Students here receive the rigorous, substantive musical education found at a conservatory along with the broad range of areas found at a liberal arts institution. Furthermore, our home in the College of Visual and Performing Arts means music students see creative activity from four different disciplines. The individual areas of study in the school are quite diverse, but because the school is small, they function in harmony with each other and without artificial divisions. Performance majors study composition and play new music.
Composers write for the school's large ensembles.
Music education majors give recitals and study jazz. All those opportunities exist from the first year on. Exploring across boundaries is very much the norm in our school rather than the exception. The school seeks to also encourage the broadest possible range of creative options for its students, recognizing that the western classical tradition continues to grow and expand, and that it is only one in a world of myriad others. The school recognizes all musical disciplines as essential to the health of the profession and to the continued evolution of culture, and so strives for the highest standards of achievement for students in all degree programs.