Performance is an essential part of music education, and the OU School of Music provides ample opportunity to develop and refine important performance skills. Each semester, the OU School of Music presents over 400 solo recitals, large and small ensemble concerts, fully-staged operas, and master classes, all providing a wide range of opportunities for musical and intellectual growth. The performance experience allows students to take the lessons learned in the classroom or the studio and apply them directly to the art of music making.
Chamber Jazz is an opportunity for students to grow, not only as soloists, but as musicians.
The students have complete control of the creative process!
This ensures the development of performance skills such as:
Additionally, students will gain a better understanding of the fundamentals of music theory:
The University of Oklahoma Flute Choir is directed by Dr. Valerie Watts, professor of flute. Comprised of both music majors and non-music majors, the OU Flute Ensemble has performed throughout the state in various communities and universities. Most recently, members of the ensemble were involved with the premiere of Catherine McMichael’s Salt of the Earth, commissioned by the Oklahoma Flute Society for its tenth year anniversary and Flute Fair, 2003. The OU Flute Ensemble performed Ms. McMichael's Floris as well for a session at the OFS Flute Fair on "Composing for Flute Ensemble." The ensemble meets once a week to rehearse in both large ensemble and smaller quartet/trio groups. Non-music majors must receive permission to join the ensemble.
An integral part of the guitar program is the Guitar Ensemble. Undergraduate and Graduate ensembles provide an environment for collaboration with fellow guitarists. guitar ensembles play a wide variety of music written for 3, 4, 5, guitars as well as music that includes additional instrumentation from other areas like percussion, violins, flute, etc. The OU guitar ensemble has the opportunity for several concerts every year at the university, and even more performance opportunity outside the university.
This group specializes in music from the 20th century. Repertoire includes multimedia, dance, electronic, opera and chamber music. Both students and faculty participate as performers and composers.
(N!CE) was founded in the fall of 1993 to explore experimental and improvisational new music. This music runs a gamut of styles, genres and aesthetics. Some composers may provide only an oblique prose explanation of a work, while others require the performers to make choices within quite narrow guidelines. Members of the New Improv! Century Ensemble are versatile: each performs on a variety of instruments, sings, speaks, recites, rants and incants, and all members are encourqaged to compose for the ensemble.
The University of Oklahoma Hornsemble is directed by Dr. Matthew Reynolds. The ensemble consists of horn majors in the School of Music, but is also open to participation to qualified non-music students. It meets for one 90 minute rehearsal once a week. Graduate students have the opportunity to conduct and rehearse the ensemble. The Horn Ensemble has been a featured performing group at four International Horn Symposia and at five state music conventions. Widely recognized as one of the most proficient collegiate ensembles of its kind, the ensemble's programming ranges from the traditional to the contemporary. In addition, performances always feature music written in the commercial style which style mastery is essential for those wishing to pursue film and recording work. Members of the ensemble have come from Oregon, California, Connecticut, Kentucky, Missouri, Indiana, Alabama, West Virginia, Michigan, Virginia, Maryland, Texas, Arkansas, and Kansas, as well as Oklahoma. The ensemble's goals are too develop a commonality of ensemble style and blend and to work as a laboratory for development of superior ensemble technique.
The University of Oklahoma Percussion Ensembles program is a nationally recognized leader in the performance, publication and recording of music for percussion ensemble. The Percussion Orchestra and Ensemble play more than 15 concerts a year, including invited performances at some of the country's most prestigious conventions and programs for the percussive arts. Through its commissioning series, the OU Percussion Orchestra and Ensemble has stimulated composition for the percussion ensemble, resulting in the addition of numerous works that have quickly become mainstays in the repertoire. Elements of the OU Percussion Ensemble program include the OU Percussion Orchestra, the OU Percussion Ensemble, the OU Steel Drum Band and the OU Marimba Band.
The Sooner Bassooners is open to bassoon majors and non-majors enrolled in private lessons at OU. The ensemble was formed in 1984 and is known for its unique approach to concert repertoire. The concerts often feature "original" versions of symphonic and popular music repertoire, such as 1811 Overture and Der Fagottknacker Suite. Appearances at local retirement homes and elementary schools are in addition to on-campus performances. In 2000, the Sooner Bassooners were the only student ensemble from the U.S. to perform at the annual conference of the International Double Reed Society, held in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
The Claeys Quartet is an undergraduate string quartet named in honor of the late Susan Claeys and supported through a generous gift given by her family to the School of Music.
The graduate string quartet forms an important part of the string program at OU. The Crouse Quartet, funded by the office of OU President David L. Boren, is in residence at OU, studying with the faculty and serving as teaching assistants.
The Trombone Ensemble is comprised of OU trombone students and community trombonists. The choir is known for their popular performances in the Norman area as well as at major conferences throughout the country.
The University of Oklahoma Trumpet Ensemble is comprised of undergraduate and graduate trumpet majors from the OU School of Music. The ensemble received the top prize in the 2019 National Trumpet Competition and is a perennial contender at this prestigious event. A specialty of the group is the presentation of new compositions and arrangements, frequently written by OU faculty members Jay Wilkinson and Roland Barrett. The OU Trumpet Ensemble is known for its resonant tone, technical fluency, and outsanding ensemble cohesion.
