The area’s emphasis on scholarship and publication facilitates active engagement in broader conversations within the discipline, an engagement that enhances its profile beyond UNT while enriching its service to the university. The interface between research, performance, and teaching finds an immediate expression in the graduate programs supported by the area. This interface remains evident through an array of courses in music history aimed at undergraduate, master’s, and doctoral students from throughout the College of Music and across campus.

This is an important and worthy area of study that too often has been neglected. The study of non-Western music offers students a deeper understanding of not only other peoples, but also the possibility of gaining new insights into their own culture. A broader understanding of music cultures offers to majors in all fields of study a greater appreciation for the diversity and creativity of humankind.

String students at UNT:

Combining a unique balance of traditional classical percussion combined with an extensive world music curricula, students learn by performing the music of Brazil, Cuba, Trinidad, India, Indonesia and West Africa.

Conducting associates receive practical experience working regularly with the wind ensembles, appearing regularly on concert programs throughout the year. Additionally, conducting associates are integrally involved in the Wind Studies summer Conductor’s Collegium, a multifaceted workshop which provide opportunities for instrumental music educators of all levels from around the world to meet and discuss common goals, shared concerns, and practical solutions with colleagues, performers and composers.

Program highlights include the following:

Our alumni hold prestigious singing or conducting positions with the Metropolitan Opera, New York City Opera, Chicago Lyric Opera, Houston Grand Opera, numerous regional opera companies, nationally prominent professional choirs (including Conspirare, the Santa Fe Desert Chorale, Seraphic Fire, A Room full of Teeth, the Singing Sergeants, the President’s Own Marine Band, the Navy Sea Chanters, the U.S. Army Chorus), and university faculties across the nation.