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Music

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Music at Dordt

Be challenged. Be changed.

Program options

Do you love to sing or play an instrument? Study music at Dordt, and you'll be able to focus on church music, music management, performance, or pair it with an education major.

In addition to taking private music lessons and participating in ensembles, you will learn about music theory, ear training, music history and literature, conducting, music and digital technology, and more.

Learn how to advance your music skills and make a joyful noise, praising God for the gift of music.

Preorder Wind Symphony Album

The Dordt University Music Department is now taking pre-orders for Music With Friends, a CD that will be professionally recorded and produced by Mark Custom Recording Service spring 2021, featuring the Dordt Wind Symphony. Read more.

Pre-order

Program Options

EMPHASES

Church Music: With an emphasis in church music, you will learn about the role of music in worship, how to plan music for worship, transposition and arranging for ensembles, and teaching techniques and methods for vocal music.
General: Take a range of classes to get a broad foundation in music.
Music Management: In addition to your foundational music classes, you’ll also learn about management theory and practice, principles of marketing, communication, and more.
Performance and Pedagogy: In this emphasis, you will take foundational music courses in addition to classes focusing on music literature and music in worship. You will also focus on your specific instrument by taking six semesters of private lessons, presenting in recitals junior and senior year. This emphasis involves an audition by the end of sophomore year.

Other opportunities in music

Besides majoring in music, there are several other tracks you can take. You can minor in music or music performance.

At Dordt, you do not have to be a music major or minor to take lessons or classes. Approximately 20 percent of our students participate in music in some way or another.

You can also pair it with an education major, having music as a specialization. This combination will prepare you for a career as a music teacher.

For more information on music education, head over to the education major:

Education

Ensembles

Dordt has a variety of music ensembles:

We are also the home to the Northwest Iowa Symphony Orchestra (NISO), which provides advanced students with valuable ensemble experience with their pre-professional training. Many of Dordt's adjunct faculty perform as principal players in the orchestra.

Students can also create their own small group or band. Many students also share their music skills with local churches, assisting with leading worship.

Resources

The B.J. Haan Auditorium is a 1,500-seat facility for concerts and solo performances that has some of the best acoustics in the region. It features a 57-rank, three manual, mechanical action Casavant pipe organ, a Steinway Model D concert grand piano, and a Kawai concert grand piano.
The music department wing includes mechanical action and electro-pneumatic pipe organs, upright and grand piano practice rooms, and instrumental practice rooms. Dordt also has a Yamaha Disklavier and a two-manual Dekker harpsichord.
A state-of-the-art digital music studio for composition, arranging, or editing of digital sound is one of the most recent additions available to musicians at Dordt.