reconstructing the best undergrad composition program

It's that time of year again where I realize I have to start acting like a Responsible Adult—you know, stop my partying and boozing and start going to bed and waking up at decent hours, all because the days are getting shorter and I need to return to my academic engagement in less than two weeks.

And part of my Responsible Adult duties involve watching over my composer progeny.

The Bachelor of Music Composition degree at Ohio Wesleyan University is in its toddler stages. It's small but needs to grow, and it is my job as a Responsible Adult to feed it and make sure I don't stunt its growth.

As part of this process, the head-of-department and I decided to provide an intro to composition class where freshman and non-composition majors can be introduced to writing music. I am thrilled about this—I had an intro to composition class at USC my freshman year, and I like the concept. Sometimes freshmen aren't ready to have one-on-one composition lessons with their professor. And, many times compo…