He took bachelor's degrees in Music and English at University College Dublin (UCD) in 1981 and wrote a master's thesis on the plays of Harold Pinter.

[2]: 19  In 1990, he established the ongoing book series Irish Musical Studies, of which he is joint general editor with Gerard Gillen.

[1] In 1994, he was appointed a national advisory editor for the revised, 2001 edition of The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians; and in 1995 he co-organised (with Patrick Devine) the first major international musicological conference ever to be held in Ireland, at Maynooth.

The founding of the Society for Musicology in Ireland (SMI) is largely due to his vision and effort, and he served as its inaugural president from 2003 to 2006.

[citation needed] On the occasion of his sixtieth birthday in 2018, he was honoured with a festschrift, edited by Lorraine Byrne Bodley with contributions from more than 40 authors that is a testimony to White's wide research interests and his impressive circle of academic friends across the globe.

[6] The eloquent, expressive and often poetic style of Harry White's musicological writing finds a more artistic outlet in his poetry.