The History of Music Section conducts research into the history and theory of music from the seventeenth to the twentieth century. The results of individual research studies conducted by employees are published in the form of books, articles, musical notation, music-theory papers, as well as presented at conferences, concerts and exhibitions. Team work is also underway on: the Katalog Źródeł Muzycznych [Catalogue of Music Sources], in the form of computer databases; the series of books "Monumenta Musicae in Polonia", which also includes source-critical and facsimile editions of musical compositions and the works of Polish authors or authors connected with Poland that are devoted to music and theory; and the "Muzyka" [Music] quarterly, published for over fifty years. Since 2011 a series "Music Iconography. Studies and documents" [Ikonografia muzyczna. Studia i materiały" has been published. Since 2016 documentary research project Polish Music Abroad has run.
As part of a seminar that has been taking place for the last few years, lectures are delivered by Polish and foreign guests [see the list of lectures], musicological and interdisciplinary academic conferences are organized and doctoral seminars are held.
The Ethnomusicology Section focuses on individual research into Polish musical folklore and looks for new methods for documenting and analyzing traditional music; employees present the results of their efforts in the form of publications and at academic conferences, including those organized as part of international projects concerning traditional music; they also act as consultants and jurors at folk music festivals, popularize the subject on the radio, at exhibitions, etc. Team work concentrates on two projects. The first is called Polska pieśń i muzyka ludowa. Żródła i materiały [Polish Folk Song and Folk Music. Sources and Materials] series, constituting the continuation of Oskar Kolberg’s work and offering a broad range of representative, comprehensive, well-documented and systematized materials on the folklore of individual regions of Poland, presented in the cultural context. The second project comprises a series called the Zbiory Fonograficzne im. Prof. Mariana Sobieskiego [Professor Marian Sobieski Phonographic Collections], gathering recordings of traditional Polish music since the 1920s, which are being gradually transferred onto modern media. The Collections comprise recordings documenting the folklore of all of the Polish ethnographic regions and ethnic minorities (such as songs, instrumental compositions, the spoken word, interviews, ritual spectacles).
The Department of Musicology conducts international research projects and cooperates with musicologists from many countries (in particular Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Germany, Slovakia, Slovenia, Hungary, Great Britain and Italy).