Academic Planning for All Specializations (except Music Education)

Advisor and Supervisory Committee

Each new graduate student is assigned an advisor by the Chair of the Glenn Korff School of Music Graduate Committee. The advisor (who becomes that student's Supervisory Committee Chair) must be a member of the Graduate Faculty of the School of Music. The student, in consultation with the advisor, arranges for three faculty members to serve as the Supervisory Committee in approving the thesis proposal, evaluating the recital and/or thesis, and administering and evaluating the student’s oral comprehensive examination. All three committee members must have Graduate Faculty status. The chair and one member must be from the student’s major area, with the chair being the student’s teacher or advisor. The other member must be from an area outside the student’s major area (woodwinds, voice, piano, etc.). Students may not schedule their degree recital until they have submitted the names of the members of the Supervisory Committee, including the chair, to the GKSOM Enrollment Specialist, Benjamin Sobel.

Master of Music Supervisory Committee Form

Occasionally a student will wish to change their applied music instructor. Permission for any change in applied studio assignment must come from the area head.  It is not admissible to sign up for a different section of applied lessons without the approval of the area

The Memorandum of Courses

Detailed course requirements for each MM option, plan, and emphasis are spelled out systematically in checksheets provided in the next section of this Handbook. With this material in hand, students are expected to arrange their individualized program of studies for all four semesters with their advisor early in the first semester of their academic career at UNL, specifying the course content of each of their three subsequent semesters of study. This should be done before Priority Registration occurs in semester 1 (at the end of October or March), so that the plan already can be followed to register for classes in semester 2. (This will normally be taken care of, then, even before the student has set up a full Supervisory Committee.

The individualized plan needs to be done right away, and it is best to fill out the official memorandum at that time. However, officially a student has until the completion of 18 hours of course work (i.e., normally during the second semester of study for an MM degree) to submit to the Enrollment Specialist for approval by the Graduate Committee the official form required by UNL Graduate Studies called the "Memorandum of Courses" on which are listed all of those courses that will be used by the student to satisfy all graduation requirements. This form can be downloaded from the UNL Graduate Studies website under "Current Students" under "Steps to Degree Completion" "Master's Degrees" (https://graduate.unl.edu/current/Masters-Memorandum.pdf).

When the student's Memorandum of Courses has been approved by the Graduate Committee, the Enrolment Specialist will file it with the Office of Graduate Studies. If a student fails to submit the Memorandum of Courses at the correct time, any additional course work does not count toward the degree program. NOTE: A student may not file a Memorandum of Courses and graduate in the same semester or summer.

Changing the Memorandum

NOTE: Changing the Memorandum is easy. With their advisor’s approval, the student can revise the Memorandum of Courses at a later date. The change(s) must then meet with the approval of the Graduate Committee. The request must come in the form of a letter of request signed by both the student and the advisor and given to the Graduate Secretary for circulation to the Graduate Committee. The form that can be used for this purpose can be downloaded here: Memorandum Change Request

Minimum Credit Enrollment

Students on a GTA must enroll each semester for a minimum of seven (7) credits. For all students, full-time status requires enrollment in at least nine (9) credits.

Correction of Registration Errors

A graduate student who has registered in error (for example, enrollment in the undergraduate level of a 400/800 course) should correct the error through the normal drop and add process during the term in which the error occurred.

In the event the error is not recognized until a grade is posted, the student may appeal for correction of registration within sixty (60) days of the posting of the grade report in the Office of the University Registrar. Changes to a student registration record will not be made more than sixty days after grades are posted.

Some Common Requirements

Students pursuing the Music History and the Music Theory Specializations are required to register for "Strategies for Advanced Research in Music" (MUSC 881).

Students, except those students pursuing the Music History, Music Theory, and Music Education Specializations, are required to register for "Introduction to Graduate Studies" (MUSC 836) during their first fall semester of full-time enrollment.

All students pursuing Performance and Jazz Studies Performance Specializations are required to take 3 credit hours of applied lessons during fall and spring semesters.

All students, except those pursuing specializations in Music History, Music Theory, and Music Education, are required to take two theory courses and one history course, or one theory and two history courses.

The following courses may be used to satisfy the music history and music theory requirements: