It’s funny - I can’t think of an equivalent for that sort of thing in any other major. Of course, most other students don’t go in to their major with as much knowledge and experience as a good portion of CS students do.
That feels roughly analogous to a CS department requiring a "*nix skills" course or similar, as most liberal arts degrees require a substantial amount of writing.
I assume music (and possibly some fine arts) would require some background in those subjects. They often require a portfolio or audition before entering the program.
Do engineering programs expect students to have taken calculus?
Though with music (and possibly engineering), you likely have to prove ability prior to being accepted into the program.
[EDIT] incidentally, the arts are also infamous for being dominated, at a professional level, by kids with artist parents and kids with rich parents (who can bankroll years of private lessons and then years of little-to-no income while paying for access to career-makers) so... there's that.
Of the 22 people in the class, 21 of them were singers - everyone except me. Much of the class was around singing - singing scales, etc. I saw nothing in the syllabus that required singing, but... you had to learn to sing stuff by sight reading, and... I'm not a singer. It was embarrassing for me (and probably for others). I think I managed to drop out before losing all my money on that, but... frustrating. Could also tell most of these people had had voice lessons for years, and were all taking this class as a way of getting in to theater work, not... to play an instrument.