Lifelong Musicianship: A Music Program for the UCCS Community

Opportunities abound for students across UCCS to continue their music practices throughout their college career.  These opportunities include many ensemble choices such as UCCS Orchestra 21, University Choir, Wind Ensemble, VAPA Vocal Ensemble, Music Theater, Chamber Music, Jazz Ensemble, Electro-Acoustic Ensemble, Creative Music Ensemble and the UCCS Athletics Band. While our large ensembles are quickly expanding, we emphasize small ensemble development and training whether student’s background are in classical music, jazz, rock, music-theatre, electronic music, or other traditions. Small Ensembles for students include the Honors Scholarship Ensemble, Brass Quintet, String Quartet, Jazz Combo, and more

MUS 1100 - UCCS Symphony Orchestra 
Dr. Glen Whitehead, Director 
Open to UCCS students, faculty, staff, alumni and the broader campus community. This ensemble pursues a broad perspective on instrumentation and repertoire that will also include an expanded brass, woodwind and percussion section. In addition to full orchestra, we will address wind ensemble and string repertoire, commissioning pieces, improvisation, student compositions as well as iconic literature. Emphasis will be on highlighting composers from diverse backgrounds and perspectives, works composed in the 21st century, a focus on the performer as artist, as well as contributing as a lab for student composers.  

This ensemble will also be investigating the role of the orchestra in the 21st Century, addressing directly our cultures and times, inquiring into the relationship between traditional and modern repertoire as well as the symphony orchestra as a contributor to knowledge and culture.  

MUS 1200 - World Music Ensemble 
Haleh Abghari and Staci Toma Cotten, Directors
This course investigates the historical frameworks, cultural contexts, social and political influences that have created traditional drumming practices around the world. This course includes both intensive academic inquiry and study as well as applied drumming techniques an ensemble performance.  

MUS 1310 - University Choir 
Solveig Olsen, Director
Open to UCCS students, faculty, staff, alumni and the broader campus community. The University Choir performs a wide range of choral music throughout the centuries, and from around the world. This includes everything from Renaissance chant, Bach and Mozart, to African-American spirituals, jazz, Brazilian music and experimental music. Vocal technique is taught through the rehearsal process. A simple audition to ensure the ability to math pitch and hear harmony is required at the first class meeting. Basic music reading skills are encouraged.  

MUS 2210 - Wind Ensemble 
Open to all wind, brass and percussion players; all UCCS students, faculty, staff, alumni and the broader campus community 

MUS 2250 - Jazz and Improvisation Ensemble 
Dr. Colin McAllister, Director
Open to UCCS students, faculty, staff, alumni and the broader campus community. The Jazz and Improvisation Ensemble is a rehearsal and performance ensemble course.  This class will focus on repertoire representing different styles and periods from the wide-ranging Jazz idiom with a priority on jazz in the 21st century.  Also, students will study and practice broader methods and pedagogical approaches to improvisation.  

MUS 2300 - Electro-Acoustic Ensemble
Dr. Glen Whitehead, Director
For music majors and minors. This cutting-edge ensemble accommodates any and all instruments and vocal types. Student musicians will explore a range of composition and improvisation approaches, merging popular genres and styles with experimental flare, bridging the acoustic world, with the electronic (digital and analogue) and engaging in an intensive semester-long collaboration with DNCE 4900/ MUS 4900.  

MUS 2400 - Chamber Players and Singers
Haleh Abghari and Martha Muehleisen, Directors 
Open to a broad spectrum of instruments and vocalists in the classical music tradition, this ensemble will focus on the development of chamber music literature, performance, and practice, rehearsal methods and professional ensemble building focusing on repertoire from the Renaissance period to new music of the 21st century. Most significantly, this ensemble will strive to create recognized student groups (e.g. string quartets, brass and woodwind quintets, piano trios).

MUS 4300 - Creative Music Ensemble
Dr. Jane Rigler and Dr. Glen Whitehead, Directors 
Creative Music Ensemble is an advanced ensemble for music majors and minors that explores a variety of notated and improvised contemporary music practices.  All students both compose and perform. 

UCCS Student Brass Quintet 
For more information, please contact Jon Forshee at jforshee@uccs.edu.

UCCS Student String Quartet 
For more information, please contact Martha Muehleisen at mmorris4@uccs.edu.

The UCCS Music Program hosts frequent events at the Ent Center for the Arts and elsewhere on campus, including our popular Peak FreQuency series, Music Program First Fridays events, student recitals, ensemble performances, creative EcoSono performances and collaborations, and more. See our schedule of upcoming events below!

Please click here for more information on the program and to register for private lessons.