Overview

Whether you aim to become a professional musician or to develop your talent for personal enjoyment, the Music Program at Olympic College has classes and performance opportunities for you. The music faculty is comprised of talented individuals with a broad range of professional experience whose vocal or instrumental specialties ensure a world-class education for students of diverse genres.

In addition to private instruction, performance groups include the choir, wind ensemble, jazz band and opera. The music department enjoys access to a state-of-the-art performance venue, the William D. Harvey Theatre in the College Instruction Center at the heart of the Bremerton Campus.

MORE INFO

Complete a short form and a member of the Welcome Center will follow up with you right away! You can also contact music faculty directly at: @email.

REQUEST INFOAttend an Info Session

Contact us

Prospective new students contact the Welcome Center for one-on-one help applying to Olympic College.

Current and returning students contact the Advising Center to connect with a Student Success Coach or your Faculty Advisor.

Concert choir dressed in black with microphones in the foreground.

Performing & Visual Arts Events

There are currently no events scheduled.

Academic Program

While pursuing an Associate of Arts in Music, students will have the opportunity to work with leading professionals, showcase their work, and gain performance experience in our state-of-the-art theater. Consider taking music classes for your distribution requirements and electives while working to complete your Associate in Arts - Direct Transfer Agreement (AA-DTA): Music.

Transfer & Career Info

Band in classroom.

New to Music?

If you're looking for an elective to fill a credit and enjoy great music, sign up for a Music Fundamentals or Music Appreciation class. Learn the basic elements of musical literacy or explore musical eras and cultures.

Instrumental Music Program
Students wearing black on stage in rows performing jazz music, playing saxaphones, trumpets, guitar and more.

Our instrumental music program is one of the first established community college jazz programs in the nation.  The program consists of audition and non-audition bands, instrumental combos formed for participation in various events, and private instruction in various instruments.  Some of the classes offered through private instruction are electric bass, piano, saxophone, clarinet, brass, percussion, guitar, composition, and arranging. 

The audition Jazz Band is an important part of the Olympic College community. This group has often traveled around the state and competed nationally. Well-known performers have held clinics at OC, giving students the opportunity to work one-on-one with top musicians, and to perform together in concert.  The Jazz Band is known for its introduction of new music to the community at large as well as familiar jazz standards and traditional concert literature.

Students who would like to audition for the Jazz Band may contact
For more information on private instruction, please see the Private Instruction tab or faculty contacts below.

Olympic College Music Faculty

The Olympic College Music Faculty are dedicated to preparing music majors to transfer successfully to a four-year institution or to begin a professional career in music. Those with no background in music are more than welcome; we offer introductory music classes for all who want to learn. 

Dr. Emerald Lessley

Dr. Emerald Lessley

Choral & Voice

Emerald Lessley began studying music and performing at a young age in northern California. Dr. Lessley has enjoyed operatic roles such as Fiordiligi in Mozart’s Così fan tutte, Eurydice in Glück’s Orphée et Eurydice, Donna Anna in Mozart's Don Giovanni, Suor Angelica in Puccini’s Suor Angelica, Calisto in Cavalli’s La Calisto, Semele in Handel’s Semele, Dido in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, Second Lady in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, Gasparina in Haydn’s La Canterina, Geraldine in Barber’s A Hand of Bridge, La Ciesca in Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi, Pauline in Barab’s A Toy Shop, Estrella in Offenbach’s La Perichole, and Belisa in the U.S. premiere of Maderna’s opera Don Perlimplìn. In addition to traditional operatic repertoire, Emerald is an active performer of new music. She loves premiering new works and has enjoyed recent collaborations with composers on concerts in both the U.S. and Europe.

Dr. Lessley has been teaching and conducting ensembles for more than ten years and has enjoyed directing youth and college level choral groups, as well as musical theater productions. As a member of an internationally award winning a capella group, Dr. Lessley has been an invited clinician at several a capella workshops. She has also served as a competition adjudicator, including WMEA and WMNTA events. 

In her private voice studio, Dr. Lessley specializes in classical, musical theater, contemporary styles, and voice for transgender singers. Because of her research and experience, Emerald has been an invited speaker at the Northwest Voice Conference, the Vocology in Practice Conference in London, the London-based BAST webinar series, and NATS Chat.

Faculty Advisor

Every student is assigned an advising team consisting of your Student Success Coach and Faculty Advisor. Your Faculty Advisor is determined once you decide on your specific academic program. The following professor is the Faculty Advisors for Music.

Academic Division

Music is part of the Social Sciences & Humanities Division (SSH). Visit the SSH Division webpage for more info, including support resources and services, and contact info for division staff and the dean. The Social Sciences & Humanities Division can assist you with: 

  • Advising
  • Connecting with faculty
  • Finding campus resources
  • Support for procedural processes such as a grade appeal or student complaint.