The Music School established in 1959, consists of three majors: Composition and Composition Technique Theory, Music Performance, and Musicology. The Music Performance Department has six programs for singing, keyboard performance, orchestral percussion performance, performance of Chinese musical instruments, modern music, and chorus. The Musicology Department has three programs for normal musicology, professional musicology, and music therapy. The school of Music was eligible to grant Master's degree in musicology in 2003, Master's degree for on-the-job university teachers in 2007 and MFA in 2009. The number of the faculty is 104, of which there are 89 full-time teachers, 21 professors, and 38 associate professors. The school now has 1,873 students including 1,681 undergraduates and 192 graduates. Since its inception over 50 years ago, more than 7,000 musically talented individuals have graduated from the school and made a significant contribution in research and creation of minority music of Yunnan Province.

Relying on its excellent faculty and the unique, colorful minority music resources of Yunnan, the School of Music has obtained fruitful achievements in education, research, creation, and exhibition of performances. The major of composition and composition technique theory is accredited as a pilot feature major by the Ministry of Education and feature major of the province. The major of musicology is a provincial key discipline, under which Harmony, Concert, Music Aesthetics and Musicology (teacher education) courses are among excellent courses at the provincial level. The major of Music Performance, a provincial feature major, has a music teaching experiment and exhibition center which is recognized as a provincial demonstration center for teaching experimentation. An innovative experiment zone for training methods of complex musical talents is an area that schools and universities of Yunnan Province are exploring innovations in talent development. In addition, there is the Wang Hongxing Vocal Arts Research Center, the Yunnan Folk Music Research Base, the training base of the Yunnan team for the CCTV Young Singer Competition, Graduate School, teaching aid studio, and other facilities. Over the years, the School of Music has won national and provincial awards in the national vocal music and instrumental music competitions. In 2014, the School of Music successfully held the fourth Peacock Award Vocal Competition for Art Schools in China- the Second Vocal Symposium for Schools in China.