Overview
With its three outstanding departments of Ethnomusicology, Music and Musicology, The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music, aspires to educate the whole student through productive collaborations between performance and scholarship, a cross-cultural, global understanding of the art of music, and preparatory training for a broad range of careers in music after graduation.
Public concerts, lectures, symposia, master classes, and musical theater and opera productions, are a hallmark of The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music. Each department hosts a calendar of events open to the entire community, enriching the lives of both those on stage and those in the audience, and contributing to the quality of life in the city and beyond.
- Number of Faculty : 118
- Number of Students: 483
- Number of Undergraduate Students: 331 (Ethnomusicology 81, Music 190, Musicology 60)
- Number of Graduate Students: 152 (Ethnomusicology 37, Music 75, Musicology 40)
Degrees offered:
Undergraduate
- Bachelor of Arts, Ethnomusicology – Jazz Studies Concentration, World Music Concentration
- Bachelor of Arts, Music – Composition Concentration, Music Education Concentration, Performance Concentration
- Bachelor of Arts, Music History, Minor in Music History
Graduate
- Master of Arts, Ethnomusicology
- Master of Arts, Music (Composition and Composition for Visual Media)
- Master of Arts, Musicology
- Master of Music & Doctor of Musical Arts – (All Classical Solo Instruments, Voice and Conducting
- Ph.D., Ethnomusicology
- Ph.D., Music (Composition)
- Ph.D., Musicology
Jacqueline Cogdell DjeDje, Department Chair
Department of Ethnomusicology
- Jacqueline Cogdell DjeDje, Department Chair
The Department of Ethnomusicology explores music from all the continents of the world, including traditional music, the music of America’s many ethnic groups, and contemporary forms of American popular and world music, including jazz. Ethnomusicologists focus on music as a cultural, social and political expression, while the systematic musicologists in the department examine scientifically and philosophically the fundamental nature of music, from acoustics to aesthetics. In addition to distinguished professors who write and lecture about music, the department hosts some of the world’s finest traditional music and jazz performers, who provide an unparalleled opportunity for hands-on musical experience. The department has close links with the many ethnic and area study centers on campus, as well as with the departments of anthropology, linguistics and world arts and cultures.
“Professor Kenny Burrell, head of Jazz Studies at UCLA, [is] . . . one of the most esteemed guitarists of the last half-century.”
“The pieces from Kronos Caravan included UCLA ethnomusicologist Jihad Racy’s ‘Ecstasy,’ a rounded essay in lyrically circling raptures both transcendental and earthy. The composer. . . joined the quartet in a graceful, collected performance.”
Roger Bourland, Department Chair
Department of Music
- Roger Bourland, Department Chair
- Gordon Henderson, Department Vice Chair
The Department of Music prepares students for professional careers as performers and composers with degree programs that fully integrate academic and artistic excellence. Studies emanate from both American and European music traditions with a strong focus on the international character of late 20th century composers and performers. Residencies with international artists, brought to campus under the auspices of UCLA Live, enrich artistic and intellectual training. Visiting artists have included tenor/conductor Placido Domingo, soprano Carol Vaness, cellist Yo-Yo Ma, the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet, trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, jazz artists Charlie Haden and Toshiko Akiyoshi, the Takács Quartet and the London Philharmonic Orchestra. The Department has a long tradition of performance and community service. Several outreach programs, including Opera Outreach, the Gluck Fellows Music Performance Program, and the Music Partnership Program serve local community by giving university students essential teaching and performance opportunities that also enhance the quality of arts outreach programming for Southern California’s youth and elderly populations. It is a program that fosters in its participants the passionate belief that arts outreach is an essential and central part of their musical lives.
“The UCLA Philharmonia. . . represents the future of classical music.”
“The Alma String Quartet could pass for a group well on its professional way. In fact, the group is composed of UCLA music students, who showed great promise and musical sheen in concert at Schoenberg Hall on Sunday.”
Department of Musicology
www.humnet.ucla.edu/humnet/musicology
- Robert Fink, Department Chair
- Tamara Levitz, Department Vice Chair
The mission of the UCLA Musicology department is to foster transformative critical thinking about music and musical practices. The Department of Musicology studies the history and interpretation of music with a special emphasis on the cultural and political significance of music across different eras and practices. While the field has traditionally focused on European art-music repertories, UCLA’s musicologists are known for also exploring the history and cultural significance of a wider swath of music, including jazz and other popular music, film music, and American musicals. The department regularly hosts lectures and seminars providing an opportunity for students and faculty to interact with leading scholars in music and related disciplines. Its distinguished faculty lecture widely and have authored prize-winning articles and books. The department is actively involved with several interdisciplinary programs at UCLA, including the Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, the Center for Seventeenth and Eighteenth-Century Studies, the Center for the Study of Women, the International Institute, and the Program in Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Studies. The Department is home to one of the most popular UCLA undergraduate courses, “The History of Rock ‘n’ Roll” and to ECHO, A Music-Centered Journal, which is created and maintained by graduate students and is the only fully refereed online journal dedicated to music scholarship.
“What is exciting here are the strategies that (Professor Elisabeth) Le Guin employs in this project, strategies radical and thoughtful and that also make for very engaging reading . . . Succeeds as work of cultural criticism, as a proving ground for new scholarly methodologies, and as a generous piece of writing."
“(Professor Raymond) Knapp does an excellent job of tracing the roots of the musical, avoiding much of the received wisdom.”