Opportunities for study, creation, and performance

Academics

The Department of Music at Cornell provides opportunities for the study, creation, and performance of music under the guidance of a distinguished faculty within the broader framework of a B.A. degree in the College of Arts & Sciences, or as part of a degree in another college. In addition to the music major, a minor in music is offered. The Department of Music is renowned for research and scholarship in music, represented by three graduate programs: music and sound studies (Ph.D.), composition (D.M.A), and keyboard studies (D.M.A).

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Opportunities at all levels

The Undergraduate Program

Our classroom courses run the gamut from medieval chant to hip-hop, from Western music theory to musical systems from other parts of the globe. Whether you are contemplating a music major or taking your very first course in music, we have courses appropriate to your background.

Students across campus are welcome to participate in the department’s many and varied ensembles. Some ensembles require auditions, others are open to anyone. Click here to learn more about performance opportunities.

Cornell’s composers, performers, and music scholars shape the character of musical life on campus, and their impact is felt all over the world. Click here to browse profiles of our faculty.

Music majors, minors, and non-majors alike benefit from the enormous collection of scores, books, recordings, and videos housed in the Sidney Cox Library of Music and Dance. Click here to explore the library.

The Graduate Program

"The intimacy of the department allows for students to work alongside some of the leading composers, conductors, musicologists, and performers in the world. Conservatories and other large schools cannot compete with the amount of faculty interaction that music students are given at Cornell."

Explore our graduate degree programs:

Music News

people watching projection on screen that looks like stars

Exhibit highlights art/tech intersections in student work

The event invited undergraduate and graduate students from all disciplines to display their projects at the historic A.D. White House.

A canoe covered in written messages, in an exhibit hall

Things to do: Apple Bake-Off, orchestra and wind, Mohawk River exhibit

Enjoy symphony concerts this weekend among other campus activities.

Morton Wan awarded 2024 Thomas Hampson Fund grant by the AMS

The American Musicological Society has awarded its 2024 Thomas Hampson Fund grant to Morton Wan in support of his project, “Chao Yuen Ren’s Art of Songs.”

Things to do: Much music, Supreme Court panel, advice for aspiring filmmakers

Pick from several concerts, attend the Town-Gown Awards, consider the Supreme Court and get advice for a career in film at events around campus.

small orange handheld video game player with a spaceship backdrop

Nintendo music app ‘rivals major record labels,’ not just for gamers

Some of Nintendo's music has attained classic status, says music professor Roger Moseley.

Rachel Horner Awarded Lise Waxer Prize from SEM

The Popular Music Section of the Society for Ethnomusicology has awarded the Lise Waxer Prize to Rachel Horner, a PhD candidate in Music and Sound Studies. The honor recognizes the most distinguished student paper on popular music presented at the Society’s 2023 Annual Meeting.

Nic Vigilante taking a picture of themself in a mirror.

American Studies Association honors Nic Vigilante

Graduate student Nic Vigilante received an honorable mention for their paper Salty, Sweet, and Spicy: Ingestion and Immersion in Queer Asian American Nightlife for the 2024 Gene Wise-Warren Susman Prize from the American Studies Association.