Community Outreach

Summer Music Camp

Enrolling more than 1,800 students annually, the UNCG Summer Music Camp is the largest and most popular music camp in America. Attending students are drawn from a twenty-state area and numerous foreign countries for programs in band, chorus, orchestra and piano. A professional staff of over 150 musicians, including members of the UNCG School of Music faculty, are employed to teach at the music camp each summer. Music camp applications become available each year on February 1st and making application during the month of February is a must as lengthy waiting lists are the norm in April and May. The UNCG Summer Music Camp was founded in 1983 by its present director Dr. John R. Locke.

Carolina Band Festival and Conductors Conference

Each February, the Carolina Band Festival & Conductors Conference plays host to two highly select Honor Bands and a large group of band directors drawn from an eight-state area. Student applicants must be currently in grades 9 through 12 and submit a tape recording of their playing which is adjudicated by the UNCG wind and percussion faculty. The very best students are invited to participate in either the 9th-10th grade Honor Band or the 11th-12th grade Honor Band. Each participating student attends a master class and clinic presented by the UNCG wind and percussion faculty while on campus, attends a concert by the UNCG Wind Ensemble, and performs in a concert led by nationally renowned guest conductors. In all, some 180 students are selected to participate. Band directors attending the Carolina Conductors Conference perform in a Director’s Clinic Band and receive expert instruction in various aspects of conducting and instrumental music teaching from highly respected clinicians over a three-day period. Dr. Kevin Geraldi and Dr. John R. Locke administer the Carolina Band Festival & Conductors Conference.

Faculty Ensembles

The School of Music is the "home" of several highly-respected professional instrumental ensembles.

Hostings

Throughout the year, the School of Music hosts or co-sponsors numerous on-campus events for the mutual benefit of musical organizations, public schools and UNCG. Such events include competitions, auditions, professional meetings and specialized workshops. These have included the the Internatioanl Double Reed Society Conference (2003), International Tuba Euphonium Conference (2002), Southeastern Composers Alliance, Society of Composers Inc. (2005), the historical keyboard society and CMS.

Opera Education Program

The UNCG Opera Theatre believes that the cultural education of our young children is of utmost importance. To this end, many activities throughout each year are dedicated to exposing school children to quality operatic experiences. These activities include an annual tour to the elementary schools (the annual "Tour to the Schools" takes a 40-45 minute children's opera into the schools) and on-campus matinee performances. Annually, the UNCG Opera Theatre performs for over 14,000 school children.

Focus on Piano Literature

Focus on Piano Literature is an annual two-and-a-half-day symposium of lectures and concerts devoted to one segment of the piano repertoire. Designed for the professional musician as well as the casual concert goer, Focus on Piano Literature seeks to enrich, enlighten, and entertain a broad audience through lively, jargon-free lectures, first-class performances, and an emphasis on audience interaction.

Musical Arts Guild

Founded in 1972, the Musical Arts Guild, the School's 400-member support group, continues to develop a strong relationship between the School and the Greensboro community. In addition to funding both a scholarship endowment and an annual project, the Guild sponsors a number of musical/social events each year and, in particular, encourages attendance at UNCG concerts

The mission of the UNCG School of Music is:

  1. to provide a rich, stimulating environment in which students can develop as music professionals through a comprehensive curriculum enhanced by the liberal arts for undergraduate students, and through study, training, and experiences for graduate students (through the doctoral level) that will enable them to become specialists and leaders in their fields
  2. to offer a variety of opportunities for musical growth and creative achievement for all University students; and
  3. to function as a center of intellectual, educational, and cultural excellence on campus, regionally, nationally, and globally.

The School of Music has been an accredited institutional member of the National Association of Schools of Music since 1938.