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DMA

DMA Program Overview

The DMA program has the following objectives:

• To provide a balanced experience that combines the best possible technical and musical training complemented by instruction and mentoring in research related to performance and pedagogy.
• To prepare graduates to assume university positions as studio teachers and active performers at a professional level of accomplishment, who will also be able to participate in at least one other area of the teaching mission of their overall music administrative unit (department, division, or school of music)

Teaching Faculty

For a list of Performance Faculty, please visit the Music Performance Studies Department Faculty page. You may also wish to explore the Music Research and Composition Faculty and Music Education Faculty pages.

Registration 
Students
will register full-time continuously for all four-years.


The Advisory Committee
Each doctoral student will have an individual Advisory Committee normally comprising three faculty members, one of whom will serve as Chair. Ordinarily, two members will be drawn from performance while the third member will be drawn from elsewhere (in most cases from the Department of Music Education or the Department of Music Research and Composition). 


The Associate Dean (Graduate Studies and Research) will meet with each incoming student, before classes begin, to discuss the student’s interests and aspirations and identify a likely Advisory Committee Chair and two other Committee members. The Chair of the Advisory Committee will be selected from faculty associated with the Department of Music Performance Studies who hold doctoral degrees.

The second member of the Advisory Committee drawn from performance normally will be the studio teacher. The third member will be from an area other than performance. If from outside Music, the non-performance committee member will be appropriately credentialed for his or her discipline and will hold core membership in a graduate program in the School of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies.

After the initial meeting with the Associate Dean (Graduate Studies and Research) the student will meet individually with the suggested Committee members and report back to the Associate Dean, who will officially appoint the Committee. Sometime during the first term of enrollment the Chair of the Advisory Committee will convene a meeting of the student with the Advisory Committee, and together they will draw up the student’s program of study. In the initial years of the program we expect the Associate Dean (Graduate Studies and Research) will work closely with each Advisory Committee Chair on this task.

Within the context of the basic requirements of the doctoral program described above the Committee, in consultation with the student, will determine how many and what courses will be required. The Committee may require the student to complete additional courses beyond the required minimum, either for language study, or in other areas relevant to the proposed area of concentration, or simply to address deficiencies in preparation for doctoral work. The norm, however, will be sixteen graduate half courses. The Committee will also assume the primary responsibility for setting and assessing Comprehensive and Area examinations. 
The Committee will draft questions for and adjudicate the Comprehensive Examination and the Area Examination, and arrange and supervise the completion of language requirements, if applicable.



Upon the recommendation of the Advisory Committee, the Graduate Committee will formally approve the monograph proposal and the monograph Supervisor and Second Reader. The Committee will then recommend the proposal and slate of Supervisor and Second Reader to the Graduate Committee. 
The Supervisor of the monograph will be chosen from among core members of the School of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies with Doctoral Supervisory status.

Program Requirements

*Milestones

The Comprehensive Examination
Normally the comprehensive examination will be attempted towards the end of year 2 (i.e., in the sixth term of registration). The Examination questions will be written by the student’s Advisory Committee, with all questions by all advisory committees pooled for any particular examination.3 Each examination will consist of a list of topics engaging performance informed by music history and music theory, from which the student shall choose two. The student will then write a research paper of approximately 20 pages on each topic chosen, submitting the papers to the DMA Advisory Committee 3 weeks after commencing the examination. The DMA Advisory Committee will read the papers in a timely fashion, meet to adjudicate them, and convey the results to the student.

If a student fails the Comprehensive Examination there will be one opportunity to reattempt it. In such cases the student will be required to wait at least one term, to provide time to address any deficiencies revealed in the failed attempt. A new examination will then be written by the Advisory Committee and administered to the student.

Language requirement
This optional milestone, if required, should be completed by the end of year 2. While there is no set language requirement for the program, students must demonstrate proficiency in any foreign languages required for their work. The student’s DMA Advisory Committee will determine language requirements, if any, in consultation with the student, will specify how proficiency is to be demonstrated, and will advise the Associate Dean (Graduate Studies and Research) when such requirements are complete. The Associate Dean (Graduate Studies and Research) will assist as needed with preparation and adjudication of language examinations.

Area Examination
The Area Examination serves the purpose of determining whether the proposed monograph topic is viable, the student is prepared to undertake it, and the necessary resources (including supervision) are available. The examination is conducted by the DMA Advisory Committee, and successful completion of this milestone means the latter approves the topic and supervisory panel, and recommends them to the Graduate Committee for approval. Normally this milestone will be completed by the end of year 3.

Monograph, and Oral Defense
The Monograph will be an extended research paper on a topic appropriate to the student’s Field. In form it will meet the standard of a thesis or dissertation. In content it will aspire to the standard of a thesis; that is, it need not make a substantial original contribution to knowledge in the field (although certainly it could), but at the least it should contribute something of readily discernible significance to the field, and it should be of publishable quality. The Oral Defense will be conducted according to SGPS regulations and guidelines. This milestone will occur at the end of the student’s program and will mark completion of all degree requirements.