Courses – Harvard University Department of Music (2024)

Click here for a full list of course offerings for Spring 2024.

Spring 2024 Courses

Spring 2024 Courses by Category

Courses taken abroad or with Harvard’s summer school may be counted toward a secondary field with the permission of the department. Students must petition for DUS approval, which will only be granted after the course has been completed.

Music Theory Course Placement

Students interested in studying music theory courses at Harvard have access to a variety of courses. Before enrolling in Music 2 Introduction to Music Theory, Music 51a Theory Ia, or Music 51b Theory Ib, students are required to evaluate their educational experience with music theory.

More information about music theory course placement will be provided shortly. For general questions about music theory course placement, please email Liam Hynes-Tawa.

Cross-Registration and Concentration Credit

In select cases, students who have taken courses through Harvard’s cross-registration programs may be eligible to apply credits from cross-registered courses toward their concentration or secondary fields of study at Harvard. For more information, please visit the Cross-Registration for Harvard College website. Students interested in receiving credits in this way will need to petition using the Concentration Credit Petition for Cross Registered Courses. Please contact the Registrar’s office at enrollment@fas.harvard.edu for more information.

Performance Courses

Harvard’s Music Department offers a variety of jazz, classical, creative and world music performance courses, which typically culminate in a student recital at the end of each term. Performance courses receive Harvard College credit; most are eligible for music concentration credit.Not all courses are offered each semester.

Composition Courses

Harvard’s Music Department offers a full program of coursework that includes courses in music theory and composition, and includes styles ranging from jazz harmony to electroacoustic composition.

Academic Courses

The Department’s offerings include courses such as Music from the Silk Road, Music and Migration, Opera, Broadway Musicals, Modern Jazz, Film Music, and many more. Please consult the Course Catalog in my.harvard for full course descriptions each semester.

Artists in the Classroom

In addition to courses specifically in performance, performance of music is intrinsic to the study of all musics. Guest artists and lecturers frequently visit our classes to talk informally with students about a range of topics from the operas of Peter Sellars to how jazz relates to social movements to how Broadway artists think and work.

The Blodgett Artist-in-Residence Program of the Department of Music

The Blodgett Artist-in-Residence program is made possible through a gift from Mr. and Mrs. John W. Blodgett, Jr. The program provides for a distinguished string quartet to be in residence at the Harvard University Department of Music offering workshops, coachings, and serving as faculty for the Chamber Music course. The quartet is also available to read undergraduate and graduate student compositions, and to perform a composition by the winner of the annual Blodgett Composition Competition. The quartet gives four free public performances each year in Paine Hall, and others in the Harvard houses and other campus venues. The current Blodgett Artists-in-Residence are the Parker Quartet.

Additionally, the music department invites Blodgett Distinguished Artists to campus to lecture and perform in a variety of musical disciplines. Past artists have been Koo Nimo (Ghanaian music), The Clerks Group (medieval song), Sir Harrison Birtwistle (composer), TASHI (new music), Neba Solo (Malian balafon), Bahman Panahi (Persian music), jazz pioneer Geri Allen, and Wadada Leo Smith.

Master Classes and Coachings

The Parker Quartet are in residence at Harvard’s Music Department, and give weekly master classes to students enrolled in Music 189: Chamber Music Performance.

We also bring performing artists of all disciplines to campus to work with students; recent examples include singer Angelique Kidjo, conductor Sir John Eliot Gardiner, choral conductor George Benjamin, Broadway artists Marsha Norman and Lin-Manuel Miranda, and pianist Jeremy Denk. Additionally, we arrange informal meetings between undergraduates and Music Department special guests such as Herbie Hanco*ck and Laurie Anderson.

OFA Visiting Artist Programs

The Office for the Arts (OFA) is a rich resource for undergraduate performers as well. OFA operates a visiting artist program that provides opportunities for students to interact with professionals in all disciplines through master classes, workshops, informal discussions and other forums. The OFA also provides opportunities for students to work alongside professionals in producing visiting artist events, and runs several funding programs for student arts projects.