Historical Performance Practice

The Historical Performance Practice (HPP) Program at Case Western Reserve University offers a small, highly selective, and fully funded experience for advanced students aspiring to become leaders in the early music field. Our degree programs equip graduates with a diverse set of marketable, career-building skills while fostering creativity and exploration. Alumni of our program have secured college-level academic positions with a strong performance component, taken on leadership roles in historical performance ensembles, and enjoyed successful careers as performers.

Degree Programs

• MA in Historical Performance Practice
• DMA in Historical Performance Practice

Fully funded with generous stipends awarded to all admitted graduate students!

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Program Highlights

• Perform: Engage with repertoire from the Middle Ages to ca. 1850 using the Kulas Collection of Historical Instruments, focusing on historically informed practices such as articulation, ornamentation, tempo, and tuning.
• Research: Conduct original research on performance practice topics. 
• Collaborate: Work alongside conservatory faculty and students through our Joint Music Program with the Cleveland Institute of Music.
• Seminars: Participate in specialized seminars tailored to scholar-performers, covering topics such as continuo, Baroque dance, notation, improvisation, and historical analysis.
• Leadership + Solo Experience: Gain leadership roles and solo experience in ensembles and recitals.

Undergraduate students interested in Historical Performance Practice are welcome to audition on a period instrument or voice and incorporate applied study, HPP ensembles, and targeted HPP courses into their curriculum.

Research

The HPP program is grounded in the philosophy that outstanding historical performers must also be excellent historians and researchers. Students receive high-level performance training combined with rigorous academic study. This includes private lessons with renowned faculty and visiting artists, participation in a variety of ensembles from Medieval to Romantic, enrollment in musicology classes and targeted HPP seminars, and preparation of lecture recitals under the guidance of a faculty advisor. This comprehensive approach deepens students' understanding of the repertoires they perform and their historical contexts.

Ensembles and Performance Opportunities

HPP students pursuing academic coursework may participate in various music ensembles, including:

• Baroque Chamber Ensembles
• Baroque Dance
• Baroque Orchestra
• Collegium Musicum
• Early Music Singers
• Baroque Vocal Ensemble

View the Participation Information page to learn more about ensemble offerings, audition details, registration requirements, and resources for students involved in musical activities.

Kulas Collection of Historical Instruments

The Department of Music maintains the Kulas Collection of Historical Instruments, an extensive collection of modern reproductions of period instruments, including Renaissance, Medieval/Baroque strings, winds, brass, and percussion instruments. This collection is accessible to all students in the Historical Performance Practice program and those participating in related ensembles.

The program also boasts French, Italian, and German harpsichords, a continuo organ, and two fortepianos for students specializing in historical keyboards. For more information, please contact Julie Andrijeski, Head of Historical Performance Practice.

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Affiliated Faculty and Artists