The Department of Music, Theatre, and Dance at IUP has a rich history dating back to the founding of this institution in 1875. Graduates of the department have gone on to distinguished careers in performance, teaching, and other fields within the music theatre, and dance professions.
About Music at IUP
The department's greatest resource is its faculty, composed of more than 30 full- and part-time artist-teachers. As an IUP music student, you'll have the opportunity to study with a professor who specializes in your instrument and to take academic coursework from professional musicologists and theorists. Our distinguished faculty represents a wealth of professional performing experience. Recitals featuring resident faculty members and visiting artists are presented throughout the year.
Department ensembles provide performance opportunities for hundreds of university students each semester. A staff of resident conductors directs the activities of the IUP Marching Band, the Symphony Orchestra, two concert bands, three choruses, two jazz ensembles, Percussion Ensemble, and various chamber ensembles. The department also features fully staged operatic and musical productions each year.
Students can choose from three undergraduate degree programs: Bachelor of Science (Music Education), Bachelor of Fine Arts (Performance and Composition), and Bachelor of Arts (General Music). Our graduate program offers the Master of Arts degree with separate concentrations in Performance or Music Education.
After meeting university entrance requirements and the successful completion of an audition, students may be admitted as music majors. If you have any questions concerning the music program at IUP, please contact us at 724-357-2390.
Mission
The mission of the IUP Department of Music is the professional preparation of music students as teachers, performers, composers, and scholars at the undergraduate and graduate level. We are committed to providing the highest level of creative, intellectual, and cultural experiences through curricular offerings, recitals, concerts, productions, and workshops for both the student body and the university community. The department recognizes its responsibility to serve a local and global community, to promote diversity/multiculturalism, as well as embrace and encourage lifelong advocacy for the musical arts.
About Theatre and Dance
IUP's theatre and dance programs are dedicated to theatre and dance as collaborative and highly disciplined fine arts that demand a broad-based undergraduate education. There is a Bachelor of Arts degree, a theatre minor, and a dance minor. In addition, Interdisciplinary Fine Arts degrees in Music Theatre and Dance Arts are offered.
Graduates have pursued graduate degrees in acting, playwriting, and all areas of design in addition to distinguishing themselves in professional theatre, television, film, real estate, advertising, business, law, and education.
Our department provides academic service to the departments of English, Communications Media, Elementary Education, and Consumer Sciences, and to the Cook Honors College. Introduction to Theatre, Introduction to Dance, and Introduction to Acting are an integral part of the university's Liberal Studies curriculum.
The department has presented more than 150 productions under the auspices of Theater-by-the-Grove, numerous student-directed and -designed 10-minute, one-act, and full-length plays presented under the auspices of the Acorn Project, touring productions to regional high schools, children's theatre productions toured to area elementary schools, and dance productions with the Dance Theatre Company. The department also offers a summer theatre program for young people called Footlight Players.
Waller Hall, which was completely renovated in 1988-89, is the primary home to the theatre and dance programs. In addition to the Mainstage Theater (a flexible “black box” performance space with a varying seating capacity up to 220), Waller houses a studio theatre, classrooms, costume studio, scenery studio, dressing rooms, production storage, and offices.
Productions are also performed in adjacent Fisher Auditorium, which has a seating capacity of 1,400. These performances are usually musicals or dance concerts produced in conjunction with the department. In 2008, the newly-built Performing Arts Center combined Waller Hall and Fisher Auditorium, providing further augmentation to programs and performances in both buildings.
Dance classes and yearly performances are usually held in the dance studio in Zink Hall, which has an approximate seating capacity of 270.
In spring 1995, ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø was granted membership in the National Association of Schools of Theatre. IUP continues to hold membership in NAST through rigorous, periodic review confirming that IUP meets national standards for theatre in higher education.