General Information

Click here for current registration & tuition Information
Click here for current interview schedule
Click here for current registration form
Click here for complete pre-college & adult catalog 2007-2009

A History of the Blair School of Music

The Blair School has been a vital part of Nashville’s musical life from its inception, and it maintains as its mission excellence in teaching music to persons of all ages, providing the training essential for a performing career or for an enriching and creative avocation. The school was established by the Justin and Valere Potter Foundation through a bequest of Valere Blair Potter in memory of her mother, Myra Jackson Blair. First a division of George Peabody College, Blair School became a private, independent institution and was accredited as a non-degree-granting school by the National Association of Schools of Music in 1977. In 1981, the school merged with Vanderbilt University. Studies leading to the Bachelor of Music degree in performance, composition/theory, and musical arts are available, as are a liberal arts (non-professional) major, three music minors, and a wide variety of courses for the general university student.

Faculty

Blair School of Music is home to internationally known faculty members, highly respected for performance, composition, conducting, and scholarly endeavors, as well as for their dedication to teaching. The faculty has a reputation for personal excellence and for its commitment to students as developing musicians and as human beings. The concept of a pre-college “division” is foreign to Blair’s philosophy. Most faculty members teach both pre-collegiate and university students, valuing greatly their involvement with both—a situation unique among music schools in this country. Many faculty members concertize nationally and internationally and have recorded on a variety of labels. For a list of current faculty members and their biographical information, please visit the Blair website at www.vanderbilt.edu/blair.

School Calendar

Blair School of Music generally follows the academic-year schedule of the University, with fall and spring semesters and a ten-week summer session. The spring semester for pre-college differs from the Vanderbilt calendar in that it is seventeen weeks long, rather than fifteen weeks. A brochure describing semester offerings is published regularly and is posted on the Blair website at www.vanderbilt.edu/blair.