Music Department

Colby's Music Department is extraordinarily active and vibrant.   Its wide-ranging concert offerings and civic engagement initiatives, both on and off campus, make it one of the Colby's most public "faces." The department's rich performance options and a strong curriculum of music history and theory courses presents the study of music as both an art form and as a rigorous academic discipline. The curriculum emphasizes historical and theoretical analysis, exposure to music from a wide variety of past and present world cultures, solo and group performance, and, more generally, abstract reasoning, written and oral skills. A testament to our success is the fact that many of our music majors are thriving in prestigious graduate programs in theory, history, composition, ethnomusicology, and performance.  In addition, our majors and minors, as well as students from the general student population, cite their Colby music experience as an important part of their preparation for employment in law, journalism, film, arts management, library science, and a wide variety of other professional pursuits.

Close faculty-student interaction is the hallmark of music study at Colby.  Most upper-level classes have fewer than 10 students, and seminars are even smaller. Music students frequently undertake independent study projects under the supervision of a faculty mentor and work as research assistants on faculty research projects.  

The department enthusiastically encourages all students interested in music to participate in some form of music making, whether through individual lessons, membership in an ensemble, or chamber music. Department-sponsored ensembles include the Colby Symphony Orchestra, the Colby College Chorale, Collegium Musicum (early music ensemble), the African Drumming Ensemble, Wind Ensemble, and Jazz Band. We also have an active chamber music program that includes student string quartets, piano and string ensembles, wind quintets, brass ensembles, a flute choir, and a guitar ensemble.  Colby's instrumental and vocal instructors include some of the most respected teacher/performers in New England and professional artists and ensembles who perform on the Music at Colby concert series frequently give master classes for music students.

The Music Department is located in Bixler Hall, which houses small ensemble rehearsal rooms, practice rooms, the orchestra/band rehearsal hall, and a 360-seat auditorium. The department's Electronic Music Center is a uniquely versatile studio for the creation of computer-generated compositions, including interactive multimedia. The Bixler Art and Music Library provides extensive resource materials for curricular and recreational needs, including a state-of-the art media center with a large collection of CDs, DVDs, and other recordings along with scanning and digital sound processing facilities.

Additional information about the Department of Music, including requirements for the major and a link to the Colby course catalog, can be found on the department website: http://www.colby.edu/academics_cs/acaddept/music/.  Prospective students are also always welcome to contact individual faculty members directly.