University of North Texas College of Music
The University of North Texas College of Music, based in Denton, is a comprehensive music school among the largest enrollment of any music institution accredited by the National Association of Schools of Music.[1] It developed the first jazz studies program in the nation, and it remains one of the top schools for jazz. As one of thirteen colleges and schools at the University of North Texas, it has been among the largest music institutions of higher learning in North America since the 1940s. North Texas has been a member of the National Association of Schools of Music for 85 years.[2] Since the 1970s, approximately one-third of all North Texas music students have been enrolled at the graduate level. Music at North Texas dates back to the founding of the university in 1890 when Eliza Jane McKissack, its founding director, structured it as a conservatory.
University of North Texas
College of Music
Overview[edit]
The College of Music is a comprehensive institution of international rank.[3][4] Its heritage dates back one hundred and thirty-three years, when North Texas was founded. The college has one of the largest enrollment of any music institution accredited by the National Association of Schools of Music,[5] of which it has been a member for 85 years.[2] It has been among the largest music institutions of higher learning in North America since the 1940s. The college awards Bachelor of Music, Master of Music, Doctor of Philosophy, and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees and non-degree graduate artist certificates. Concentrations include performance, music composition, music education, music history, music theory, ethnomusicology, and jazz studies. Its size, its array of disciplines organized across eight academic divisions, its six research centers, its six major ensemble areas that produce over 70 ensembles, and the number of degrees offered — from bachelor's degrees to doctorates to artist certificates — allows the college the achieve the type of critical mass to be highly comprehensive (wide and deep) and prolific in academics, research, and performance, from big to small to standard to experimental to esoteric.
In performance, the public review of the college's total work is presented through over 1,000 student and faculty concerts, annually, which include fully mounted opera, grand chorus, symphonic orchestra, early music, chamber music, jazz, orchestra, winds, experimental music, intermedia, and ethno music. The music library, founded in 1941, has one of the largest music collections in the United States, with over 300,000 volumes of books, periodicals, scores, and approximately 900,000 sound recordings.[4] Since the 1970s, approximately one-third of all North Texas music students have been enrolled at the graduate level. North Texas was first in the world to offer a degree in jazz studies. U.S. News & World Report, in its annual America's Best Graduate Schools, ranked the jazz studies program as the best in the country every year from 1994, when it began ranking graduate jazz programs, to 1997, when it retired the category.[6] The One O'Clock Lab Band has been nominated for 7 Grammy Awards.