The Department of Music at Brigham Young University was established and made a department within the School of Arts and Sciences in 1920 when the Church Teachers College was split. It was transferred to the College of Arts and Sciences in 1921, then to the College of Fine Arts in 1925, before becoming part of the College of Arts and Communications in 1964. The department was renamed the School of Music in 1998. Department chairs included Florence Jepperson (1920-1946), Leroy F. Robertson (1946-1948), John R. Halliday (1948-1959), Crawford Gates (1960-1966), A. Harold Goodman (1966-1981), James A. Mason (1981-1983), K. Newell Dayley (1983- 1994), and Clyn D. Barrus (1994-1998).

The department was administered by a department chair, under the direction of a college dean. The department was associated with various colleges, including the School of Arts and Sciences (1920-1921), the College of Arts and Sciences (1921-1925), the College of Fine Arts (1925-1964), and the College of Fine Arts and Communications (1964-1998).

The courses included basic voice, choir, military band, piano, orchestra, band, solfeggio, and composition. Private courses were available to students at an additional cost in violin, clarinet, and cornet. Beginning in 1921 music theory courses were added to the curriculum.

The Department of Music at Brigham Young University was renamed in 1998 as the School of Music. The School offers undergraduate and graduate degrees in the disciplines of: theory, analysis, aural development, keyboard, sight-singing skills, composition, history, literature, instrumental and vocal performance, conducting, and pedagogy. The school operates under a director who reports to the Dean of the College of Fine Arts and Communications. Directors have included David M. Randall (1998-2004), Dale E. Monson (2004-2009), Kory Katseanes (2009-2015), and Kirt Saville (2015-).

Lawrence P. Vincent was born approximately 1949 and served a mission in the Netherlands. He then attended college at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. On September 10, 1971, Lawrence P Vincent and Jean Prows were married in Los Angeles City, California, and since have together had 3 sons: Todd, Ethan, and Zachary. After Lawrence graduated from BYU with a bachelor's degree in music in 1973, the Vincent family moved to Overton, Nevada to pursue a master’s degree in vocal performance at Northern Arizona University. Lawrence Vincent moved his family to Ann Arbor, Michigan where John McCollum agreed to accept him as a private student and, after 3 years of study, received his doctorate in performance from University of Michigan.

Lawrence began his career with the Goldovsky Opera Company in New York City. Vincent landed a job in Trier, Germany, and 3 years later he was offered a primary position in the Vienna Volksoper. Over his 15 years of professional singing, Lawrence preformed in major theaters in Europe, Eastern Europe, Asia, Australia, Israel, Africa, Scandinavia, and the United States, and was awarded Austrian Citizenship for his "extraordinary contribution to the arts" in 1994.

Lawrence Vincent returned to the United States and in 1997 began as a music professor at Brigham Young University. He retired on June 17, 2017 after many years of being Director of Opera in the Brigham Young University School of Music.