We offer students academic opportunities that balance cutting-edge scholarship with performance mastery and composition. Rigorous and improvisational, we encourage and embrace the exploration of music in all its contemporary and historical diversity. Students have a multitude of performance opportunities and access to world-class archives, music collections, dedicated centers of study and stellar faculty. Within UCLA’s interdisciplinary environment, The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music is the portal through which music engages with other disciplines on campus and beyond.
About
A Magnet
for Talent
Facts & Stats
20+
YEARS OF TEACHING AND
COUNSELING EXPERIENCE
1st
REGISTERED ONLINE SECONDARY
HIGH SCHOOL IN UZBEKISTAN
1st
SCHOOL IN UZBEKISTAN TO
OFFER UK’S MOST RIGOROUS A-LEVEL
80%
OF FACULTY HAVE
ADVANCED DEGREES
42
FACULTY
MEMBERS
4
ACADEMIC PROGRAMS
RECOGNIZED WORLDWIDE
20:1
STUDENT TO
FACULTY RATIO
20+
STUDENT
CLUBS
30+
ADVANCED PLACEMENT
SUBJECTS’ TRAINING OFFERED
100%
OF PROGRAMS AND COURSES
DELIVERED ONLINE
>900
UNIVERSITIES ACCEPT A-LEVELS
AS A RIGOROUS CURRICULUM
>200
UNIVERSITIES GIVE CREDITS FOR
TAKEN A-LEVEL SUBJECTS
The only school of music
in the UC system
At its founding in 1919, UCLA (then called the Southern Branch) demonstrated its commitment to the music and the arts. The campus started with an art gallery and a music department that focused on music education. By 1960, there were departments of art, dance, music, and theater arts, operating under what was then known as the College of Fine Arts. At that time, ethnomusicology and musicology were disciplines within the music department, which had expanded to include many areas of music, including performance, composition, and music education.
In 1991, the College of Fine Arts was disestablished, and two schools were created – the School of the Arts and the School of Theater, Film and Television. In 1994, UCLA’s Professional School Restructuring Initiative resulted in the relocation of architecture to the arts, which became the School of the Arts and Architecture.
In 2014, UCLA proposed to create a school of music, designed to be part of a comprehensive trio of independent but complementary arts-centered schools by 2016: the current School of Theater, Film and Television, a redefined School of the Arts and Architecture, and a new school of music. All three schools were to be similar in size and scope, each promoting education, scholarship, and creativity in their specific domains.
Explore Our Programs
International A-Level
Graduate study and training in choral, orchestral, or wind conducting
International GCSE
The study of global musical traditions through performance training, research, and field work
Pre-A-Level
Jazz performance and musicianship courses are paired with African American Studies
Pre-iGCSE
Mentorship in the creation and realization of music for concerts, opera, and visual media
IELTS Courses
Preparation for music educators leading to a B.A. and teaching credential in just four years
TOEFL iBT Courses
Industry professionals and UCLA faculty prepare students for music-related careers
ESL Courses
The scholarly study of the histories, cultures, and critical interpretations of music and music-making
SAT Prep Courses
Study and training towards professional performance careers in Western classical music
ACT Prep Courses
A highly selective M.M. program in partnership with the Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz
AP Courses
A highly selective M.M. program in partnership with the Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz
The only school of music
in the UC system
The new school of music was to retain the name established in 2007, The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music, which was created with a generous $30 million gift from the Herb Alpert Foundation. The gift obligated UCLA to enhance collaborations among UCLA’s three music-related departments – Ethnomusicology, Music, and Musicology. On campus, the unit became known as the virtual school, and it was charged with facilitating innovative academic collaborations among the three departments.
Today, the school is grounded in the disciplines of its three founding departments, each devoted to its unique expertise and methodologies. Only UCLA has departments of ethnomusicology and musicology, affording powerful synergies available at no other UC campus. Musicology boasts some of the most sophisticated and cutting-edge cultural theorists and music thinkers active today. Ethnomusicology, the nation’s oldest and most distinguished department of its kind, serves as home to major scholars and highly skilled performance ensembles in African and Afro-American traditions, as well as the music of Bali, the Balkans, China, Korea, Mexico, India, Ireland, and the Middle East, among others. Music’s world-class performance faculty directs the department’s major programs in chamber, orchestral, operatic, and choral performance, complementing its renowned programs in composition, conducting, and music education.
With 50 ladder faculty, half devoted to scholarship in composition, ethnomusicology, and musicology and half focusing on music performance and music education, the new school is able to honor all musical traditions and maintain a balanced emphasis on scholarship and practice. The school also pioneers new models for integrated musical studies by embracing innovative degree programs, including a new interdisciplinary Global Jazz Studies major and a Minor in Music Industry, open to all UCLA undergraduates.
Drawing on the superb resources of UCLA’s Music Library, Ethnomusicology Archive, western and world musical instrument collections, and state-of-the-art recording/production facilities, as well as Southern California’s rich history of professional music-making and powerful creative community, the Herb Alpert School of Music provides students with the practical skills, confidence, and critical judgment they will need to succeed as music educators, scholars, practitioners, administrators, and advocates.