Teaching Assistantships

The studies of all graduate students are funded in part by Teaching Assistantships. In the Department of Music, most Teaching Assistantships involve helping a professor in a large undergraduate course; responsibilities may include leading discussion sections, helping grade papers and exams, and, in the case of music theory, teaching musicianship skills. Other teaching assistants may work with the directors of the choral ensembles or the orchestras, or teach piano lessons, and one or two students a year have the opportunity to design and teach their own First-Year Writing Seminar.  Every effort is made to match teaching assignments with graduate student interests and to make sure that each Teaching Assistant receives a variety of teaching experiences while at Cornell.

The following list is representative of the courses to which Teaching Assistants have been assigned in recent years. Course descriptions are available here. Upon occasion, graduate students fulfill their teaching assignments in other departments.

Music theory for majors

2101/2103 (fall), 2102/2104 (spring)
3101/3103 (fall), 3102/3104 (spring)

Electroacoustic Music

1421 Introduction to Computer Music
2421 Computers in Music Performance

History courses for non-majors

1301 World Music: Africa & Americas
1105 Introduction to Music Theory
1202 Monteverdi to Minimalism
1312 Rock
1313 Jazz
2241 Opera

First-Year Writing Seminar

Performance

Piano
Choral
Orchestral

The Center for Learning and Teaching provides training programs and individualized assistance for graduate Teaching Assistants. Learn more.