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THE CONCENTRATION IN MUSIC
INFORMATION FOR UNDERGRADUATES


Info on the Harvard/NEC joint A.B./M.M. program
 

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Info on the new secondary fields offered at Harvard
 
 

Prospective Student Info

General Information on the Concentration in Music


The Neba Solo group came from Mali, Africa to work with Harvard College students in their classes as part of a residency in 2005

General Information on the Concentration in Music 

The concentration in Music provides an understanding of music in diverse cultural and historical contexts as well as a solid foundation in composition, theory, analysis, and criticism. While the Department of Music is not in itself a school of music with a performance department, we strongly encourage performance activities.

Students begin the concentration in Music with two foundational pillars: Music 97a, 97b, and 97c provide extensive knowledge of the history and literature of Western music as well as the principles of ethnomusicology and world music repertories; Music 51a, 51b, 150a, and 150b teach skills important in musicianship, theory and analysis. Students who enter with a significant background in theory may bypass portions of the theory sequence through the placement exam at the beginning of the semester. While it is possible to complete the concentration requirements within five semesters, we encourage potential concentrators to enroll in Music 51 as early as possible to allow for the greatest possible flexibility in the path through the concentration.

Students are then offered a wide range of advanced, specialized electives that build on the foundations laid in Music 97 and Music 51/150. A variety of courses in music theory, composition, musicology, ethnomusicology, and performance-related areas allow students to engage with musical questions at a deep level. In musicology and ethnomusicology, these courses take the form of proseminars for small groups that explore in detail selected musicological issues and direct students toward significant independent projects. Several advanced courses in acoustic and electronic composition are given each year, along with occasional offerings in orchestration and other specific compositional topics. Advanced theory and analysis courses include such topics as tonal and post-tonal analysis, jazz harmony, and modal and tonal counterpoint. Performance-oriented courses include chamber music, historical performance practice, and conducting.

Students are welcome to take a term of Supervised Reading and Research (Music 91) as an elective. This consists of individual work with a faculty member of the student’s choice. A term of Music 91 is especially encouraged for juniors intending on pursuing a senior thesis. For those writing senior theses, a year of senior tutorial (Music 99) is required. Options for senior theses include research papers, original compositions, or senior recitals. There are no General Examinations for undergraduates.

The department welcomes joint concentrations with other departments that allow them. Joint concentrators need to fulfill a reduced number of course requirements, as outlined below. A senior thesis is required on a topic in which both fields are represented.

For students who wish to pursue a program with more emphasis on performance, the department offers the Five-Year Program. Students approved by the department and the Administrative Board for this program take the normal number of courses in their freshman year, but then work at the three-course rate for the four years following. This permits more intensive work in performance. These students are expected to give a senior recital.

Students who have taken college courses in music at other institutions may receive concentration credit for work done elsewhere. This ordinarily involves a written petition to the faculty and may require taking an examination in the materials of the course for which credit is requested.

For information on the secondary field in Music, please see the secondary fields website (www.secondaryfields.fas.harvard.edu/Music/program-desc-Music.htm).

Fox Music president Robert Craft addresses
students during a class on film music.



Students perform to illustrate Bach's Passion
as part of Christoph Wolff's class on the composer.
Requirements for the Concentration in Music (beginning the 2009-2010 year)

 Basic Requirements: 13 half courses

1. Required courses:

A. Music 51a and 51b: Theory I.
B. Music 150a and 150b: Theory II.
C. Music 97a and 97b: Western Music History and Repertory; and Music 97c: World Music History and Repertory.

2. Required categories:

a. Topics in musicology. Any two courses chosen from Music 190r through Music 194r, Music 182 or Music 183r.
b. Advanced theory. Any two courses chosen from Music 151 through Music 159.
c. Electives. Any two from the following:

      1. Composition: Music 160r through Music 167r.
      2. An additional half-course from those listed in 2a above.
      3. An additional half-course from those listed in 2b above.
      4. Music 180r.
      5. Music 91r.
      6. Conducting or Orchestration: Music 121a through Music 125b.

