Programs of Study
The Department of Music at the University of Chicago offers both the
degree of Master of Arts and the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in three
areas: composition, ethnomusicology, and the history and theory of music.
The program in composition is designed to develop students’ creative
and technical abilities at writing new music. Students take individual
composition lessons with faculty members, often studying with more than
one faculty member in the course of their residence. Students also receive
training in a wide variety of related areas and skills, including score-reading
and conducting, orchestration, musical analysis, twentieth-century styles,
historical periods, and (optionally) computer-generated sound synthesis.
A portion of this training will lead to the development of a minor field
in ethnomusicology, musicology, theory and analysis, or research in computer
music. There is a weekly seminar for all of the students in the composition
program, designed to broaden the perspectives and address the problems
of aspiring composers.
The program in ethnomusicology prepares students to carry out scholarship
and writing about the place of music in various cultures. Students receive
grounding in cultural theory, anthropology, ethnographic methods, problems
in cross-cultural musical analysis, and a variety of world musics and
popular musics. They also conduct fieldwork in some of these musics. The
program is interdisciplinary, drawing upon course offerings in music,
anthropology, and a variety of area studies.
The program in music history and theory prepares students to carry out
various kinds of scholarship and writing about music, especially (but
not solely) in traditions of European art music. Students may emphasize
either the historical or theoretical side of scholarship, according to
their interests, and may also choose to pursue a minor field in composition.
Students emphasizing music history typically concentrate on varieties
of musicology that include cultural history, textual criticism, stylistic
studies, institutional history, hermeneutics, and critical theory. Students
emphasizing music theory typically concentrate on detailed analysis of
individual works, clusters of works (by genre or composer, for example),
theoretical systems, and the history of theory. Most students who complete
the Ph.D. in music history and theory seek academic employment, but others
have gone on to work in fields such as publishing, operatic production,
and commercial editing.
Courses
The following provides a general outline of educational opportunities
and degree requirements in the programs, but in no way replaces the detailed
information given to all prospective students and enrolled students in
the department.
During the first two years of study students take a number of required
offerings (numbered between 30000 and 34900) including analysis courses,
proseminars in historical periods, courses on particular skills, individual
composition lessons, and proseminars in ethnomusicology, depending on
their programs of study. At the same time they take seminars (numbered
above 35000), which tend to be more specialized and more advanced. About
half of the students’ schedule consists of electives, which may include
non-required courses in the department, courses given outside the department,
and reading courses (i.e. independent studies).
Students entering the program without a master’s degree from another
institution take fifteen courses during the first two years of scholastic
residence. Those entering with a master’s degree from another institution
normally take nine courses in the first year of scholastic residence.
In addition to courses and other requirements (listed below), students
who wish to obtain an A.M. must submit two seminar papers, or a composition
of at least eight minutes, for approval by the faculty.
Students who continue in the program beyond the first half of scholastic
residence enter the remainder of scholastic residence (through the fourth
year), during which students in the scholarly programs are required to
take four seminars (or five seminars for students entering with an MA),
and students in composition are expected to develop a minor field of four
courses. Standard minors for composition students include ethnomusicology,
musicology, theory and analysis, or computer music research. In addition,
students in the second part of scholastic residence (after the comprehensive
exams) prepare for examinations and begin work on the dissertation (see
below)..
Thus students entering their program of study without a master’s
degree can expect to complete their course work in three or four years.
Those entering with a master’s can expect to complete their course
work in two or three years.
Comprehensive Examinations
Students ordinarily take comprehensive exams just prior to the beginning
of the third year in the program. Students entering with a master’s
from another institution have the option of taking their exams at the
beginning of their second year.
Students in composition take three comprehensive examinations: (1) the
composition of a work based on a set of given guidelines; (2) an oral
examination on ten compositions from the repertory, selected by the candidate
in consultation with a faculty committee; (3) a close analysis of a single
work or movement.
