The Department of Music (1883-1998) became the School of Music.

The department of Music was organized in 1883 with Nettie Southworth as the first chair. Succeeding chairs have been Ottilie Maeser, John J. McClellan, Anthony C. Lund, Clair W. Reed, Florence Jepperson-Madsen, Robert Sauer, LeRoy J. Robertson, John R. Halliday, Crawford Gates, A. Harold Goodman, James A. Mason and K. Newell Dayley. Early in the history of the Brigham Young Academy, a choir was organized to provide appropriate music for religious gatherings. This choir stimulated other activities which later led to the development of the Music Department as a voluntary extracurricular activity for interested scholars. It eventually came to be a department as music made a major contribution to the cultural development of the school. One of the lasting traditions of Brigham Young University is its strong cultural emphasis and support of the fine arts. The strength of the school lies in its resources—students, faculty, facilities, and the university and community. BYU's School of Music is comprehensive, with 52 full-time and 58 part-time faculty teaching private instruction, ensembles, education, music theory, history, and conducting, plus other exciting fields of study. The Brigham Young University School of Music is accredited by NASM, the National Association of Schools of Music.