Vocal music instruction begins for all University Laboratory School students in kindergarten and progresses into a formal comprehensive curriculum focused on music theory, history, technique and performance that is introduced in fourth grade and then continues for those students who wish to pursue their vocal music interest in middle and high school.
Instruction centers around standards published by the National Association for Music Education (NAfME). The standards emphasize conceptual understanding in areas that reflect the actual processes in which musicians engage. The standards cultivate a student’s ability to carry out the three artistic processes: creating, performing and responding.
Fourth grade choir is an experimental choir in which students have the opportunity to perform in a vocal ensemble setting. The fourth grade choir holds a musical at the end of the fall semester and also performs at Grandparents Day in the spring. Members of this choir are often selected to perform as part of All-state honors choir.
Other performance opportunities for elementary students include Show Choir Camp, Musical Theatre, and Grandparents' Day.
There are three middle school choirs - 6th grade choir, 7th grade choir and 8th grade choir.
There are two academic high school choirs - Beginning, Intermediate, and Advanced – and two extracurricular choirs – Premiere Company Show Choir and ACP (A Cappella Pop choir). The choirs participate in concerts, musicals, festivals, and civic and social events year round. Members from all middle and high school choirs are consistently selected to participate in honor choirs in state, regional and national levels.
Each spring, middle and high school students have the opportunity to participate in a musical theatre production.
The University Laboratory School High School choirs have received invitations and traveled to perform throughout the world including Carnegie Hall, New York, NY; Walt Disney World, Orlando, FL; Venice, Florence, and Rome, Italy; Dublin and Cork, Ireland; and London, England.