Applicable only to students admitted during the 2012-2013 academic year.

Ethnomusicology

School of the Arts and Architecture

Graduate Degrees

The Department of Ethnomusicology offers the Master of Arts (M.A.) and Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degrees in Ethnomusicology.

Admission

Program Name

Ethnomusicology

Please note that Ethnomusicology and Musicology are offered as separate majors.

Address

2539 Schoenberg Music Building
Box 951657
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1657 

Phone

(310) 825-4769 

Email

sandram@arts.ucla.edu  

Leading to the degree of

M.A., Ph.D. 

Admission Limited to

Fall 

Deadline to apply

December 15th  

GRE (General and/or Subject)

GRE: Not required 

Letters of Recommendation 

3 

Other Requirements

In addition to the minimum University requirements and those listed above, all applicants must submit a statement of purpose and supplemental materials as specified below.

M.A.: Applicants must submit a research paper as a sample of writing and research skill. Applicants usually have completed a bachelor's degree in music. Applicants with strong musical backgrounds and bachelor's degrees in other fields are welcome, but must supply evidence of their musical training and experience.

No application can be considered until all of the above materials have been received.

Dossiers are reviewed by a committee of the entire faculty to assess each applicant's potential as a graduate student in this department.

Ph.D.: Applicants are required to hold a master's degree in ethnomusicology or in a cognate field such as music, anthropology, or folklore with a significant emphasis in ethnomusicology. Applicants with master's. degrees but with little or no background in ethnomusicology should apply for the M.A. program in ethnomusicology.

The specialization in systematic musicology requires a master's degree in musicology, music theory, or other cognate discipline (such as psychology).

All Ph.D. applicants must submit a research paper (the M.A. thesis, if it is available).

No application can be considered until all of the above materials have been received.

Dossiers are reviewed by a committee of the entire faculty to assess each applicant's potential as a graduate student in department. 

Master's Degree

Advising

Upon entrance, students are assigned a faculty adviser who guides them through their first year of coursework and program requirements. In the second and subsequent years, students choose a faculty adviser who shares their area of interest or theoretical perspective. The Director of Graduate Studies also acts as an adviser to graduate students. Students must plan their program under the guidance of their adviser and are required to contact their adviser at the beginning of each quarter to obtain approval of their course of study. Students are responsible for checking URSA to be certain their official list of courses is correct.

At the end of each year, students are evaluated by the faculty and provided with a written assessment of their work and progress in the program. These annual evaluations will be taken into consideration when assigning support in the form of fellowships and teaching assistantships.

Areas of Study

The department offers the M.A. degree in Ethnomusicology, with the option of a specialization in systematic musicology.

Foreign Language Requirement

A reading knowledge of one language other than English relevant to the student's research is required. Students are encouraged to acquire competence in their field language as soon as possible. Students may satisfy the language requirement by (1) passing an examination administered by the department or a language department of the University; (2) completing the fifth quarter in the language with a minimum grade of B, or (3) demonstrating literacy through submission of transcripts or other documents that show coursework or experience in the language. The choice of language and the method of satisfying the requirement must be approved by the Executive Committee or ladder faculty.

Course Requirements

All students. Students are required to complete a minimum of 52 quarter units of upper division and graduate courses (normally 12 courses), of which 36 units (normally eight courses) must be at the graduate level. Of these, six courses constitute a core of required courses: Ethnomusicology 201, 202, 205, 206, 281A, and 282. Six are elective courses, of which a minimum of three must be in the department and a minimum of two must be at the graduate level. Beyond these minimum requirements, students may fill in their electives with upper division courses and courses in other departments.

With respect to the six required courses, here is a student's likely study plan for the first year:
Fall Quarter: Ethnomusicology 201 and 205
Winter Quarter: Ethnomusicology 206 and 282
Spring Quarter: Ethnomusicology 202 and 281A

Students are strongly encouraged to develop a second area of expertise outside of ethnomusicology or systematic musicology in a discipline or a topic that may aid their research or make them more versatile teachers at the college and university level.

Students must receive the approval of their faculty adviser in planning the elective portion of their program.

Language and performance courses may not be applied toward these requirements, and no more than four units of all types of 500-series courses (596 or 597) may be applied toward the minimum graduate course requirement.

Students may also be required to take extra courses to make up deficiencies. These may include all or part of Ethnomusicology 20A-20B-20C if students have not taken a year of similar surveys or area studies courses at the undergraduate level; appropriate music theory courses determined by the faculty member administering the music theory placement test, if students have inadequate training in music theory; and introductory courses in the social sciences if these are absent from the student's undergraduate record. These courses must be taken for credit and passed with a letter-grade of B or better (i.e. NOT taken S/U). The sole exception is that in some cases the faculty member administering the music theory placement test may recommend a student audit and do the work for part of an appropriate music theory course, in which case the faculty member will evaluate whether the deficiency has been removed. A graduate student who does not get a grade of B or better in any of the Ethnomusicology 20ABC series may retake the course in question only once. If on the second attempt they still fail to obtain a grade of B or better, they will be automatically dropped from the graduate program.

