About Us

Create. Explore. Perform. Excel.

Dedicated to excellence and innovation in the creation, performance, study and teaching of music, the Department of Music is grounded in a diverse historical and cultural heritage.

We are committed to preserving classic traditions while breaking new paths. Students can explore music history, theory, and world music studies and develop their skills in classical music, world music, electroacoustic sound art and jazz. Immerse yourself in intensive study, or cross borders and explore how these diverse worlds interact. 

Earn credits by participating in one or more of our many performing ensembles, including orchestras, concert choirs and bands, jazz choirs and bands, opera workshops, and world music ensembles.

Not a music student? Not a worry! Explore your vital passion for music by studying music appreciation, basic theory, jazz history and popular music history.

Our graduates live life out loud: in orchestras, bands, choruses, opera companies, recording studios, music schools and universities around the world in fields such as performance, scholarship, education, arts administration, music retailing, community music making, music therapy, and the radio, television and recording industries.

The Department of Music at a glance:

Faculty Members:

20 full-time, 2 full-time Contract Instructors, 1 Lecturer, 40 part-time contract instructors

Student enrollment (2011):

300+ undergraduates, 70 graduates

Programs (Undergraduate):                       

Bachelor of Music, Bachelor of Music/Bachelor of Education, Bachelor of Arts Honors, Bachelor of Arts Major/Minor

Certificate in Sound Arts (accepted Fall 2011 for future offering)

Program Routes (Undergraduate):

General, Performance (Piano, Organ, Voice, Strings & Harp, Wind & Percussion), Music History, World Music, Composition and Theory

Master of Music, Master of Arts, Doctor of Music, PhD

Applied Music (Piano, Organ, Voice, Strings; MMus level only: Wind Band Conducting, Piano Pedagogy), Choral Conducting, Composition, Musicology, Ethnomusicology, Theory

Facilities:                             

Old Arts Building:

Convocation Hall (Performance Hall)

Canadian Centre for Ethnomusicology

Folkways Alive!, Faculty Offices (theory, ethnomusicology, musicology)

Fine Arts Building:

Classrooms, ensemble rehearsal rooms, Electroacoustic studios

Studio 2-7 (Small performance and rehearsal space)

Chamber music (rehearsal) room

Faculty offices and studios (performance, choral, composition)

18 practice rooms

Music General Office

Wind House (90th Ave):

Teaching studios (wind instruments)

Riel House (90th Ave):

Graduate Student meeting and work space

Home of ReSonare (graduate music peer-reviewed online journal)

Rutherford Music Library (2nd floor): 

Scores, books, listening facilities, seminar room

Concerts and Events:

Over 180 concerts, lectures and masterclasses per year, occurring primarily in Convocation Hall, Studio 2-7 and the Winspear Centre for Music

Annual Kilburn concert (featuring a renowned performing artist), Music at Convocation Hall Concert Series (featuring faculty members), Music at Winspear Concert Series (featuring large student ensembles), Monday Noon Music Series (featuring students and faculty members), Faculty recitals, Student recitals, Ensemble recitals, Chamber music recitals

Community Outreach:

mUse of A, Summer Music Academy, DiscoveryE Summer Camp, Hear’s to your Heath Concert Series (in collaboration with McKenzie Health Centre & UA Medical School), Community Service Learning, Kule Institute for Advanced Learning, School of Business, School in Cortona, Wirth Institute, Strauss Foundation, West African Music (Ghana summer program) & The Franz Schubert Institut.

Faculty membership on boards of Edmonton Chamber Music Society, Edmonton Recital Society, Association of Canadian Choral Communities, Alberta Registered Music Teachers’ Association, Alberta String Association, College Music Society, Music Theory Spectrum, Royal Canadian College of Organists, Canadian University Music Society, Review of Middle East Studies, Ethnomusicology, Asian Music, Chorus America, Davis Trust Fund

Community Partners:

Enterprise String Quartet, Wirth Institute, Franz Schubert Institut (Austria), Strauss Foundation, Edmonton Chamber Music Society, Pro Coro Canada, Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, Alberta Baroque Ensemble, Edmonton Youth Orchestra, Alberta Band Association, Alberta Choral Federation, Edmonton Enrichment Choirs, Alberta Conservatory of Music, Grant MacEwan University