Harvard University Department of Music
A Handbook for Graduate Students 2013-2014
Welcome!
This handbook was conceived of by graduate students in the Harvard Music Department for those students who will be entering in the upcoming year. The information contained within is far from exhaustive, but we hope that it will give you some idea of what to expect when you get here and that it will make your first days in the Department easier. We have arranged the book somewhat chronologically (especially sections III-V) to help prepare you for what you might encounter at any given stage of the curriculum. Any further questions, comments, or suggestions for this handbook are welcome! Write musicdpt@fas.harvard.edu
Incoming Students 2013-2014:
| Katherine Callam | Historical Musicology | Hope College |
| Hayeley Fenn | Historical Musicology | King's College London |
| Michael Kushell | Ethnomusicology | University of California-Berkeley |
| Diane Oliva | Historical Musicology | University of South Carolina, Columbia/NC School for the Arts |
Kai Polzhofer |
Composition |
Hochschule for Music and Theatre |
Tamar Sella |
Ethnomusicology |
University of Califfornia-Berkeley |
Christopher Swithinbank |
Composition |
University of Manchester |
| Daniel Walden | Theory | Cambridge Universitiy/Oberlin College |
The Music Department
Biographies:
Faculty, Student, and Staff
Emeriti Professors, Other Appointments
Resources:
Ethno Lab
Computer Music Studio
Music Library
SoundStudies Lab
Photocopying
Fax Wireless
Keys and IDs
Email
Performance and Colloquium Opportunities
Dudley House
Secondary Field Information
Course Requirements
What to Expect in the First Week:
Before School Starts
GSAS Orientation
The First Week Proper
Initial Meeting
Diagnostic Theory Exam
Shopping Period
Language Exams
International Students
What to Expect in the First Year:
Music 'B'
Music 201
Grad Seminars
Reading Period
Grad Student Colloquium Series
Financial Aid Form
What to Expect as a Continuing Student:
Teaching Assignments
Transferring Credit
Fellowships
Performance Opportunities
Generals
Employment Opportunities:
Single Events
Security Guard/Hall Manager
Tutorships/Proctorships/Resident Advisors
Department Events and Programs:
Blodgett Artist-in-Residence Concert Series
Fromm Contemporary Music Series
Harvard Group for New Music
UPCOMING DATES to be aware of:
GSAS registration begins on Monday August 28, 2013-----
Biographies: Faculty (note: more complete information is available on the department's website: http://www.music.fas.harvard.edu/faculty/people.html
Also, please know that July 1 appointments may not be listed here. Check the department website in early July for confirmed faculty and visitors.
*Faculty on leave 2013-2014:
Christopher Hasty (on leave spring 2014)
Robert Levin (on leave 2013-2014)
Hans Tutschku (on leave 2013-2014)
Senior Faculty
Suzannah Clark Professor of Music (Theory). Received a BMus and MMus from King’s College London, and an MFA and PhD from Princeton. She held a Junior Research Fellowship and British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship at Merton College, Oxford before taking up a faculty post at Oxford in 2000 as a University Lecturer and Fellow of Merton College and College Lecturer at University College. She spent the Spring semester in 2007 as Visiting Assistant Professor at Harvard, and joined the faculty in 2008. Clark works on the history of music theory, and has focussed in particular on Rameau, Fétis, Oettingen, Schenker, as well as on neo-Riemannian approaches. Additionally, she works on Schubert and on 13th-century French motets and its intersection with the trouvères repertory through the use of the "refrain."
Chaya Czernowin Walter Bigelow Rosen Professor of Music (Composition) comes to Harvard from University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna, Austria, before which she was professor of composition at UCSD. She is best known for her two operas, Pnima...ins innere (2000) and Zaide/Adams (2006).
Christopher Hasty Walter W. Naumburg Professor of Music (Theory). Came to Harvard from U Penn in the fall of 2002. Received his B.M. in bassoon from Stetson University, studied composition with Johannes Zuther, M.M. in Composition from Yale School of Music and PhD in Music Theory from Yale. Also taught at SUNY Buffalo and Stony Brook, Yale, and Rutgers. Published Meter as Rhythm (Oxford) in 1997.
Thomas Forrest Kelly Harvard College Professor, Morton B. Knafel Professor of Music (Historical Musicology). Received his B.A. from Chapel Hill; spent two years on a Fulbright in France studying musicology, chant, and organ. PhD from Harvard (1973) with a dissertation on office tropes. He has taught at Wellesley, Smith, Amherst, and most recently at Oberlin, where he directed the Historical Performance Program.. Main fields of interest are chant and performance practice. Published First Nights and First Nights at the Opera (both Yale University Press), and edits quarterly columns for Early Music America.
Robert D. Levin Dwight P. Robinson, Jr. Professor of Music (Performance and Analysis). He is a concert pianist and a specialist in historical performance practice. Professor Levin's reconstruction of Mozart fragments have been recorded and performed worldwide. He has recorded cycles of the complete Mozart piano concertos with Christopher Hogwood and the Academy of Ancient Music (Oiseau-Lyre), and of the complete Beethoven piano concertos with John Eliot Gardiner and the Orchestra Révolutionaire et Romantique Archiv. Received honorary Doctorate from New England Conservatory.
Ingrid Monson Quincy Jones Professor of African American Music, Supported by the Time Warner Endowment (Ethnomusicology), Won the Sonneck Society's 1998 Irving Lowens Prize for the best book in American music for her 1996 Saying Something, Jazz Improvisation and Interaction. Monson also published Freedom Sounds on the impact of the Civil Rights Movement and African Independence, which was a winner of 2005 Irving Lowens Book Award. Came to Harvard from Washington University in St. Louis in 2001. Was also a founding member of the nationally known Klezmer Conservatory Band, and plays trumpet with jazz and salsa bands.
Carol Oja William Powell Mason Professor of Music (Historical Musicology) Previously taught at the College of William and Mary, Brooklyn College, and the Graduate School of the City University of New York. Her research focuses on composers in early 20th-century America. Oja's book, Making Music Modern: New York in the 1920s (Oxford University Press, 2000), won the Lowens Book Award and an ASCAP Deems-Taylor Book Award. She is at work on a study of Leonard Bernstein's works for musical theater and is past president of the Society for American Music.
Alexander Rehding, Fanny Peabody Professor of Music (Theory). Spent many years at the other Cambridge (BA, MA, MPhil, PhD) and held research fellowships at Emmanuel College Cambridge, the Penn Humanities Forum and the Princeton Society of Fellows before joining the Harvard Department in 2003, initially as Assistant Professor. Research interests are located at the intersection between theory and history, and cover a wide spectrum from Ancient Greek music to the Eurovision Song Contest. He is interested in the history of music theory, paleo- and neo-Riemannian theory, music-aesthetic questions, and issues of sound and media.
