About Us: Fast Facts

• One of the leading universities in placing graduate students in tenure stream positions. The employment rate for our students has been exceptional: 100% of our graduates in music education and music therapy have gained employment in their fields over the last 11 years. Over the past five years, the MSU College of Music has placed, on average, 25 graduate students in tenure stream university positions -- one of the best national records.

• Average enrollment: 600-650 from around Michigan and the nation, with a significant international representation. Undergraduates make up approximately 60 percent; graduates make up approximately 40 percent.

• More than 75 faculty members noted for devotion to teaching; excellence in performance; creation of innovative, challenging, imaginative curricula; the production of creative works; and significant research in many areas of music.

• More than 106 graduate assistants completing advanced studies.

• Music major enrollment increased more than 97% between 1991 and 2004 with a fall 2006 enrollment of 662 majors.

• Music participation in general education has increased substantially: 300% increase in non-music major participation in various ensembles, a doubling of music offerings in the Center for Integrative Studies in the Arts and Humanities, and initiation of first year general student elective courses in music. More than 2,000 non-majors participate in ensembles and music classes on an annual basis.

• College of Music endowment funds have increased from nine endowments with a total market value of $655,000 to 60 endowments with a total market value of $8.7 million at the close of fiscal year 2005-06.

• The faculty, students and student ensembles present more than 300 events, concerts, master classes and workshops each year on and off campus. Performances include opera theatre productions and a wide variety of music ranging from jazz, contemporary, and Latin, to classical, chamber, and traditional.

• Special projects - such as the commission and performance of Ellen Taaffe Zwilich’s Fourth Symphony - have brought national and international prestige to the university. This project included an internationally released and distributed compact disc recording by the MSU Symphony Orchestra and two half-hour PBS television programs of the premiere and documentary of the creative process of the composition shown in major markets across the United States.

PROGRAMS

• The MSU Music Therapy Program, established in 1944, was the first of its kind in the world designed specifically to train music therapists.

• Jazz Studies established as an undergraduate major Fall 2001 and with major faculty appointments. Rodney Whitaker, jazz bass, is an international recording artist who came from the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra; Derrick Gardner, jazz trumpet, is a touring artist with the Count Basie Orchestra and with Harry Connick Jr.; Sunny Wilkinson, jazz vocalist, is well known across the United States. This program promises to be one of the strongest in the United States.

• Has one of the leading research/educational centers for early childhood education studies.

OUTREACH

• Established the Community Music School (CMS), a major outreach arm of the College of Music, in 1993. Current enrollment consists of 2,600+ individuals, 1,600 on a weekly basis, with a faculty of 85. Classes, lessons, ensembles, and music therapy services are available for pre-K through seniors, in addition to summer camps. The MSU Children’s Choir (one of four choral programs in CMS) was a joint winner of two Grammy Awards in 2006 -- Best Classical Album and Best Choral Performance for a compilation CD entitled Songs of Innocence and of Experience, by Pulitzer-Prize winning composer and University of Michigan Professor William Bolcom. The 40-member choir was among more than 400 musicians who performed the song cycle at Hill Auditorium in Ann Arbor (Mich.). The young singers, fourth through 10th graders, share the award with their director, Mary Alice Stollak, composer Bolcom, performance conductor Leonard Slatkin, as well as other conductors from the University of Michigan.

• Established Music Partnership with Detroit Public School System involving 20+ faculty and graduate students as well as performing ensembles, providing coaching, mentoring, shared performances, exchanges, and co-curricular development.

• Established several overseas studies opportunities for music majors in Austria (Bregenz and Vienna), Zimbabwe. Jamaica, and South Africa.

ENSEMBLES

• 8 Choirs: University Chorale, State Singers, Women's Chamber Choir, Women's Glee Club, Men's Glee Club, Collegiate Choir, Chamber Choir, and Choral Union.
• 4 Orchestras: Symphony, Philharmonic, Chamber, and Concert.
• 7 Bands: Wind, Symphony, Concert, two Campus Bands, Marching Band and Brass Band.
• Opera Theatre, with two fully staged performances each year.
• 8 Jazz big bands/ensembles: Jazz Band I & II, Octet I, II & III, Jazz Combos, Vocal Jazz Ensemble, and Super Sax Ensemble.
• New Music Ensemble (Musique 21).

DEGREES

• Undergraduate degrees: music theory/composition, jazz studies, music, music education, music performance (percussion, piano, strings, voice, wind), and music therapy.

• Master's degrees: composition, conducting (wind, choral, orchestral), music education, music performance (brass, percussion, piano, strings, voice, woodwinds), music theory, music therapy, musicology, and piano pedagogy.

• Doctoral degrees: composition, conducting (wind, choral, orchestral), music education, jazz studies, collaborative piano, and music performance (percussion, piano, strings, voice, brass, and woodwinds).

There are two broad activities that are public windows to the university: Athletics and music.  Prominence in the musical performance arts through jazz, chamber, and classical music represent a timeless value of excellence that can speak to alumni of all fields and the public at large.