• Hours are 7am – midnight, during the academic semesters.
• Keys and information are available at the reception desk.
• Instrument lockers are available: see Marisa Wickersham between 8:00am-4:00pm at the reception desk, or email her at mwickersham@bates.edu.
• Practice rooms are available to any student whenever the building is open, with the exception of during concerts or other events in the concert hall.

Membership in department ensembles is open to all Bates students.  Contact individual directors for specific information about auditions. Membership in an ensemble can earn academic course credit towards graduation.

For more information about each ensemble and to see photos/videos of past concerts, click here:

Brass Ensemble Alan Carr, director acarr@bates.edu

College Choir Joelle Morris, director  jmorris@bates.edu

Gamelan Gina Fatone, director   gfatone@bates.edu

Jazz Band Larry Williams, director lwillia4@bates.edu

Orchestra Hiroya Miura, director  hmiura@bates.edu

Steel Pan Orchestra  Duncan Hardy, director dhardy@bates.edu or hmiura@bates.edu

The BMU provides musical groups and bands organized by students themselves with the space and equipment they need for rehearsals and performances. The BMU supports campus bands with a rehearsal space, practice equipment, and live sound equipment for shows, located in Chase Hall.

The department offers a wide variety of courses for majors and non-majors.  The areas covered include Western classical music, jazz, music of Southeast Asia, African-American music, music theory, music composition, African music, electronic music and video, performance, film music, song-writing, and improvisation, among others.

Students interested in minoring or majoring in music should begin our 4-semester music theory sequence as early as possible.

Dale Chapman is the department chair.  General questions about music courses or other music department activities can be addressed to him, Olin 252, dchapman@bates.edu

For more detailed information about individual courses offered in the music department, click here:

Information about the music faculty and what they teach can be found at this link:

Music Faculty

Yes! Bates offers private lessons, known as the Applied Music program, on a wide variety of instruments. Instruction may be available in other classical, jazz, folk, and non-Western instruments when demand exists.