Resources for Students

A great wealth of musical and scholarly resources is available in the city of New York with its libraries, museums, two major opera companies, symphony orchestras, specialized chamber groups, collegia musica, jazz clubs, ethnic festivals, and performance and rehearsal opportunities.

Under the umbrella of the Barry S. Brook Center for Music Research and Documentation, a large number of national and international projects, publications, and research centers that have their headquarters at the Graduate Center provides doctoral students with the opportunity to do research and gain professional experience in various specialties. 

The Metropolitan Museum of Art's renowned collection of some 4,000 musical instruments is available to students for study in association with courses in iconography and organology offered at the Graduate Center. The Mina Rees Library at the Graduate Center houses a music collection that concentrates on research and reference tools and contains a rich body of source materials on microfilm. The Music Department liason to the library is Men-Sze Butt (Cataloging Librarian), who can be contacted at 212-817-7072 or mbutt@gc.cuny.edu.   It is supplemented by extensive and comprehensive collections at the senior colleges. In addition, the Music Division of the Library of the Performing Arts of The New York Public Library, one of the world's greatest music libraries, is at Lincoln Center, only fifteen minutes by bus or subway from the Graduate Center.

The City University Computer Center, one of the largest and most versatile in the academic world, is available to students and faculty. The electronic music studios at the senior colleges are also available resources, including the Graduate Center Computer Music Lab, outfitted with a Macintosh G4-based Pro Tools / Digital Performer digital audio workstation.

The concentration in ethnomusicology is supported by a well-equipped laboratory for transcription and analysis and works closely with the UNESCO/International Music Council project, The Universe of Music: a History (formerly Music in the Life of Man), now based at the Graduate Center. Other available resources include The Institute for Studies in American Music (ISAM) at Brooklyn College and the Louis Armstrong Archive at Queens College.

Many vocal and instrumental groups, at both the Graduate Center and the senior colleges, are accessible to doctoral students for performances of their works, for performance practice research, and for practical experience in ethnic and non-Western ensembles. Numerous concerts by distinguished guest artists as well as by faculty and students (and student composers) are offered at the Graduate Center throughout the year.