Belmont University (School of Music) - Overview
In the heart of Nashville, Tennessee
Located in Nashville, just a few steps from Music Row, Belmont University is one of the largest private universities in Tennessee. It is dedicated to providing an academically challenging education that enables men and women of diverse backgrounds to engage and transform the world with disciplined intelligence, compassion, courage and faith. Belmont is large enough to provide a wide array of programs, yet small enough that every individual counts. Our vision is to be a premier teaching university bringing together the best of liberal arts and professional education in a Christian community of learning and service.
The School of Music is part of the College of Visual and Performing Arts, which includes programs in Art, and Theatre and Dance. The School of Music is a stimulating artistic community that fosters the study, performance and creation of music in a context of excellence and respect for diversity in musical styles. The School of Music has 550 undergraduates and 50 graduate students. Our students come from thirty-five states and various countries.
Belmont offers a variety of Music Majors and Graduate programs
Music students at Belmont receive excellent training which builds on their existing skills and talents and provides them with opportunities to further explore and expand their musical interest and abilities. The School of Music has a tradition of a strong choral program, but is also home to one of the first commercial music programs in the country. A growing instrumental program continues to add to the school's musical diversity. In all areas of musical study, the individual artist is the focal point of instruction. Integrated understanding is emphasized through numerous opportunities that put classroom learning into application in performing ensembles.
Faculty members are graduates of some of the most prestigious institutions and hold honors such as Composer of the Year awards, listings in Who's Who in Music, Outstanding Educator of America, Grammy Award nominations, professional released recordings, and Metropolitan Opera Regional Finalist.
The School of Music is unique in that its wide range of majors offers the students opportunity to prepare in the traditional classical fields of music as well as in the world of popular music.
The classical majors (Church Music, Composition, Musical Theatre (B.M. and B.F.A), Music Education, Music Theory, Music with an Outside Minor, Performance and Piano Pedagogy) prepare students for careers as performers, church musicians, school music teachers, private studio teachers, college instructors and any area of work involving creativity, people skills and organization.
The School of Music offers a non-classical major in Commercial Music. Commercial Music majors select an emphasis in Composition and Arranging, Music Business, Music Technology, Songwriting or Performance to prepare for careers as performing artists in various styles in the world of popular music. This major also prepares students for careers as composers, arrangers, and studio musicians, as wells as for work in music technology and other fields in the industry which require musical skills.
The Belmont University Master of Music Degree includes six majors: Church Music, Commercial Music, Composition, Music Education, Pedagogy, and Performance. Each of the strong musical and academic curricula consists of 33 total hours of study. Graduate students in each major are required to successfully complete comprehensive written and oral examinations as well as a culminating project. Culminating Project track options vary according to the major and include: (a) lecture recital track (includes a research project), (b) full recital track (includes a recital paper), (c) thesis/project track.
Student Performances
Students are offered a variety of performance opportunities with ensembles and in major performances. Ensembles include choirs, orchestras, popular music groups, instrumentalist ensemblesand vocalist ensembles. Each ensemble presents a concert at least once per semester.
Christmas at Belmont is a popular holiday concert which features a variety of student ensembles and groups that highlight the musical diversity of the program. Every other year, this concert is filmed in Nashville's Schermerhorn Symphony Center for broadcast nationwide on PBS. In non-taping years, this concert is on campus with three sold out performances. The April President's Concert, similar in scope to Christmas at Belmont, offers another major performance opportunity in front of a large audience of students.
Each fall, the School of Music hosts the Fall Choral Institute which offers student vocalists and instrumentalists the opportunity to work with a guest conductor for the performance of a major choral work.
During the spring semester, the Commercial Music Showcase and the Classical Performers concert, feature some of the best vocalist and instrumentalists in the School Music. Students audition in front of music professionals to be selected for these prestigious performances.
Students also have the opportunity to tour or perform with area Arts organizations including Nashville Opera, Tennessee Repertory Theatre and Nashville Ballet. Over Spring Break, a limited number of ensembles tour regions of the United Sates to perform in a variety of settings. Chorale, one of the school's premiere vocal ensembles has previously toured in England and China. In spring 2009, the Oratorio Chorus, performed Carmina Burana with the Nashville Ballet.
Belmont Camerata Musicale and the Faculty Concert series provide students the opportunity to learn from Belmont faculty in a performance setting. The Encore (Classical) and Curtain Call (commercial) Awards offer students the opportunity to see successful School of Music alumni perform on campus.