Timeline
- 1912 – Music is a specialized area within the Teacher Training School
- 1940 – Organization of the Tiger Band
- 1947 – Separate Music Department established
- 1949 – First opera performance
- 1953 – Bachelor of Music degree established
- 1962 – Master of Music degree established
- 1967 – Current facility built
- 1970 – Doctorate in Music established
- 1980 – Commercial Music program established
- 2000 – Accredited as a School of Music by the National Association of Schools of Music
- 2000 – Endowed by Rudi and Honey Hohenberg Scheidt and named the Rudi E. Scheidt
School of Music
 In the late 1930s, an energetic pre-teen living in San Francisco was forced to endure what was, for him, torture. “Music was force-fed into me when I was a kid, kicking all the way.” says the adult, reminiscing about his boyhood. “My parents dragged me to string quartet concerts in museums when I was 12 or 13 years old; I would much rather have been doing something else.” Powerless to escape his harmonic prison, the boy listened. The musical events became bearable; gradually they became enjoyable. “I kind of got used to music,” he admits.
The young man eventually met a lovely woman who learned to share his appreciation for music. She lured him to Memphis, where he began working in the cotton industry and supporting the arts. Decades later… their benefice would help transform a growing department into a world-class school: The Rudi E. Scheidt School of Music. Rudi and Honey Scheidt’s …gift to establish a school of music at the University of Memphis is the culmination of a long and distinguished partnership with the arts.
The Scheidts put their hearts, as well as their money, into the University’s music program. They attend master classes, dress rehearsals, performances and auditions; they befriend and mentor the students; and they encourage other Memphians to attend U of M events.
Excerpt from The University of Memphis Magazine, Fall 2000
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