3. Tutorial: Music 97: See item 1c.

4. Examination: None.

5. Other information:

    1. Students interested in the music concentration are encouraged to take Music 51a as early as possible.
    2. A theory placement examination is given at the beginning of the fall term. See Professor Alexander Rehding (617-495-2791).
    3. Courses counting for concentration credit may not be taken Pass/Fail, except that one Freshman Seminar may be counted for concentration credit with departmental approval.


Prof. Hans Tutschku preparing for an electroacoustic music concert featuring performances of Cage and Stockhausen.
Requirement for Honors Eligibility: 15 half-courses
  1. Required courses: Same as Basic Requirements, plus two terms of Music 99r, senior tutorial (see item 2).
  2. Tutorial: Two terms of Music 99r, senior tutorial, are required. Independent study in the junior year through Music 91r is strongly encouraged, but not required.
  3. Thesis: Required of all honors candidates. May be an original composition, a senior recital, or a verbal thesis. Plan or subject to be approved by the department at the end of the junior year. Early in the second term of the junior year, students wishing to submit a composition as their thesis are required to submit a portfolio of work for consideration by the composition faculty, and students wishing to pursue a recital must submit a representative recording for consideration by the performance committee. Any change of plan must be resubmitted to the department.
  4. Other information: Same as Basic Requirements.

 

Joint Concentration Requirements: 8 half-courses

  1. Required courses: Music 51a and 51b, Music 150a and 150b, and any two semesters of Music 97 (a, b, and/or c).
  2. Electives: Two additional upper-level courses (taken from item 2 under Basic Requirements). The remaining semester of Music 97 may also count as one of these electives.
  3. Tutorial: Students should enroll in two terms of 99r in their primary department. A faculty adviser in Music will be provided in any case. Will not count towards music concentration credit.
  4. Thesis: Required. Plan or subject to be approved by both departments by the end of the junior year.
  5. Examination: None.

Concentrators and Joint Concentrators Planning to Write Honors Theses

If you are a candidate for honors next year, please note the following regarding deadlines and requirements for your senior thesis. There are four deadlines, valid for all types of theses. All deadlines are effective at 4:00 pm that day.

Material for deadlines nos. 1, 2, and 3 should be submitted to:

a) the advisor, in electronic or paper format;

b) the Assistant to the Head Tutor, Mary Gerbi. The material should be in electronic format (sent to gerbi@fas.harvard.edu), although those submitting compositions have the option of doing so in hard copy. The material will be stored and will be made available to both the student and music department faculty other than the Advisor, for consultation.

Deadlines: (09-10)

1. Prospectus. For composition theses it should lay out the scope of the proposed project, including performance forces, approximate duration, and text to be set (if any). For ethnomusicology, theory, and music history theses, it should consist of an outline and a bibliography (approximately 4-5 pages total): October 5, 2009

2. Completion of a minimum of 50% of the work. For ethno, theory, and history theses this corresponds, for example, to two out of four chapters--the draft should include footnotes as well: December 7, 2009

3. First complete draft of work: February 16, 2010

4. The final copies (total of 2 or 3: Advisor, additional Reader(s)) should be given to the Assistant to the Chair, in Room 104S, Music Building: March 8, 2010, FINAL DEADLINE (no exceptions)

A bound copy of the final thesis is required for submission to the Music Library. If you are awarded summa cum laude or magna cum laude, you will also be responsible for submitting an additional unbound copy for the University Archives. This is a requirement for receiving the final award on the thesis. The Library and/or archive copies must be submitted to the Assistant to the Chair by May 5, 2010.

NOTE: After the due date, no revisions are accepted, except those mandated by the Thesis Advisor (copy editing will be allowed for library and archival copies).

An explanation of the required format for your thesis follows.

Please see your Advisor, Head Tutor or Assistant Head Tutor if you have any questions.

