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WHERE THE SEMESTER BECOMES THE STAGE

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For students at CMC Nashville, everything leads to this moment.

The annual Fly High Tour isn’t just a performance—it is the final exam.

This show represents 15 weeks of work, collaboration, and real-world music industry experience brought to life.

Most programs teach theory.
CMC puts you in the middle of it.

You don’t just learn about the music industry—you:

  • Work in it

  • Create within it

  • And leave with experience you can actually point to

At CMC, students don’t just perform.
They build something real.

Spend 15 weeks in Nashville. Earn 16 college credits. Build and produce a live tour.

Over the course of the semester, students:

  • Develop their artist identity and brand

  • Plan and promote a live tour

  • Collaborate across performance, business, tech, and worship tracks

  • Produce a professional-level live event from the ground up

By the time they take the stage, they’re not just artists—they’re operators.

Choose Your Music Industry Career Path

You’ll spend 15 weeks diving deep into one focused track. Choose your area of focus.

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Artist Track

Write. Record. Perform. 

Don’t just learn about the music industry … live it. Write and record original songs, collaborate with fellow artists, form bands, and bring your sound to life in a professional studio setting. From crafting your first demo to performing live on a Nashville stage, every moment is designed to prepare you for a career in music that’s as bold and unique as your voice.

COURSES
MUSC412 Essentials of Songwriting  (3)
MUSC415 Performance (3)
MUSC418 Studio Recording (3)

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Business Track

Manage. Promote. Market.

Jump right into managing a vibrant talent roster of 10-14 student artists, producing dynamic live events, and executing the end-of-semester road tour. Plus, you’ll build vital connections with top professionals in the Nashville entertainment industry.

COURSES
MUSC420 Advanced Media Marketing (3)
MUSC423 Music Business Survey (3)
MUSC426 Strategic Management (3)

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Worship Track

Ministry. Media. Internship.

Develop essential musical, administrative, and technical skills to serve as a worship and creative team leader. This track includes an immersive offsite internship with innovative creative arts teams at various Nashville churches.

COURSES
MUSC304 Music & Media Arts (3)
MUSC308 Worship Tech & Production (3)
MUSC405 Worship Arts Internship (3)

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Technical Track

Sound. Lights. Video.

Master professional gear in authentic, real-world settings. Dive into key activities like hands-on live audio engineering, captivating lighting design, seamless live streaming, and stunning video wall production.

COURSES
MUSC431 Advanced Studio Production (3)
MUSC434 Audio Engineering (3)
MUSC437 Concert Production (3)

Core Courses

In addition to the track-specific courses, all students will take the following core courses. 

MUSC 301 Faith, Music & Culture

MUSC 302 Inside the Music Industry 

MUSC 405 Practicum: "CMC Tour"

Learn It. Live It. Launch It.

Every CMC student dives into three dynamic core courses—but the real magic happens when the whole community comes together for CMC LIVE, our high-energy weekly show.

Artist Track students write and perform original songs that bring the stage to life.

Business Track students run the show behind the scenes— marketing, promotion, branding, and event logistics.

Worship Track students lead the visual storytelling, shaping the show’s creative direction and curating the livestream experience.

Technical Track students power the production—handling sound, lighting, and video with industry-grade tools and precision.

This isn’t theory. It’s real-world experience in a collaborative, careerlaunching environment where your talent meets the industry's demands.

Tour

At the end of the semester, students literally pack up everything in the building and take the show on the road. Dubbed the ‘final exam’, CMC Nashville is the only program in the nation that provides students with a real, student-led Road Tour experience.

A band performing on stage with a singer in a red cap, holding a microphone, and three guitarists. There is a colorful pink and purple background visual and an audience in front.
A young woman singing into a microphone on stage with band members and a red and orange background.
Two young men are in a dark room with a black wall and exposed brick. One is wearing headphones and appears focused, while the other is standing at a DJ console, wearing glasses and a backward baseball cap.

