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Sarah and Ernest Butler School of Music

In just over one-hundred-years of existence, the Sarah and Ernest Butler School of Music has established itself as a national leader in music education. With a focus on preparing students for success in a dynamic and diverse field of professional arts, we are committed to cultivating a community of skilled, creative and thoughtful artists, scholars, and citizens prepared to engage with an ever-changing world. As a comprehensive institution, our degree programs range from a liberal arts BA in Music to undergraduate and graduate professional and academic degrees including the BM, MM, DMA, PhD and Artist Diploma. Extensive instruction is also available to non-majors who wish to study music or perform in ensembles. The Butler School also offers a variety of community music programs and hosts state-wide competitions sponsored by the University Interscholastic League.

The Butler School serves 357 undergraduate majors and 263 graduate students.  Each year, the school receives 1,450 undergraduate and graduate applications and invites 700 applicants to audition. About a third of all applicants are offered admission, and approximately half of those accept. 
 
Undergraduate tuition for in-state students is approximately $11,630 per year, and $41,202 for non-residents.  Full-time tuition for in-state graduate students is $10,366, and $19,212 for non-residents.  For many students, these costs are heavily discounted through merit and need-based financial aid totaling $1.8 million each year, with an additional $2.19 million awarded through out-of-state tuition waivers. Graduate students receive teaching assistantships, tuition waivers, tuition benefits, and health benefits worth another $4.25 million annually. In addition, need-based grants are distributed to students through the University’s Office of Financial Aid. 

Within the Butler School’s student body 84% of undergraduates are Texas residents, 16% are non-residents (including 3% international students); 22% of graduate students are Texas residents, 78% are non-residents (including 35% international students). In alignment with a College of Fine Arts initiative, the Butler School has a robust commitment to music teacher education, with 32% of all undergraduate majors enrolled in teacher education programs.

The Butler School currently has 95 faculty and 23 full-time staff. Many faculty members graduated from leading music conservatories and universities throughout the country and world, and many enjoy national and international performance and/or scholarly careers. More than half of all full professors hold endowed professorships or chairs. 

Facilities

Students have access to 125 soundproof practice rooms, including dedicated rooms for organ, harp, and percussion, as well as 60 practice modules equipped with grand pianos. The Butler School has three performance halls and partners with Texas Performing Arts to host opera productions in McCullough Theatre. Moreover, ensembles occasionally perform in Texas Performing Arts’ 2,900-seat Bass Concert Hall.
 
The Butler School underwent a major HVAC and electrical systems renovation from 2019-2021. The project was funded by the University of Texas System’s Replacement and Renewal program and should withstand another 50 years. The school has used donations and income to upgrade classroom technology, stage floors and lighting, and to renovate the Recording Studio Live Room. 

Programs

The Butler School of Music produces more than 600 concerts and events each year. Students perform in recitals, master classes, chamber groups as well as instrumental and vocal ensembles. Our performing ensembles regularly play around the country and abroad. Recent highlights include a Jazz Orchestra European tour in 2018, the Chamber Singers' Puerto Rico tour in 2017, the Wind Ensemble’s three continent World Tour in 2014, and frequent touring by the Trombone Choir. Our performing ensembles include a broad range of options for students including the Symphony Orchestra, Wind Ensemble, New Music Ensemble, Jazz Orchestra, Chamber Singers, Concert Chorale, and non-western canon ensembles such as Mariachi, Hispanic Caribbean, Javanese Gamelan, Middle Eastern, Svaranjali Indian Classical, and Conjunto. The Electronic and Experimental Music Studio (EEMS) is outfitted with cutting-edge technology and resources dedicated to the creation and performance of electronic and electro-acoustic music. A vibrant chamber music program features the renowned Miró Quartet whose members mentor students in the Young Professional Quartet Program.

The Richard E. Rainwater Fund for American Music supports the teaching, scholarship, and performance of American music of all genres. To that end, the endowment provides approximately $250,000 annually to expand the scholarly activities of the Center for American Music, support travel and program assistance for ensembles whose repertory is drawn primarily from the Americas, and bring the most inventive and diverse American composers to campus. The fund also provides Rainwater Innovation Grants to undergraduate and graduate students for initiatives aimed at challenging conventional norms and using music for social justice.

The school facilitates a robust Visiting Guest Composers program hosted by composition faculty in conjunction with the New Music Ensemble. Anywhere from five to ten visiting guest composers come to campus each year representing a diverse spectrum of musical creation. Students have opportunities to partake in masterclasses, private lessons, and ensemble coaching from visiting guests. Additionally, the Butler School awards the biennial Eddie Medora King Prize in Composition—a $50,000 award that brings an exceptional guest composer to campus for a week-long collaboration with composers and performers that honors their significant contributions to music.

The Butler School sponsors several research and educational centers including the Butler Opera Center (with an associated performance diploma program), the Center for American Music, and the Center for Music Learning. The school also provides a wide range of community music programs, including the String Project, the Piano Project, and Musical Lives serving approximately 600 area music students annually while offering graduate students valuable teaching experience and inculcating a commitment to working with underserved communities. In addition, the school maintains extensive collaborations with a variety of community collaborators, including the Austin Opera, Austin Symphony, Austin Classical Guitar, Austin Chamber Music Center, KMFA Classical 89.5, and the El Sistema-inspired Austin Soundwaves program. 

The Longhorn Band, known as “The Showband of the Southwest,” is a $1 million program providing 375 UT music and non-music majors the opportunity to perform in Austin and around the country in support of our intercollegiate athletic teams.

College of Fine Arts

The College of Fine Arts is distinguished as one of the nation’s few to encompass rigorous conservatory-style and liberal arts education, multidisciplinary studio training, vanguard research, and extensive public engagement. For decades, the College of Fine Arts (COFA) has provided an unparalleled platform for groundbreaking critical inquiry and creative production in theatre, dance, music, art, arts education, design and creative technology. The faculty’s dynamic interdisciplinary and interprofessional collaborations across the Departments and Programs within the College and across the University are key to COFA’s current and future success. The College has developed partnerships with the Cockrell School of Engineering, Dell Medical School, Moody College of Communication, and McCombs School of Business, all of which expand the opportunities for the College’s 2,084 students, 180 faculty, and 215 full-time staff. This collaboration is equally critical to instruction, and numerous COFA faculty offer undergraduate and graduate classes cross-listed with departments in colleges around campus.

As a comprehensive college of the arts grounded in an R1 university and located in one of the most vibrant cities in the U.S., COFA reflects the larger national conversation about arts education by striving to balance critical engagement with new fields and directions with the study of traditional forms and practices. 

The College is dedicated to advancing the arts through research and the creation of new work, preserving the past while striving to define the future of artistic traditions. It is committed to exploring the interrelationships among the arts and among other disciplines.

University of Texas

The University of Texas at Austin, founded in 1883, ranks among the 40 best universities in the world. It supports some 51,000 diverse students with top national programs across 18 colleges and schools. And as Texas’ leading research university, UT attracts more than $650 million annually for discovery.

The mission of The University of Texas at Austin is to achieve excellence in the interrelated areas of undergraduate education, graduate education, research and public service. The university provides superior and comprehensive educational opportunities at the baccalaureate through doctoral and special professional educational levels.
 
The university contributes to the advancement of society through research, creative activity, scholarly inquiry and the development and dissemination of new knowledge, including the commercialization of University discoveries. The university preserves and promotes the arts, benefits the state’s economy, serves the citizens through public programs and provides other public service.