Kay Kaufman Shelemay G. Gordon Watts Professor of Music and Professor of African and African American Studies (Ethnomusicology). Received her PhD in Musicology at the University of Michigan. Her fields of specialty are African music (especially Ethiopia), music of the Middle East, and Jewish music in America. Numerous publications include A Song of Longing. An Ethiopian Journey, Let Jasmine Rain Down. and Soundscapes. Exploring Music in a Changing World. Appointed Chair of the American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.
Anne Shreffler James Edward Ditson Professor of Music (Historical Musicology). Prior to joing the Harvard faculty she held the position of Professor of Music at Universitat Basel. Her book, Webern and the Lyric Impulse came out from Oxford University Press in 1994. Shreffler is a graduate of New England Conservatory and holds a PhD in Musicology from Harvard. She's interested in music and politics, relationships between European and American music, the historiography of 20th-century music, and opera.
Hans Tutschku, Fanny P. Mason Professor of Music (Composition) studied electroacoustic composition in Dresden, and between 1989 and 1991 accompanied Karlheinz Stockhausen on several concert tours for the purpose of studying sound diffusion. As a member of the Ensemble für Intuitive Musik Weimar he has realized several multimedia productions. Tutschku finished a DEA at the Sorbonne and completed his PhD in Composition at the University of Birmingham in UK. He taught computer music at IRCAM; electroacoustic composition at the conservatory of Montbéliard, and in 2003 was "Edgar Varèse Gastprofessor" at the Technische Universität in Berlin. Tutschku is the recipient of several international composition prizes: Bourges, Hanns-Eisler-Preis, CIMESP Sao Paulo, Prix Ars Electronica, and Prix Noroit. Came to Harvard in 2004.
Katherine Van Orden Van Orden is a specialist in cultural history and has published many articles and book chapters on French vernacular culture and the Renaissance chanson. After receiving a Ph.D. in Music History and Theory at the University of Chicago (1996), van Orden held fellowships at the Warburg Insitute in London and the Columbia Society of Fellows in the Humanities. She has taught at Berkeley since 1997. National awards include the Noah Greenberg Award, the Lewis Lockwood Award and the Paul Pisk Prize, all from AMS, as well as the Nancy Lyman Roelker Prize from the Sixteenth Century Society. She also specializes in historical performance on the bassoon. She has over 40 CDs to her credit and has performed in concerts across America and Europe.
Richard Wolf Professor of the Humanities (Ethnomusicology). Specialist in the musics of south Asia, joined the faculty in 1999 after two and a half years' post-doctoral fieldwork in Pakistan and India. Recent fieldwork focused on how meaning is attached to ritual drumming, particularly in the Shi'ah observance of Muharram. Most recently published The Black Cow's Footprint: Time, Space, and Music in the Lives of the Kotas of South India (The University of Illinois Press).
Junior Faculty
Sindhumathi Revuluri Assistant Professor of Music (Historical Musicology) received her PhD in musicology from Princeton University in 2007, where she also taught for one year. Her research interests include exoticism and modernism in fin-de-siècle France, contemporary Indian music and film, trends in global pop music, and post-colonial approaches to music history. She is currently completing a study of the relationship between empire and modernist musical thought in France, as well as a project on popular musical expression in south India. She joined the Harvard faculty in 2007.
Lecturers
Andrew Clark Senior Lecturer on Music (Choral Activities). Director of Choral Music at Harvard, Conductor of the Harvard-Radcliffe Collegium Musicum and the Harvard Glee Club. Was Director of Choral Activities at Tufts University from 2003-2010, and is Artistic Director of the Providence Singers He has a Masters in Choral Conducting from Carnegie Mellon University and is completing doctoral coursework at Boston University.
Federico Cortese Senior Lecturer on Music (Conductor of the Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra). Has served as Music Director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra since 1999 and in the same capacity for the New England String Ensemble since 2005. From 1998-2002 he served as Assistant Conductor of the BSO under Seiji Ozawa. Cortese studied compostition and conducting at the Conservatorio di Santa Cecilia in Tome and subsequently studied at the Hochschule fur Musik in Vienna. In addition, he has been a conducting fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center. Cortese studied literature and humanities and hold a law degree from La Sapienza University in Rome.
Jill Johnson Senior Lecturer on Dance (Dance Director). Formerly on the faculties of Princeton, Barnard College at Columbia University, The New School University and New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts; and has taught regularly at The Juilliard School, Alvin Ailey, The Joffrey Ballet School New York, and Yalel Johnson was a soloist dancer with the National Ballet of Canada and a principal dancer in choreographer William Forsythe’s company, Frankfurt Ballet, for ten years.
Preceptors
Richard Beaudoin Preceptor in Music. His recent music involves micro-measurements of recorded performances, and his works have been commissioned, performed and recorded in Europe and America. His research fields include cadence, resemblance, performance science and the aesthetics of musical borrowing.
Daniel Stepner Preceptor in Music (Performance). Is first violinist for the Lydian String Quartet, concert master of Handel & Haydn Society Orchestra, and member of the Boston Museum Trio. Stepner is well-known for his versatility in Baroque and modern violin.
Visiting Professors and Lecturers 2013-14
Scott Edwards, Harvard College Fellow
Aaron Einbond, Lecturer on Music (spring 2014)
Daniel Henderson, Lecturer on Music
Evan Johnson, Lecturer on Music (fall 2013)
Peter Kaminsky, Visiting Professor (University of Connecticut) (fall 2013)
Chair 2013-14
Alexander Rehding
Advisors and DGS for 2013-14
Graduate Advisor for Composition: Chaya Czernowin
Graduate Advisor for Ethnomusicology: Ingrid Monson
Graduate Advisor for Historical Musicology: Carol Oja
Graduate Advisor for Theory: Christopher Hasty (fall); Suzannah Clark (spring)
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Blodgett Artists-in-Residence
Chiara Quartet
VISITING SCHOLARS:
Misako Ohta
Tiago de Oliveira Pinto
POST DOC FELLOWS:
Elizabeth Biggs
Russ Manitt
FELLOWS:
Judith Eissenberg
Blanka Maderova
Associates of the Department 2013-14
Noel Bisson (Harvard University)
Donald Brandon
Phoebe Carrai, Harvard Baroque Chamber Orchestra
Jody Diamond (Artist-in-Residence, Gamelan Music Studio)
Shadi Ebrahimi
Edward Jones (Gund University Organist and Choirmaster)
Sirojiddin Juraev
Christian Lane, Assistant Organist and Choirmaster
Mark Olson (Acting Director of Harvard University Bands)
Steven Takasugi (composer)
From the Packard Humanities CPE Bach Project
Paul Corneilson
Mark Knoll
Laura Buch
Jason Grant
Stephen Roe (PHI)
From the Silk Road Project:
Laura Freid
Isabelle Hunter
Yo-Yo Ma
Jill Hornor
Heidi Koelz
Elizabeth Keller-Tripp
Lesley Bannatyne is the Managing Communications Coordinator. She is responsible for website maintenance, publicity, publications, admissions information, and other special projects. She publishes the Department Facebook, phone directories, and newsletter. Stop by and give her all your pertinent information (local address/phone/email and Harvard ID#) as soon as you get it.
