Music@Stanford

There are many ways for musicians to get involved with music around Stanford. These pages contains information about opportunities in the Department of Music, and with organizations all over campus. 

Our department has about 125 majors and minors, and 65 graduate students, but over 1000 students each quarter who participate in our offerings.

• Department of Music website home
• Student Services: Rowen Leigh 

All vocal and instrumental ensembles are courses given by the Department of Music, and may be taken for a letter grade and units. 

These ensembles fulfill requirements for Music majors, minors and certificate students, and may be counted as elective classes toward the 180 units required for a Stanford bachelor’s degree. 

Auditions for lessons and ensembles occur at the beginning of each academic quarter. The largest auditions happen in Autumn Quarter. However, most ensembles and lessons allow students to audition at the beginning of Winter and Spring Quarters as well.

Find out more about Ensembles

In our department, lessons are considered classes and are offered for 1 to 3 academic units in Axess. In addition to tuition, individual and group lessons carry fees. 

The fee for private lessons is $595 per quarter for non-majors, and offered at no cost for majors, including Music minors and graduate students. Group lessons are also offered in piano and voice, and do not have a fee. 

Lesson scholarships are available on a quarterly basis to assist with these costs. Scholarship forms are available on our website starting on the first day of the academic quarter, and are due on the third Friday of the quarter. Scholarship awards are fully paid for Music majors, minors, graduate students and performance certificate students. All non-major scholarships are partial.  More about lesson funding

Music Ambassadors

The following students represent different facets of musical experiences at Stanford. Feel free to contact any of them via email if you’d like to get the student perspective on Music at Stanford.

Undergraduate Enrollment Data

For more numbers, check out the Stanford Common Data Set

Other Arts Organizations on Campus

…is a popular program that is organized by the St. Lawrence (SLSQ). 

An average of 18 to 24 chamber groups participate each quarter, comprising string quartets, piano trios and a few less-common combinations. Under-graduates, advanced degree students, and post-docs from across campus participate in the program. The level of playing can be extremely high, but we welcome and support groups of different experience levels. Some groups are pre-formed, some are matched together after autumn auditions. Weekly coachings are given by string faculty, piano faculty and SLSQ. Students participating in Chamber Music register for course MUSIC 171. 

Stanford Chamber Strings students have performed in the Daniel Pearl World Music Days concert as well as on the recording of Haydn’s Nelson Mass with the Stanford Chamber Chorale. Other highlights of the program have included masterclasses with the SLSQ and visiting artists. Students take part each quarter in the Chamber Music Showcase. The St. Lawrence is resident at Stanford throughout the year, and the Department of Music hosts an intensive 10-day chamber music Seminar every June, open to all advanced string students, with SLSQ and guest faculty. 

Find more information about Chamber Music at Stanford