
The Major
The music major provides grounding in the theory and practice of music, and instruction in performance, composition and musical scholarship.
Learn MoreWe 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.
The music major provides grounding in the theory and practice of music, and instruction in performance, composition and musical scholarship.
Learn MoreAnyone can take a course in music. Topics include composition, electronic music, ethnomusicology, history, improvisation, jazz, opera, performance, popular music and theory.
Learn MoreWe support performance opportunities in early music, experimental music, jazz, new music, popular music, western classical music and world music.
Learn MoreStudent musicians make up our three large ensembles—Choral Society, Symphony Orchestra and Jazz Ensemble—and an array of smaller ensembles.
Learn MoreWe offer private music lessons for beginners, intermediate and advanced performers taught by professional adjunct instructors.
Learn MoreOur concert series brings internationally renowned musicians to campus for performances, master classes and lectures.
Learn MoreThe music building houses Buckley Recital Hall, as well as two large rehearsal rooms and practice facilities for student and faculty use.
Learn MoreAmherst’s arts programs foster a lively environment for the multidisciplinary study, creation and presentation of the arts.
Learn MoreExplore jazz harmonic and improvisational practice from both the theoretical and the applied standpoint, building toward a performance at the end of the semester.
Develop skills that lead to a greater understanding of sound in theatre, media, and everyday life and explore the fundamentals of audio production and acoustics.
Develop new performance practices drawn from American and European experimental musics, approaches to post-1965 jazz improvisation, and several musical traditions that use improvisation.
On the eve of the Kaleidoscope Vocal Ensemble’s Sept. 19, 2019, debut performance at Amherst College, the octet rehearses the final movement of Musikalische Exequien by Heinrich Schütz (1585-1672) with the Amherst College Concert Choir. Directed by Arianne Abela.