Room 310, Woolworth Center, Princeton, New Jersey 08544, USA

+1 609 258 6793

Undergraduate program

Bachelor of Arts (AB) in Music. Four years. Studies in composition, music history, analysis, basic theory. Courses may include ensemble performance, choral and instrumental music, opera, world music, jazz/popular styles, music technology. Solo performance is not taught.

Graduate programs

Master of Fine Arts. In composition, musicology, ethnomusicology. Doctor of Philosophy.

Other programs

Certificates in performance, jazz studies.

A private Ivy League university. Princeton can trace its history back to 1746. It is the fourth oldest college in British North America. The Department of Music is housed in the Woolworth Center for Musical Studies. Within the department the principal emphasis focuses on musicology and composition, with some stress also on music technology and computer music; performance is not a requirement. Students with interests in ethnomusicology (comparative musicology) and theory are encouraged to pursue them in connection with the two focal programs. There is a thriving opera program. The Mendel Music Library holds a vast collection of scores, books and monographs as well as some 94,000 sound recordings. The Scheide Library, a private collection housed in the University’s Firestone Library, includes important Bach, Beethoven, Wagner and other musical autographs as well as the Hall Handel Collection of early printed editions of almost all the compositions of Handel. It also holds the Oliver Strunk collection of papers and printed materials. The music department owns a collection of early wind and keyboard instruments and a chest of viols. Students from the Department of Music may participate in programs at the Westminster Choir College. There is an exchange program with the Royal College of Music in London.

November 2022