Kaye Denny co-manages the front office. She handles all general inquiries, distributes keys and copy cards, schedules classrooms and oversees the practice rooms.
Alison Hearn is Assistant to the Financial Manager.
Eva Kim is a Staff Assistant and Assistant to the Chair who assists faculty, the Director, the Manager of Administration and Financing, and the Chair. She also organizes the University Hall Recitals.
Jean Moncrieff is Director of Events. She assists concentrators and graduate students with producing their concerts in the department and is responsible for booking Paine Concert Hall.
Karen Rynne is the Manager of Administration and Finance. She deals with all things financial and oversees the department and library copiers.
Nancy Shafman is the Director of Administration. Nancy coordinates the academic programs for the department and works closely with the chair and faculty. She also supervises the department and will know many of the answers about teaching requirements, exams, fellowships, financial aid, etc.
Charles Stillman co-manages the front office with Kaye.
Fernando Viesca is the Building Manager. He manages all things having to do with the physical plant: anything electrical, internet connections, telephones, heat, and air conditioning.
Seth Torres is the Harvard University Studio for Electroacoustic Composition Technical Director.
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The Music Department
The Fanny Peabody Mason Music Building is located in the North Yard of the Harvard Campus. The older part of the building, dated 1914, contains four classrooms on the first floor; the John Knowles Paine Concert Hall on the second; the electronic music studios on the second and third floor; and teaching fellow offices in the basement. The newer section of the building provides entrances to the Loeb Music Library and contains the Department administrative offices, lounge, Ethnomusicology Lab, and Early Instrument Room. Faculty offices are located in many locations in both parts of the building. The basement area also contains rehearsal and practice rooms.
Many newcomers to the Music Department have noted difficulty in navigating the Music Building. While the main corridor of the first floor allows one to traverse the entire length of the building, finding rooms on the second and third floors can be a challenge because existing architecture winds around the second floor concert hall, as well as the second and third floor stack areas of the library. Whatever difficulty does exist in conceiving of and getting around the various parts of the building seems to be offset by the fact that all Department classes and offices, and the Music Library, are under one roof.
Maps of the building are available at the Reception Desk.
The Eda Kuhn Loeb Music Library
The Eda Kuhn Loeb Music Library, located in the Music Building, is the primary repository of musical materials at Harvard and serves as an international research facility for musical scholarship. The library's general collections include over a quarter-million books and scores, 105,000 sound and video recordings, and nearly 900 periodical titles that support research in a wide variety of musical disciplines including historical musicology, music theory, ethnomusicology, composition, and historically informed performance practice. In addition, the Isham Memorial Library houses a collection of 6000 rare books and scores and 31,000 microforms. Virtually all materials are cataloged in HOLLIS, Harvard's online catalog. Further information about the holdings, hours, services and staff (as well as links to other on-line resources) is available on the Library's Home Page: http://hcl.harvard.edu/loebmusic/
The Isham Memorial Library is a special Library adjunct to the Eda Kuhn Loeb Music Library. It is dedicated to research with primary sources and serves as a major resource for scholarly research in music. Collections housed in Isham include microforms, published facsimiles, rare books and manuscripts, and Harvard dissertations in music. Also housed in Isham are the general archival collections of the Eda Kuhn Loeb Music Library as well as special collections. Comprehensive areas for collection development have included pre-1800 materials, particularly printed and manuscript sources of music before ca. 1600; microfilmed holdings from the collections of great European music libraries; music periodicals, especially those of the 19th century; catalogs of other libraries; and opera sources, including libretti. Some of the specialized areas of strength that reflect individual research interests include liturgical books from the medieval period; manuscript sources of the music of the Bach family; Beethoven manuscripts and sketchbooks; and sources of Brahms, Handel, and Mozart. There is an ongoing effort to acquire materials in ethnomusicology, jazz studies, and American music.
The Archive of World Music is a special collection established in 1976 by Professor John Ward, which was eventually transferred as a gift to the Eda Kuhn Loeb Music Library at Harvard University. It is devoted to the acquisition of archival field recordings of musics world-wide as well as to commercial sound recordings, videos, and DVDs of ethnomusicological interest. Whereas the content of the Archive continues to develop with a special emphasis on Asia and the Middle East, it is currently in the position to further develop the collection with recordings from Mexico, Central and South America, as well as from all around the globe. Substantial holdings of Anglo-American ballads and songs are also notable. The Seeger Room, the ethnomusicology reading room in the Music Library, contains reference materials and monographs relevant to the study of much of the music collected in the Archive. Dedicated to the work of Charles Seeger, it is also a gift of Professor John Ward.
The library also provides access to an increasing number of electronic resources in support of music scholarship. Seven public workstations in the library may be used for searching HOLLIS and other electronic databases and an additional six music research workstations include music notation software, the Microsoft Office suite, high-quality sound cards and audio output, and access to all networked library applications. Carrels, which are assigned to each graduate student for study and storage of circulating library materials, also provide electrical and data outlets to support laptop use. Wireless network connectivity is available throughout the facility.
Other music collections at Harvard include the Houghton Library (antiquarian materials); the Harvard Theatre Collection in the Houghton Library (documents and artifacts for the study of theatre, dance, and opera); the Lamont Media collection int he Lamont Library (undergraduate materials), which includes equipment and support for multimedia projects; the Andover-Harvard Theological Library (hymns and hymnology); and Widener Library (materials related to A.B. Lord's folklore studies).
There is a copier in a small room between administrative offices 102S and 101S which works well for two-sided and collated/stapled copies. The Administrative copier also has a scanning feature--bring a thumbdrive to download scans you make there. Graduate students are subsidized for 1500 copies and 1500 prints per year. Graduate students are asked to provide the Manager of Administration and Finance (Karen Rynne) with a personal pin code (4-12 digits long) to access the machine. In addition, the Loeb Music Library has two book-safe copiers. These copiers & other Harvard library copiers take "Crimson Cash" that can be added with personal funds to your Harvard ID card.
The department has one fax machine that is used only for department business. Students needing to send or receive faxes are advised to find services in Harvard Square.