Joint concentrators: Deadlines for other departments may be different. However, even if the Department of Music deadline happens to be earlier, you must submit your complete, final thesis by our deadline. Likewise it is required that you follow our preliminary deadlines. This rule applies whether you are a primary or secondary concentrator in Music.

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Senior Thesis Deadlines (09-10)

October 5, 2009
Deadline for prospectus to Advisor

December 7, 2009
50% of work due.

February 16, 2010
First complete draft of work due

March 8, 2010
Deadline for Department of Music

May 5, 2010
Deadline for submission of bound copy for Library (and archives)

Undergraduate Thesis Format Requirements (09-10)

All copies should be submitted to the Assistant to the Chair by the stated deadlines.

• Deadline for the final version of thesis to the readers and the Department is March 5, 2010.

• The final readers’ copies of the thesis (usually a total of two for joint concentrators and three for honors concentrators) should be bound and fully formatted (i.e., footnotes, appendices, bibliography, etc.). Either single- or double-sided copies are acceptable. Three-ring binders are acceptable.

• The Assistant to the Chair should be provided one single-sided, bound copy on acid-free paper, for cataloging in the Music Library, by May 5th.

• The Music Library prefers undergraduate theses bound with ACCO press binders or glued binders like the Sourcebook. The binding must stand upright on the shelf (for example, spiral plastic binding, which tends to slump and fall apart in a short time, is not acceptable).

• Students receiving summa or magna honors (notification early May) should also submit one single-sided, unbound copy on acid-free paper directly to the Assistant to the Chair by May 5th. This copy will be cataloged in the University Archives.

• Format for title page is illustrated by attached Sample.

• Format of the body of the document: 1” margins top and bottom, and 1.5” on left and right; single-sided pages.

• For theses submitted by joint concentrators, the second department usually defers to the first department with regard to format requirements. The student should confer with the second department to confirm this.

• For compositions, it is not recommended that you submit a thesis in pencil. If a software program is not feasible, then a high-quality photocopy of a penciled work should be submitted. Please confer with your advisor to determine the best format.

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ADVISING

All students are required to confer with the Head Tutor or the Assistant Head Tutor at the outset of their concentration or joint concentration, in order to develop an overall plan for fulfillment of requirements. All concentrators will continue to be advised by one of these two officials at the start of each term.

For up-to-date information on advising in Music, please see the Advising Programs Office website: www.fas.harvard.edu/~advising/concentrations/Music.html.

 

RESOURCES

The Eda Kuhn Loeb Music Library offers an outstanding collection of books and scores, as well as listening equipment for its extensive recording collection. An electronic music studio is available. Instrumentalists have access to the practice rooms, all of which have pianos, and a limited number of instrument lockers are provided. The many musical organizations on campus include the Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra, the Bach Society Orchestra, the Mozart Society Orchestra, the Harvard Glee Club, the Collegium Musicum, the Radcliffe Choral Society, the Memorial Church Choir, the Group for New Music at Harvard, and the Organ Society. Students interested in composition may submit works for performance at concerts offered by the department and for the Harvard University Prizes. The Office for the Arts offers a special lesson subsidy program (by audition), as well as information on private teachers in the area.

 

Music as a Secondary Field



The Department of Music offers one secondary field designed to be flexible enough to accommodate a broad range of interests in this field. Students are free to explore the field by selecting a variety of courses, or they may focus on any aspect of the larger field.

Requirements: 5 half-courses

Any five half-courses selected from among the courses offered in Music (including Core courses, GenEd courses and Freshman Seminars taught by Music Department faculty), with the exceptions noted below:

1. No more than one half-course may be selected from Music 1a, Music 1b, Music 2, Music 3, Music 4, Music 5, Core Courses, GenEd Courses, or Freshman Seminars.

2. No more than one half-course may be selected from Music 121a, Music 121b, Music 125a, Music 125b (or any other course in the Music 120 series), Music 180r, Music 186r or Music 187r.

Other Information

Secondary field students are not required to take Music 51 and 150, although they are welcome in those classes. With the permission of the instructor, secondary field students may take some upper-level courses without having taken Music 51 and 150 as prerequisites.

