Music Program

What is the RC Music Program?

You don't need to read music to take an RC music class. Most have no prerequisites, and they're about making music instead of talking about it. In one term, you might play in an ensemble, write songs, drum, sing, or build tracks in the electronic studio.

The program is run by working musicians and built for every level, whether you've played for years or you're starting from zero.

What that looks like:

Small classes with room for what you want to work on
Your own pace with no judgment
Making and experimenting instead of chasing a finished product
A community of people who actually make music together
Skills you'll use anywhere: listening closely, leading, working with others
Open to every level, genre, and background

Anyone at Michigan can enroll, from any school or college. The program also fits students filling the RC Arts Practicum, Arts & Ideas majors, and music majors or minors who want a different kind of music community closer to Central Campus.

Afro-Cuban Drumming and Styles, RCMUSIC 258

Chinese Music Ensemble, RCMUSIC 321

Chamber Music Concert in the EQ Courtyard, RCMUSIC 320

Sample Courses

RC Music courses come in two formats.

One- to two-credit performance and theory labs:

The Art and Technique of Singing (RCMUSIC 254)
Afro-Cuban Drumming and Styles (RCMUSIC 258)
Chamber Music (RCMUSIC 320)
Chinese Music Ensemble (RCMUSIC 321)
Creative Musicianship Theory Lab (RCMUSIC 351)
Found Instruments-Building, Design and Performance (RCMUSIC 352)
Most 200- and 300-level RCMUSIC courses

Four-credit recitations, interdisciplinary courses that mix performance, history, theory, composition, improvisation, and technology:

Foundations of Music (RCMUSIC 249)
Musical Improvisation (RCMUISC 259)
Topics in Musical Expression: Songwriting Craft and Practice (RCMUSIC 334)
Creative Musicianship (RCMUSIC 350)
Electronic Music (RCMUSIC 353)

Some of our classes are labeled as "Recitations"; they are interdisciplinary courses mixing performance, history, theory, composition, improvisation, and technology, depending on the skill set of the particular class.

Songwriting Craft and Practice, RCMUSIC 334

"If I hadn't found RC Chamber Music, I would not have continued."

- Nora Kuo, RC student

"Being in the RC is a great opportunity to try something new, or continue on a path you already traveled."

- Katri Ervamaa, RC Music instructor

See What Research Says about RC's Approach

Why Practice Music?

Making music with others builds skills that follow you into any field. A systematic review of music education found consistent gains in communication, teamwork, and collaboration, with leadership emerging as a recurring outcome (Diz-Otero et al., 2023). In an ensemble, you learn to listen and respond to the people around you, coordinate toward a shared goal, and both follow and lead as the music demands (Schiavio et al., 2020; Bussu & Mangiarulo, 2024). That same practice develops empathy, trust, and a sense of belonging (Cho & Han, 2021; Váradi, 2022), along with self-confidence, responsibility, creativity, and organization that carry into school and work (Diz-Otero et al., 2023; Jiang, 2024). Leadership tends to grow when you take an active role, planning a rehearsal, arranging a part, or guiding a group (Shaw, 2023), which is exactly what our small, ensemble-based classes ask of you.

Why Does Our Approach Work?

RC Music is built around doing. Research on university music students shows that autonomy-supportive teaching, offering choice, ownership, and supportive feedback, increases motivation, practice, and wellbeing (Bonneville-Roussy & Evans, 2024; Butler, 2022), and that active, creative music-making engages students more deeply than theory delivered on its own (Menard, 2013; Zhu et al., 2025). Our courses also span traditions, from Afro-Cuban drumming to Chinese ensemble, and learning music from outside your own experience has been shown to build empathy, tolerance, and cross-cultural understanding (Li et al., 2023; Guan & Matsunobu, 2022).

Hear from RC students about what a creative arts class is actually like.

Faculty

Residential College: Music Program

Carolyn Anderson-Burack
Lecturer Emerita, French

caburack@umich.edu

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