Practice Rooms/Computer Room/TF Offices
In the basement of the Music Building there are thirteen piano practice rooms (seven contain grand pianos, six contain upright pianos), plus two larger rehearsal rooms, G19 and G20 (both with grand pianos), and a room for ensemble practice, G-35. As a music graduate student you automatically have practice room access. When the building is open, sign out a key for a practice room. The keys are kept at the reception desk (during normal office hours); and at all other times in the basement near the practice rooms, where you'll find them at the security guard's desk. The staff in the front office will explain the sign-out procedure to you. When the building is closed, you will need to use your own key, which also gives access to the practice rooms. Practice rooms are available on a first come, first serve basis; there's normally a two hour limit.
Several of the rooms now have a special recording system in the wall that allows you to record yourself rehearsing and play back the performance through your laptop. The sound system is a Wenger system, and is available in six of the practice rooms.
Also in the basement there are TF offices for graduate students that are teaching or writing. There are two shared spaces that you can use on your own or for working at the keyboard with a student. One has a grand and one has an upright piano. There is also a graduate student computer room housing a computer, a large printer and binder.
The Ethnomusicology Laboratory
The music program's "Ethnolab" serves as a project studio, an analysis tool, and as a field recording center. It is equipped with a wide variety of electronics for use in field recording, interviews, etc.. Plans for the future include high-speed networking with the Eda Kuhn Loeb Music Library, facilitating the online access of archival sound recordings and literary materials.
Access to the Ethnolab is open to: current graduate students in ethnomusicology; students enrolled in ethnomusicology courses who require the resources of the Ethnolab for course projects; and other individual students with the consent of a faculty member and upon application to the Director of Administration, subject to availability.
The Early Instrument Room/Collection of Musical Instruments
The Early Instrument Room [EIR] houses the Department's collection of period and replica instruments. The collection of keyboard instruments is of particular interest, and includes: a French double harpsichord made by William Dowd; a historic Dolmetsch double harpsichord and clavichord; a piano built by Johann Baptist Streicher in 1869, from the private collection of Professor Robert Levin; a copy of a 5 1/2 octave piano by Anton Walter & Sohn (ca. 1805); and a copy of a 6 1/2 octave piano by Conrad Graf (ca. 1824). From an organological point of view, the EIR has instruments that take users all the way from the high Baroque to the advent of the modern piano in the late 1880s. A compete list of the instruments, as well as information on some of them, can be found here: http://www.music.fas.harvard.edu/instruments/eir_collection.html
Access to the room is open to students in performance practice seminars; students being coached by the Blodgett Artists-in-Residence; and, subject to availability, other individual students with the consent of a faculty member and upon application to the Director of Administration, Nancy Shafman
Harvard University Studio for Electroacoustic Composition
Harvard's electroacoustic music resources are concentrated in the Harvard University Studio for Electroacoustic Composition (HUSEAC) located in Paine Hall Rooms 22, 31, 32, and 33, with a small office in Room 21. Each Mac-based workstation has four- or eight-channel spatialization capability. Room 33 adds 7.1 Surround Sound, DV video editing and a DVD mastering suite. All the workstations run Pro Tools, Nuendo, Max/MSP+Jitter, the IRCAM Forum suite, Csound, and much more. Our vintage Serge and Buchla analog modular synthesizers, as well as a variety of classic outboard signal processors, are housed in Room 22.
Access to the HUSEAC facilities are open to graduate composition students, those enrolled in electronic music seminars, and other individual students subject to availability. Questions about equipment and access should be directed to Professor Hans Tutschku, HUSEAC Director or Seth Torres, technical director.
For more details on the studios and electroacoustic composition go to huseac.org.
The Sound Studies Slab (SLab) gives students access to cutting edge tools for composition, audio capture and recording, digital media and video editing, as well as audio mixing, mastering, and restoration. It consists of four industry grade Digital Audio Workstations and four modular Solid State Field Production Toolkits. Students will have access to professional field recording equipment by SoundDevices, Rode, Shure, Earthworks, Sennheisser, Sony, and AudioTechnica. Workstations located in the Loeb Library Listening room will house licenses of digital production software including Avid's ProTools and Sibelius, Apple's Final Cut Pro X and LogicPro, Adobe's Photoshop, Roxio's Toast, and Izotope's RX, Alloy 2, and Ozone 5 Mastering Suite. The Lab is located in the listening room of the Eda Kuhn Loeb Music Library.
Each of the Teaching Fellow offices is equipped with a data jack, enabling teaching fellows to connect their own computers to the Harvard network and to work online. There is also wireless connectivity to the Harvard network throughout the Department and Library. Each computer must be registered with the Harvard network for the link to function; see Fernando Viesca for details of the procedure.
Additional Computers
Next door, in the basement of the Science Center, there are computer rooms for student use, with Macintosh, Windows and Unix machines. A "help-desk" in the same area provides students with assistance they may need while working in those rooms or elsewhere on the University network. Refer to the various publications put out by FAS Computer Services for more information.
Wednesday, August 28th iswhen GSAS Registration begins The GSAS site has a good FAQ section that walks you through how to register, obtain your ID card, and other good orientation information. http://www.gsas.harvard.edu/prospective_students/faq_for_new_gsas_students.php
To get 24-hour entrance to the Music Building you will need to stop by and see Building Manager Fernando Viesca. He will code your ID so that you can use it to enter the building anytime. The staff at the front desk will give you two keys: one opens the practice rooms and the other, the Taft student lounge in the music building.
When you have registered with GSAS and are assigned an ID number, you will automatically receive a University email/networking account. This account is activated by "registering" with the network system with your new ID number. These accounts are not available for use before registration.
Once you have your official Harvard email address, please send it to bannatyn@fas.harvard.edu (or put it in the mailbox of Lesley Bannatyne, found in the front office) so that you will be included in important department correspondence and updates.
Harvard maintains a number of orchestras, choirs, and other performing organizations. Graduate students are welcome to participate in many of these groups. Speak to Nancy Shafman and/or contact the Office of the Arts (495-8676) for more information on musical performance at Harvard.
Of particular interest will be the very active music program at Dudley House, which features an orchestra, choir and big band made up of and directed by graduate students, as well as a regular concert series. The Dudley Music Fellow positions have often been occupied by music department students; they constitute the only regular on-campus opportunities for directing and conducting which are reserved for graduate students. Dudley House also often hosts individual student performances. If you are interested in setting up a concert through the House, talk to one of the Music Fellows about the possibility of using the Common Room, which seats about 60 people and has two pianos. (See below for information on Dudley House's other activities.)
All students have the opportunity to have compositions performed. The Harvard Group for New Music (HGNM) is the most important avenue for music graduate students. Administered by students in the graduate composition program, the HGNM puts on around four concerts each year, including the annual Thelma E. Goldberg concert (for undergraduate and graduate composers). For information contact the Group Director if you are interested.
