Washington and Lee offers a comprehensive music major leading to a Bachelor of Arts degree. Led by a talented faculty, music majors--ranging from five to fifteen per year--take courses in theory, history, and performance, and elect to concentrate in one of the areas. The concentration they choose dictates the type of final project they are required to complete. Composers arrange and present a program of original music. Musicologists write a thesis. Performance students present a recital. Typically, many of the university's music majors also pursue a second major in areas such as pre-medicine, commerce, or journalism.

Music is an important part of life on the W&L campus. More than 100 students participate in our choral programs, and another 100 participate in our instrumental groups each year. There is great demand--and a long waiting list--for courses such as Introduction to Music, History of Jazz, Twentieth Century Music, and Romantic Music. But even students who do not take music classes often experience music performed by students, faculty, and others at on-campus celebrations such as convocation, baccalaureate, and graduation, and at memorial services for faculty, students, and alumni.

Our music program has managed to realize an impressive measure of success despite the fact that the department has functioned in substandard facilities for many years. Classrooms in duPont Hall are so cramped that ensembles and choral groups cannot spread out and hear one another. There is not enough storage space to house and protect musical instruments and related equipment. Due to a severe shortage of practice rooms, music students must compete with theatre students for rehearsal space at the Lenfest Center.

The new facility for art and music education will alleviate these problems. In addition to offering the best possible acoustics for performing, rehearsing, and practicing live music, the structure will include adequate space and excellent resources for our theory, composition, and history programs. The facility will feature a 6,000-square-foot rehearsal hall and 300-seat performing space for instrumental and vocal ensembles; an auditorium/classroom for recitals and music lectures; fifteen practice rooms, five with grand pianos and all with the finest soundproofing; and a fully equipped classroom for thirty featuring the latest technology, including computer terminals. It will also include a state-of-the-art listening lab with sound systems and computers and appro-priate storage for our CD collection and musical scores; a recording studio, a composition lab in which students can compose music; and a keyboard lab for theory where faculty can listen in on headphones; acoustically-designed faculty studios with new instruments, computers and sound systems; appropriate storage facilities for instruments; and rooms designed to facilitate student-faculty interaction, including a lounge, a kitchen, and a seminar room, among others.