We conducted extensive research of other Schools of Music and Performing Arts Centers to see how others were moving into a newer format to tackle things like accessibility, environmental impact, and budget. We found that many have moved to either a hybrid of print and digital programs, like us, or some have moved fully to digital programs only. 

So why go paperless?

Paperless (digital) programs:

• are easier to read in a dark performance venue and allow people to change the size of the text on their device.
• allow us to make last-minute changes or corrections with no additional printing.
• allow us to link and display more information, such as external websites for guest artists, donors/logos, etc.
• are less wasteful.
• allow us to better spend money previously spent on paper, copier materials, & labor instead on things that guide our educational missions, such as more student support funding.
• meet the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines Version 2.1, Level AA (WCAG 2.1AA) whereas PDF documents kept on the website were not compliant.
• reduces numbers of graduate assistant hours needed to create printed programs, which in turn offers those hours to other areas in need.
• could eventually lead to an easy-to-search archive of performances for alumni, interested stakeholders, or potential students.

The JMU School of Music printed, folded, & stapled a total of 30,550 programs in 2024-2025 (and that's assuming no programs had to be reprinted, which several did!). We used 50,500 8.5x11 pages! If you laid out each of those pages next to each other, you could walk 8.77 miles just on paper!

The Digital Program Submission Form is what the Music Office uses to capture upcoming performance information and the accompanying program information such as program order, personnel, and/or program notes.

Please make sure the attachments that you upload are word documents (.doc or .docx).

There is not an official template because the programs team takes the submitted information and puts it into our official template; however, if you would like to see an example of program materials that are clear and easy for our team to put into the template, both print and digital, see below. You also are welcome to click on a document below to download it, edit it, and use it for your program submission materials!

• Sample program submission
• Sample program notes submission

If you are a student recitalist, you will submit the form and include your applied professor's email as the final approver. 

If you are an ensemble director or faculty sponsor, you can either submit the form yourself with no need for a second level of approval or have a graduate student submit and include your email as the final approver.

All programs must be submitted or approved by a School of Music faculty member. 

Please include on your document(s):

• Performance title, if applicable
• Performance date & location (we do have this information, but it's nice to confirm)
• All collaborative musicians with name and instrument/voice type
• Musical works in the correct performance order
• Composer names & dates
• Translations, if applicable
• Program notes, if applicable

Yes, your program materials should be approved and accurate before submitting the form. The second approval process, if you are a student submitting a form, is only a fail-safe and record-keeping step. If you are a student recitalist, the form submission should not be the first time your applied professor is seeing the program and/or program notes. You should submit a fully approved document with the form so that the applied professor's approval is swift and easy, not a two-way conversation via OneDrive on the document.

All student recitalists or any performance happening outside of the Forbes Center will need to pick up their programs from the bulletin board in front of the Music Office on the first floor once they receive the email notifying them they've been printed. 

Programs for all other performances happening in the Forbes Center will automatically be sent to the Box Office ahead of time.

Concert Hall performances: 300

Recital Hall performances (non-student recital): 100

Shared Half, Senior Full, MM, or DMA recitals: 75

Single Half recitals: 35

We will adhere to The Chicago Manual of Style with our programs. Below are some common examples of musical selections and titles in the correct format:

Instrumental Works

Generic Titles

Instrumental works known by their generic or music type names, such as a symphony, quartet, sonata, etc., are capitalized, but not italicized. For example:

Piano Sonata No. 2

Symphony No. 6 in F Major

Air with Variations

Nicknames with Generic Titles

If a generic work has a well-known nickname, place the nickname italicized inside parentheses after the official title details. For example:

Symphony No. 6 in F Major, Op. 68 (Pastoral)

Programmatic & Unique Titles

Instrumental works known by a programmatic or given name are italicized. For example:

The Rite of Spring

Rhapsody in Blue

A Winter's Night

Key Signatures & Pitch Names

Major keys: capitalize the word "Major" (e.g., C Major, B-flat Major)

Minor keys: lowercase the word "minor" (e.g. G minor, C-sharp minor)

Pitch names should always be capitalized, and if you have a flat or a sharp pitch, include a hyphen after the pitch name and type out "flat" or "sharp." Do not use Bb or C#.

Movements & Tempos

Individual movements go on indented lines below the main title. Nothing is italicized or in quotations. For example:

Symphonie fantastique, Op. 14

IV. March to the Scaffold: Allegretto non troppo
V. Dream of a Witches' Sabbath: Larghetto—Allegro

Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67

I. Allegro con brio
II. Andante con moto
III. Allegro
IV. Allegro

Opus Numbers & Numbers

Capitalize "Op." and "No." Add a comma between the two, when necessary. For example:

Nocturne in G minor, Op. 15, No. 2

Composer Catalogs

Composer catalogs should always be capitalized. Here are some common catalogs:

BWV = Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis; Schmieder's catalog is abbreviated without a period

D. = Deutsch's catalog of Schubert

K. = Köchel's catalog for Mozart

J. = Jahn's catalog of Weber

Hob. = Hoboken's catalog of Haydn

We will adhere to The Chicago Manual of Style with our programs. Below are some common examples of musical selections and titles in the correct format:

Vocal Works

Large-Scale Source Works

Titles of operas, oratorios, musicals, cantatas, and full song cycles are treated as large independent works and should be italicized. For example:

La serve padrona (NOTE: You only capitalize the first word of the title if it is in a Foreign language; you lowercase the subsequent nouns and adjectives, unless they are proper nouns, like the name of a specific person or city).

Pagliacci

Hadestown

Waitress

Arias & Songs

In essay form, song titles should be enclosed in quotation marks and then linked to the larger work using "from." But in concert program form, in order to keep the program looking as clean as possible, you should omit the quotation marks. For example:

Stizzoso mio stizzoso from La serva padrona

Vesti la giubba from Pagliacci

Flowers from Hadestown

When He Sees Me from Waitress

If several songs, but not all songs, from a larger work are being sung, you can list them underneath with the text "Selections from..." For example:

Selections from Hermit Songs, Op. 29

II. Church Bell at Night
V. The Crucifixion
VIII. The Monk and His Cat

If you sing the entire larger work, you should list it as:

Hermit Songs, Op. 29

I. At Saint Patrick's Purgatory
II. Church Bell at Night
III. St. Ita's Vision
IV. The Heavenly Banquet
V. The Crucifixion
VI. Sea-Snatch
VII. Promiscuity
VIII. The Monk and His Cat
IX. The Praises of God
X. The Desire for Hermitage

Standalone Arts Songs & Lieder

Individual art songs should be in plain text. As above with arias & songs, if the song belongs to a compiled set or cycle, follow the title with "from" and italicize the name of the cycle. For example:

Bei dir ist es traut from Fünf Lieder (NOTE: always respect the grammatical rules of the original language. In French & romantic languages, you capitalize only the first word and proper nouns, but in German, you capitalize all nouns).