Dudley House, located in Lehman Hall on the Yard, houses the GSAS center. There you will find a host of events, including lectures, concerts, movies, outings and activities tailored to graduate students. At registration there will be a group of tables with descriptions of activities in which you can get involved and people to talk to about those activities. There is a website at http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~dudley which outlines services available and also an e-mail list to which you can subscribe for notice about upcoming events (you can subscribe from the house website). The House sponsors opportunities to share lunch or dinner with faculty, and houses a dining room, computer facilities for graduate students, the office of the Graduate Student Council and the offices of Director of Student Services for GSAS and the office of the Assistant Dean for Student Affairs.
Lecture/Colloquium Opportunities
There are dozens of colloquia and lectures of interest on campus every day. Within the Department there are two series specifically for graduate students: Friday Lunch Talks and the Composer's Colloquia. Friday Lunch Talks are organized by graduate students and are givenweekly by department graduate students and ocassional special guests. They are designed to be an informal avenue for students to get feedback on their work-in-progress. They are organized by a different graduate student each year.
The Composer's Colloquium meets weekly and features presentations by graduate composers or guests. Sabrina Shroeder (saschr@fas) is in charge this year.
There is also a committee of graduate students who suggest guest speakers for the department to host each year; the committee is composed of one of each of the department's areas of study: musicology, ethnomusicology, theory, and composition.
About one third of the population of GSAS is international. There are special programs for foreign students, including a session at the orientation during the first week of the year.
Detailed information for international students can be found here, at http://gsas.harvard.edu/prospective_students/faq_for_new_international_students.php
Harvard is a very large place and it is sometimes not clear where to get information and/or help. The following is a partial list of resources available to graduate students.
In the Music Department:
Your fellow students. You may think your question is unique, but often someone else in the department has also asked it (See also the Graduate Music Forum, below).
Nancy Shafman is the Director of Administration and has a wealth of knowledge about the music department and its procedures, as well as where to go outside of the department. She also has a library of pertinent publications in her office.
Regarding academic matters, one can speak to the appropriate program advisor, the Director of Graduate Studies or the Department Chair (Alexander Rehding). There is also an annual meeting of the faculty and graduate students in all programs, held around the beginning of the second semester, to discuss academic or procedural issues of broader concern.
Graduate Music Forum
Started in spring 1998, the Graduate Music Forum (GMF) aims to provide an opportunity for Harvard Music Department graduate students in all programs to discuss issues of common interest or concern. To date, these have ranged from matters of departmental administration and facilities to the structure of degree programs and the inception of new student projects.
Discussion takes place principally in meetings, which are held usually on Friday at 4:15pm. Both notification and minutes are circulated to all graduate students. All are encouraged to attend the meetings: however, those for whom attendance is inconvenient or impossible are urged to participate in the Forum via e-mail or other means.
While the aim has been to keep the GMF fairly informal, the organization does have an official role in selecting and briefing representatives to the Music Department faculty meetings and the Graduate Student Council, and preparing agenda items for the annual graduate/faculty meeting. The chair corrdinates meetings( this year it's Anne Searcy asearcy@fas). The GMF also elects social chairs, who, manage the Friday beer hour gatherings in the Lounge.
Music Graduate Student list serv
Once you have an fas email account and your ID you'll be able to subscribe to the musicgraduatestudent elist, which is how many things are communicated both to and among grad students. Go to http://lists.fas.harvard.edu/mailman/listinfo/musicgradstudents-list and follow the instructions to subscribe. If you have any trouble, contact staff member Lesley Bannatyne (bannatyn@fas)
Outside the Department:
Two documents are very useful. The Handbook of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (you should get a copy at registration) contains the official Harvard word on academic procedures. The GSAS Student Survival Guide, which is published by the Graduate Student Council, is full of information on matters both academic and not. A copy can be obtained at registration or from the office of the Graduate Student Council in Dudley House.
Harvard has a number of programs and people assigned to help students in various venues as well. Ellen Fox (Director of Student Services (495-5060/efox@fas) is located in Dudley House, and Garth McCavana ( Dean for Student Affairs/mccavana@fas/495-1814) is in Holyoke Center (350), and both are available for consultation on a variety of topics. There is also a lecture/seminar series run under their auspices on practical topics of interest to graduate students in various stages of their careers. The offices of the Graduate Student Council are also in Dudley House. The Council is available as a forum for discussion of issues which concern students and as an advocate within the greater Harvard community. http://www.hcs.harvard.edu/~gsc
The Bureau of Study Counsel (5-2581) provides both individual help and short courses for students needing help with academic skills. The Writing Center (Barker Center, 5-1655) can provide help with any and all writing issues.
The University Health Services (Holyoke Center 5-2008) provides a range of wellness programs and confidential counseling (short and long term) in addition to traditional medical care including after-hours urgent care.
There is a special office to help international students with visa and other problems/concerns. You should feel free to ask for help at the International Office (495-2789) if you need it; everyone there is aware of the problems associated with being in a foreign environment.
Additional Financial Resources Available to Graduate Students
Graduate students in the Music Department are usually fairly well-looked-after in terms of basic financial support (tuition, stipend and/or teaching work). However, there are a number of additional financial resources of which you may wish to take advantage at some point in your career at Harvard.
There are four basic types of financial awards offered by the Department:
1) Composition prizes (The Bohemians, George Arthur Knight, Albert W. Sprague, Hugh F. MacColl, Francis Boott, John Green Award)
2) Schafer Teaching Award; given to students who have demonstrated unusual ability and enthusiasm in their teaching of introductory courses, and designed to give students a year free of teaching assistant duties
3) Traveling Scholarships (Nino and Lea Pirrotta, Richard F. French, John Knowles Paine, Ferdinand Gordon & Elizabeth Hunter Morrill); given for a research project of well-defined limited scope
4) General funding, usually for travel to AMS or other conferences (Weyman Fund, Music Department Graduate Travel Fund). The Department Travel fund is available three times during a student's tenure and can be used to support travel to attend a conference, give a paper or have a composition performed by a professional organization. Deadlines are rolling.Requests should be submitted in writing to the Manager of Adminsitration and Finance.
Notices are posted during the year explaining when and how to apply for most of these awards (the Weyman Fund is less regular so you should ask the Assistant to the Chair how it works).
You may also be eligible for funding from sources outside the Department. The Graduate Student Council awards grants for conference travel during the year, and for research during the summer; for more information, see their website (http://www.hcs.harvard.edu/~gsc). For other prizes and fellowships awarded by GSAS and the University, ask Nancy Shafman to show you the "Fellowship Book" or, better still, make an appointment to speak with Cynthia Verba in the GSAS Dean's office--she wrote the book!
