About the School

The School of Music and Dance began as the Department of Music in 1886. It became the School of Music in 1900, then the School of Music and Dance in 2005. It was admitted as a charter member of the National Association of Schools of Music in 1928. The standards of the school are in accordance with those of the association.

The School of Music and Dance is a professional school in a university setting. The school is committed to furthering creativity, knowledge, pedagogy, and performance in music and dance and to preparing students for a variety of professions in these fields.

Mission Statement. The School of Music and Dance is dedicated to enriching the human mind and spirit through the professional and intellectual development of artists, teachers, and scholars in a supportive and challenging environment.

This mission is fulfilled through the following objectives:

• Help students balance the knowledge and understanding of their art with the intuition and skills necessary to present it.

• Involve students and members of the university and the community in the intellectual life and performing activities of the school through the curriculum, lectures, workshops, and concerts.

• Help students learn to communicate and teach their art effectively, whether as professional teachers in public or private schools or at the college level or as performers.

• Reflect the diversity of the fields of music and dance in its offerings. Since the scope of these fields constantly changes, the faculty tries to prepare students for encounters with other cultural communities and their art forms. At the same time, students are shown the respect and knowledge necessary to reexamine and pass on the great traditions inherited from their own cultures.

• Contribute new ideas to the fields of music and dance in the form of original compositions and choreographies, studies of new repertoires and interpretations of existing ones, as well as scholarship in the history, theory, pedagogy, and cultural context of music and dance. Faculty members seek to teach and inspire their students to do the same.