Tuition & Fees

Tuition & Fees
$17,600

Your overall cost covers tuition, room, Friday meals and all meals during tour.
In addition, you have 24/7 access to our state of the art gear and studios.

Federal and State financial aid might be available as well as scholarships and grants.
Download our Financial Guide ›

COURSE DESCRIPTIONS

Core Courses

  • Get connected with a career path in the entertainment industry with a calling to be Christ-followers. A holistic understanding of ourselves in the world includes the ability to hear the “noise” in culture, assessing personal strengths/weaknesses, considering the cost of a career in the entertainment industry and then mapping a strategy for moving forward.

  • Get an overview of the entire entertainment industry and how art, business and technology interact with each other. Since employers continue to hire graduates who have skill-sets across multiple disciplines, this course equips students with a core set of “gotta knows” that will prepare

    them for careers in every aspect of the entertainment industry.

  • This course, often referred to as “Road Trip” or “Tour” is the capstone experience of the

    semester. Embark on a 6-8 day tour of college campuses and clubs mounting a show each night with full production; lights, sound, staging and video. Every student is involved in the process either as a performer, part of the technical staff or as a producer. The Business track students are also required to keep the tour on budget by tracking costs and providing a daily analysis of the budget.

Artist Track 

  • Learn the skills to write, arrange and demo an original song idea. The inspiration for a great song comes from God...sadly, we have nothing to do with that.

  • Get the skills and experience necessary to perform successfully on a public stage. Each artist is required to rehearse a full rhythm section, contribute to the technical vision and assume responsibility for success of the show.

  • Learn the technical abilities to record, mix and distribute audio recordings. Concepts include signal flow, mic placement, console automation, the recording process from basic tracks to mixing and mastering, loop creation and editing, soft sampler and MIDI control, plug-in instantiation, and building a home project studio.

Business Track 

  • Learn skills in progressive marketing strategies focusing on publicity, advertising, radio and video promotion, Internet marketing, and tour support. Students will develop a comprehensive marketing plan for each artist and will also create and implement the marketing plan for the CMC Road Tour.

  • Gain a broad understanding of key aspects of the music business including booking, artist management, touring, road management, production, marketing and promotion, copyright and legal issues, publishing and licensing.

  • Assemble a successful artist roster and participate in the following activities on their artist’s behalf: scheduling, creating a business plan, analyzing and forecasting trends in popular music, advising and developing the artists with regard to their live show and recordings.

Worship Track 

  • Learn the practical tools necessary to lead a team and administer a worship ministry in a local congregation. The course will focus on the following areas: shadowing local church creative directors, team and volunteer management, hospitality in Ministry, arranging & songwriting for worship, band leading, identifying and utilizing worship ministry resources; ProPresenter, Planning Center, Keynote.

  • Gain the necessary skill sets to successfully manage the technical production of a modern worship service. Students will learn to connect signal flow to production work flow, allowing them to skillfully support the sung and spoken word with every type of audio and video asset.

  • The Worship Arts Internship matches your skill specific abilities with various internship opportunities in the Nashville area, specifically those churches large enough to support a worship arts program. The goal is to help graduates segue seamlessly into their first full-time church job.

Technical Track 

  • Focus on the recording and production of audio for playback. The concepts and practices learned in this course will be used by the students to engineer songs for those students in the artist track. The goal is for students to leave the CMC prepared for an entry level position in any area of studio recording including the setup of a professional home studio.

  • Learn the technical skills and experience necessary to succeed in live event production. Students will rotate each week through the major tour positions which include FOH, Monitors, Lighting, Patch, RF, Switching, Resolume, Backline and Camera Ops.

  • Focus on stage management, lighting and design, video wall mapping/control, multi-camera switching and power distribution. The concepts and practices learned in this course will be used by students to produce the weekly CMC Live show and the end of semester Road Tour.

Ready to apply? Click here to start your application.