Music BFA - Performance -
Instrumental Jazz Studies

Current Faculty
Required Courses
BFA Curriculum
Contact

The UWM Jazz Studies degree includes a unique and collaborative program that involves the local urban jazz community. As well as servicing the on-campus students, it reaches out to middle and high school jazz performers through its youth programs and jazz festivals. Join us on campus for the many jazz performances scheduled for this season in the Helen Bader Concert Hall of the Helene Zelazo Center for the Performing Arts.

Students may pursue a Bachelor's of Fine Arts Degree in Music Performance–Instrumental Jazz Studies. Ensembles include the Jazz ensemble and five combos.

There are five auditions annually. Please contact the music department at (414) 229-5162 for specific dates and information, as well as for scholarship and financial aid information.

The UWM Jazz Ensemble has released six CDs and has recently recorded live at Caroline's Jazz Club in Walker’s Point (just south of downtown Milwaukee). For purchasing information, please email Curt Hanrahan at hanraha6@uwm.edu

Current Faculty

Prof. Dave Bayles, percussion
Prof. Lou Cucunato, composition and technology
Prof. Curt Hanrahan, Co-Director of Jazz Studies, saxophone
Prof. Kevin Hartman, trumpet
Prof. Don Linke, guitar
Prof. Tom McGirr, jazz studies
Prof. Steve Nelson-Raney, Co-Director of Jazz Studies, theory
Prof. Gillian Rodger, music history and literature
Prof. Carl Storniolo, percussion

Required Courses

Music Performance Courses, 8 cr. A total of eight semesters of Performance Organization must be taken, as well as principal instrument studies and piano if required. Unless proficiency can be demonstrated through audition by the piano faculty, one to four semesters of piano at the 100 level are required. If non-principal piano is waived through audition, then the 8 credits must be taken in the principal instrument. Contact the area advisor or Music Department for information on proficiency exams.

Master Class. Up to 8 semesters at 0 cr per semester may be required or recommended as part of a student’s lesson obligation, but may not substitute for the Music Performance requirement.

Piano, 0-4 cr. Unless proficiency can be demonstrated through audition by the piano faculty, one to four semesters of piano at the 100 level are required. If a student is not ready for piano at the 100 level, however, he or she will be required to enroll first in MusPerf 001, Piano Fundamentals, for up to two semesters or until he or she receives a final grade of B or better.

Performance Organization, 8 cr. (1cr/sem). 4 cr in approved Performance Organization and 4 cr of Collegium Musicum. See Music, Performance Organization requirement.

Music Theory and History, 46 cr.

Collegium Musicum, 4 cr. See Music, Performance Organization requirements.

Music Electives, 6 cr.

Convocation, 6 sem. See Music, Recital and Convocation attendance.

Special Core Curriculum Requirements. Foreign language: 6 semesters, 20 cr. History 101 and 102, 6 cr. History courses will also fulfill the humanities distribution of the General Education Requirement. For remaining credit distribution, see the Arts Core Curriculum.

Electives in Related Fields, 12 crs. Three credits must be taken in an appropriate English composition course. For other permissible choices, see area advisor or Music Department.

BFA Curriculum

For more information

Curt Hanrahan, Co-Director of Jazz Studies
(414) 229-2451
hanraha6@uwm.edu