Music Program

Music

Breaking the barriers of sound

Music Program at UCCS

The UCCS Music Program connects long-standing musical traditions with twenty-first-century interdisciplinary practices and innovative approaches. Our inclusive, broad-based curriculum encourages students to develop excellence in a variety of musical genres. We welcome students from all musical backgrounds and styles to join and contribute to our vibrant community. 

Academics
Auditions
Ensembles
Faculty
Facilities
Resources
Giving
Contact Us

Meet the Directors

Yiheng Yvonne Wu, Ph.D.
Co-director, Music Program

Welcome to the Music Program at UCCS! In our program, faculty are dedicated to supporting you through individual training, assistance with career development, and a supportive community that helps our students thrive and forge new musical pathways.

Our program is flexible and comprehensive. Students—both music majors and non-majors—can take courses in performance, composition, electronic music, audio engineering and production, business and entrepreneurship, music history and ethnomusicology, and interdisciplinary arts.

We also boast spectacular spaces for practicing, performing, and recording music. Opened in 2018, the Ent Center for the Arts provides state-of-the-art facilities for all aspects of music creation. In addition, our students have numerous opportunities to collaborate creatively across the arts in Film, Dance, Game-Design, Theatre, and Visual Arts. 

Come join us at UCCS and learn more!
 

Solveig Olsen, M.M.
Co-director, Music Program

Welcome to UCCS Music! Our students and faculty are constantly creating new intersections across music and the arts, humanities, natural and social sciences, and technology, unveiling new possibilites for music as a vibrant, influential field in the twenty-first century.

We offer a broad range of instrumental and vocal ensembles for both majors and non-majors and are particularly dedicated to enabling opportunities for musicians across the campus. Students can reach their highest potential as performers through our scholarship-driven Chamber Music program that includes: brass and woodwind quintets, string quartet, jazz combos, and small vocal groups. Other ensembles include Jazz and Improvisation, Creative Music, Electroacoustic, University Choir, Music Theatre, and Theatreworks student productions.

Come open doors to your musical future at UCCS!

Academic Programs

Our inclusive, broad-based music degrees prepare musicians for varied careers in composition/songwriting, performance, audio engineering, music production, and education. The UCCS Music program is unique for its flexibility—students may create their own paths through a variety of electives in addition to the core curriculum.

Our goals are to equip music students with modern skills, serve all music styles, contribute to the university and region through performances and events, and maintain a welcoming environment for a diverse student and faculty body.

Music Course Descriptions

How to Apply to the Music BA Program

To apply for the Music BA program, complete a music audition in addition to the general UCCS application.

Steps to Apply:

  1. Apply to UCCS.
  2. After passing the first stage of review, you will receive an invitation to submit materials for the Music BA application.
  3. Prepare video samples that showcase your skill and versatility.
  4. Complete the Music BA application, including your audition samples. 

UCCS Music Ensembles

Join Symphony 21: UCCS Symphony Orchestra, a UCCS chamber group, or one of many ensembles! 

Music Faculty

Our world-class, internationally celebrated faculty are decorated performers and composers, trained in long-standing musical traditions and deeply invested in advancing twenty-first-century interdisciplinary practices and innovative approaches.

Through our classes and performance opportunities, students become versatile and competitive in the twenty-first century musical landscape by developing essential skills in musicianship, entrepreneurship, and creative practices. 

Facilities
Chapman Foundations Recital Hall
Chapman Foundations Recital Hall

The Chapman Foundations Recital Hall is the central music performance venue of the VAPA Department and is designed to be one of the highest quality acoustic music spaces in the region. Seating 230, its compelling beauty and technical grandeur provide artists and audiences alike with an unparalleled experience. VAPA senior and junior recitals take place here, as well as frequent performances by our ensembles, faculty, visiting artists, and more.

Margot Lane Rehearsal Hall
Margot Lane Studio

The Margot Lane Studio is a 2,000 square foot rehearsal room for many ensembles, recordings, film scoring and other collaborative uses. With pristine acoustics, this room boasts large wall-sized windows with astounding views of Pikes Peak.

Recording studio and audio lab
Recording Studio & Audio Laboratory

The recording studio and audio laboratory is a state-of-the-art facility wired directly into the Margo Lane Rehearsal Hall, the Chapman Foundations Recital Hall, the Osborne Theatre and the Shockley Zalabak Theater. This facility serves a broad array of functions within the VAPA Department including audio recording engineering, sound design, film scoring, and multimedia production.

Practice room with piano, drum set, and mirror
Practice rooms

The music wing houses several practice rooms and small rehearsal studios constructed with high level acoustic isolation.

empty classroom with desks, music stands, chairs
Music program classrooms

Music Program classrooms in the Ent Center for the Arts are dedicated to musicians of every discipline. The rooms feature state-of-the-art technology and computer workstations.

Shockley-Zalabak Theater
Shockley-Zalabak Theater

Seating 757, this is the largest venue in the Ent Center for the Arts, designed to feel intimate despite its capacity and incorporating technically advanced features to showcase a diverse array of events, from dance to orchestra to choral performances and more.

wood instrument lockers
Lockers

In the Music wing of the Ent Center we have hallways of lockers for student instruments.

Arts multi-use classroom with storage, tables/chairs, and podium
VAPA Interdisciplinary Arts Lab

The VAPA Interdisciplinary Arts Lab (ECFA 245) is a multiuse, collaborative space for the interdisciplinary curriculum of the Department of Visual and Performing Arts programs (Film Studies, History of Art & Visual Culture, Music, Theatre & Dance, Visual Arts), equipped with an array of technology and resources including multi-media technology, installation and sculpture capabilities, sound, green screen for film, and more.

 

Resources For

 

Giving Opportunities

UCCS Music Program Fund

This giving opportunity helps fund operations, instructional programming, concerts by invited internationally acclaimed guest artists, and other costs that support the teaching mission of the VAPA Music Program at UCCS.
Bachelor of Innovation in Music, Tidal Breeze Jazz Arts Scholarship Endowment

Donating helps us provide undergraduate scholarship awards for students enrolled at UCCS and pursuing a BI Music degree. Preference given to students who are focusing on technology and science course work, in addition to the BI Music.
Officer Garrett Swasey Endowed Memorial Scholarship Fund

Officer Garrett Swasey was both a campus police officer and a musician and music aficionado. This fund provides undergraduate and graduate scholarship awards in Music and in Criminal Justice at UCCS.

Contact Us

Have questions about our different degree programs? Interested in a particular ensemble? Contact us for more information!

 

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