Welcome to the UIW Department of Music
We are a community of musicians: music therapists, music educators, composers and performers. Improving your musicianship is our focus, and our curriculum is designed to nurture the unique musical gifts of every student. Our music classes tend to be small, allowing for personalized attention and direct access to faculty.
Performance opportunities are plentiful within department ensembles (see the Ensembles page). The UIW ensembles have performed in venues such as Carnegie Hall, the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland, and the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts. Other performance opportunities include Singer's Workshop, and special projects like Where Rivers Meet (Fall 2015).
The University of the Incarnate Word department of music is accredited by the National Association of Schools of Music ( NASM).
The UIW Department of Music offers seven programs of study:
- BM in Music Therapy
- BM in Music Education with a Minor in All-Level Certification
- BM in Composition
- BA with an Emphasis in Music Industry Studies
- BA with an Emphasis Performance (Vocal or Instrumental)
- BA in Music
- Minor in Music
We invite you to learn more about Music at the University of the Incarnate Word. You will find a supportive environment of faculty and staff who are welcoming of students with differing backgrounds and abilities, and who want to see them succeed. Whatever your interest in music may be, our goal is to help you discover and develop the talents you have.
The faculty and students in the Department of Music at the University of the Incarnate Word share three underlying goals, inspired by the university’s history as a liberal arts institution, its mission, and its spiritual traditions. First, we seek to deepen our understanding of music through study, performance, and the creation of new music. Students develop a strong foundation in music theory, aural skills, and basic keyboard technique while exploring their own creativity through composition and improvisation and pursuing higher-level study of voice or a musical instrument. Second, we examine how music has functioned in different cultures, considering in detail both the long and rich history of Euro-American concert traditions and a variety of other music cultures. Third, we work to enrich our lives and the lives we touch outside the university through music. Students pursue this third goal in different ways, according to the focus of their chosen degrees, but are invited by the faculty to conceive of music as a vital form of communication that lends itself to self-improvement and service to others.
The UIW Department of Music is housed in a new, state-of-the-art building, featuring:
- 500-seat Concert Hall* with a Steinway D grand piano featuring performances by UIW ensembles, guest artists, and performers from the civic community.
- Ingrid Seddon Recital Hall*, a 101-seat venue with a Steinway B grand piano
- Choir* and Band* rehearsal halls
- A state-of-the-art recording studio* that includes a 7-foot Yamaha Disklavier grand piano
- A music therapy suite, including a services center for offering clinical sessions to the community
- Piano lab with 17 new Clavinova digital pianos
- A computer lab with 17 iMacs
- 18 Wenger modular practice rooms
- 7 teaching studios* and 2 general classrooms*
- A 45-seat lecture hall
- A percussion studio*
- A listening library
*Acoustics by Russ Berger Design Group.
The Choir Room, Band Hall, Concert Hall, and Recital Hall are wired to the recording studio, allowing for remote recording of rehearsals and performances throughout the building.