Students in ethnomusicology take five comprehensive exams: (1) a close
analysis of a single work or movement; (2) the identification, from score
and aurally, of music from both European historical and world music traditions;
(3) essays covering (a) the conceptual foundations of musical scholarship;
(b) a broad area of world music (e.g. Middle East, Africa); and (c) a
historical period of European music corresponding to one of the three
given to students in history and theory (see below).
Students in history and theory take five of the following eight examinations
(within some distribution guidelines): (1) analysis of tonal music; (2)
analysis of atonal music; (3) the identification of a score of music from
all periods of music in the European tradition; (4) historical essays
on music before 1600; (5) historical essays on music from 1600 to 1800;
(6) historical essays on music since 1800; (7) essays on the conceptual
foundations of musical scholarship, including ethnomusicology; (8) essays
in music theory.
While course work helps prepare students for comprehensive exams, students
are expected to be enterprising in their efforts to determine both areas
of weakness that they need to work on, and ways to synthesize and interrelate
knowledge about history, repertory, theory, and so forth. Students should
expect to spend an extended period of time engaged in intensive individual
study in preparation for comprehensive exams, particularly during the
summer before taking them.
Special Field Examinations
After having passed the comprehensive exams, students in music history
and theory and in ethnomusicology also take a two-part oral exam at some
time during the remainder of scholastic residence. In ethnomusicology,
the first part of the oral tests the student’s knowledge of, and
ability for synthetic thought within, a selected area of world music.
All areas emphasize a defense of the student’s dissertation prospectus,
demonstrating the propriety and feasibility of the topic and the student’s
knowledge of the existing literature about it. Normally students take
this exam in the third or fourth year. The exam is administered by the
student’s dissertation committee (often including a person from outside
the department), with additional faculty members sometimes attending as
well.
Dissertation
For students in music history and theory and in ethnomusicology the dissertation
for the Ph.D. consists of a book-length study that makes an original contribution
to research and thought. Students in composition must complete a large-scale
composition that shows professional competence, as well as a paper demonstrating
ability to do advanced work in an area of musical scholarship (ordinarily
the student’s minor field), normally 30–50 pages in length.
All students are required to defend the dissertation before receiving
the degree.
Language Examinations
Language requirements are fulfilled through examinations testing the
student’s ability to translate about 400 words of a passage of medium
difficulty from source materials or other musicological literature, using
a dictionary. Three times per year the department administers examinations
in French, German, Italian, and Latin. The department arranges for students
to take other languages related to their research or compositional interests.
For the Ph.D. program in composition, one foreign language is required.
(This requirement cannot be met by the composer’s language of origin.)
For the Ph.D. program in ethnomusicology and music history, three languages
are required, one of which must be German. Students concentrating in theory
are examined in German and one additional language. All departmental master’s
programs require one language.
Musicianship Examinations
All Ph.D. students are required to fulfill examinations in sight-singing,
musical dictation, and sight-reading at the keyboard. Ph.D. students in
composition, and those Ph.D. students in history and theory with a concentration
in theory, are required to take three additional keyboard examinations:
figured bass, orchestral scores (with a 24-hour preparation period), and
open vocal scores using C-clefs. Ph.D. students in ethnomusicology, and
those Ph.D. students in history and theory with a concentration in history,
are required to take one additional keyboard examination (from among the
three listed above). Additional keyboard examinations may be replaced
by examinations in other practical skills (e.g., atonal dictation, transcription),
upon successful petition.
All departmental master’s programs require successful completion
of two musicianship examinations, except composition, which requires successful
completion of three. Musicianship examinations are administered quarterly.
The department offers free, informal, non-credit instruction to help students
prepare these examinations.
Colloquium
Each quarter the department sponsors a number of colloquia in which scholars
and composers present their work. Speakers include distinguished guests
from outside the University, as well as students and faculty from within
the department. Colloquium attendance is required for a total of six quarters.
