Join us for music lessons! All community music courses are open to the public. No academic credit is offered for lessons and classes.
What's New in Music
Concerts & Events
The School of Music produces a wide variety of events featuring faculty, students, ensembles, chamber groups, and guest artists. Visit the university event calendar for details.
Schneebeck LIVE
For those unable to attend in person, we are pleased to offer a live stream service for many of our music events.
Program Description
The School of Music at University of Puget Sound, situated within a nationally recognized liberal arts university, prepares students to be broad-minded, creative, arts-aware social leaders. We attract highly engaged student musicians and empower them to create the diverse musical offerings and effective educational programs of the future. From the classroom to the concert hall, we cultivate students’ self-expression, cultural competency, and critical engagement. Through a wide variety of public offerings and a vibrant Community Music program, the School of Music enriches the cultural life of both the Puget Sound campus and surrounding communities.
Who You Could Be
- Music teacher, professor
- Singer-songwriter
- Member of a professional ensemble or solo performer
- Band, orchestra, or choir director
- Opera or musical theater artist
- Executive director of a performing arts organization
STUDENT
Maia Connelly '26
"One of the main reasons I chose UPS was because of the music community, and I’m so glad that I did. The friendships I have found here have been perhaps even more important to me than the wonderful music we’ve made."
ALUMNI
Drew Shipman '21
"At Puget Sound, I have the opportunities to make music in so many capacities at a high level; you can't get that diverse and insightful musical experience anywhere else."
Brittany Harrington leads a Double Reed Tech class in the School of Music.
Into The Woods performer
Symphony Orchestra Spring 2024
Adelphian Choir Rehearsal 2024
Pop Music Ensemble performance
Symphony Orchestra Spring 2024
Jazz Ensemble Rehearsal 2024
Into The Woods performance orchestra
Nic Casey teaches a recording techniques course in Schneebeck Concert Hall
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Sample Courses
This course will introduce students to methods and issues in the discipline of ethnomusicology, wherein music is studied among its complex intersections with daily life. The course introduces pathways for studying music ethnographically, rendering transparent how music can be explored as culture. Students will approach the study of ethnomusicology through a variety of world music case studies, and will have the opportunity to conduct their own ethnographic fieldwork.
Code
Artistic and Humanistic PerspectivesKnowledge, Identity, and Power
This course provides students with knowledge of and hands-on practice with the basics of working in a recording studio, including acquiring knowledge of studio set up and the essentials of recording music digitally.
Code
Artistic and Humanistic Perspectives
Prerequisites
MUS 101 and 103.
An introduction to jazz theory and improvisation through the study of selected compositions with emphasis on musical analysis, transcription, and performance. Laboratory required.
Code
Artistic and Humanistic Perspectives
Prerequisites
MUS 202 and 204 or permission of the instructor.
A study of the singing voice. This includes the structures, mechanics, and acoustics involved in the production of a sung tone, as well as practical methods for developing the voice and correcting vocal faults.
Prerequisites
Permission of the instructor.
Advanced study of choral conducting techniques, emphasizing strategies for choral pedagogy, vocal warm-ups, advanced meters, and recitative. Class time is spent in lecture, discussion, demonstration, and skill refinement. Students conduct an ensemble consisting of class members during regular videotaped conducting labs, with formal and informal evaluation given by the instructor. Once a week, students conduct a lab ensemble consisting of music education majors, providing an opportunity for the exploration of choral repertoire and rehearsal techniques.
A study and practice of general music curriculum and instruction in elementary and middle schools. Students develop teaching goals, strategies, and lessons for singing, playing instruments, listening, composing, improvising, music reading, analyzing, and creative movement. Practicum teaching and observing within elementary school music programs is included throughout the semester.
Code
Artistic and Humanistic PerspectivesExperiential Learning
Prerequisites
MUS 201 and 203.
