Within the ancient halls of Miskatonic University, the Department of Music stands as both sanctuary and crucible, shaping not merely an appreciation of harmonious sound but an acute awareness of the inscrutable forces that music can summon forth. It is our inexorable charge to foster a subtle understanding of the musical arts among both the neophyte and the zealous adept—those who seek to grasp the secret language of intervals, cadences, and silences that sway unseen currents beneath human consciousness.
Accordingly, we present introductory courses in music history and music appreciation, cautiously devised for the novice who treads uncertainly upon the threshold of aesthetic mysteries. For those marked by affinity or ambition, advanced instruction in musicology, the intricacies of composition, and the science—some would say the sorcery—of conducting, awaits.
Students whose primary devotion is music are required to submit, on a weekly basis, to the rigors of private tutelage in their chosen instrument, for an hour that both refines skill and tests endurance. In fulfillment of the department’s uncompromising standards, a measured competence in a second instrument—acquired through further private study, whether on campus or amidst the dim hush of the outside world—is mandated before any can be permitted to receive the formal credentials that signify mastery.
Performance at Miskatonic is not confined by discipline: membership in the university’s Concert Choir and Orchestra is open to all who dwell under our shadowed roofs, regardless of academic pursuit. Each autumn, auditions are convened—rituals at once communal and personal, at which the worthiness of each aspirant’s musical devotion is weighed against invisible criteria.