There are two kinds of music you can go see in this town: Athens music and the School of Music.

Athens music has a lot to do with the distribution of bars and clubs across the arches, known as downtown.

When you enter this territory, music comes at a cost. You’ll most likely get your fill of garage punk and amplified noise through the purchases of food, (alcoholic) drinks and little tickets that read “Admit One.”

But right within the dimensions of your dormitory is a brand of sound often ignored by our trend-hungry and pop culture-induced generation.

It flows from the Hugh Hodgson School of Music, and for the valued information of every financially challenged Bulldog, it’s free.

The music majors at the University may have aspirations of leading big bands, conducting symphonies or playing Tristan at the Metropolitan, but for now they’re offering their talent by performing at each of the school’s three concert halls.

Student recitals take place in Edge Hall, located on the third floor of the music building. The performances, which are free and open to the public, happen almost every day, afternoon or evening.

Large ensembles, such as the UGA Symphony Orchestra, UGA Wind Ensemble and UGA Concert Choir, perform at Hugh Hodgson Hall.

“Our large groups play at 8 o’clock on any night, Monday through Friday,” said William Davis, associate director at the School of Music. “These are free concerts as well.”

Hodgson Hall, which provides festival-style seating for 1,100 people, is a frequent host of the Atlanta Symphony as well as many other world-renowned ensembles and soloists.

“Hodgson Hall is, by far, the best concert hall in Georgia, and one of the finest in the country,” said Yoel Levi, Music Director of the Atlanta Symphony. “If you hear the Atlanta Symphony in this hall, you hear it for the first time.”

Ramsey Concert Hall, located on the second floor of the Performing Arts Center, provides a more intimate setting for chamber music and recitals from doctoral students and faculty members.

It also hosts the Ramsey Hall Concert Series of new artists, which this year will feature pianist Chu-Fang Huang and mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke, who received the first-ever UGA Performing Arts Center prize in New York.

The question of where to take your date (and how to impress them) has never been so easy. When just about everyone around you is in a “downtown state of mind,” try giving your ears and mind a fair shot at the School of Music.