The Music Department has a long-standing reputation for training excellent musicians. This enables our graduates to gain admission to leading graduate schools and to hold positions as performers, teachers and professors throughout the United States and abroad.

Students who wish to teach music may complete a Bachelor of Music Education Degree with a focus in choral/general or instrumental music. These students must also complete teacher certification requirements in education. Students seeking careers as performers should complete a Bachelor of Music Degree. This major offers tracks students can follow to specialize in instrumental performance, keyboard performance, voice performance or jazz studies. Students with a general interest in music may complete a Bachelor of Arts or a Bachelor of Science degree. This degree also requires a minor in another subject field.

The Music Department also offers a minor in music.

Degrees and Majors:

Bachelor of Music Education Degree

• Choral/General Music - Birth-21 Certification

• Instrumental Music - Birth-21 Certification

Bachelor of Music Degree - Performance

• Instrumental Performance (non-keyboard)

• Jazz Performance

• Keyboard Performance

• Voice Performance

Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science - Music Major

Minors:

Music

Let's talk Music

• UW-Superior's Music Department is accredited by the National Association of Schools of Music. This assures students that our program has the faculty, curriculum and facilities to offer a quality education in music. Highly qualified faculty members, who are noted performers themselves, teach all classes including one-on-one applied lesson instruction.
• Students have numerous performance opportunities on campus and in the surrounding communities. On-campus performance opportunities include our Acappella Choir, Chamber Choir, Symphonic Band, University Orchestra, Opera Workshop, Jazz Ensemble, Percussion Ensemble, Steel Drum Ensemble, chamber groups and solo recitals. Qualified students may also audition to play in the Duluth- Superior Symphony Orchestra, work as back-up musicians with visiting entertainers, play organ for local churches, lead or accompany church choirs, and teach younger students in the community.
• Recent guest performers who conducted master classes on campus include violinist Midori, saxophonist Dale Underwood, pianist Joseph Kalichstein, Met Opera soprano Cynthia Lawrence and percussionist Michael Udow.
• Small classes allow individualized instruction and extra help from professors.
• International Touring: The UW-Superior Choir toured Slovakia in 2002, all musical ensembles toured Brazil in 2005, the Orchestra and Choir toured China in 2008, and the Bands toured Costa Rica in 2010.
• Our 700-seat acoustically enhanced Thorpe Langley Auditorium provides a performance venue for large ensembles. It also houses a 9-foot Steinway grand and a smaller grand for ensemble use.
• Holden Fine and Applied Arts Center is home to the Music Department. The building includes Webb Recital Hall with a 31-rank Schlicker pipe organ and Steinway B grand piano; 30 acoustically-treated practice rooms -- two with pipe organs and three with Steinway grand pianos, MIDI lab for computer-assisted composition and arranging, playback lab for developing improvisation skills, and a class piano lab.
• Scholarships are awarded annually to students who demonstrate musical talent and scholastic ability. Auditions are held every spring.

What can you do with a degree in Music from UW-Superior?

Students majoring in music have numerous career options. Graduates of our program teach in grade schools, high schools and universities all over the country. Other alumni perform in noted orchestras, lead large church music programs, provide music on Broadway or for Hollywood movies, perform as solo artists, and teach in private studios. Combining your knowledge of music with other skills can open doors to many other careers such as retail music business, the music recording industry, musical theatre, arts administration and management. Our professors would be happy to discuss the many career possibilities with you.