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Music

The Music Department at Alma provides a curriculum designed to meet the needs of a broad range of students. The faculty and resources of the Department are committed equally to the following: 1) providing courses and curricula for music majors so that they may have the necessary foundation to pursue graduate study, teaching, performing or music-related fields; 2) strengthening students' musical skills by expanding proficiency in technique, heightening interpretive insight, and facilitating the understanding of pedagogical tools and methods; 3) being an artistic presence within the Alma College community and beyond by providing opportunities for students, faculty, and community to share the experience of musical performance; 4) providing the general student with a basic understanding of the language and history of music.

Alma's Music Department, accredited by the National Association of Schools of Music, offers three degree options: Bachelor of Music in Performance, Bachelor of Music in Music Education and Bachelor of Arts with a Major in Music.

Thumbnail image for Dr. Raymond RileyDr. Raymond Riley

Dr. Raymond Riley, Chair and Professor of Music, joined Alma College in 1988. He has enjoyed a long and multi-faceted musical career, appearing in numerous national venues as a recitalist, lecturer, and music technology clinician. [more]

 

 

Alma College ChoirsAlma College Choirs

For more than 80 years the Alma College Choirs have offered Alma students the opportunity to sing and travel together. The shared musical experiences build friendships that have proven to last a lifetime... [more]


Dr. Will Nichols

Dr. Nichols conducts the Alma College Choir, the College Chorale and the Women's Glee Club. Under his leadership the Alma Choirs have become one of the nation's highly regarded collegiate choral programs. [more]

 

 

 

Click here for a one-page information sheet (PDF).

 


 

Since 2003, twenty Alma College students have won prestigious national fellowships, scholarships and awards, including 10 Fulbright fellowships and multiple Udall, Truman, Marshall and Gates-Cambridge scholarships.

 

Graduate Profile

Erik Janners

Erik Janners
Graduation: 1994
Major: Music Performance

The most important thing Erik Janners learned during his time at Alma College was to care for each individual performer under his direction.

“No matter how large the band, orchestra or choir, each person in the group is still an individual with his or her own problems, successes and failures, strengths and weaknesses,” the 1994 graduate says. “The Alma music faculty got to know me, and all of us in the program, as individual people, and gave each of us what we needed personally to grow.”