Music

This is the first version of the 2025–26 General Catalog. Please check back regularly for changes. The final edition and the historical PDF will be published during the fall semester.

Undergraduate major: music (BA, BM)

Undergraduate minor: music

Graduate degrees: MA in music; PhD in music; DMA

Graduate minor: theory pedagogy

Faculty: https://music.uiowa.edu/people

Website: https://music.uiowa.edu/

The University of Iowa School of Music is prominent in a fine arts community of international repute. It has long been recognized as one of the excellent university-based music schools in the United States.

The school's on-campus enrollment of approximately 450 music majors is large enough to sustain strong programs in all areas of specialization, yet small enough to ensure the individual attention essential to each student's development.

The faculty consists of highly trained artist-teachers in each specialization area and scholars of international distinction. Private lessons with faculty members are offered in all band and orchestra instruments, and in jazz studies, organ, piano, and voice.

The school's undergraduate programs offer all qualified students, whether music majors or nonmajors, the opportunity for further study of music. In addition to its comprehensive course offerings for majors, the school provides a substantial selection of courses especially recommended for nonmajors and several approved for the GE CLAS Core (see the following section, "Courses for Nonmajors").

Graduate programs in music are designed primarily to prepare students for teaching in secondary schools, colleges, and universities and for careers in performance and music therapy.

The School of Music is a charter member of the National Association of Schools of Music. The requirements for entrance and for graduation are in accordance with the association's published standards.

The School of Music participates in offering the Certificate in Digital Arts, and the Certificate in Social Justice and the Performing Arts

Courses for Nonmajors

The School of Music offers a wide range of courses that are appropriate for non-music majors. Courses about jazz, music and culture, music history, music software, and other topics are available as well as individual instruction on a number of instruments and voice; see School of Music Courses in this section of the catalog.

Several School of Music courses are approved for the GE CLAS Core; look for courses with the prefix MUS under Historical Perspectives; Literary, Visual, and Performing Arts; and Values and Society in the GE CLAS Core section of the catalog.

For course descriptions, see School of Music Courses in this section of the catalog.

Participation in School of Music ensembles is open to all University of Iowa students with the ensemble director's approval. 

Course # Title Hours
MUS:1160University Band1
MUS:1165Hawkeye Marching Band1
MUS:1166Large Pep Band1
MUS:1176Voxman Chorale1
MUS:1180Campus Symphony Orchestra1
MUS:3160Symphony Band/Concert Band1
MUS:3162All University Steel Band1-3
MUS:3170Kantorei1
MUS:3172Camerata Singers1
MUS:3174University Choir1
MUS:3180Orchestra1

Other courses recommended for music nonmajors include the following.

Course # Title Hours
MUS:1000First-Year Seminar1
MUS:1001Group Piano I: Non-Music Majors1
MUS:1002Group Piano II: Non-Music Majors1
MUS:1007Garage Band: The Basics2
MUS:1009Jazz Cultures in America and Abroad3
MUS:1010Recital Attendance for Nonmajors1
MUS:1012Creativity in Music3
MUS:1020Performance Instruction for Nonmajors (interested students should consult with the instructor of their instrument)1
MUS:1066Introduction to Film Music3
MUS:1100Fundamentals of Music for Non-Music Majors3
MUS:1201Musicianship and Theory I4
MUS:1301Concepts and Contexts of Western Music3
MUS:1302Great Musicians3
MUS:1303Roots, Rock, and Rap: A History of Popular Music3
MUS:1310World Music3
MUS:1610Group Singing Experience1
MUS:1720History of Jazz3
MUS:1740/AFAM:1240The Art of Listening to Jazz3
MUS:1741/AFAM:1241The Soundtrack of Black America3
MUS:1800World of the Beatles3
MUS:2005Issues in Popular Music: Women Who Rock3
MUS:2160Drumline Techniques1
MUS:2301History of Western Music I3
MUS:2302History of Western Music II3
MUS:2311/LAS:2311Music of Latin America and the Caribbean3
MUS:3851/DANC:3851Introduction to the Alexander Technique3