Music

We offer a range of courses and performing opportunities for students with or without previous musical experience.

We support a wide range of musical styles and encourage all students interested in making music to join us in a class or an ensemble appropriate to their level.

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Ensemble Rehearsal Schedule

  • Symphony Orchestra - Tuesdays and Thursdays, 7:00 pm - 9:30 pm
  • Jazz Ensemble - Mondays and Wednesdays, 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm
  • Jazz Combos - rehearsals to be arranged
  • Concert Choir - Mondays, 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm and Wednesdays, 8:00 pm - 10:00 pm
  • Women's Chorus - Mondays, 8:45 pm - 10:15 pm and Thursdays, 6:45 pm - 8:45 pm
  • Glee Club - Tuesdays, 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm and Thursdays, 9:00 pm - 10:30 pm
  • Madrigal Singers - two two-hour rehearsals per week (TBA) 
  • New Music Ensemble - rehearsals to be arranged
  • Chamber Music Ensembles - rehearsals to be arranged
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Featured

Bobby Bradford / Hafez Modirzadeh Quartet

The Music Department presents a special concert featuring the Bobby Bradford/Hafez Modirzadeh Quartet, including Los Angeles jazz legend Bobby Bradford (cornet), Hafez Modirzadeh (saxophone), Ken Filiano (bass), and royal hartigan (drums). 

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Department Highlights

About the Music Department

The Major

The music major provides grounding in the theory and practice of music, and instruction in performance, composition and musical scholarship.

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About the Music Department

The Curriculum

Anyone can take a course in music. Topics include composition, electronic music, ethnomusicology, history, improvisation, jazz, opera, performance, popular music and theory.

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About the Music Department

Arts at Amherst

The art and the history of art major is organized into two distinct programs: The History of Art and The Practice of Art.

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About the Music Department

Performance Opportunities

We support performance opportunities in early music, experimental music, jazz, new music, popular music, western classical music and world music.

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About the Music Department

Amherst Ensembles

Student musicians make up our three large ensembles—Choral Society, Symphony Orchestra and Jazz Ensemble—and an array of smaller ensembles.

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About the Music Department

Private Lessons

We offer private music lessons for beginners, intermediate and advanced performers taught by professional adjunct instructors.

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About the Music Department

Music at Amherst Series

Our concert series brings internationally renowned musicians to campus for performances, master classes and lectures.

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About the Music Department

Arms Music Center

The music building houses Buckley Recital Hall, as well as two large rehearsal rooms and practice facilities for student and faculty use.

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Music Courses

Current Courses
MUSI 115

Bob Marley & the Globalization of Jamaican Popular Music

Description

Explore the roots and development of Afro-Jamaican popular music, its leading figures and styles, and its enduring influence throughout the world.

MUSI 238

Pioneer Valley Soundscapes

Description

Explore, participate in and document the Pioneer Valley’s musical communities and acoustic terrain. Engage through fieldwork with local musicians to contribute to a Web-based documentary archive of nearby soundscapes.

MUSI 444

Twentieth-Century Analysis

Description

Explore stylistic characteristics of compositions that demonstrate the most important tendencies in 20th-century music. Try out various approaches, taking into consideration the composers’ different educational and cultural backgrounds.

About the Music Department

Music Department Prizes

Each year the department awards four prizes related to musicianship, critical analysis, singing, and compositions and performance.

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