Music Department

Piano Alex Kent
Faculty Performance
Students performing with a piano accompanying them.
Student Performance
faculty performance percussion
faculty performance flute
Girl singing with a group of students singing around her.

About the Department

The Music Department's mission, goals and objectives are appropriate to institutions of higher education, appropriate to the field of music, compatible with National Association of Schools of Music standards, and demonstrate that the fundamental purposes of the institution and the department are education. The Music Department majors -- Music and Music Industry -- have been approved as liberal arts degrees.

Student/Faculty Interaction

The Music Department's 14:1 student/teacher ratio allows for engaging and meaningful mentorships, often highlighted in independent studies where faculty guide students working on their own research projects and creative activities. Students also have the opportunity to go on music-focused faculty-led trips across the globe, such as recent trips to Spain with Dr. Adam Kent (pianist) and England with Dr. Timothy Newton (choral director). In 2011, the Jazz Appreciation Society traveled with Professor Art Falbush (Big Band director) to New Orleans to help in the rebuilding of the Lower Ninth Ward after Hurricane Katrina.

In addition to activities directly related to courses and clubs, students have the opportunity to attend conferences with faculty every year. Two regularly attended conferences include the National Association of Music Merchants Convention (NAMM) and the Percussive Arts Society International Convention (PASIC). SUNY Oneonta offers student conference attendance and travel grants that make it possible for many students to take advantage of these opportunities at a very low cost.

Special Events

Since 2010, the Oneonta Jazz Festival has brought world-class musicians to perform with our students and has attracted student ensembles from middle/high schools, community colleges and universities around the Northeast. The annual New Music Focus Week has, since 2010, brought innovative composers and performers of new music to campus each spring for a weeklong residency to work with students and present performances, panel discussions, technical demonstrations and art gallery exhibitions, as well as improvisation and instrument-building workshops.

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Practice/Rehearsal Room Booking

If you would like to book a practice room for piano, voice, or acoustic instruments other than drums, contact the department secretary, Ms. Moira Rouggly, at moira.rouggly@oneonta.edu.

For rehearsal room bookings (M101 and M114) for drum set or electric instruments, contact Gavin Vitale at gavin.vitale@oneonta.edu.

Contact

For questions, the preferred method of contact is through email. You may reach the department secretary, Ms. Moira Rouggly, at moira.rouggly@oneonta.edu.

Music Department
115 Fine Arts Center
Phone: (607) 436-3415
Fax: (607) 436-2718

Accolades

SUNY Oneonta is one of 42 colleges and universities in the United States, England and Spain featured in Billboard magazine’s 2023 list of “Top Music Business Schools.”

Clubs

Ensembles

Big Band
Chamber Music(Voice/Inst. Collab. with Piano)
Chamber Orchestra
Experimental Music Group
Funk Band
Jam Band
Jazz Combo
Rock Ensemble
String Ensemble
VOCI (small vocal ensemble)
Woodwind Ensemble
World Chorus
Zappa Band

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