A Message from Dr. Jeffrey Carter,
Chair of the Department of Music

Read Dr. Carter's Music@Webster blog!

Here's a brief video welcome from Dr. Carter.

The 2011-12 school year brought a large new-student class.  These students join returning musicians and scholars at Webster because we are, quite simply, Saint Louis' arts university. 

Webster University in Saint Louis provides you unparalleled experience and unrivaled training, thanks to our setting in a major urban area. Our music faculty includes outstanding professional practitioners: composers, teachers, performers, conductors, historians, artists. Our classes and plans of study offer real-world knowledge to help you prepare for real-world success. Our applied faculty includes members of the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, recognized as one of the world’s great orchestras, and other professionals. A number of our faculty members also hold appointments with the Community Music School of Webster University, a great resource that provides music instruction for very young children through senior adults across our region.

Students from across the university play and sing in numerous ensembles  that provide outstanding educational and aesthetic experiences. Ensembles run the gamut from the orchestra to chorus, jazz band to chamber groups. Whether or not you major in music, these ensembles are yours as a Webster student.  You'll audition for ensembles during the first week of classes.

One of our hallmarks is integrated music-making.  You may find yourself singing one of your German lieder in music theory class, or playing your jazz instrument for a Music Appreciation class.  This kind of 'dig-in-and-make-music' attitude pervades our courses, our hallways, our mindset.

All Webster students are urged to participate in unique international study opportunities. As a music major, you'll take advantage of a semester or half-semester abroad at Webster University - Vienna.  Our course schedules are designed to allow a free eight weeks in the junior year in the musical capitol of Europe.

Liz Bivens, one of our 2011 graduates, wrote recently "Webster is rarity among schools. So few schools have the academic strength, performance opportunities, and the heart that that I found at my time at Webster. I gained a family while getting some of the best training here."  You will find this to be true in so many ways!

And finally . . . we take great delight that we are an ALL-STEINWAY SCHOOL, the 123rd institution in the world to gain this prestigious cachet.  Our entire Department of Music piano inventory is from the Steinway piano family, including seven new grand pianos delivered right before Christmas 2010.

Read on.  Click on all the links you care to view.  We invite you to experience the wonder that IS music at Webster University.