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| Howard University Department of Music | |
|---|---|
| Name | Howard University Department of Music |
| Parent | Howard University |
| Established | 1883 |
| Type | Academic department |
| Location | Washington, D.C. |
Howard University Department of Music
The Howard University Department of Music is a collegiate music department located in Washington, D.C., offering undergraduate and graduate programs in composition, performance, music education, musicology, and jazz studies. It is situated within a historically Black university with ties to national institutions and cultural landmarks in the United States, contributing to the musical life of Washington through concerts, festivals, and collaborative projects.
Founded during the late 19th century amid the post-Reconstruction era, the department evolved alongside institutions such as Howard University, National Conservatory of Music of America, New England Conservatory, Juilliard School, and Oberlin Conservatory of Music. Faculty and students engaged with figures associated with the Harlem Renaissance, Civil Rights Movement, National Endowment for the Arts, Smithsonian Institution, and Kennedy Center programming. The department’s development intersected with activities at Lincoln Theatre (Washington, D.C.), Howard Theatre, Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge, and the Anacostia Community Museum, while alumni and faculty appeared at venues including Carnegie Hall, Merriam Auditorium, Metropolitan Opera, Avery Fisher Hall, and Apollo Theater. Over the 20th century the department established curricular links with Smith College, Spelman College, Morehouse College, Tuskegee University, and engaged with organizations such as the American Musicological Society, National Association for Music Education, League of American Orchestras, and the American Composers Forum.
The department offers Bachelor of Music, Master of Music, and doctoral-level programs that emphasize performance, composition, theory, ethnomusicology, and pedagogy, paralleling curricula at Curtis Institute of Music, Eastman School of Music, Berklee College of Music, Royal College of Music, and Conservatoire de Paris. Degree tracks include concentrations in jazz, opera, choral conducting, instrumental performance, piano pedagogy, music technology, and film scoring, reflecting models from Berklee Online, Manhattan School of Music, Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. Collaborative programs and internships link students to institutions such as the National Symphony Orchestra, Washington National Opera, Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, Philadelphia Orchestra, and Boston Symphony Orchestra. The department’s curriculum incorporates study of repertoire spanning African American spirituals, Gospel music, baroque, classical period, romanticism, and contemporary music traditions, with coursework informed by scholarship from the American Antiquarian Society, Library of Congress, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, and the Center for Black Music Research.
Faculty have included conductors, composers, performers, and scholars who have affiliations with institutions and organizations such as New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Metropolitan Opera, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance, Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, Columbia University, Yale School of Music, Princeton University, Harvard University, Duke University, Rutgers University, and Temple University. Administrators and chairs have participated in panels for the National Endowment for the Humanities, American Council on Education, Council of Graduate Schools, and engaged with awards including the Pulitzer Prize, MacArthur Fellowship, Grammy Award, NAACP Image Award, and Kennedy Center Honors. Visiting artists and guest lecturers have come from ensembles like The Juilliard Quartet, International Contemporary Ensemble, Kronos Quartet, The Roots, and soloists associated with Itzhak Perlman, Lang Lang, Marian Anderson, Leontyne Price, and Jessye Norman.
Ensembles include symphony orchestra, wind ensemble, choral groups, chamber orchestras, jazz big band, gospel choir, opera workshop, and early music consorts, paralleling ensemble structures at New World Symphony, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, The Sixteen (choir), and Presidential Inaugural Committee events. Student-run organizations produce concerts for the Kennedy Center Honors, Smithsonian Folklife Festival, Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, and community venues such as The National Portrait Gallery (United States), Phillips Collection, and National Gallery of Art. Masterclasses and residencies have featured artists from Duke Ellington School of the Arts, Ballet Hispanico, American Ballet Theatre, Guggenheim Fellowship recipients, and participants in the Sloan Foundation initiatives on arts and science.
Facilities include recital halls, rehearsal studios, recording labs, practice rooms, and specialized collections, comparable to resources at Mellon Auditorium, Blanton Museum of Art, Library of Congress, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, National Archives, and conservatory-grade studios akin to those at CITIZENM. The department manages instrument inventories, partnerships with luthiers and technicians associated with makers represented at NAMM Show, and access to digital libraries and archives tied to RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, JSTOR, Project MUSE, and the Digital Public Library of America.
Alumni and faculty have included prominent figures who performed with or led organizations such as Duke Ellington, Marian Anderson, Leontyne Price, Jessye Norman, Kurt Weill, Nina Simone, Pharoah Sanders, Jessie Carney Smith, Kermit Ruffins, Kendrick Lamar, Alicia Keys, Wynton Marsalis, Langston Hughes, Thurgood Marshall, Paul Robeson, Eubie Blake, Florence Price, Bessie Smith, Mahalia Jackson, Quincy Jones, Aretha Franklin, Toni Morrison, August Wilson, James Baldwin, Gwendolyn Brooks, Ntozake Shange, Trey Anastasio, Muhammad Ali, Barack Obama, Michelle Obama, Colin Powell, Kamala Harris, Max Roach, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Billy Taylor, Benny Carter, Oscar Peterson, Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, Dizzy Gillespie, Count Basie, Thelonious Monk, Sidney Poitier, Hazel Scott, Roland Hayes, Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin, and Paul Laurence Dunbar.
The department collaborates with local schools, arts organizations, and civic initiatives such as Prince George's County Public Schools, District of Columbia Public Schools, DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, Kennedy Center Education, Smithsonian Folkways, National Council of Negro Women, and neighborhood programs like Anacostia Arts Center and U Street Corridor events. Outreach includes youth ensembles, summer camps, music education partnerships with Juvenile Justice system advocates, school residency programs akin to those run by El Sistema USA, and joint programming for cultural festivals including the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service, Juneteenth National Independence Day, Black History Month, and the Smithsonian Folklife Festival.
Category:Howard University Category:Music schools in the United States