Undergraduate Program
At the University of Chicago, whatever your interest in and path to music is, you can engage with it in new and exciting ways through the rigorous tradition of inquiry that defines the University. Past professors have shaped the discipline of music studies around the world, and current faculty in the Department are on the leading edge of research in a wide array of subject areas.
Alumni Placement
Graduates of the PhD program in Music at UChicago have been appointed to fellowships and professorships in composition, ethnomusicology, and music history and theory at colleges and universities across the country and around the world. Click the links below to see where graduates are now.
Alumni: Have an update? Let us know!
Graduate Courses
Explore the courses offered this term by the Department of Music.
Student Life
The University of Chicago is situated in Chicago’s historic Hyde Park neighborhood, one of the city’s most diverse neighborhoods and a cultural center for Chicago’s South Side. Most graduate students in the Arts & Humanities, including those in the Music Department, live in Hyde Park where they are steps away from delicious restaurants, world class music and performance venues, art, science, and cultural museums, and some of the most stunning architecture the city has to offer.
Beyond the Classroom
In addition to coursework across the the sub-disciplines of music, students may (and are often encouraged) to supplement their studies with courses in other departments throughout the University. Outside of the classroom, conferences, workshops, and seminars, both at the University and at other institutions, offer an invaluable setting for critical inquiry and a scholarly exchange of ideas.
Teaching & Professional Development
Funding & Fellowships
PhD students who matriculate in Summer 2020 and after will be guaranteed to have funding support from the University of Chicago, external sources, or a combination of the two for the duration of their program to include the following:
- Full tuition coverage
- Annual stipend
- Fully paid individual annual premiums for UChicago's student health insurance (U-SHIP, the University Student Health Insurance Plan)
Prospective Students
Each of the three PhD programs requires successful completion of courses, language examinations, musicianship examinations, comprehensive examinations, a dissertation, and a final examination on (“defense of”) the dissertation. In addition, the program in Composition and Sound Practices requires approval and defense of the Research Paper, and approval of Portfolio Review; the program in Ethnomusicology requires a Special Field Examination; and the program in History & Theory requires a Defense of the Dissertation Proposal.
Graduate Programs
The graduate studies program in the Department distinguishes itself through rigorous scholarly training in the integrative study of music. Offering degrees in Composition and Sound Practices, Ethnomusicology, and Music History and Theory, and also offering a joint PhD program in Theater and Performance Studies (TAPS), the Department embraces the interdisciplinary nature of scholarship at the University of Chicago.
Graduate Students
Meet our graduate students and learn more about their research interests.