Students must enroll in a minimum of six quarters of ethnomusicology performance organizations, Ethnomusicology 91A-91Z or 161A-161Z, credits for which are not applied to their degree.

Students in the specialization of systematic musicology. Students are required to complete a minimum of 52 quarter units of upper division and graduate courses (normally 12 courses), of which 36 quarter units (normally eight courses) must be at the graduate level. Of these, three constitute a core of required courses: Ethnomusicology C203, C204, and one of Musicology 245, 250, or 255. Nine are elective courses, of which a minimum of five must be in the department and a minimum of five must be at the graduate level. Beyond these minimum requirements, students may fill in their electives with upper division courses and courses in other departments.

Language and performance courses may not be applied toward this requirement, and no more than four units of 500-series courses (596 or 597) may be applied toward the minimum graduate course requirement. Students must receive the approval of their faculty adviser in planning the elective portion of their program.

Teaching Experience

Not required.

Field Experience

With the exception of Systematic Musicology students, fieldwork is required.

Comprehensive Examination Plan

The comprehensive examination for the ethnomusicology specialization consists of two parts: a research paper of a length, form, and originality to warrant submission to a scholarly journal; and an oral examination on that research paper and on the history, method, and theory of ethnomusicology. A faculty adviser, chosen by the student, advises the student as they write the paper. The adviser and two standing committee members, chosen by the department, administer the oral examination. Each member of this three-person committee grades the examination High Pass, Pass, Low Pass, or Fail. If at least two of the three committee members award one of the passing grades, then the overall result is a pass. If at least two of the three committee members award a Fail, then the overall result is a fail.

In the systematic musicology specialization, the comprehensive examination consists of a research paper supervised by a three-person faculty committee. If the committee's grade is High Pass or Pass, no oral examination is required. If the grade is Low Pass, an oral examination is required.

For all students a failed examination may be re-taken only once, on a specified date and time during the next regular quarter.

Thesis Plan

None.

Time-to-Degree

For full-time students with no deficiencies upon admission to graduate status, the normal progress toward the degree is as follows:

From graduate admission to completion of required courses and M.A. comprehensive examination, and award of the M.A. degree: 6 quarters.

Doctoral Degree

Upon passing the M.A. examination students may petition the faculty to continue in the Ph.D. program. A petition that is approved allows the student to continue in the Ph.D. program. A petition that is denied by a majority of the ladder faculty can be appealed once for further consideration by the faculty. If a majority of the faculty votes to deny the petition again, that decision is final.

Advising

When a student enters the program, they are assigned a faculty adviser who guides them through their first year of coursework with the assistance of the Director of Graduate Studies. In the second and subsequent years, students choose a faculty adviser. Students must plan their program under the guidance of their adviser and are required to contact their adviser at the beginning of each quarter to obtain approval of their course of study. Students are responsible for checking URSA to be sure their official lists of courses is correct.

At the end of each year, students are evaluated by the faculty and provided with a written assessment of their work and progress in the program. These annual evaluations will be taken into consideration when assigning support in the form of fellowships and teaching assistantships.

Major Fields or Subdisciplines

The department offers the Ph.D. degree in Ethnomusicology, with the option of a specialization in systematic musicology.

Foreign Language Requirement

A reading knowledge of two languages other than English relevant to the student's research is required. Students may satisfy language requirements by (1) by passing an examination administered by the department or another department of the University, (2) by completing the fifth quarter in the language with a minimum grade of B, or (3) by demonstrating literacy through submission of transcripts that contain records of language courses or other documents that show coursework or experience in the language. The choice of language and the method of satisfying the requirement must be approved by the Executive Committee or ladder faculty.

Course Requirements

Students must take a minimum of 27 quarter units of graduate and upper division courses (normally six to nine courses), including a minimum of three quarters of Ethnomusicology 291, the one-unit departmental colloquium. A minimum of 12 units (normally three courses) must be in the department and a minimum of 16 units (normally four courses) must be graduate level seminars. Beyond these minimum requirements, students may fill in their electives with upper division courses and courses in other departments. Students must obtain the approval of their faculty adviser for the courses they choose.

Students are strongly encouraged to develop a second area of expertise outside ethnomusicology in a discipline or a topic that may aid their research or make them more versatile teachers at the college and university level.

No more than four units of Ethnomusicology 596 may be counted toward the six required courses.