Experiential Learning
Students gain experience in a number of ways:
- Cara Castaldi '25, summer research grant, "Japonisme in 19th and 20th Century French Impressionist Art: Debussy, Van Gogh, and Mallarmé"
- Grace Playstead ’24, summer research grant, "African-American Concert Singers Before and After the Nazi Racial State"
- Liana Greger ’24, summer research grant, "A Historical Analysis of Student Experience in the Puget Sound Vocal Performance Program in the 1990s"
- Alexander Westervelt ’25, summer research grant, "A critical examination of how artistically transformative experiences are created"
- Helen Woodruff '20 interned at Stanford Jazz Workshop
- Perform with faculty on professional concerts like Collage and in various ensemble groups and competitions
- Perform with student groups like Curtain Call (musical theater) or Underground Sound (a capella)
STORIES
STORIES
Read more about Spreading the Joy
Faculty
Arches
Spreading the Joy
Assistant Professor Tina Huynh wants to share the joy of music with everyone. Whether she’s collecting Vietnamese children’s music, teaching undergraduate- and graduate-level courses in music and music education at the…
Read more about Beyond Billie
Alumni
Beyond Billie
Sam Faustine ’13 likes to say he has four feet. A freelance musician based in San Francisco, he uses the metaphor to explain how he juggles his varied interests as a musician. “I have one foot in the choral community, one in…
Read more about Building Musical Bridges
Alumni
Arches
Building Musical Bridges
But after being seated next to Danielle Rogers ’18, herself a talented soprano who was then a senior in high school, Rhiannon couldn’t help talking about her alma mater. On Rhiannon’s recommendation,…
After Puget Sound
A sampling of things our alumni are doing:
- Metropolitan Opera (performer)
- Rutgers University (composition professor)
- Pittsburgh Symphony (principal trumpet)
- Detroit Symphony (violist)
- Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart, Houston (assistant choir director)
- Portland Symphonic Choir (executive director)
- Sitka Fine Arts Camp (operations director)
- Walla Walla Chamber Music Festival (production manager)
- Ledbetter Entertainment (owner)
- Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts (chief executive)
- Tuscaloosa City Schools (elementary music specialist)
- San Francisco Symphony (vocal soloist)
- Rice University
- Manhattan School of Music
- University of Michigan
Meet Our Faculty
Gwynne Brown
Professor, Music and Director of Interdisciplinary Humanities Emphasis
Prof. Brown teaches music theory and varied musicology courses. Her research on 20th-century American music and African American composers has been widely published and presented at national conferences.
A musician and educator, Prof. Doyle is an accomplished performer and advocate of multidisciplinary collaboration, equity, and community engagement.
Prof. Hutchinson teaches a variety of music classes, including theory, orchestration, composition, and analysis. He also routinely composes for and performs with several local music organizations.
Prof. Huynh centers culturally responsive teaching as an approach to the music education classroom. She teaches music curriculum and pedagogy courses and MAT courses.
A chamber musician and recitalist, Prof. MacRae teaches classes in both cello and chamber music, is a member of the Puget Sound Piano Trio, and serves as a member of the artist faculty at Brevard Music Center.
Active in both nationwide and international music projects and organizations, Prof. Morris conducts the Wind Ensemble and Concert Band, and teaches courses in music education and conducting.
Prof. Padula, mezzo-soprano, is a versatile performer of opera, oratorio, art song, jazz, and musical theater, who is Director of Vocal Studies and Opera Theater.
Prof. Sampen, violin is a concerto soloist, recitalist and chamber musician. She is deeply committed to teaching and mentoring the next generation of string students and chamber musicians.
With extensive service as a conductor, adjudicator, and clinician nationally and abroad, Prof. Zopfi oversees four choirs at Puget Sound, teaches conducting and applied voice, and conducts the Adelphian Concert Choir.
Facilities
Schneebeck Concert Hall seats 500 and is the venue for more than 100 student and faculty recitals, guest lectures, and concerts each year.
Housing the Bethel Schneebeck pipe organ, the chapel hosts a variety of campus events including vocal and instrumental concerts.
Recording Studio
The School of Music has a small recording studio that students can use to practice their recording skills.