Prospective Members

Welcome

Prospective members, welcome and thank you for considering our program! We hope you take time to explore our website and to complete our prospective member form, for either more information about our program or to request a scholarship audition.

Why Tarleton?

Founded in 1899, Tarleton State University’s mission is to provide a high quality, value-driven education across over 100 undergraduate and graduate degree programs. Tarleton’s campus boasts around 14,000 students, with approximately 10,000 of those on the Stephenville campus. This medium size for our university allows our programs to be large enough to provide first-class opportunities to undergraduate students while small enough to maintain a student-focused environment with personal attention.

Scholarships

Scholarships are available by audition for prospective students. In-person auditions are required both for scholarship consideration and for admission to our program as a music major. Students of all majors are eligible to audition for a scholarship, though music majors and music minors are typically given priority. Funds are awarded on a first-come, first-served basis.

Those auditioning for entrance to our program as music majors need only to complete one audition for admission and scholarship consideration. Auditions are not required for non-music majors who wish to participate in our program and non interested in band scholarship consideration.

We prefer to schedule auditions as part of a campus visit during a weekday so that we can appropriately get to know you and for you to see our program in action. See the Audition tabs on this page for more information.

Scholarship Funding

Band and instrumental music scholarships at Tarleton are funed through a combination of institutional funds, charitable gifts, and the $5.4 million Hunewell Endowment. Created in 2022, the Hunewell Endowment funds are made possible through the sale of property gifted to the Tarleton band program by Tarleton’s second band director, Dennis Hunewell. Band and instrumental music scholarship offers may be stacked with other university scholarships according to university scholarship guidelines.

Our Band Program

Our band program sponsors over twenty different musical ensembles each semester through our Athletic Band, Concert Band, Jazz Studies, and Chamber Ensemble programs. All of our ensembles are open to all Tarleton students, regardless of major. These ensembles intend to provide a wide range of performance options across many styles, genres, and difficulty of music. Our top ensembles in each area represent the university annually through performances on campus in support of the university’s mission, tours for recruiting, and high-profile performances at festivals and music conferences.

Our Music Program

The Department of Performing Arts offers a number of undergraduate degrees in music. Our music program is different from many other schools because of our department’s sharp focus on instruction and experiences tailored to undergraduate students seeking bachelor’s degrees. 100% of our music courses are taught by credential music faculty, not by graduate students, and our placement rate for our graduates into jobs or graduate school is consistently above 95%.

Our music degrees include:

• Bachelor of Music
  • Music Education (with All-Level Certification)
  • Music Performance
    • Instrumental | Vocal | Piano
      Jazz Studies | Musical Theater
• Bachelor of Arts
  • General Studies
  • Music Business
• Minor in Music
  • General Music
  • Music Business
• Certificate in Music
  • Jazz Studies
  • Music Business
• Master of Music (online)
  • Music Education
• B.M. to M.M. in 5 Years Accelerated Program