NDSU Guides

• 
  • 
  • 
  • 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Music at NDSU

NDSU Press publication chronicles the history of music on campus

Piano professor and music historian Robert Groves has written a history of music at NDSU. The book charts the rise of music as an academic field on campus, starting from a loose set of singing clubs and private instrument lessons in the 1890s. Groves defines the key stages of leadership over the decades that grew the small service department into today’s endowed Challey School of Music. It now offers an array of degrees through the graduate level for upcoming performers and music educators, as well as opportunities for nonmajors to join bands, choirs and staged operas.

He also delves into engaging details such as the origin of the Gold Star Marching Band’s name, the opening of band membership to female students and the acoustic merits of the old Festival Hall, and the staging of countless performances, including by legends such as Louis Armstrong and Sergei Rachmaninoff. The book includes more than 200 photographs of the people and ensembles that influenced the deep musical roots at NDSU for more than a century.

---