Music and Culture offers innovative programming that focuses on music as it is experienced and lived today in all its diversity and complexity. Our faculty engage in performance, creation and composition, research and scholarly leadership, and community engagement all of which embrace the program's commitment to access inclusion and empowerment. The Music and Culture program serves the diverse needs and interests of UTSC students. In providing cultural, artistic, intellectual, and civic leadership, we put music in conversation with a variety of social, cultural, and historical issues. Music and Culture course offerings challenge students to work towards self-directedness and develop their capacities as creative leaders in community cultural development. Students create, join, and enliven musical and artistic communities, both on the UTSC campus and beyond, with a focus on civic participation, arts entrepreneurship, health and wellness, and community development.
Multiple experiential learning opportunities across the program prepare students for a wide range of professional careers in areas related to music and are also ideally suited for those interested in music as part of lifelong learning and engagement. The Music and Culture program complements studies in many fields, including adult education and community development, arts management, city studies, computer science, health studies, historical and cultural studies, media arts, media studies, music education, psychology, sociology, studio art, and visual studies.
The Music and Culture program includes and accommodates students of all musical backgrounds and abilities. Some courses involve music creation and performance dependent on prior experience. The performance courses, for example, are open-enrollment but are not a place to learn music for the first time. The Small Ensembles course provides opportunities for students whose musicianship (of all types) may not align with the three large ensembles (Concert Choir, Concert Band, String Orchestra). Courses in the Music & Society area of focus (below) are generally lecture-based and involve rigorous scholarly training mixed with experiential learning opportunities in field research and community engagement.
