College or university school of music
A university school of music or college of
music, or academy of music or conser-
vatoire (French, but used in British English)
— also known as a conservatory (American
and British English) or a conservatorium
(Australian English) — is a higher education
institution dedicated to teaching the art of
music, including the playing of musical in-
struments, singing, musical composition, mu-
sicianship, musicology, music history and mu-
sic theory.
Colleges of music and university schools
of music are tertiary level institutions, and
they may either be independent or part of a
university. Many music schools originated as
vocational training centers for would-be pro-
fessional musicians, often outside the main
academic structure. These institutions have
retained an emphasis on performance into
the 21st century, while also adopting a more
formal academic approach. On the other
hand there are university music departments,
which originally placed more emphasis on
academic study of music, but often place
greater emphasis on performance now than
they did in the past. The two groups overlap
more than they used to, with the specific bal-
ance of vocational training and academic
study varying from one institution to another.
College and university
schools of music
History
In the late 7th century, the Schola Cantor-
um, school of singers, was founded by the Ro-
man Catholic Church, may be the first profes-
sional music school in history. Soon after, the
Chinese Royal Academy was set up by Em-
peror Gaozu of Tang in the purpose to teach
music, theater, and dance for court entertain-
ment, being the first school to teach singing,
instrumental performing, acting, and such.
Contemporary institutions
Some institutions have university status
while others have vocational university
status. University schools of music grant
Graduates of Rimsky-Korsakov Saint Peters-
burg Conservatory include Peter Ilyich
Tchaikovsky, Sergey Prokofiev, Dmitri Shos-
takovich, and George Balanchine.
professional degrees