All these awards, prizes, and grants are described on the department's website: http://www.music.fas.harvard.edu/gradinfo.html#awards
For complete and official descriptions of course requirements for Composition, Historical Musicology, Ethnomusicology, and Theory, consult the Graduate Supplement to the Harvard Course Study Guide. Program requirements common to all graduate students such as Music B, languages, and the General Examinations will be discussed in later portions of the handbook. Note: a "half-course" at Harvard denotes a one-semester course for regular credit.
While it is expected that Music Department seminars will make up the bulk of your coursework, it may be possible to cross-register for courses in other departments, subject to approval, including a secondary field in some cases. Courses of independent study, under the supervision of a faculty member, may also be arranged to cater to your particular interests.
The Department is sometimes willing to accept credit for some graduate level courses done at another institution. For additional information on the number of required courses go to: http://www.music.fas.harvard.edu/gradinfo.html#coursework.
international students: If you take less than 4 half-courses per semester, you need to add "time" (ask Nancy Shafman about the particulars), If student isn't enrolled for 4 half-courses (or the equivalent including "time"), there are VISA problems. The Harvard International Office can be a resource with immigration and visa issues.
**Incompletes in coursework affect eligibility for grants.
Program Information
Information on each of the department's programs can be found on the following links:
http://www.music.fas.harvard.edu/gradinfo.html#Composition
http://www.music.fas.harvard.edu/gradinfo.html#musicology
http://www.music.fas.harvard.edu/gradinfo.html#Theory
If you have a question about requirements or courses, it's best to ask the Graduate Advisor as policies and requirements do change from time to time. Email and contact information for all music faculty are at http://www.music.fas.harvard.edu/faculty/people.html
What to Expect in the First Week
The week(s) before the "First Week"
When talking about your first week in the program, it is better to think in terms of beginning before the beginning. Your first order of business will probably be securing a place to live. Read the literature sent by the housing office carefully. In it, you will find two basic options: living in the graduate dorms or living in an apartment. If you plan to live outside of the graduate dorms (which are primarily for first-year graduate students), you will probably want to visit Cambridge early to find an apartment. The Harvard Housing Office (on Holyoke Street in Harvard Square) has many listings of available rooms in shared accommodations as well as studios and one-bedroom apartments. Given the extremely high cost of housing in this area, you will probably want to consider a shared situation. One possibility is to find graduate students currently in the program who are looking for roommates for the coming year; they may already know of reasonably priced apartments opening up, etc. You might want to let Nancy Shafman (the Director of Administration) know if you are looking for a roommate. Again, be warned: housing in the Cambridge area is expensive!
Assuming that you have indeed found somewhere to live by the end of August (be prepared to pay first and last month's rent, security deposit and possibly a broker's fee up front), it is a very good idea to move in a bit early in order to give yourself a chance to get acclimated to the area and the Department. Here are a few things you might want to take care of before the first week of school.
1. Introduce yourself. As soon as you are moved in (or otherwise settled) come to the Department and find Nancy Shafman. She will be your conduit for important official information, advice, etc. Either have Nancy introduce you to the Department staff or simply introduce yourself. Visit Lesley Bannatyne (directly across the hall from Nancy's office), Communications Coordinator, and give her your address, ID number and email address to add to the department's various directories so that you'll receive important information along with the rest of the department. You will probably find other graduate students in the library or the Taft lounge.
2. Stop in the Music Library and look for Liza Vick, the Public Service Librarian, who will give you a tour of the library. Similar tours are available for Widener (the main University library) and other facilities as will be explained at the GSAS orientation (you will be notified about this orientation in advance by mail).
3. Pick up a pair of keys at the receptionists' desk: one is a key to the lounge; the other is a key to the practice rooms in the basement. Both are for use during hours when the building is officially closed. Your Harvard ID card will open the electronic locks on the exterior doors to the building when it is closed (remember, you need to see Fernando Viesca to have your ID coded).
4. Find your mailbox in the graduate lounge. There is probably more information waiting for you.
6. Seek out any professors who are around and are teaching a fall semester course in which you might be interested. Find out what the course will be about and what the requirements will be. This could also give you a head start on any scores or texts you need to purchase for the course if you are pretty sure you will be taking it. Reading lists are often posted on the bulletin board in the lounge, especially if there is reading to be completed by the first class meeting.
GSAS Orientation Week/Bok Teaching Program
During the week immediately preceding the start of classes, the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS) and the Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning sponsor a number of events for both incoming and continuing students. The Bok Center, for example, sponsors two-day teaching orientations just prior to the start of the fall and spring semesters. Aside from various receptions which provide opportunities for new students to get to know others as well as free breakfasts and lunches, the majority of the Bok Center orientation involves panel discussions on various topics of interest to young teachers. These panels are comprised of faculty members, representatives of the Bok Center who have experience both teaching and helping others teach, and current student Teaching Fellows. You will find that many of the participants are "G2s" (in their second year of Graduate study) or beyond and thus that many of them are already assuming teaching responsibilities. Even though students do not teach in the Music Department until their third year, you are welcome at these trainings and can benefit from what the Bok Center has to offer. There is no charge for the program, but you will need to register in advance if you wish to attend, either in person at the Bok Center office in the Science Center in room 318, through their website (http://bokcenter.fas.harvard.edu) or via e-mail (bokcenter@fas.harvard.edu).
While GSAS offers a number of activities for new students, the primary event is an orientation day held just before classes begin. You will receive information from the GSAS - be on the lookout for it. (There is a separate orientation for international students.) Classes begin on Tuesday, September 3, 2013. Orientation is comprised of a series of presentations in the morning by various representatives of the University, a picnic lunch, and a variety of receptions and orientation sessions for students with particular concerns. All of these activities may not be of interest to you, but you may find the morning's activities a good way to introduce yourself to the Harvard community beyond the Music Building. For further information about these activites, please contact Student Affaris at studaff@fas.harvard.edu/
We also recommend taking the time to get to know some of the campus outside of the Music Department before you get too busy. Your Harvard I.D. gives you access to all Harvard's libraries and free admission to the museums.
Registration
GSAS registration begins Wednesday August 28, although you actually register for classes at the end of "shopping period" (see below). After you have collected your "study card," you will need to fill it out as you attend classes and meet with your advisor and/or the Director of Graduate Studies. Filling out the card can be a little confusing the first time; other graduate students are a good resource for study card questions. After it is completed, you will need to turn it in to the Registrar's Office. There will be a date at the end of shopping period when the card can be turned in at Dudley House. If you want to turn it in early, you can take it to the Registrar.
