MA, Music

Degree Program Summary:

The Master of Arts (M.A.) degree serves as a first phase of graduate study in musicology and/or ethnomusicology. Coursework is intended to provide solid foundations in relevant bodies of musical knowledge, experiences in devising large and small-scale research projects, and guidance in developing the competencies that professional scholars and college-level instructors require. Writing projects are grounded in the scholarly process of making a scholarly claim, weighing it against previous claims, supporting the claim with evidence, framing the argument, and presenting the content in clear and efficient prose. The acquisition of the ability to think and write clearly about musical topics will also benefit students following career paths other than college teaching.

The specific learning outcomes established for the program are for the students to acquire:

knowledge of musical styles and general contexts for the historical periods of Western European music and one or more additional musical cultures (e.g., jazz, popular trends, non-European art or folk traditions);
knowledge of common practice and contemporary theoretical concepts and structures and an ability to apply these in the processes of harmonic and formal analyses and composition;
knowledge of music research libraries, on-line resources, techniques for compiling a bibliography, and proper annotation of sources; and
an ability to conduct scholarly research on an original topic and to present results in the context of a thesis.