Blair School Of Music

During the Spring Faculty Assembly on April 9, nine faculty members received awards for their significant impact through scholarship, research, creative expression, service, teaching or mentoring. The chancellor also spoke about Vanderbilt’s strength even during uncertain times.  Read More

As 2026 Keegan Traveling Fellows, seven Vanderbilt students will embark on immersive global experiences designed to deepen their academic interests and broaden their perspectives through independent travel. Three postgraduate Keegan fellows will spend a year pursuing self-designed projects around the world, while four rising juniors and seniors have been named Summer Keegan Traveling Fellows and will participate in an eight- to 10-week international experience, pursuing immersive cross-cultural projects as part of Immersion Vanderbilt.  Read More

Vanderbilt University has announced its fall 2025 recipients of the Seeding Success, Scaling Success and Rapid-Advancement MicroGrant Program awards, providing internal funding to help faculty launch new research directions, strengthen proposals and compete for major external grants. Read More

The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Vanderbilt invites the community to a new season of learning, connection and shared exploration with a wide-ranging lineup of spring courses for people age 50 and older. From science, history and literature to music, writing and wellness, this new term offers opportunities to engage with ideas, develop skills and enjoy thoughtful conversation. Read More

Summer is just around the corner, and Vanderbilt University is inviting students of all ages to campus to experience a wide-ranging variety of summer camps and programs—with both residential and day program formats available. From athletics to academics to arts and music, there is something for everyone to enjoy and learn—all within Vanderbilt’s supportive and enriching environment.  Read More

The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Vanderbilt invites the community to a new season of discovery, connection and fun with a dynamic lineup of winter courses and programs to keep your mind active and your spirit warm.  Whether you’re diving into science, literature or music, or exploring global perspectives through courses on Japan, Sicily and the Abrahamic faiths, you’ll find something to spark your curiosity. This winter also features returning favorites like Tai Chi and Gentle Yoga, new opportunities to learn Mahjong, and creative arts offerings from landscape painting to the always-popular Steel Drum Band and Chorale.  Read More

Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs C. Cybele Raver recently announced the extension of Melissa Rose’s term as dean of the Blair School of Music and the reappointment of Pamela Jeffries as dean of the Vanderbilt School of Nursing. Both renewals illustrate the university’s regard for shared governance, commitment… Read More

Vanderbilt Magazine celebrates the lives and mourns the loss last spring of three Vanderbilt alumni who led with passion and generosity during times of transition and change: James Stephen “Steve” Turner, BA’69; Sylvia Sanders Kelley, BA'54; and H. Rodes Hart, BA'54. Read More

Clark Hubbard, BMus'18, marches to his own tune as a composer, drummer and assistant director of marching and athletic bands at Vanderbilt University. Read More

Elenora Pertz, BMus’15 (Claudia Araujo) Pianist Elenora Pertz, BMus’15, has chased her musical dreams across continents, from the grand halls of Vienna to Berlin—and this past summer to Florence, Italy. As a collaborative pianist for some of the world’s most prestigious opera houses, an innovative teacher and an… Read More

Collegiate voice students can only dream about the opportunity—someday—to be featured as a soloist with a major symphony orchestra. For Blair junior Vyjayanthi “Viji” Burma, a music education major, that dream became a reality in a whirlwind fashion last month. Read More

Blair School of Music sophomores, William Perez and Pierce Ruch, traveled with Associate Professor Thomas Verrier, senior band conductor and director of wind ensembles, to participate in the fifth annual Banda Sinfónica Integrada de Las Américas in San Roque, Antioquia. The international festival brings together student musicians from across the Americas to use music as a bridge between cultures. Read More

Meet some of Vanderbilt's newest faculty as they explain why Vanderbilt is the right academic home for them. Read More

The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Vanderbilt is offering an inspiring lineup of fall courses and activities that reflect the spirit of lifelong learning and connection. Whether you’re diving into science, literature, music or exploring global perspectives through the highly requested new course on India, you’ll find something to spark your curiosity.  Read More

Building on the success of its inaugural public programming in Chelsea, Vanderbilt University today announced the next chapter of its faculty lecture series at Vanderbilt University - New York City. This fall, the university will invite New Yorkers and the Vanderbilt community to explore the intersections of music and spirituality and the mutual influence of technology and education through two public events: “Divine Rhythms: Jazz and the Sacred” on September 25 and “AI and the Future of the American University” on November 13. Read More

The life, music, writings and visual art of jazz multi-instrumentalist and composer Yusef A. Lateef will be celebrated Sept. 12–13, when Vanderbilt University’s Blair School of Music hosts the Yusef Lateef Symposium. The two-day conference will include panel discussions, viewings of the Yusef A. Lateef Collection housed at the Jean and Alexander Heard Libraries, a film screening, visual art displays and live music performances. Read More

A university requires more than professors, administrators and students to run properly. The preparation of food, maintenance and cleaning of facilities, landscaping and groundskeeping work, and thousands of other essential tasks build the foundation of every place of learning. Even so, conversations between these two worlds can be rare, and when they do occur, might be scaffolded by hierarchical ideas about work. One program, sponsored by the Curb Center in collaboration with Forklift Danceworks, seeks to change this.  Read More

Inspired by Beethoven when he first began to play piano at age five, Derek Hartman‘s music career took a huge step forward last week as he was awarded first prize at the prestigious 17th International Beethoven Piano Competition in Vienna, Austria. Read More

Shirley Marie Watts of Nashville, a musician and a longtime librarian for the Blair School’s Anne Potter Wilson Music Library, died Oct. 21, 2024. She was 89. Read More

Excellence, the first principle set forth in the updated Code of Bylaws approved by Vanderbilt’s Board of Trust, along with our other two guiding principles—academic freedom and free expression, and growth and development—drives our core purpose: to provide transformative education and pathbreaking research. It is our foremost commitment and our steadfast promise in all that we do. Read More