Courses taken abroad, or in the summer school, can be counted in the secondary field only with the permission of the department, normally granted only after the course has been completed.


NOTE: One course on a student's transcript may be "double-counted" for Secondary field and Core.

Advising Resources and Expectations

Students pursuing a secondary field are urged to seek out members of the Music Department faculty for advice on their specific course choices. For general information about the department, its faculty, and courses visit the department website.
For more information on the secondary field and for advising, please speak to either the Secondary Field Adviser, Mary Gerbi (617-495-2791; gerbi@fas.harvard.edu), or the Head Tutor, Thomas Forrest Kelly (617-495-2791).

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Gamelan Si Betty at Harvard. Gamelan courses and informal gamelan training is available, including events such as 2008's Gamelan-o-thon, where anyone could play.

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Five Year Program (not the 5-year dual degree Harvard/NEC program)

For students who wish to pursue a program with more emphasis on performance, the department offers the Five-Year Program. Students approved by the department for this program take the normal number of courses in their freshman year, but then work at the three-course rate for the four years following. This permits more intensive work in performance. These students are expected to give a senior recital.”

*Notes:
This program is designed for music concentrators; thus admission to the five-year program is only granted to students willing to commit to this concentration choice as freshmen.

Permission to follow the five-year program involves a first year of study at the normal rate, and four further years of working and paying at the three-course rate. This means that a student doing the five-year program will pay four years of tuition, but ten terms of fees, room and board.

Students may combine this option with advanced standing to finish degree requirements in four years and remain at Harvard for a fifth year at the reduced rate.

Procedure:

1. In the freshman year, student requests certification from Department. This takes the form of a brief letter to the Head Tutor, outlining the student’s performance background and plans for performance study in the five-year program.

2. The Music Department considers and acts on this request.

3. If the request is approved, the student takes the department’s certification to her/his Resident Dean, and makes a request for permission to remain at Harvard for ten terms, and to work for six terms at the three-course rate.

4. Resident Dean takes this request to the Administrative Board for permission.

5. Resident Dean notifies the student and the Head Tutor of Music of the Administrative Board’s decision.

More information: Stephanie Kenen, Assistant Dean of Harvard College; Thomas Forrest Kelly, Head Tutor, Music

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Composition Prizes:
please check with the department for deadlines

"The Bohemians"
(New York Musicians Club) Prize

By the gift of two thousand dollars from "The Bohemians" (New York Musicians Club) there has been established in the Department of Music a prize in original musical composition. The competition is open to undergraduates or the members of any graduate school of the University. The interest of the bequest will be awarded for an original composition for one or two instruments. Manuscripts with pseudonym should be presented to the Music Department staff assistant Eva Kim).

Francis Boott Prize

From the income of the bequest of Francis Boott, of the Class of 1831, a prize of exactly two hundred and fifty dollars has been established for the writer of the best composition in concerted vocal music. The competition is open to undergraduates or to members of any graduate school of the University.

The prize is offerred for the best composition for chorus of not less than three nor more than eight parts, either a capella or with accompaniment for piano, organ, or small instrumental ensemble, requiring not more than ten minutes for performance. The choice of text, which may be either sacred or secular, Latin or English, original or selected, is left to the contestant.

Every effort will be made to arrange a performance of the winning composition before the end of the academic year, provided the composition falls within the scope of the available performing forces.

Compositions with pseudonym should be presented to the the Music Department staff assistant Eva Kim).

George Arthur Knight Prize

In 1909 the University received from William H. Knight, of the Class of 1903, a fund for the establishment of a prize in memory of his brother, George Arthur Knight, late of the Class of 1907. On this foundation the George Arthur Knight Prize is offered for the best composition in instrumental music, "preference to be given to compositions for string quartets or trios, though works with piano accompaniment may compete." The competition is open to all members of the University.

Manuscripts with pseudonym must be left with the the Music Department staff assistant Eva Kim).

