Welcome to the School of Music
The School of Music at Southern Illinois University Carbondale is an exciting place to be right now! With student enrollment climbing, fresh programs of study emerging, and numerous new faculty integrating, there is so much to celebrate!
Accredited by the National Association of Schools of Music for more than 40 consecutive years, the SIUC School of Music offers undergraduate degrees in 8 specializations, and graduate degrees in 7 concentrations. The essence of the school’s mission is to foster the education and preparation of music students who aspire to be performers, educators, composers, theorists, conductors, historians, and music industry personnel. The department also provides first-rate educational experience for music minors and for other students from across the campus. In supporting its mission, the SIUC School of Music upholds the highest artistic and academic standards.
This simply could not happen without a devoted faculty of caring individuals. The renowned music faculty of the SIUC School of Music constitutes a broad cross-section of outstanding, professionally active teachers. These full-time professors have studied at the finest institutions and conservatories, often gaining national and international recognition in their areas of expertise. Students are sometimes surprised to learn that all courses for music majors are always taught by these faculty. Students can be assured of the finest quality instruction, and with classroom student/teacher ratios at about 15:1, they also can expect the personal attention that they deserve.
For almost 10 years, the SIUC School of Music has been experiencing positive enrollment growth. This has created a noticeable energy around Altgeld Hall, the facility which houses the school. It is one of great historical buildings on the SIUC campus. With the $11-million-dollar renovation and expansion to Altgeld Hall completed in 2004, music students (and faculty) now enjoy freshly designed or reconfigured classrooms, practice rooms, and rehearsal halls. These all are state-of-the-art spaces, newly equipped, and acoustically engineered.
Aside from its educational role, Southern Illinois University Carbondale also represents a center of culture in southern Illinois. SIUC School of Music activities are a major component of this, not only serving the cultural needs of the university population, but also serving those of the larger populations of Carbondale, the surrounding region, and beyond. Over the past academic year, School of Music students presented over 125 concerts, recitals or other performances on campus. Add the numerous faculty and guest concerts, recitals, workshops, master classes, and seminars, and it would seem as if there is a School of Music event every day! And let’s not forget the annual ensemble tours and other off-campus appearances—the Wind Ensemble, the Symphony Orchestra, the Concert Choir, the Studio Jazz Orchestra, and the Marching Salukis. These same performing student ensembles, as well as others, are available to all SIUC students by audition, regardless of major. Some ensembles are open to community members as well. Follow the links on these pages to find concert dates, and contact or audition information.
And in an ever-shrinking world, outreach on a global level is more and more frequently being carried out to the four corners of the planet by our faculty and our student groups. Within recent years, performances or scholarly presentations have been made in Australia, Austria, Canada, China, Croatia, England, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Japan, Korea, Ireland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Taiwan and Trinidad. Likewise, our graduates can be found in prominent orchestras, opera and music theater companies, institutions of learning, and music enterprises throughout this country and indeed, around the world.
Campus visits are a great way for students to determine if SIUC is a good fit. A hearty Southern welcome is all but guaranteed! Located in what is arguably the most beautiful part of Illinois, the SIUC campus has been attracting students for nearly 150 years. They are first drawn to the university’s outstanding programs, but while students are here, they fall in love with the scenic beauty and the welcoming hospitality. The region is a paradise for outdoor recreation—boating, rock climbing, hiking, nature walking, hunting and horseback riding.
I am pleased that you chose to visit the SIUC School of Music web pages today. You are invited to explore them fully. And if after browsing, I can help you further, or if I can direct your suggestions or questions to the appropriate resources, please feel free to contact me. Otherwise, I sincerely hope that like our students, alumni and faculty, you will come to regard the SIUC School of Music as an optimal environment in which to study and succeed. Remember... there’s a place for you at Southern.
Jeanine Wagner
Director/Professor of Voice
jwagner@siu.edu