Music Clubs & OrganizationsPuget Sound students are a proactive lot. They take initiative and actively pursue avenues to contribute to and improve their community. The nine music student organizations serve as some of the more visible examples of the positive, hands-on involvement that characterizes our student body.
Students need not be majors to participate in these groups; all have members who are music majors, minors, and general students active in music. National OrganizationsPuget Sound has chapters of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, an all-male music fraternity, and Sigma Alpha Iota, an all-female music fraternity. Our chapters have long and honorable histories with missions that promote music and music service to communities. The men of Phi Mu Alpha are broadly involved in the campus community, and members come from a variety of academic majors. Chapter activities are varied in nature and strike a balance between community service, professionalism, and sociability. The members of Sigma Alpha Iota are also very diverse with women studying everything from Psychology to Music Performance and coming from all areas of music band, orchestra, vocal and piano. In the past, philanthropy projects have included a music marathon, singing valentines, and music camps at the YWCA and Boys & Girls Club. Music Organizations Supported by ASUPS (Student Government)Pep BandThe UPS Logger Pep Band was founded four years ago and is now a recognized ASUPS club. All Puget Sound musicians are welcome to come and play. Rehearsals are weekly and they perform at all home football games, and most home basketball games. The Pep Band exists to enhance Puget Sound sporting events, as well as to provide a performance opportunity to those who are looking for a way to continue their musical development. Begun in 1997 with a handful of students, “UJ” now has well over two dozen members and two different ensembles. One group specializes in acapella performance, while the other performs with standard jazz instrument accompaniment. Each performs twice every year for the campus community and also opens for other music groups like the Grammy Award-winning Gospel Hummingbirds as well as occasions for university organizations. Most recently, Underground Jazz opened for the vocal acapella group M-Pact. The ensemble has around 14 members with four sopranos, four altos, three tenors, and three basses with alternating vocal percussion.
UPSStageMFounded in 2003 on the initiative of a few passionate students with particular interest in Broadway musicals, UPS Stage Musicals currently has 37 registered members. Their events have included movie nights where club members watch Broadway musicals, a booth at the Conspiracy of Hope carnival, and a musical revue. Our faculty advisor, Dr. Christopher McKim, also participates in performances. In the future we hope to create a tradition of performances of Broadway musical selections, in the spirit of the on-campus Repertory Dance Group. UPSStageM also hopes to see performances of Broadway shows and continue their current activities. Puget Sound students can also learn about Broadway musicals by taking "The Broadway Musical", a course by Professor Geoffrey Block, an internationally known scholar in this area. The School of Music also teams up with the Theatre Department in production of musicals.
New Music Society of Puget SoundThe mission of this ASUPS-funded club is to encourage exposure to new music through means of performance, listening, and attending concerts; to provide opportunities for student composers to write and have their pieces performed; to give opportunities for student performers to perform new works; to provide guest lectures and workshops by leading performers, musicologists, and composers in the field; and to provide training for graduate school and the professional world to aspiring composition students, musicologists, performance majors, music business and conducting students. Activities for the 2004-2005 academic year include the inauguration of the Dr. Lawrence Ebert New Music Lecture Series, featuring lectures every month by a Puget Sound faculty member on a new music topic of their choice; attendance of new music concerts in the area, such as the Creative Orchestra in Seattle; a composer's forum; new music recitals of music by professional and student composers; and a dance party featuring music by Steve Reich, considered by some as the father of techno.
Theme HousesThe Music HouseOriginally founded in 1989, the Music House has resided at the same address on campus for the past 15 years. The Music House is designed to achieve two purposes. First, residents wish to further the appreciation, awareness, and diversity of music throughout the campus community and the School of Music through programs in classical, jazz, contemporary, and other forms of music. In addition, they seek to achieve a stronger feeling of community within the music program by exploring mutual interest in music outside the classroom. This all-male residence house also organizes programs for music students, including their annual hosting of a barbeque as part of new music students' orientation.
The Muses' Music HouseThe Muses' House is a place where music students and music lovers alike can come to learn, share experiences, and have fun! It was founded in 2002 by seven women to provide a supportive environment for their fellow musicians. The members are involved in many different performing ensembles as well as countless other on-campus activities. The Muses' House sponsors multiple programs throughout the year including the Music & Munchies series, the Miss Music Building Pageant, Pre-jury Recitals, Karaoke Night, and trips to the Seattle Symphony. With the addition of a second location in Trimble Hall, the Muses hope to serve both the campus and Tacoma communities through musical performances and education.
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MuSACBegun in 2003, The Music Student Advisory Committee includes students who meet regularly with Dr. Keith Ward, the Director of the School of Music. Representatives are invited from all major ensembles, Phi Mu Alpha and Sigma Alpha Iota, and the keyboard studios, although membership is open to all interested music students. Meetings provide the opportunity for Dr.Ward to keep students apprised of upcoming events or important developments within the School of Music and for students to inquire about issues that come up during the course of the academic year. Members also undertake projects, many on their own initiative, for the benefit of all. Special projects MuSAC has or is undertaking include Instrument Appreciation classes, collaborations with the Business Leadership Program, design of a bulletin board for student organizations, advise on painting the student lounge, and posting guidelines for practice room etiquette. | |
