Why the Collinsworth School of Performing Arts?
Uncompromising Standards of Musical and Professional Excellence
The Collinsworth School is committed to its mission of “inspiring students to the highest standards of musical craft …”.The modern musician must be at the top of his or her game if he or she is to succeed in modern performance culture. Furthermore, professionalism is achieved when excellence and consistency intersect. Anything less will not truly prepare students for success in the field of the performing arts. Whether your aspiration is to be a performer, conductor, educator, composer, actor, studio musician, or worship leader, it is our chief objective to hold high the standards of excellence that you must achieve to distinguish yourself, and practically and intentionally guide you down the path of its achievement.
Extraordinary Campus Life
CBU sits on 160-acres of gorgeous campus situated between the snow-capped San Bernardino mountains and the beautiful beaches of Los Angelos, CA. Add to that nationally-ranked award-winning food, a rich southern California arts scene, and an active, hip student life culture, and you have every ingredient for a rewarding and exciting college experience.
A State of the Art Music Center for Learning
The JoAnn Hawkins Music Building, home to the Collinsworth School of Performing Arts, sits in the middle of campus and is a beautiful, state-of-the-art facility featuring numerous expansive classrooms and rehearsal spaces containing the latest in music technology, a pair of multi-million dollar professional recording studios, and 26 student practice rooms all equipped with Yamaha grand pianos.
Consistent Opportunities to Work with Music Industry Professionals
The Collinsworth School has vibrant professional relationships with organizations such as Disney, LifeWay Worship, and Integrity Music, and often collaborates with these organizations on nationally-promoted musical projects that feature our music students. In addition, CBU actively brings in dozens of national artists from disparate styles and backgrounds to teach our students through a series of masterclasses and forums throughout the year. At the Collinsworth School, our objective is to expose our students to the best musical artists, educators, and worship leaders in the world, strategically placing them under the influence of those who have mastered their craft through major careers in music. Recent guests include:
- Nia Allen, Songwriter, teacher and recording artist
- Meredith Andrews, 2-time Dove Award winning recording artist, songwriter and worship leader
- Charles Billingsley, Recording artist, songwriter and worship leader
- Mark Carlson, Composer
- John Campbell, Composer
- Dan Cathy, Chairman and CEO, Chick-Fil-A
- Jacob Collier, Grammy Award-winning musician/composer
- Travis Cottrell, Arranger, songwriter and worship leader
- Richard Danielpour, Composer
- Tim Davis, Music producer, vocalist and performer
- Cliff Duren, Arranger, orchestrator, producer and worship leader
- Sheila E - Percussionist
- Anthony Evans, Vocalist, songwriter and worship leader
- Jordan Frye, Songwriter and producer
- Stewart Gordon, Professor, Keyboard Studies, USC Thornton School of Music
- Bruce Healey, Composer and arranger, Music Director for Walt Disney Attractions
- Aaron Ivey, Worship Pastor, The Austin Stone Community Church
- Todd Maki, Composer
- Willie Murillo, Producer, trumpeter, vocalist and writer
- Charlin Neal, Singer, songwriter, vocal arranger and clinician
- J.A.C. Redford, Composer, arranger, orchestrator and conductor
- Travis Ryan, Songwriter, worship leader
- Tim Sharp, Executive Director, American Choral Directors Association
- Bruce Sledge, Tenor; opera singer
- Jamie Thierman, Composer
- Chloe Trevor, Concert violinist
- Tommy Walker, Songwriter, composer and worship leader
- Harry Gregson-Williams, Composer
Internationally Celebrated Faculty that Focuses on Mentorship
The Collinsworth School is proud of its accomplished, internationally-recognized faculty from all corners of the musical world. Featuring elite performers, seasoned educators, accomplished conductors, active composers, and passionate worship leaders and studio artists, the faculty of the CBU School of Performing Arts transcend a common lecture mentality and are unified around a passion of inspiring students to reach their artistic potential through the power of individual mentorship and musical cultivation. Check out our faculty!
Supportive Student Culture
Often, music schools have an underlying air of toxic competition in a cut-throat environment. Not so in the Collinsworth School! On the contrary, we believe that musical and personal growth happen best in an honest, but supportive, environment, and work diligently to cultivate a student culture that is energetic, positive, and welcoming to all burgeoning artists who are embarking on their journey of perfecting their music craft. This is one of the most salient distinctives of the our culture.
Priority on Musical and Ethnic Diversity
CBU is one of the most diverse campuses in the nation, boasting a student minority ratio of over 60%. Musical diversity is also of chief priority. As recent studies confirm, the modern hirable musician is a versatile musician. The Collinsworth School intentionally weaves a diverse tapestry of musical styles into all its programs in order to most effectively prepare future artists for what awaits them in the contemporary marketplace of professional musicians.
Rigorous, Innovative, and Fully-Accredited Undergraduate and Graduate Programs
While the School of Performing Arts at CBU offers Bachelor of Music degrees in Performance, Music Education, and Composition, it also offers new, innovative undergraduate degree programs that have been specifically tailored to the modern marketplace. Among these are Worship Arts and Ministry, Commercial Music Performance, and Studio Production. Our graduate programs also combine traditional fundamentals with innovation, offering research-based Master of Music degrees in Instrumental and Choral Conducting, Music Education, Performance, and Composition; as well as a new one-year, 30-unit virtual hybrid Master of Arts degree in Worship Arts, designed to provide additional training to the full-time, bi-vocational, or volunteer worship leader and can completed almost entirely via online modalities.
A Vibrant Performance Culture
The Collinworth School believes in the idea of “learning by doing.” Mastery comes through consistent replication of excellence. And that means performance opportunities must be prevalent for growing musicians to reach their objectives and move toward mastery in their craft. To this end, the University invests substantial funding every year into providing abundant opportunities for students to perform in many diverse settings and stages. Last year alone, our 15 School of Music ensembles performed over 350 local, regional, and national concerts.
Music Scholarships
One of the distinctives of the Collinsworth School of Performing Arts is the potential for both music majors and non-music majors to draw music scholarships in addition to other institutional and government aid. This scholarship process has helped hundreds of students make their dream of a college education become a reality. Auditions are held every spring on select audition weekends, but a personal audition by interview can be scheduled at any point in the year prior to the beginning of the fall term. To learn more about this year’s audition dates, or to schedule an audition time, visit performingarts.calbaptist.edu/audition.