Musicology

Overview

Graduate students in Musicology at the University of Pittsburgh develop a solid foundation of music historical knowledge, technical skills, critical acuity, and humanistic literacy, while becoming experts in their specialist area(s). 

The path of coursework instills a firm grasp of key repertories and methods of music history; supports students to develop facility in related fields such as ethnomusicology, jazz studies, and theory and analysis; and empowers students to prepare for diverse career paths. 

Students gain experience with various approaches to music history and criticism, including cultural and interpretive studies; feminist, queer, and anti-racist critique; postcolonialism; and global historiographies.  

On their way to earning the PhD, students are encouraged to broaden the scope of their work by consulting with faculty members from other music subdisciplines, drawing on the resources of other departments and interdisciplinary programs, and earning microcredentials.  Many students work toward graduate certificates in Asian Studies, Medieval and Renaissance Studies, Russian and East European Studies, West European Studies, Latin American Studies, Cultural Studies, Digital Studies, and Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies.

Intellectual Community

• Pitt's many opportunities for interdisciplinary study offer students the chance to develop fluency in topics and approaches relevant across the Humanities. But it also offers students the chance to be part of vibrant intellectual and creative communities within the Department of Music, the Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences, and beyond. 

• Building and sustaining a welcoming community of learning is a big part of what we do, in conjunction with the Department's other subdisciplines (Composition, Ethnomusicology, and Jazz). 

• This happens in Department seminars, in student-led initiatives, in interactions with renowned visiting scholars and artists, in the Professional Development Workshop Series, and in the many informal events organized in support of upcoming conference presentations or job interviews.