Music

This program offers a wide variety of advanced training in five music programs: musicology, ethnomusicology, theory, composition, and the creative practice and critical inquiry, featuring a diverse faculty with courses and events that reflect all five of them.

You will have access to an incredible array of resources, including the Eda Kuhn Loeb Music Library, the John Knowles Paine Concert Hall, the Isham Memorial Library, the Harvard University Studio for Electroacoustic Composition, and the Sound Lab, which offers media production suites and equipment.

With a large endowment fund, the program is able to offer you funding from sources outside Harvard Griffin GSAS. You will also have the opportunity to take advantage of many available fellowships and travel, research and writing, and conference funding throughout the year.

Examples of theses and dissertations that graduates have completed include “Activism and Music in Poland, 1978–1989,” “Art of Noise: Sound and Media in Milan, ca. 1900,” “Black Musics, African Lives, and the National Imagination in Modern Israel,” and “Technologies of Transgression and Musical Play in Video Game Cultures.”

Most graduates go on to positions in academia at institutions like the University of Southern California, Michigan State University, and University of Cambridge in England.

Additional information on the graduate program is available from the Department of Music, and requirements for the degree are detailed in Policies.

Areas of Study

Composition | Creative Practice and Critical Inquiry | Ethnomusicology | Music Theory | Musicology

Admissions Requirements

Please review the admissions requirements and other information before applying. You can find degree program-specific admissions requirements below and access additional guidance on applying from the Department of Music.

Samples of Previous Work

Applicants to all programs must submit samples of their previous scholarly work by uploading it in the Additional Materials section of the application.

Applicants to the creative practice and critical inquiry PhD program must also submit 20 to 30 minutes of original creative work in the form of links to online audio or video streams (Soundcloud, YouTube, Vimeo, etc.) or links to a file download (via Dropbox or similar) by using the Digital Portfolio section of the application.

Applicants to the composition PhD program must submit three compositions in the form of links to online audio or video streams (Soundcloud, YouTube, Vimeo, etc.). Recordings can be submitted as links to SoundCloud or other online resources by using the Digital Portfolio section of the application. Students should include a one-page PDF containing links to online recordings and PDF scores where applicable. The year of composition must be marked on all scores and recordings.