepts spanning classical, jazz, popular, electronic, and experimental styles, and graduate with experience in creating original work, ensemble performance, music notation and theory, professional development, and artistic métiers outside of music.

Interested in this program?

View our step-by-step application guide to learn more.

Start your application

Admission requirements

To be considered for the BFA in World Music Performance, you must complete an application and all program-specific requirements, including a portfolio representative of your work, an artist statement, a brief video introduction, two letters of recommendation, and an interview. Before applying, please familiarize yourself with the detailed application requirements and resources available to assist you in this important process. 

View application requirements

Degree requirements

Each CalArts music student designs their course of study in collaboration with a faculty mentor, with the first two BFA years focused on building a strong foundation in music theory, performance, and diverse musical cultures, and the final two years dedicated to personalized exploration through specialized concentrations, creative projects, and individualized mentorship.

View BFA World Music Performance academic requirements

In addition to work in your specific program, all undergraduate students must complete requirements in general education, which we call Critical Studies. This liberal arts curriculum is designed to enable students to consider aesthetic questions within larger socio-cultural, ethical, and political contexts.  

View Critical Studies requirements

Minors and interdisciplinary opportunities

CalArts offers students the chance to pursue additional interests alongside your chosen discipline, such as a minor in Music Theory, Digital Arts, or Arts Education.

Learn more about minors and interdisciplinary opportunities 

Courses you might take

What courses would you take as a BFA World Music Performance student? Browse the courses offered in the School of Music, including opportunities to study jazz, experimental pop, film scoring, improvisation, electronic music, composition, vocal performance, African and Balinese ensembles, and much more.

Explore our course catalog

Meet the faculty

At CalArts, faculty and students are collaborators, teaching, learning, and working together as members of our community of artists. 

Global assembly

Ensembles are central to the hands-on experience at CalArts, bringing students, faculty, and guest artists together to collaborate, play, and perform. We have more than a dozen world music ensembles, including Balinese Gamelan, Persia Electric, Talking Drum, and many more.

A group of four musicians stand facing each other in a circle on a red-lit stage, playing a marimba, cymbals, and other percussion instruments

Improv Percussion Ensemble

World Music Festival 2024

Gallery

CalArtians make their own legacies

School of Music alumni are composing, performing, producing, and changing the history of music in our time.

Meet our alumni

Tradition, CalArts style

Graduation day at CalArts is unlike any other, and one of its beloved traditions is the Balinese Gamelan Ensemble, led by longtime World Music Performance faculty member I Nyoman Wenten, performing as graduates and their families arrive for the ceremony.

A man sits cross-legged on the floor playing a Balinese drum while other musicians play the gamelan behind him.

I Nyoman Wenten and the Balinese Gamelan Ensemble

Music Events

See all School of Music events

Want to learn more?

We got you. Our Admissions team is all about providing the information you need to decide if CalArts is right for you. We’re excited to connect with you for a tour of our legendary campus, a virtual info session, or at one of our admissions events across the country or around the world. Take the next step—we’re here to help.