The music history courses cover musical practices from the ^eighteenth century to the present day, covering both the scholarly and popular repertoires.

The openness of the class is reflected in meetings with musicologists as well as performers, composers, teachers and programmers, in extra-curricular sessions and in visits abroad.

The class teaches students how to write history, giving priority to contact with original documents (old scores, sound recordings, archives, etc.) and their critical analysis, as well as meetings with witnesses (creators, performers, teachers, institutional players, etc.).

Research dissertations are an important part of the course. Their subjects are chosen according to the students' areas of interest.

A different theme is chosen each year. For example: Musical life in London since the eighteenth century; The Paris Conservatoire (1795-1914); Opera in France, from score to stage (1870-1914); Piano technique (^{nineteenth-twentieth} centuries): an investigation into the instrumental gesture; 'Popular' music: Paris - London - New York (1864-1939); The sound experience (^{eighteenth-twenty-first} centuries).