Resources for Graduate Students

Graduate Music Forum

Started in spring 1998, the Graduate Music Forum (GMF) aims to provide an opportunity for Harvard Music Department graduate students in all programs to discuss issues of common interest of concern to them. To date, these have ranged from matters of departmental administration and facilities to the structure of degree programs and the inception of new student projects, such as conferences and wellness programs.

Discussion takes place principally in monthly meetings. Both notification and minutes are circulated to all graduate students. All are encouraged to attend the meetings: however, those for whom attendance is inconvenient or impossible are urged to participate in the Forum via e-mail or other means.

While the aim has been to keep the GMF fairly informal, the organization does have an official role in selecting and briefing representatives to the Music Department faculty meetings and the Graduate Student Council.

Barwick Colloquia, Friday Lunch Talks, Theory Tuesdays, & Composer’s Colloquia

Each year the department nominates scholars and musicians to invite to campus to give a colloquium, and graduate students are actively involved in this process. Seven speakers are chosen by vote. Graduate student volunteers act as hosts to each speaker. The Department provides the funds that make the colloquium series, now named the Barwick Student Colloquium Series, possible. This is not the only series of colloquia offered by the Department, but it is the only one which gives graduate students the opportunity to request specific speakers whose work is of particular interest, or in fields which are not necessarily reflected by the day-to-day offerings of the Department.

Friday Lunch Talks are a series of informal colloquia where students are invited to give “works in progress.” Theory Tuesdays are informal as well, and are focused around a topic or series of scholarly works. The Composer’s Colloquium is a weekly get-together that meets every Monday at noon. It brings together composers, theorists and musicologists from both within and outside Harvard for discussion.

Southern Pian Society

The Southern-Pian Society, the Music Department affinity group for graduate students of color, was named after the two tenured women of color on the faculty of the music department: Eileen Southern (1920-2002) and Rulan Pian (1922-2013). It was the brainchild of ethnomusicology graduate student Krystal Klingenberg, who articulated the need for such a group in a letter co-written with fellow ethno grad student M. Myrta Leslie Santana in the spring of 2016 that addressed faculty diversity in the music department.

Dudley House

Dudley House, located in Lehman Hall on the Yard, houses the GSAS center. There is a host of events, including lectures, concerts, movies, outings, and activities tailored to graduate students. The Dudley House website outlines services available. The House sponsors opportunities to share lunch or dinner with faculty, and houses a dining room, computer facilities for graduate students, the office of the Graduate Student Council and the offices of Director of Student Services for GSAS and the office of the Assistant Dean for Student Affairs.