As a student in TCU’s School of Music, you will study with outstanding faculty members as well as listen to, interact and study with renowned guest artists from throughout the world in an artistically and academically rigorous environment. You will excel and grow as an artist in an academic environment that is large enough to afford students world-class musical opportunities, yet small enough to ensure a personalized musical experience.
Academics
Brass
As a TCU brass student, you’ll access a range of courses and opportunities that will equip you with the specific skills and guidance to grow as a musician.
Composition/Theory
In this program, you’ll learn from full-time composers and theorists in a highly selective program offering individual instruction and mentoring.
Musicology
Because music is inextricably woven into the fabric of human activity, the cultural and philosophical contexts of which music has been a part are important considerations in the study of the variety of styles, genres, and media that students in our program have the opportunity to explore.
Percussion
The TCU Percussion Studio is dedicated to maximizing percussion education through a wide variety of performing ensembles and a closely supervised private lesson structure.
Piano
Piano majors study with an internationally known faculty of artists and teachers through a variety of program options.
Strings
The TCU School of Music offers a world-class education from a faculty that includes nationally and internationally recognized musicians in violin, viola, cello, bass, harp and guitar.
Voice
Our goal in the voice program is to prepare our students for success whether they choose to use their vocal talents on stage, in the classroom or elsewhere in life.
Woodwinds
The woodwind curriculum includes personalized instruction and performance opportunities in an equally supportive and challenging environment.
At TCU, you’ll grow intellectually and personally, and you’ll also gain specific knowledge and skills for a career. You’ll learn by doing, stepping outside the classroom to turn your ideas into action. Internships are invaluable for helping determine which career path most interests you.
Internship experiences within the School of Music are based on your area of study. Music education majors often pursue private teaching, sectional or band camp classes with area school districts. Students who pursue Bachelor of Music or Bachelor of Arts degrees can take advantage of internships through summer music festivals, area arts organizations, places of worship, community outreach programs and more.
Contact the Center for Career and Professional Development to request funding for these internships.
TCU policy on internships
TCU offers hundreds of internships in any given semester and does not support political or personal statements associated with any of them. We evaluate each opportunity to ensure academic value as it relates to a course of study. Beyond that, we encourage you to seek the opportunities that best match your interests and to choose how to best fulfill your internship requirements.
Develop your degree plan with advisors who are committed to your personal and professional success. The School of Music guides you every step of the way so that you can identify and accomplish your academic and career goals. To speak with your advisor, refer to the contact list below or your my.tcu.edu student center portal. For more information about advising in the School of Music, please contact Dr. Karen Click.
Karen A. Click, DMA
Assistant Director, Academic Programs
300A Jarvis Hall
karen.click@tcu.edu
817-257-4294
Primary Advisors
Wind Conducting: Bobby Francis
Orchestral Conducting: German Gutierrez
Choral Conducting: Christopher Aspaas
With fulltime piano studio teacher: Ann Gipson, Harold Martina, John Owings, Tamás Ungár
Other piano students advised as follows: Ann Gipson
Harp and Guitar: Blaise Ferrandino
Violin: Elisabeth Adkins
Viola: Misha Galaganov
Cello: Jésus Castro-Balbi
Double Bass: Blaise Ferrandino, Yuan Xiong Lu
A – L (Undergraduates): Sean Atkinson, Till Meyn
M – Z (Undergraduates): Blaise Ferrandino, Martin Blessinger
Graduates: By primary professor
With fulltime voice studio teacher: David Brock, San-Ky Kim, Twyla Robinson, James Rodriguez, Angela Turner Wilson
Other voice students advised as follows:
Voice majors last names beginning A – F: David Brock
Voice majors last names beginning G- L: San-ky Kim
Voice majors last names beginning M – Q: James Rodriguez
Voice majors last names beginning R – V: Twyla Robinson
Voice majors last names beginning W – Z: Angela Turner Wilson
Flute, Oboe: Shauna Thompson
Clarinet: Gary Whitman
Saxophone, Bassoon: Joe Eckert
Trumpet: Jon Burgess
Horn: Heather Test
Trombone: David Begnoche
Tuba, Euphonium: Richard Murrow
Percussion: Brian A. West
Advisors by Degree
Primary advisor as listed by instrument/discipline.
Primary advisor as listed by instrument/discipline.
Secondary advisors:
Last names beginning A – I: Stuart Cheney
Last names beginning J – R: William Gibbons
Last names beginning S – Z: Tim Watkins
Primary advisor as listed by instrument/discipline.
Secondary advisors:
Vocal and Percussion: Sheri Neill
Instrumental: Laura Singletary
At TCU, you’ll graduate with the skills — collaboration, creativity, organization and leadership — to pursue a successful career inside and outside the arts. Some music graduates decide to attend law or medical school. Others continue their graduate studies at prestigious universities and conservatories across the country.
With a job placement rate over 90 percent, our graduates have gone on to succeed as public and private school teachers, church music directors, freelance musicians, arts administrators, music producers and professional musicians in symphony orchestras, chamber ensembles or opera companies.
Career Services
You’ll have access to a career consultant who works with fine arts students. This person’s expertise working with arts majors is a clear advantage for you. Schedule one-on-one meetings with your career consultant, who will assess and analyze what you need most. Whether you’re crafting a speech or preparing for a job interview, your career consultant is there on the sidelines — pushing you into the game.
Melanie Coulson
Career Consultant to the College of Fine Arts
817-257-2222
m.coulson@tcu.edu
For more information about job opportunities, please visit:
Center for Career & Professional Development