At OSU, you'll find a dynamic community of
people passionate about music. Corvallis has become one of
Oregon's most vibrant centers for the performing arts, boasting
theater companies and dance troupes, a chamber music series, opera,
and a symphony orchestra.
Historic Benton Hall is home to the Department of Music, where students can choose an emphasis in one of five options: instrumental, vocal, or piano performance; music education; or composition, recording and editing. The department also offers a minor in music to students of all majors. Small class sizes give students the accessibility of a small liberal arts college within the setting of a large research institution.
Music students share their talents through the OSU Chamber Choir, the OSU Marching Band, the Corvallis-OSU Symphony Orchestra, chamber groups, pep bands, concert bands, wind ensembles, jazz groups, percussion ensembles, solo recitals, opera workshops and other vocal and choral groups. Extracurricular music ensembles are available, too, performing classical, folk and vernacular music, as well as jazz, rock, and blues, on campus and beyond.
With a nearly 100-percent placement rate of music education graduates over the past ten years, the Department of Music at OSU continues its mission of being a highly successful music teacher education program. OSU graduates are teaching in all of the major metropolitan areas of Oregon, as well as in many other schools throughout the state and region.
Over the last decade, OSU has become a center for excellence in choral music in the Pacific Northwest. OSU choirs host over 250 members, with frequent local, regional, and international performances, fulfilling part of our departmental mission to bring music to wider audiences.
The Chamber Choir -- which has toured China, Germany, the Czech Republic, Austria, Bulgaria, and Hungary -- was selected in 2006 to perform at the 60th Music Educators National Biennial Conference in Salt Lake City. It was the only collegiate mixed choir chosen from outside Utah. And the OSU men's a cappella ensemble, Outspoken, won first place in the 2006 quarterfinal competition of the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella (ICCA) competition, also competing in the finals at Stanford University.
The Corvallis-OSU Symphony Orchestra was recently featured on Oregon Public Broadcasting's "Oregon Art Beat." In 2006, the Symphonic Wind Ensemble was featured at the Oregon Music Educators Association conference in Eugene, Ore. In recent years, the OSU Marching Band has performed at PAC-10 and NFL games, as well as at the Sun Bowl, Fiesta Bowl, Insight Bowl, Oahu Bowl, and Las Vegas Bowl.