Course Catalog – Music

Music

The Music Department at Lane offers students opportunities for meaningful music making at any experience level, no matter what they’re interested in learning about. Students in music classes play Mozart Symphonies and make Hip Hop beats. They play guitar solos, sing beautiful choral music, and pump up the crowd at the basketball games in the pep band. Even if you’ve never touched a musical instrument or sung before, we have beginning classes for every instrument and ensemble. You can start from scratch learning to play ukulele, piano, saxophone, drums, violin, and many other instruments at Lane. If you’re not as interested in playing instruments, but want to learn how to sing or produce music, we have options for that as well.

All music classes at Lane fulfill one of the two Arts credits that are required for all Lane students. If you take Beginning Guitar one year and Sound Engineering another, as an example, you’ll have fulfilled your Arts requirement for graduation. With so many classes to choose from though, you can take that much further and move toward our Music Concentration. This requires that you stay in an ensemble during your time at Lane while also exploring at least one other course or ensemble in the department. As an example, you could be in band all four years, but also take Music Theory or Ukulele & Songwriting to fulfill that last requirement. Some students choose to learn a second instrument or sing in another ensemble in the department. The opportunities are endless.

Our ensemble classes are the heart of our music program. Our choir, band, and orchestra departments put together bi-annual concerts, participate in solo/ensemble competitions, and take field trips around the city to experience some of the best musicians in the world. Lane’s great reputation and connections within the larger Chicago music community also bring a lot of guest artists (and sometimes the entire CSO) to Lane. Hip Hop artists, opera singers, jazz guitarists, Brazilian percussionists, and Latin trumpet players have all shared their talents with students in recent years. The music department is a place where students can make and experience so much amazing music, a place where they can express themselves creatively, and a home away from home where they’ll meet life-long friends.

Please reach out to the teachers below with specific questions about courses or ensembles that aren’t answered in the course descriptions below. If you are a prospective student looking to audition into an upper level (non-beginning) ensemble, please contact the directors of those ensembles directly.

Department Video

Music Department Websites

• Band
• Choir

Courses

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