Hugh F. MacColl Prize

From the bequest of Hugh F. MacColl of the Class of 1907, this prize was established in 1954, The income from the fund is "to be applied from time to time . . to the awarding of prizes" in an undergraduate competition "for original musical compositions." Compositions must be submitted to the the Music Department staff assistant Eva Kim).

John Green Fellowship

This award was established by friends and family of the late John Green '28 in support of excellence in musical composition. It is made annually to an undergraduate or graduate student composer.


Department Grant Information

John Knowles Paine Traveling Fellowships

Each spring, the Music Department awards John Knowles Paine Fellowships for travel and study during the following academic year. The Fellowships were established in 1912 by Mrs. Paine in memory of her husband and are available to music concentrators in their senior year (for study during the summer following graduation) and graduate students in the Department of Music.

If you are interested in applying, please submit a letter to the Department Chair, detailing your plans of travel or study and proposed budget. If you have any questions, please see the Head Tutor or the Department Administrator.

Independent Study: Private Music Lessons

Independent Study is designed to provide credit for private music lessons given by instructors not on the Harvard faculty and is governed by the guidelines published in the Handbook for Students issued each year by Harvard College. The catalogue number for Independent Study is "9999." Only students concurrently engaged in at least one of the following activities are eligible for Private Music Lessons as Independent Study in Music:

1) Music Concentrators/Joint Concentrators
2) Members of:

Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra
Harvard-Radcliffe Collegium Musicum
Radcliffe Choral Society
Harvard Glee Club
Harvard University Choir
Harvard University Jazz Band
Harvard Wind Ensemble
Harvard Jazz Band

3) Students enrolled in a Music Department course (not including Core or GenEd)

The following procedures must be followed:

1. Obtain Application for Independent Study forms (two copies) from your House Resident Dean. Have them out and signed.

2. Include in the petition for Independent Study a statement as to why course credit for lessons is desired and what you hope to achieve in the lessons.

3. Fill out the Independent Study Form (from Assistant to the Chair in the Music Department) and obtain signature from Private Instructor.

4. Both forms (Application for Independent Study and Departmental Independent Study Form) must be completed and signed and in the Department Office for the Music Department Advisor's signature four working days before your Resident Dean's due date. You are responsible for picking up the signed forms from the Department and returning them to your Senior Tutor. Please be aware that individual Resident Deans may have different deadlines.

5. At the end of the term both you and your Private Instructor must submit a brief report to the Music Department. Each of these reports should outline what pieces have been worked on and should include an evaluation of your progress. The deadline for the reports is the first day of Reading Period. The reports will be accepted by the Assistant to the Chair and passed on to the appropriate Advisor. Both reports must be received or no credit will be given. You are responsible for making sure that the Private Instructor submits the report by the deadline.

note: Lessons must be paid for by the student; the Music Department does not fund private study on any instrument.

Visiting the Department
Harvard Tours and Information Sessions


You are welcome to visit the Music Department anytime during regular office hours, Monday through Friday, 9am to 5pm. Please know that meeting with music department staff in no way impacts your application; these meetings are informational only. Individual academic departments (such as music) are not involved with the Admissions process at Harvard College.

Call 617-495-2791 to arrange an appointment with Lesley Bannatyne, Communications Coordinator. Expect your visit to last around 15 minutes.

To get information about the Admissions Office campus tours (highly recommended) click here.

If you decide to make an application, the Harvard College Office of Admissions and Financial Aid handles the admissions process in its entirety. All questions about the admissions process, as well as all application materials, should be sent to them:

Office of Admissions and Financial Aid
Harvard College
86 Brattle Street
Cambridge, MA 02138

Harvard College Admissions also tracks all applications and is responsible for all materials and submitted information. If you need to know the status of your application, contact them at 617-495-1551. NOTE: Please do not call the Music Department about the status of your application or the return of your materials. We don't have them.

The best times to visit the department are when classes are in session. However, you can come by at any time to see the building and facilities. The Music Department is open 9-5 Monday through Friday except for holidays.

Cambridge Area Accomodations

Academic Calendar