A couple of hints for filling out the study card:
1. The "course number" is the 4-digit number catalog number on the second line of each description in the main Harvard catalog. The "course title" is the department/program name plus a 3 or 4 digit number on the first line of the description. Thus, "Music 201" is a course title; 3973 is its course number.
2. Be sure to check the main Harvard course catalog to see if any courses you are taking are marked with an asterisk. These courses require the instructor's signature on the study card. Signatures are also required for independent studies and for the composition seminars.
3. Before the end of shopping period, you will need to have your advisor sign the lower right-hand corner of the study card, indicating approval of the courses. Be sure to check with your advisor early on to see when they prefer to sign their cards -- each one has a different preference, and not all faculty are available every day. In case of problems in obtaining signatures, see Nancy Shafman; she can direct you to alternate signatories.
The main activity of the first week will be "shopping." This entails visiting any and all classes that you think you might want to take and deciding which you will in fact sign up for on your study card. You will probably meet with the Director of Graduate Studies and/or your program's advisor to discuss what and how many courses you should be taking. You should receive a schedule of department courses during the summer. The music department's courses are listed at http://www.music.fas.harvard.edu/courses.html
Initial Meeting - During the week of registration, there is a general meeting of the entire Music Department; be on the lookout for fliers announcing the time and place; they'll be posted on the bulletin boards of the music building, and if you've given the staff your Harvard email address, you'll receive notice through email as well. Here, new students are introduced, courses are outlined by those teaching them, and other official business is transacted. A reception is held immediately afterward. There is often an informal get-together with new and not-so-new graduate students after the reception.
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What to Expect in The First Year
Diagnostic Theory Exam - The diagnostic test will enable the instructor and the student to identify strengths and weaknesses in the student's preparation for graduate work in music. Students will also be encouraged to demonstrate any special skills that may not be apparent from the test. It will be the instructor's responsibility to recommend remedial work if needed. In making recommendations the instructor should bear in mind that the skills tested will have varying degrees of relevance. (For example, composers and theorists might have a greater interest in being able to sing non-tonal melody than might some historians and ethnomusicologists.) In accessing skills, thought should be given to the teaching responsibilities the student will likely be assigned.
To pass the musicianship requirement the student will have to satisfactorily address deficiencies identified by the instructor and to satisfactorily complete a course of study aimed at developing a broad range of musical skills. Some deficiencies may be best addressed by independent work outside of class. If lack of training warrants, the student may be asked to attend an undergraduate class or to seek a tutor concurrently with work in the graduate proficiency course or in preparation for enrolling in this course. The instructor will meet with the four graduate advisors at the end of each term to discuss the students' progress and the content of the course.
Some students meet the Music B requirement over the course of the first term while others need the entire first year to complete their requirements. If you have had substantial theory training previously but perhaps have gotten rusty in a few areas, it is to your advantage to review a bit before taking the exam. If you do not pass out of everything, do not fret; rather, commit yourself to completing your theory requirements as soon as possible. It is to your advantage to have Music B behind you before you start your second year.
Music 201 is intended as an introductory course for first-year students in Musicology. In the past, students have given weekly presentations on assigned topics varying according to instructor. The objective of this methods course is to increase a student's ability to gather information, absorb it, and synthesize it sufficiently for weekly presentation to his or her colleagues. In doing so, the student exercises and sharpens methodological skills under time pressure.
All graduate seminars have the dual aim of exploring specific subject material and opening up methodological questions. Some recent topics have included: Fascism and Music; An Ethnographic Study of the Early Music Scene in Boston; Musical Diasporas: Ethiopia; The Serial Works of Stravinsky; Song, Schubert through Ives; Getting to Know Medieval Song; and Text & Music.
The format of graduate musicology seminars meeting once a week often divides the semester as follows (although a number of musicology, and most composition and theory seminars, follow a quite different plan):
12 weeks:
Paper expectations vary from seminar to seminar. Often, a single large paper-and-presentation will be required at the end of the semester. Alternatively, several short papers and/or presentations may be assigned. Occasionally, a final seminar paper may merit, or possess the potential for, presentation at a professional conference such as American Musicological Society (AMS), Society of Music Theorists (SMT) or Society of Ethnomusicologists (SEM). Some flexibility is often available with regard to the total number of term papers expected across all the courses taken in a given semester. Such flexibility must be negotiated on a case by case basis with the faculty concerned.
The preceding comments will also generally apply to seminars in ethnomusicology, but students should speak to an ethnomusicology professor for a better idea of the specific types of courses that will be offered in that field.
Information about theory seminars can be obtained from theory professors. Many will also involve a series of smaller assignments and a final paper/analysis project.
Composition seminars, in contrast, usually focus on ongoing compositional work. Information about structure can best be obtained from the particular professor involved.
In consultation with your advisor, some 100 level courses (courses intended for upper level undergraduates) may be taken for graduate credit.
Reading Period typically lasts two weeks after the last day of classes and is primarily provided for undergraduates to prepare for exams (which last another two weeks beyond reading period). Graduate students use the time to complete seminar papers. Often, however, seminars will continue meeting during Reading Period for final presentations. Students should consult the academic calendar and/or their professors before making travel plans near or during Reading Period.
Barwick Colloquium Series, Friday Lunch Talks, & Composer's Colloquium
Each year graduate students nominate possible speakers to being to campus, and then vote on who to invite. The committee of rising 3rd year students act as coordinators and hosts for the series. The Department provides the funds that make the colloquium series, now named the Barwick Student Colloquium Series, possible.
This is not the only series of colloquia offered by the Department, but it is the only one which gives graduate students the opportunity to request specific speakers whose work is of particular interest, or in fields which are not necessarily reflected by the day-to-day offerings of the Department.
Friday Lunch Talks are a series of informal colloquia where students are invited to give "works in progress." The group now meets almost every Friday; you'll see posters around the department announcing the topics, and everyone is welcome!
The Composer's Colloquium is another forum for graduate student colloquia. This is a weekly get together that meets for two hours every Monday at noon. It brings together composers, theorists and musicologists from both within and outside Harvard for discussion. Watch for posters for each week's topic/speaker..
In December you will receive a Financial Aid Application and Financial Report form from the Office of Admissions and Financial Aid. This form is used to determine your financial "need" based on a budget set by the financial aid office. It is very important to fill out the form carefully, being sure to list all expenditures related to study and all legitimate living expenses. It is also very important to return this form by the specified date (usually early-to-mid January) or you may lose your eligibility for financial aid. You will usually be notified of your financial award by the second week of May.