Graduate Teaching
There exist a number of opportunities for teaching during students’
graduate careers. The various teaching opportunities range from assistantships
to individual course assignments for which students have virtually full
responsibility. The kinds of courses taught or assisted by graduate students
include those in history, appreciation, theory, ear-training, and world
musics. Normally students making good progress through the program receive
one or two teaching assignments during their residence, although teaching
assignments are balanced against other considerations (e.g. availability,
staffing needs, student aid needs, potential for effectiveness in a given
classroom situation, etc.).
In addition to these assignments, students may be nominated for Stuart
Tave Teaching Fellowships in the Humanities Collegiate Division, which
allow advanced graduate students in the humanities to teach upper level
undergraduate courses in their own areas of research.
Music Theory Mentoring Partnership. This program provides opportunities
for graduate students in the Department of Music to serve as part-time
faculty at colleges and universities in the Chicago area. Participants
will be hired by the institution to teach or assist in an undergraduate
course in music theory or aural skills, and will be compensated at that
institution's pay scale for part-time faculty. Participants will be assigned
a mentor who is a permanent member of the institution's theory faculty,
and whose role will be to orient participants to the culture of the institution,
and to provide guidance and feedback on syllabi, classroom presentations,
grading, and so forth. Eligibility requirements for this program are two
years of course-work at U of C (one year if you entered with an MA); AND
prior service as a Lecturer or a Course Assistant in a music course at
the University of Chicago, or comparable experience at another institution.
The program is open to students in ethnomusicology, composition, and historical
musicology, as well as to those who are specializing as theorists.
In addition to the music theory mentoring program,Advanced students frequently
secure part-time teaching at other local institutions, or in the Graham
School of General Studies.
Performing Activities
Candidates for degrees are encouraged to perform in one of the many groups
sponsored by the department or in one of its recital venues. Performing
organizations include the 100–piece University Symphony Orchestra,
the University Chamber Orchestra, the University Wind Ensemble, the New
Music Ensemble, the University Chorus, the Motet Choir, the Jazz X-tet,
the Central Javanese Gamelan and the Middle East Music Ensemble. Abundant
professional and semi-professional opportunities exist throughout the
metropolitan area for students who are accomplished performers. Recent
departmental students have performed in the University’s Rockefeller
Chapel Choir, the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, the Chicago Sinfonietta,
and the Contemporary Chamber Players,among others.
Workshops
Students in the department frequently attend one of the many interdisciplinary
workshops that are organized throughout the University as forums for intensive
intellectual exchange between faculty and graduate students. Those that
have recently attracted students in music have included (for example)
the workshops on Medieval Art, Liturgy, and Music; the Renaissance; Music
and Language; African-American Studies; Chicago Public Spaces; History
and Philosophy of Science, Economies of the Senses, and the Ethnomusicology
Workshop (Ethnoise).
Application
Applicants to the programs in music history and theory and in ethnomusicology
will be asked to submit two papers as samples of their previous works
in addition to the usual application forms, transcripts, letters of recommendation,
and GRE scores. Applicants in composition will be asked to submit scores,
preferably three, and tapes when they are available.
In addition to their scholastic skills, students need at least a modicum
of proficiency in fundamental musical skills in order to succeed in the
program. It is expected that entering students have competent abilities
to play a musical instrument or sing, as well as basic skills in ear training
and music theory.
Prospective applicants seeking more detailed information about the course
requirements, exams, etc. than is given here should write to the chair
of the admissions committee in the Department of Music for a copy of the
Graduate Curriculum. The address is: Department of Music, 1010 East 59th
Street, Chicago, IL 60637, telephone: (773) 702-8484. We will also send
more detailed materials on faculty interests and activities and (upon
request) on performing groups. Further information about the various aspects
of the graduate program, such as course descriptions, the Graduate Curriculum,
and the Graduate Student Handbook, can also be obtained from the Department
of Music’s home page on the World Wide Web, http://music.uchicago.edu.
Students interested in the program can apply online at https://grad-application.uchicago.edu/intro/humanities/intro1.cfm
This text was last revised on 9/08/2003.
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