UNT: Music & Performing Arts

North Texas holds a special place in American music education: it was the first school anywhere to grant a degree in jazz studies, and its College of Music is one of the largest in the country. This walk traces where that music gets made, from the theatre stages near the Union to a dorm famous for its musicians and the practice rooms where students log their hours. It ends at the Murchison Performing Arts Center, the university's grand concert venue. Check the College of Music calendar before you go; many concerts are free and open to the public.

Denton's reputation as a music town owes a lot to the University of North Texas, the first school anywhere to award a degree in jazz studies and home to one of the country's largest colleges of music. This walk visits the buildings where that music is learned, rehearsed and performed.

The Music Building is the core. Its oldest wing and the roughly 380-seat Voertman Concert Hall date to 1960, and inside is the rehearsal room tied to UNT's famous jazz lab bands, including the Grammy-nominated One O'Clock Lab Band. Bruce Hall, a 1946 dorm that is the oldest on campus still housing students, is home to a music and jazz living-learning community; Norah Jones once lived there, and students still call its dining hall the Bruceteria.

The Murchison Performing Arts Center, opened in 1999, is the College of Music's showcase, with the Winspear Performance Hall seating just over 1,000 and a smaller theatre used for opera. Plan around a performance if you can: many College of Music concerts are free and open to the public.