What to Expect as a Continuing Student
Most graduate students teach for the Department from their third year on. Near the end of each spring semester you will receive a schedule of the upcoming year's classes and a form to fill out on which you will indicate in which classes you are interested in serving as a Teaching Fellow (if you are scheduled to teach in the upcoming year). Just what you end up teaching depends on a number of complicated factors, only one of which is your stated choice. It is a good idea to speak to Nancy Shafman before handing in your form in order to find out which classes are likely to need Teaching Fellows, and, of those, which are normally staffed with third year students, and which are normally staffed with more advanced students.
Most teaching assignments involve teaching a section once a week for a course that meets from one to three times a week. The function of sections varies widely from course to course: often it will involve presenting new material, concentrated listening, or discussion of lectures.
The large majority of teaching assignments will be in "Core/Gen Ed" courses. This curriculum "seeks to introduce students to the major approaches to knowledge," and its courses are intended for students outside of the field on which a course focuses. All undergraduates at Harvard are required to take around a dozen core courses. The Music Department normally offers two to four such courses per semester, in which enrollment may be as low as 20-30 or as high as 500.
For the past few years, the department has arranged a special teaching seminar for music courses through the Bok Teaching Center to be held at the beginning of the fall semester.
Receiving Credit for previous Graduate Courses
The Department is sometimes willing to accept credit for graduate level coursework done at another institution. At the beginning of the second year, if you have such previous credits, speak to the Director of Graduate Studies. You will be required to submit a letter requesting the acceptance of credit and a transcript from your previous school. The letter should be addressed to the Faculty Committee and should include course names and grades. The Department may accept up to two credits (equaling two GSAS "half-courses") by vote of the full faculty. Students should be aware that the granting of credit is not automatic and is entirely at the discretion of the faculty.
There are separate exam formats for the four divisions of the Music Department - Composition, Historical Musicology, Ethnomusicology, and Theory. All contain a written component followed by an oral one, and are taken at the beginning of the third year. All are described in the GSAS Handbook and on the department website:
http://www.music.fas.harvard.edu/gradinfo.html#generals
In addition to what information is offered there, it is a good idea to talk to several people in your program about the exam when it comes time to start preparing (usually sometime during the second year). Copies of questions from previous exams in all four divisions are available both online and in the Department office--it is worthwhile to study these carefully.
Advising
Prior to taking the general exam, students are generally advised by the program advisor designated for their particular field. This is the advisor who must sign the study card. Other faculty may, of course, be consulted informally. The Director of Graduate Studies is also available for help in this area.
After completion of the general exam, students will acquire a dissertation advisor and a committee. This is a small department, and many students know when they arrive who they expect to work with on the dissertation based on the specialty they wish to pursue. Whether one has settled on a particular person or not, getting to know faculty members both formally and informally will help students to establish an effective relationship with the disseration advisor once the generals have been passed. The dissertation committee will be assigned by the faculty. The exact role of the advisor and committee will vary somewhat from program to program. A recent faculty document on advising for dissertation projects entitled "Report of the Faculty Committee on the Structure of Phd Dissertation Advising" is available on the Graduate Student Council website, http://www.hcs.harvard.edu/~gsc/advising/.
Dissertation Prospectus
Each student must produce a prospectus for their dissertation project within one calendar year after the general examination is passed. Each program has its own procedure for creating this document and students should seek specific guidance from their advisors.
Musicology students follow the most involved process. Students will receive a letter with information shortly after successful completion of their general exams. Musicology students must submit proposals in development for comment from all Musicology faculty members. Nancy Shafman also has information on this process. Students on the far side note that it is often necessary for the student to be persistent in collecting faculty comments.
Composition students have a less formal procedure to follow, but will need to submit a description of their proposed piece for consideration by the faculty. See the composition program advisor for more information.
Theory students should speak to the Graduate Advisor in Theory about their procedures.
Various opportunities are available for students to earn supplemental income, both during the academic year and during the summer. Generally, first and second year students do not have an abundance of time for extracurricular positions. The following represent commonly-pursued forms of employment available within the Harvard community. International students may face some additional restrictions. International students should ask Karen Rynne (Department Financial Manager) about any special requirements pertaining to visas, permits, or requirements. The Harvard International Office can also be a resource.
Throughout the semester, opportunities will arise for single-event employment including setting up and cleaning up at department receptions, filling in for receptionists, etc. Let Nancy Shafman or Jean Moncrieff know if you are interested in this sort of work.
Positions are available for students who wish to act as security guards or stage managers for Paine Hall in the evenings, on weekends, and during Paine Hall events. Contact Jean Moncrieff to express interest in these positions.
Tutorships/Proctorships/Resident Advisors
All of these positions are advertised at the end of the first semester in the GSAS Bulletin, a bi-monthly publication sent to all GSAS students. The tutorships usually require an application with cover letter and resume early in the year. If a House is interested in one's application, it is followed by interviews in March and April. Appointments are usually made by the end of April.
Department Events and Programs
The first thing to do is go to http://www.facebook.com/HarvardMusicDepartment and "like" the page. This will give you access to news of your fellow students, occasional deadline notifications for awards, and up-to-date events information. Don't worry, the department doesn't post excessively.
Department events are listed on a monthly calendar sent to your email account. In addition, the Department maintains a frequently-updated online calendar of events www.music.fas.harvard.edu/calendar.html and prints an Events brochure listing major concerts, colloquia and residencies each year.
Blodgett Artist-in-Residence Concert Series
The Chiara Quartet are Blodgett Artists-in-Residence. The Quartet will give four concerts this year in addition to private lessons, master classes, workshops, classroom demonstrations and lectures, coachings, and special projects with students and faculty members. The musiciansare on campus during their residency and work with music tutors and students. Contact the Director of Events for details.
Fromm Contemporary Music Series
This is the oldest foundation in the country devoted exclusively to the support of new music. From 1972 through 1987 the Fromm Music Foundation was partially administered by the Music Department. Beginning in the fall of 1987, it was moved entirely here. The Foundation grants commissions annually to young composers, sponsors an annual composition award and contemporary music concert at Tanglewood, and has recently helped to establish a composer residency at the American Academy in Rome. In addition, the Foundation has supported a variety of concerts and festivals of new music throughout the country.
The Fromm Players at Harvard give a series of concerts in Paine Hall which are devoted to new music. The concerts are sponsored by the Department and the Fromm Music Foundation at Harvard and are normally scheduled in February and/or March.
The Group presents several concerts during the year consisting of works by undergraduate and graduate composers as well as works by prominent 20th century composers.
Lectures and Events
Harvard's Music department hosts other lecture series, colloquia, and concerts on a periodic basis. These include the Norton Lectures in Poetry and the Fromm Visiting Composer-in-Residence. In addition, there are often visiting lecturers and faculty who are shared with other departments at Harvard or with the Humanities Center. Events are listed on the department's internal calendar (which you will receive via email each month) and on its website.