Why Study Music?
Music has traditionally been an essential component of a liberal arts education, and in fact may be the ideal liberal art, in that the study of music requires a combination of the intellectual and the aesthetic.
Cornell’s Department of Music believes in a well-rounded undergraduate music education with performance as a primary focus. Our department prepares musicians through the applied study of making music, underscored by a curriculum of music theory, history, and literature that develops a cultural context for musical performances.
Why Cornell?
Our degree programs seek to prepare students for the professional world of music-related fields. Our alumni are excelling in graduate schools, working as professional performers, and distinguishing themselves as educators, ensemble directors, and managers in fine arts organizations. Students frequently also combine music with other majors as they prepare for law school, business careers, and other endeavors.
We also appeal to the non-major who wants to be involved in music. Along with our core of music majors and minors, a significant number of non-major students from all fields of study perform in ensembles and musical productions, and study in our classrooms, studio lessons, and off-campus courses. The wide-ranging interests and talents of Cornell student musicians make our department a fascinating place to learn.
Performance Opportunities
Our students enjoy many opportunities to perform in ensembles, Lyric Theatre productions, and as soloists. Our primary venues include historic King Chapel as well as two recently built facilities: Armstrong Hall's Ringer Recital Studio and Kimmel Theatre. A few notes on our opportunities:
- Music Seminars are regular Friday afternoon recitals at which students give public performances.
- Ensembles perform on-campus once or twice per semester. Student soloists are regularly featured at these performances.
- Many students perform junior or senior recitals each year. These may be required for music majors, but our outstanding non-major performers may elect to give a recital, with permission from their studio instructor.
- Student ensembles appear in off-campus venues, performing in public schools, jazz clubs, churches, and at area special events.
- Vocal students compete in annual events such as National Association of Teachers of Singing and Metropolitan Opera auditions.
Music and the block plan
Music courses including music theory, history, literature, topics courses, and Lyric Theatre are offered on the block plan. Meanwhile, studio lessons and performing ensembles are on a semester system that runs contemporaneously with Cornell's One-Course-At-A-Time calendar. The meshing of these schedules means that students have opportunities for focused immersion experiences as well as extended periods of practice and ensemble work.
Professional Faculty
The music faculty has expertise in a wide array of specialties, and regularly gives public lectures and performances. Our full-time faculty is augmented by a number of studio faculty who instruct applied lessons and assist with ensembles. All our studio faculty performs professionally and includes many instrumental specialists, several of whom are affiliated with regional symphony orchestras.
