Please note: this program is not accepting applicants at this time.
The Doctor of Philosophy in Musicology program offers two tracks: Historical Musicology or Ethnomusicology, as well as a double concentration in Historical Musicology and Ethnomusicology. It is primarily for students who are preparing to pursue research and teaching at a university, college, or conservatory.
Musicology & EThnomusicology PHD Handbook
Our graduate program provides the disciplinary grounding, critical theoretical tools, methodological breadth and sense of engagement with the world needed to produce music scholars of the highest caliber. We offer up to 5 years of full funding for graduate students (post-Bachelor or post-Master), and a customizable curriculum, including a combined concentration in Musicology and Ethnomusicology.
The curriculum for this degree offers breadth, depth, and considerable flexibility, and is therefore also of value to those wishing to pursue executive careers in administration and the music industry, as well as to performer/scholars, conductors, and pedagogues at the very highest levels. Entering students usually possess a bachelor’s or master’s degree in music, with a background in musicology, ethnomusicology, music theory, composition, or performance.
The Musicology & Ethnomusicology program at BU is led by a vibrant, active, diverse, supportive, and inclusive Department, dedicated to a shared purpose and a field without walls between scholarship and performance. Faculty expertise runs the gamut from the Middle Ages to popular music, from Indonesia to Japan, Africa, and the Americas, and from manuscript studies to oral traditions. Students are encouraged to search new vistas of inquiry and stretch themselves intellectually in a supportive and cooperative environment.
MUSICOLOGY & ETHNOMUSICOLOGY GRADUATE COURSES
BU Musicology & Ethnomusicology houses a substantial collection of instruments including a multi-temperament Roland C-30 Digital Harpsichord/Organ/Fortepiano for Early Music; quartets of Balinese gender wayang (paired xylophones); percussion and flutes for Colombian currulao and gaita; Cuban batá, rumba, and guiro; Dominican merengue; Ghanaian Ewe drums; Indian classical instruments: bansuri (flutes), harmoniums, deluxe tabla, mridangam, tanpuras; Afro-Peruvian percussion; Persian santur; Puerto Rican plena and salsa percussion; and Senegalese sabar drums.
More about current graduate students
Curriculum requirements for the PhD in Musicology & Ethnomusicology program can be found on the Academic Bulletin.
Opportunities
The Musicology & Ethnomusicology program at Boston University is dedicated to ongoing contribution to the academic music studies. The program routinely hosts conferences and events featuring a wide range of topics.
In addition, graduate students frequently design and teach undergraduate courses, present their work in national and international conferences, and publish in peer-reviewed journals, positioning them for success as professional music scholars.
Beyond the classroom, the Department offers an annual Spring Break course in Cuba co-administered with African American Studies and open to undergraduate and graduate students across the University.
As part of BU School of Music the program has ties to the large performance ensembles as well as to a wide range of other academic departments. In addition, BU is a member of the Boston Consortium, a group of universities where students can cross-register for courses.
Center for early music studies
The Center for Early Music Studies at Boston University (CEMS) is dedicated to the cultivation and dissemination of performance, scholarship, and new pedagogical practices involving music of the Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, and Classical periods.
The Beethoven Center for Research promotes scholarship in a wide spectrum of Beethoven studies, with a focus on analysis and criticism, sketch and autograph studies, biography, and historical and cultural contexts.
CREATIVES IN PRACTICE: DAN DIPIERO
The assistant professor of music in musicology & ethnomusicology at Boston University is researching, presenting (at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame), publishing, and writing books on the wave of contemporary queer and feminist indie rock bands remaking the genre, and on the role gender plays in the reception of music.
DiPiero brings his real-world experience to his role as a faculty member at BU College of Fine Arts. “Everything I do at BU is informed by my experiences, whether that means teaching jazz history after 20 years of professional playing or talking to my musicology students about the nuts and bolts of peer-reviewed research. As a musician and scholar, I’m constantly trying to bring research and practice together because I think that effort nuances our understanding of both areas at once.”
Musicology & Ethnomusicology Faculty
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Michael Birenbaum Quintero
Associate Professor of Music, Musicology & Ethnomusicology
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Leland Clarke
Professor of the Practice, Musicology & Ethnomusicology
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Victor Coelho
Professor of Music; Director, Center for Early Music Studies; Chair, Department of Historical Performance
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Dan DiPiero
Assistant Professor of Music, Musicology & Ethnomusicology
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Brita Heimarck
Associate Professor of Music
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Gregory Melchor-Barz
Professor of Ethnomusicology; Chair, Musicology & Ethnomusicology Department
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Andrew Shenton
Professor, Musicology and Ethnomusicology; James R. Houghton Scholar of Sacred Music (School of Theology)
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Jeremy Yudkin
Professor of Music; Co-Director of the Center for Beethoven Studies
Request more info about the phd in MUsicology & Ethnomusicology
Next Steps for Applicants
The best way to determine if BU is right for you is to explore our admission requirements, financial tools, and resources to determine if the program is the right match.
Reach out to Graduate Admissions at visitSOM@bu.edu with any questions along the way or to request information. We are happy to discuss your educational interests and career goals.
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