Music History and Musicology

As a music history student at NEC, you will learn to write and speak about music with the belief that no music can be intelligently heard, performed, or spoken about without possessing both practical and intellectual skills. You will explore music from historical, analytical, social, and practical points of view, with diverse offerings in Western art music, world music, American music, early music, and jazz history. You will also learn to read and interpret sources and texts, how a musical score tells an historical and theoretical story, in addition to providing a set of directions for performers.

Graduate Work in Musicology
NEC Music History faculty are active performers/scholars/composers who demonstrate by example that professions in music are many, and that thinking and writing about music are viable career options, a logical extension of performance.

The graduate curriculum in Musicology prepares you for musical scholarship at the doctoral level. This program is designed to encourage both sophistication and discipline in research and writing, while offering opportunities to teach and learn about teaching. Most students enrolled in the Master of Music degree with a concentration in Musicology hold undergraduate degrees in performance and often enroll in the Musicology program as double majors. Our department has a high record of success in placing students in the best doctoral programs in North America and Europe