Transfer Courses
The Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA) degree requires a minimum of 90 hours of graduate credits, of which 30-36 hours are typically transferred from the student’s Master of Music degree. Official transcripts showing the completion of credit to be transferred from other institutions must be on file in the Office of Graduate Studies prior to approval of the student’s Program of Studies. The total number of credit hours submitted for transfer can be no more than half of the program (45 hours). Furthermore, the National Association of Schools of Music (NASM) requires that at least one half of the credits required for graduate degrees must be in courses intended for graduate students only (45 out of 90 credits). Evaluation of transfer credit is part of the Program of Studies approval process. In consultation with the student’s advisor, courses submitted for transfer must be identified and listed on the student’s Program of Studies.
The curricular framework for all DMA specializations includes four major areas: (1) Core music courses common to all DMA degrees, (2) Research-based creative activity common to all specializations, (3) Courses in the major area, and (4) Minor or related (cognate) courses (optional for most specializations).
Required Courses Common to all Specializations:
To maximize flexibility in structuring each individual program within the DMA degree, we have minimized the number of required academic courses that are common to all programs while still meeting NASM specifications. These requirements (comprising 21 credits) include:
MUSC 881 Strategies for Advanced Research in Music (3 crs)
Music History/Theory (12 crs)
- These courses must be taken at the GKSOM during the doctoral program.
- Courses must be selected from the list of approved history and theory courses.
- At least one history and one theory course must be taken.
- At least one must be a 900-level course.
MUED 982 College Teaching in Music (3 crs)
Students should enroll in MUED 982 during the second semester of study 1) to take the course with other students in their cohort, and 2) to begin preparing Doctoral Dissertation Portfolio materials—CV, teaching philosophy statement, and self-evaluated teaching video. In the third year, students will update these documents and record a self-evaluated formal teaching episode, including these refined artifacts in their Doctoral Dissertation Portfolio.
MUSC 99 Doctoral Colloquium (four semesters) (0 cr each sem.)
All doctoral students are required to pass four semesters of Doctoral Colloquium; two semesters must be complete before being admitted to Candidacy. (The fall semester, taken by first-year students only, will focus on transitioning to doctoral study. Subsequent enrollments will all take place in the spring semesters. Spring semester colloquia provide opportunities for students to share brief presentations of recital projects and to practice providing peer feedback.)
MUSC 977 Performance Practice (3 crs) OR
MUSC 866 Jazz Styles (3 crs) (Jazz Studies Specialization Only)
Courses for the Requirement in History and Theory
The following courses satisfy music history and music theory requirements:
Music History
- MUSC 835 Music and Film: History and Analysis
- MUSC 837 History of Jazz: Origins to Bop
- MUSC 838 History of Jazz: Post Bop
- MUSC 842 Great Composers & Performers in Music
- MUSC 858 History of the Opera
- MUSC 878 Music of the Twentieth Century I
- MUSC 882 Music of the Twentieth Century II
- MUSC 885 Music of the Classic Period
- MUSC 887 Music of the Baroque Era
- MUSC 888 Music of the Romantic Period
- MUSC 986 Seminar in the History and Literature of Music
- MUSC 898 Music, Mobility, and Migration*
- MUSC 898 Music and Labor in the 20th and 21st Centuries*
- MUSC 898 Latin American Classical Music*
- MUSC 898 Intro to Ethnomusicology*
Music Theory
Note: All graduate level theory courses have the following prerequisite: a grade of pass in the Diagnostic Survey in Theory or a grade of P in MUSC 848, Graduate Theory Review.
- MUSC 846 Analytic Perspectives (This course fulfills degree requirements for the DMA only when taken during the fall or spring semesters.)
- MUSC 855 Techniques of Counterpoint
- MUSC 856 Prolongational Analysis of Tonal Music
- MUSC 857 Post-Tonal Theory
- MUSC 860 Musical Form
- MUSC 865 Jazz Theory
- MUSC 941 Theory Pedagogy
- MUSC 979 Seminar in Music Theory
Research-Based Creative Activity Common to all Specializations:
All doctoral students are required to prepare three recitals accompanied by scholarly components. Successful music professionals and performance faculty in higher education contribute to the national and international discussions of their various disciplines. These contributions consist of peer-reviewed performances, presentations, and publications. The doctoral dissertation portfolio approach in the DMA promotes research-informed creative activity throughout the doctoral student’s course of study. Scholarly engagement is infused throughout the program in the form of program notes, and academic writing, tailored to professional organizations and professional journals within the student’s respective field, is integrated into each performance, conducting demonstration, or composition. While research artifacts need not be submitted for external publication, the three doctoral dissertation recitals, along with the scholarly artifacts associated with each recital, provide mentored opportunities to experience the process of preparing professional recitals and peer-reviewed publications.
The research-based creative activity components of the DMA are summarized below. Detailed information about each component of the Doctoral Dissertation Portfolio is included in the section titled Doctoral Dissertation Portolio.
Taken before the student is admitted to Candidacy
MUSR 999A Doctoral Dissertation Recital I (2 crs)
Successful completion of MUSR 999A consists of the following components:
- A recital consisting of a minimum of 50 minutes of music (performance and conducting specializations); 30 minutes (composition specialization)
- Recital artifacts:
Option I: 1) program notes; 2) a 4,000- to 6,000-word research-informed paper on the recital literature or another topic chosen in consultation with the Supervisory Committee; and 3) a link to the archived recording of the recital
Option II: 1) program notes; 2) edited studio-produced recording; and 3) digital liner notes to accompany the recording
Option II may be used for only one of the Doctoral Dissertation Recitals
MUSR 999B Doctoral Dissertation Recital II (2 crs)
Successful completion of MUSR 999B consists of the following components:
- A recital consisting of a minimum of 50 minutes of music (performance and conducting specializations); 30 minutes (composition specialization)
- Recital artifacts:
Option I: 1) program notes; 2) a 4,000- to 6,000-word research-informed paper on the recital literature or another topic chosen in consultation with the Supervisory Committee; and 3) a link to the archived recording of the recital
Option II: 1) program notes; 2) edited studio-produced recording; and 3) digital liner notes to accompany the recording
Option II may be used for only one of the Doctoral Dissertation Recitals
Taken after the student is admitted to Candidacy
In the final semester of study, students pursuing the Doctor of Musical Arts degree must register for MUSR 999E, Doctoral Lecture Recital, and MUSC 999P, Doctoral Dissertation Portfolio. The Final Oral Examination (also called the defense) is completed during this final semester.
MUSR 999E Doctoral Lecture Recital (2 crs)
Successful completion of MUSR 999E consists of the following components:
- A lecture recital involving the performance of one or more compositions, with a minimum duration of 60 minutes including both musical performance and verbal presentation.
- Recital artifacts: 1) program notes; 2) digital video recording of lecture recital;
3) lecture notes and media support documents
MUSC 999P Doctoral Dissertation Portfolio (1 cr*)
Students who have advanced to Candidacy but have not yet completed the portfolio and Final Oral Exam, need to take a 1 credit hour course to maintain their continuous enrollment.
It is possible for the recitals to be completed in a different order, though customarily the lecture recital is the last to be given. Students should work with their Supervisory Committee to determine the order most appropriate for their program of studies. In all cases, two recitals must be successfully completed prior to comprehensive examinations.