Welcome, pianists and fans of keyboards! This is the website for the piano program, part of the Department of Music at Cornell University. Here, you can learn about what it is like to study and play music in a unique environment that integrates world-class scholarship and performance. The music program accommodates both students who are oriented toward eventual graduate study or professional work in music and those who wish to take a more general approach. Students here pursue a diverse program of studies, which may include chamber music, composition, musicology, and more. You need not be a music major to take lessons.

The piano program at Cornell, in both its undergraduate and graduate editions, has involved and produced some of the most creative and successful performers and composers of today. It has also put on festivals that showcase collaborations with esteemed guest artists from around the world, as well as on-campus institutions like the Lab of Ornithology, the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, and the Westfield Historical Keyboard Center , where a treasure trove of historical instruments are lovingly restored for performance. Our instrument collection is also, we are proud to say, among the most diverse in the country.

Lessons at a glance

Auditions for students wishing to take lessons are held at the beginning of each semester during the first week. 

Prepare two contrasting works of your choice and we will listen to you do some sight reading. The entire audition will last 10 minutes. The vast majority of students take hour-long lessons each week. All information about lesson fees and practice rooms may be found here.