Music Mission

As the University mission seeks to provide "excellent teaching and individual attention in an environment that fosters development of the whole person," the music program is an essential component of that environment's aesthetic realm. As such, the program offers courses, performances, and performance opportunities to the entire University community.

In regard to specific majors in music, the program strives to advance the formation of the whole musician. It maintains as its primary goal the evolution and demonstration of comprehensive musicianship in all its students and faculty, i.e., musicians who can perform music, organize the sounds of music, and analyze music. The program accomplishes this aim through a wide range of teaching and performance situations including private lessons, traditional classroom environments, and large group rehearsals.

The program endorses and values most highly faculty habits of scholarship that address performing, organizing, and/or analyzing music and have direct application to their commitment to teaching.

As a nationally-accredited unit of the College of Arts and Sciences, the music program is committed to its role within the University Mission, compliance with the standards of the National Association of Schools of Music, and ongoing evaluation of the program in all its aspects.