noldar, you're right about jazz, also blues. I was thinking about that, being a favorite of mine, and how many of the greats couldn't really even be written down. Like Robert Johnson whose rhythms can't really be notated.   And that is "composing" just as much as pen and ink.

That's interesting about the lack of earlier music studies in modern academia.  I'm not sure what to make of it. 

William, my experience may have been a "one off" sort of thing (at least I hope so).  At the time I took the class, the department had the new music professor teaching the 18th century counterpoint class.  In hindsight, that was probably not a very wise selection.  The class literally only met for about 1/2 the sessions it was supposed to have, as the teacher had many outside activities, and at that time was getting somewhat known in the electronica field.  The department was revamped a few years later after I graduated, so things may have been straightened out (I chose that particular school as they had a good double-bass professor, something many other schools did not have).

For obvious reasons, I prefer not to post either the school name, or the name of the professor (it is always possible that some might recognize his name).  I should add that as a person, he was a cool guy, just not for 18th century counterpoint.

Overall, I was very glad to have been a music major at that school, and most of my experiences were positive, the one mentioned above was one of a couple exceptions.  Considering how naive I was at the time - I decided to become a music major after taking a music theory course in high school as a junior (the one year it was offered), and didn't start playing what became my major instrument until my senior year (double-bass), the fact that the school even let me pursue the major (though on probation to start), and that things ended up going as well as they did, is something I have always been thankful for.  It was a good thing that I didn't know things just were not done the way I ended up doing them.