Through multiple modes of inquiry and experience, the department advances new ways of understanding music as both creative expression and cultural practice throughout the world. The department promotes musical education, research, and engagement at the highest standards of excellence on an open and inclusive basis.
Department of Music
Department of Music
The Department of Music is a community of scholars, creators, and performers dedicated to exploring music’s past, present, and future.
Department of Music
The Department of Music is a community of scholars, creators, and performers dedicated to exploring music’s past, present, and future.
Fall 2026 Music Ensembles & 1-on-1 Lessons for Credit
The Department of Music offers performance opportunities through our ensembles and through 1-on-1 lessons in the Applied Music Program. All students must first sign up on their respective forms (if required) to declare their intention of participating in the ensemble or in individual lessons. Students who are required to audition should follow instructions to make audition appointments where prompted.
Academics
Undergraduate
Our diverse curriculum combines creative courses in composition, technology, and performance with speculative studies in history, theory, ethnomusicology, philosophy, and musical aesthetics.
Graduate
At Brown, your degree is what you make it: the more adventurous you are, the more exciting your program is likely to be.
Music Making
The Department of Music at Brown offers a huge array of performing opportunities, all available for academic credit.
Students seeking to improve their playing or singing ability have the option of taking individual private lessons with about thirty professional musicians from the greater Boston-Providence area.
Recent News
RI Philharmonic Press Release
Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra & Music School Announces Eric Nathan as Composer in Residence
The Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra & Music School (RI Phil) is pleased to announce the appointment of acclaimed composer Eric Nathan as Composer in Residence for a three-year term, beginning in September 2026.
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News from the Department of Music
Devanney Haruta Receives 2026 Frederick R. Selch Award
Devanney Haruta, a Brown University PhD candidate in Musicology & Ethnomusicology, earned the award for her paper “A Matter of Life and Death: Performance, Preservation, and Instrumental Ethics in Musical Instrument Museums.”
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News from the Department of Music
Alexander Hardan (PhD '26) Awarded Dissertation Prize
Alexander Hardan awarded 2026 Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies Dissertation Prize
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