While the Field of Music offers graduate degrees in three areas of study--musicology (Ph.D.), composition (D.M.A.), and performance practice (D.M.A.)--music at Cornell flourishes through an exciting exchange among all disciplines of music scholarship. At Cornell, this exchange is not a new fashion: the Field puts into practice the commitment of the College of Arts and Sciences to "pursue understanding beyond the limitations of existing knowledge, ideology, and disciplinary structure" by integrating the fields of performance, historical musicology, ethnomusicology, composition, and music theory, thus blurring the boundaries among disciplines that many universities and conservatories have traditionally kept separate. As a result, the many activities of the Music Department mutually reinforce each other, and graduate students at Cornell enjoy a sense of community among themselves and with the faculty that transcends programmatic divisions.  

The curriculum at Cornell is highly flexible. Bound only by the few rules imposed by the Graduate School and by the Field of Music, students develop their own course of study in a close relationship with a Special Committee of three or four faculty members chosen by the student. Students are encouraged to take advantage of course offerings in other fields, and minor subjects may be drawn either from within the Field of Music or from many other disciplines, including but not limited to anthropology, art history, computer science, history, linguistics, philosophy, psychology, sociology, theater arts, and Western and non-Western languages and literatures. 

As of 2007-2008, the Cornell Music Department has nineteen full-time and five part-time faculty members and two active emeritus professors--twenty-two of whom are members of the Graduate Field in Music. The faculty is augmented from time to time by distinguished visiting performers, composers, and scholars. Each year the Field of Music matriculates about six new graduate students, and there are thus approximately 25-30 graduate students in residence in the three programs at any given time. This low number allows for small seminars and encourages a close working relationship between students and faculty. Students are offered ample opportunities to present their own work, via the Music Colloquia series, the Composers' Forum, or department concerts, all of which benefit from the participation of both Cornellians and visitors. The Cornell Music Library has one of the largest and most distinguished collections in an American University. Central to much of the activity in the department, the Music Library has, in the words of Cornell's former Provost Don Randel, served as both a "spiritual and physical home for students and faculty from around the world." 

Musical performance is an essential part of life at Cornell. Graduate students are welcome to participate in the many performing ensembles sponsored by the Music Department, which include choirs, orchestras, wind ensembles, jazz ensembles, a Javanese gamelan, and many sorts of chamber music. In addition to the students pursuing the D.M.A. in performance practice, many candidates in musicology and composition also perform, and some make performance a formal part of their programs by declaring a minor in this area. 

The Music Department sponsors over a hundred concerts each year, covering many historical periods and many cultural traditions. In addition, the Cornell Concert Series brings internationally renowned performers to the Cornell campus. Ensemble X, a professional new-music group based at Cornell, gives an annual series of concerts, as do the Cornell Contemporary Chamber Players, a group specializing in performing the works of the doctoral composition students. The Cornell Council for the Arts also serves as a potential source of funds for students wishing to organize their own concerts or other artistic activities. 

Classroom teaching under the supervision of a faculty member constitutes a vital part of the training offered by the doctoral programs. During part of their studies graduate students serve as teaching assistants in undergraduate theory and history courses, may direct ensembles, or give individual lessons. Every year one or two advanced students have the opportunity to design their own courses in the context of Cornell's acclaimed First-Year Writing Seminars, which pioneered the concept of "writing across the curriculum." Graduate students in music do not begin teaching until their second year in residence, after they have familiarized themselves with Cornell's curriculum. 

Graduates of Cornell's D.M.A and Ph.D. programs are well prepared to enter the music job market. Cornell enjoys great success in producing graduates who are attractive in their fields as performers, composers, pedagogues, or academics: of the 17 students who received doctoral degrees in all three programs from 1994 to 1997, 13 hold tenured or tenure-track positions at institutions of higher education such as the University of California at Berkeley, the University of Chicago, the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Temple University, Holy Cross College, the University of Pennsylvania, Illinois State University, and Oberlin College. Still others are successfully working as composers or performers, or in other music-related jobs.