• The School aligns three outstanding departments: Ethnomusicology, Music, and Musicology.

• The Department of Ethnomusicology is the only one of its kind in the U.S. and the most prestigious program in the world for the study of diverse musical cultures. The department is also home to UCLA’s acclaimed jazz program.

• The Department of Music boasts a roster of internationally acclaimed performers and composers from the Western classical tradition and the only accredited music education program in the University of California system.

• The award-winning faculty of the Department of Musicology teach and conduct research on jazz, heavy metal, techno, musical theater and other forms of popular music as well as European classical music.

These departments — plus music professors who hold appointments in the departments of Anthropology, Sociology, and World Arts and Cultures — provide the School with a well-balanced menu of graduate and undergraduate courses and curricula devoted to the creation and scholarly study of music. This new approach capitalizes on the tremendous breadth of the repertoires we teach: Western classical music, jazz, world music, and popular music. No matter what area of music study interests you the most, you will find a home here at UCLA in a creative environment that brings out the best in each of our students.

Our mission is educate the whole student through: Productive collaborations between performance and scholarship; A cross-cultural, global understanding of the art of music; Interdepartmental and interdisciplinary integration that maximizes the potential of our position within a great research university; Connections to the musical life of Los Angeles and Southern California; and Progressive, forward-looking curricula centered on what students need to be successful in music and in life after graduation. I hope you will visit the campus sometime soon. In the meantime, best wishes.

Sincerely yours,

Timothy Rice
Director, The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music