Students must enroll in a minimum of three quarter-length courses of ethnomusicology performance organizations (Ethnomusicology 91A-91Z, 161A-Z), credits for which are not applied to their degree.

All entering students may be required to take additional coursework to make up deficiencies. Often these courses are one or more of the core seminars in the M.A. program or world music/theory courses and do not apply toward degree requirements. Students who hold an M.A. degree in ethnomusicology or a related field from another university may petition to apply previous coursework toward the doctoral course requirements.

Teaching Experience

Not required.

Written and Oral Qualifying Examinations

Academic Senate regulations require all doctoral students to complete and pass University written and oral qualifying examinations prior to doctoral advancement to candidacy. Also, under Senate regulations the University oral qualifying examination is open only to the student and appointed members of the doctoral committee. In addition to University requirements, some graduate programs have other pre-candidacy examination requirements. What follows in this section is how students are required to fulfill all of these requirements for this doctoral program.

When the course and language requirements have been completed, the student submits to the faculty petitions for (1) doctoral dissertation committee; and (2) the qualifying examination topics and examining professors, as detailed below. The doctoral examinations consist of four written qualifying examinations, a detailed dissertation proposal, and the University Oral Qualifying Examination.

The written examinations in ethnomusicology are in the following areas:

(1) History, theory, and method of ethnomusicology;

(2) Music cultures of the world;

(3) A cultural/geographical area or theoretical approach in ethnomusicology or a topic or discipline outside of ethnomusicology;

(4) A second cultural/geographical area or theoretical approach in ethnomusicology or a topic or discipline outside of ethnomusicology.

The written examinations in the systematic musicology specialization are in the following areas:

(1) History, theory, and method in systematic musicology;

(2) One of the theoretical approaches to systematic musicology: psychology, sociology, organology, ethnomusicology, acoustics, or aesthetics;

(3) General western music theory and history;

(4) A topic outside of systematic musicology or another of the theoretical approaches to systematic musicology listed in (2) above.

In both the specialization in ethnomusicology and the specialization in systematic musicology, some examinations may be take-home examinations or papers. Each of the four exams is administered by a faculty member chosen by the student. The examination subjects and the professors must be approved by petition to the Faculty Executive Committee. Each examination is graded by the professor giving the exam, and the student passes or fails each examination based on the evaluation of that professor. It is permissible for one professor to give two out of these four examinations, but there must be a minimum of three professors giving the four examinations. All four examinations must be successfully completed before the student can move on to take the University Oral Qualifying Examination.

Students may re-take any failed examination(s) only once, on a specified date and time during the next regular quarter.

The written examinations are taken within a two-week period, and during this period the dissertation proposal must also be submitted to the members of the doctoral dissertation committee. The University Oral Qualifying Examination is taken between one and three weeks after submission of the written examinations and dissertation proposal. The University Oral Qualifying Examination is primarily a defense of the doctoral dissertation proposal, especially its relation to previous research in the area and to theory and method in ethnomusicology.

Advancement to Candidacy

Students are advanced to candidacy and awarded the Candidate in Philosophy (C.Phil.) degree upon successful completion of the written and oral qualifying examinations.

Doctoral Dissertation

Every doctoral degree program requires the completion of an approved dissertation that demonstrates the student's ability to perform original, independent research and constitutes a distinct contribution to knowledge in the principal field of study.

Final Oral Examination (Defense of the Dissertation)

Required for all students in the Ph.D. program.

Time-to-Degree

For full-time students with no deficiencies upon admission to graduate status, the normal progress toward the degree is as follows:

(a) From graduate admission to admission to the doctoral program: six quarters.
(b) From graduate admission to written and oral qualifying examinations, approval of the dissertation proposal and advancement to candidacy: 11 quarters.
(c) From advancement to candidacy to final oral examination: seven quarters.
(d) From graduate admission to award of the degree: 18 quarters.

After advancement to candidacy, students in Ethnomusicology normally engage in a year of fieldwork/research and an additional year of writing the dissertation. Students in the specialization of systematic musicology normally complete the dissertation research and writing within two years.

Termination of Graduate Study and Appeal of Termination

University Policy

A student who fails to meet the above requirements may be recommended for termination of graduate study. A graduate student may be disqualified from continuing in the graduate program for a variety of reasons. The most common is failure to maintain the minimum cumulative grade point average (3.00) required by the Academic Senate to remain in good standing (some programs require a higher grade point average). Other examples include failure of examinations, lack of timely progress toward the degree as determined by the dissertation committee, and poor performance in core courses. Probationary students (those with cumulative grade point averages below 3.00) are subject to immediate dismissal upon the recommendation of their department. University guidelines governing termination of graduate students, including the appeal procedure, are outlined in Standards and Procedures for Graduate Study at UCLA.

Special Departmental or Program Policy

None.