Professional Training for Tomorrow’s Musicians: Music that Makes a Difference

Welcome to the Western Carolina University School of Music, where music really does make a difference. Our faculty of performing artists is dedicated to developing the next generation of musicians, performers, and educators.

Whether you are a future undergraduate student seeking your first degree or a graduate student returning to further your education, the School of Music offers outstanding academic and professional programs to help you reach your career goals.

Before you begin your musical studies at Western Carolina, you must demonstrate an appropriate level of performance skills in a live undergraduate or graduate audition before a panel of music faculty. Our regular audition days are in February and March, and we strongly encourage you to audition by mid-March in order to be fully considered for admission and scholarships.

Our primary goal is for you to complete a degree that will launch you into your professional career. Our faculty members are committed to prepare you to teach, perform, and promote music within North Carolina, throughout the Southeast, and across the globe.

Graduates turn their success at Western Carolina into thriving careers.  Our music education graduates teach throughout North Carolina, and in Virginia, Illinois, Michigan, and Texas.  Graduates in performance, music business, and commercial and electronic music can be found all over the world—performing in Carnegie Hall, designing professional audio and video systems on the West Coast, working among leading country artists in the Country Music Association (CMA), or teaching music in Singapore.

We also take pride in our enthusiastic ensemble of faculty and student performers.  Together, we perform in over seventy concerts per semester, both on campus and in the region. The Smoky Mountain Brass Quintet, our resident faculty brass ensemble, maintains an active performance schedule that includes recent performances in China, Great Britain, and Russia.

We invite you to take a few moments to explore our website.  Whether you are looking for information about the next performance of the award-winning Pride of the Mountains Marching Band, or for help with an All-District Band solo, you’ll find the information you need.

To learn more about our people and programs, read more about the School, browse our news and announcements, or contact the School directly. Whether a prospective or current student, an alumnus or a friend, we look forward to hearing from you.