Major in Integrated Music Studies
Pursue your passions without compromise
John Brown University
2000 W. University St.,
Siloam Springs, AR 72761
479-524-9500
jbuinfo@jbu.edu
What are you looking for?
Pursue your passions without compromise
In this innovative cross-disciplinary program, you’ll realize your full potential through the integration of musical skills with a related field of study.
Start your applicationChoose a track in Worship Arts to prepare for a career in music ministry, church leadership and beyond.
Choose a track in Music Production to prepare for a career in live production, studio recording, songwriting/composition and beyond.
This degree is designed to be combined with a second major and still be completed in four years. Recommended second majors include Business, Intercultural Studies, and Psychology.
This degree seamlessly integrates with a second major or concentration without compromising on quality.
Your calling is as unique as you are. This degree gives you the flexibility to tailor the curriculum exactly to your interests and goals.
Learn, collaborate, and apply skills across disciplines, building relationships and broad competencies.
This program is driven by your calling and goals. Our graduates have gone on to diverse careers in many disciplines within and outside of music. A small sampling: music business, composition, arts administration, missions, music ministry, data analytics, and therapy.
Because you'll graduate with a major in music and the second major/minor of your choice, you'll be set up for success in any number of fields. Your interdisciplinary training, critical thinking skills and wide skill set will set you apart from other applicants as you move into the workforce or graduate school—this degree is more than the sum of its parts.
Your music degree will allow you to pursue a career in music; be it in industry, performance, or the academy. You will be prepared to succeed in music. If you strategically pair your degree with your choice of the second major, you will enter the job market with expertise to help you to succeed in any number of musical, creative and career settings in music.
Because many JBU integrated music studies alumni pursued a double major, they are able to work in fields outside the music industry, such as pharmaceuticals--some are even medical doctors. Their musical training has helped them succeed in these fields because they have learned to think beyond their specific chosen career.
The degree is focused on deep engagement in multiple fields. As such, a synthesis in a career is a natural trajectory. Some possible options include music business, data analytics (think Spotify or Amazon Music), computer science (music software is a multibillion-dollar industry), music therapy, musical theater, and even songwriting.
Liesl M. Dromi, lyric coloratura soprano, holds a Master of Music in Vocal Pedagogy from Belmont University and a Bachelor of Arts in Music (vocal performance) from John Brown University.
Dromi studied voice with Dr. Kristi Whitten, Paul Smith and Dr. Yvonne Dechance. She studied vocal pedagogy and voice science with Dr. Jennifer Coleman (Belmont University) and Jennifer Muckala, M.A., CCC-SLP (Vanderbilt Voice Center). Additionally, she has completed and received certification in Somatic Voicework™: The LoVetri Method, the contemporary vocal pedagogy method developed by master teacher Jeannette LoVetri.
As a voice educator, Dromi has over 10 years of experience training singers of all ages and backgrounds in classical, musical theatre, and commercial music styles. She has been on the faculty at John Brown University since 2014, where she enjoys teaching a robust applied voice studio, diction, vocal pedagogy, commercial voice, and musical theatre workshop. Dromi’s voice students are regularly finalists in regional and national competitions.
Chair, Department of Music & Theatre, Associate Professor of Music (voice)
Lisa Auten is an active pianist, teacher, and music director who has performed with the University of Arkansas Music Department, the UArk Schola Cantorum; TheatreSquared; Arkansas Public Theatre; Bentonville High School Choral Department; Fayetteville High School Choral Department; the Symphony of Northwest Arkansas (SoNA), and the SoNA Singers. Throughout her career, she has performed in Los Angeles, Orlando, New York (Carnegie Hall: 2007 and 2023), Belgium, Russia, and Thailand. She has accompanied numerous performances at All-Region, All-State, Southwestern Division of American Choral Directors Association (SWACDA), and national American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) concerts. Additionally, she served as Collaborative Pianist Chairperson for the SWACDA Regional Convention in 2020, and again at the SWACDA conference in Denver in 2024.
She is an active member of both ACDA and the National Association for Music Education. Peer-reviewed academic journal Choral Journal June/July 2023 (Vol. 62, No. 9) writes, “Pianist Lisa Auten expertly handles this idiom, finding just the right weight and touch to make the keyboard seem windswept in accordance with the lyrics” in its review of Wander-Thirst: The Choral Music of Florence Price (Hill Records 2023:25:40) As a musical theatre director/conductor, she has led close to 60 musical productions, in high school, college, community, and Equity theatres.
Auten joined the faculty of John Brown University in 2022 as an Assistant Professor of Music. She brings her passion for music education, piano performance, and musical theatre to her students. She enjoys teaching Applied Piano, Orchestration, and the Keyboard Musicianship cycle, as well as music directing and conducting JBUMT’s Musical Theatre productions. Auten holds both a Master of Music in collaborative piano and a Bachelor of Science in music education from the University of Arkansas
Assistant Professor of Music (piano), Music Education Program Coordinator
Equip yourself for a successful career and a life of purpose.
JBU does not unlawfully discriminate based on race, color, national or ethnic origin, sex, age, disability, marital status, military status, or age in the administration of its educational policies, admissions, financial aid, employment, educational programs, or activities.
John Brown University is a leading private Christian university, training students to honor God and serve others since 1919. Arkansas’ top-ranked university (The Wall Street Journal) and top-ranked regional university (U.S. News), JBU enrolls more than 2,200 students from 37 states and 42 countries in its traditional undergraduate, graduate, online and concurrent education programs. JBU offers more than 50 undergraduate majors, with top programs including nursing, psychology, construction management, graphic design, family and human services, and engineering. Eighteen graduate degrees are available in business, counseling, cybersecurity, and education.