MUSIC IS A FUNDAMENTAL FORM OF HUMAN ART, communication and pleasure – celebratory, sacred, exploratory and communal. Music is typically one of our earliest and simplest childhood experiences, yet it also can achieve the dizzying complexity of a great symphony. It can be as structured as a string quartet or as fluid and improvisational as a jazz solo. It inspires and informs a remarkable range of human movements and activities, from dance crazes to military marches, from medieval prayer to modern choreography. Hamilton's program in music, in the liberal arts tradition, uses an interdisciplinary approach to explore and build proficiency in the many dimensions of musical experience. More ...
Academic Program
OPPORTUNITIES
A performer's "research" is usually the development of performance skills through rehearsal, guidance and commitment. Hamilton's eight ensembles offer a breadth of opportunity exceptional for a college of our size. Students are encouraged to participate in more than one ensemble, and participation earns partial course credit. Solo performance options are also provided.
• Choir. This group of about 60 singers produces a musical or operetta each year and undertakes an annual spring concert tour.
• Orchestra. The group now comprises more than 70 students and has recently performed the works of Mendelssohn, Ives, Mozart and Stravinsky. The orchestra has also commissioned new works by several composers.
• Jazz Ensemble. Focusing on the big band sound, the Jazz Ensemble also provides opportunities for improvisation. It has toured New England and performed at Carnegie Hall.
• Oratorio. The Hamilton College and Community Oratorio Society, numbering about 135 singers, brings together students, faculty, staff and neighbors to sing great choral masterworks.
• Brass Choir. The Brass Choir provides music for various College functions as well as performing concerts off campus.
• Woodwind ensembles. These ensembles encourage the study and performance of music for various combinations of wind instruments. The repertory has included works by Mozart, Richard Strauss, Jacques Ibert and Irving Fine.
• Chamber music groups. These groups give instrumentalists the opportunity to participate in small ensembles made up of a variety of string and wind instruments and piano.
• Solo performance. Vocal and instrumental soloists have a range of performing opportunities, including departmental concerts, recitals and featured appearances with ensembles. The department offers courses in vocal and instrumental solo performance by a faculty of private instructors. A fee is charged for such instruction; students receiving financial aid are eligible for assistance In meeting the cost.
THE SENIOR PROGRAM
The Senior Program is a culminating experience in which senior music majors integrate and build on their first three years of study. The centerpiece of the program is the senior project, a two-semester creative and intellectual effort carried out under the close supervision of at least one faculty member. Senior projects may be either performance- or research-based.
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RESOURCES
The
Hans H. Schambach Center for Music and
the Performing Arts houses the 700-seat Carol Woodhouse Wellin Performance
Hall, two large rehearsal halls, 15 practice rooms, faculty offices and
classrooms. Facilities for music also include a well-equipped studio for
electronic music; a music library that contains more than 24,000 compact discs
and other recordings; state-of-the-art listening and video equipment; computers
and synthesizers that assist students in ear training and in instruction in
music theory; and a laboratory for experiments in the psychology of music.
Instruments
of various kinds are available for student use without charge. The College
possesses several Steinway grand pianos, a variety of wind, brass and string
instruments, a two-manual Noack organ in the College Chapel, a Steinmeyer
one-manual Positif organ, a two-manual Dowd harpsichord, a Fudge clavichord, a
kora and a Javanese gamelan.
Two visiting artists series bring world-class performers to campus not only to perform, but to work with students in workshops, seminars and classes. Recent visitors in the Classical Connections series include Grammy Award-winning vocal ensemble Chanticleer, the Renaissance Band, Piffaro and Imani Winds. The Contemporary Voices and Visions series has brought Alex Torres and the Latin Kings, the Hachioji Kuruma Ningyo Puppet Company, and Cultural Odyssey's Big Butt Girls, Hard-Headed Women.
Sharing Music in the U.S. and Abroad
The College Choir continues a tradition of choral excellence that dates to the founding of this ensemble in 1867. The choir's annual spring concert tour has recently included performances in Chicago, Montreal and Atlanta, and the choir also has toured Europe seven times in 25 years most recently to Italy in 2009. Likewise the College Orchestra has logged five concert tours in a decade, including a trip to Romania and Bulgaria.
Student Groups
Students maintain many of their own musical groups that perform on and off campus. Among them: The Gospel Choir which ranges in size from 10 to 30 students; the Buffers, a men's a cappella octet; the Hamiltones, a progressive, coed a cappella group; Special K, an innovative women's close-harmony group; and Tumbling After, a women's a cappella group.
Two visiting artists series bring world-class performers to campus not only to perform, but to work with students in workshops, seminars and classes. Recent visitors in the Classical Connections series include Grammy Award-winning vocal ensemble Chanticleer, the Renaissance Band, Piffaro and Imani Winds. The Contemporary Voices and Visions series has brought Alex Torres and the Latin Kings, the Hachioji Kuruma Ningyo Puppet Company, and Cultural Odyssey's Big Butt Girls, Hard-Headed Women.
Sharing Music in the U.S. and Abroad
The College Choir continues a tradition of choral excellence that dates to the founding of this ensemble in 1867. The choir's annual spring concert tour has recently included performances in Chicago, Montreal and Atlanta, and the choir also has toured Europe seven times in 25 years most recently to Italy in 2009. Likewise the College Orchestra has logged five concert tours in a decade, including a trip to Romania and Bulgaria.
Student Groups
Students maintain many of their own musical groups that perform on and off campus. Among them: The Gospel Choir which ranges in size from 10 to 30 students; the Buffers, a men's a cappella octet; the Hamiltones, a progressive, coed a cappella group; Special K, an innovative women's close-harmony group; and Tumbling After, a women's a cappella group.
Two visiting artists series bring world-class performers to campus not only to perform, but to work with students in workshops, seminars and classes. Recent visitors in the Classical Connections series include Grammy Award-winning vocal ensemble Chanticleer, the Renaissance Band, Piffaro and Imani Winds. The Contemporary Voices and Visions series has brought Alex Torres and the Latin Kings, the Hachioji Kuruma Ningyo Puppet Company, and Cultural Odyssey's Big Butt Girls, Hard-Headed Women.
Sharing Music in the U.S. and Abroad
The College Choir continues a tradition of choral excellence that dates to the founding of this ensemble in 1867. The choir's annual spring concert tour has recently included performances in Chicago, Montreal and Atlanta, and the choir also has toured Europe seven times in 25 years most recently to Italy in 2009. Likewise the College Orchestra has logged five concert tours in a decade, including a trip to Romania and Bulgaria.
Student Groups
Students maintain many of their own musical groups that perform on and off campus. Among them: The Gospel Choir which ranges in size from 10 to 30 students; the Buffers, a men's a cappella octet; the Hamiltones, a progressive, coed a cappella group; Special K, an innovative women's close-harmony group; and Tumbling After, a women's a cappella group.
AFTER HAMILTON
Hamilton graduates who concentrated in Music are pursuing careers in a variety of fields, including:
Attorney, New York State Senate
Chairman, Performing Arts Department, Portledge School
Conductor/Artistic Director, Indianapolis Opera
Executive Director, New Hampshire Humanities Council
Lecturer of Voice, Crane School of Music
Pediatric Dentist, Healthreach Dental Center for Children
Professor of Music and Music Technology, California State University
Senior Vice President, Bank of America
Staff Physician, Virginia Medical Center
Vice President, Wells Fargo Bank
Violinist, American Ballet Theatre
Vice President, Strategy and Business Development, Independent Comedy Network
