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

Musicology

College of Letters and Science

Graduate Degrees

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

Admission

Program Name

Musicology

Please note that ethnomusicology and musicology are offered as separate majors.

Address

2443 Schoenberg Music Building
Box 951623
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1623 

Phone

(310) 206-5187 

Email

bvannost@humnet.ucla.edu  

Leading to the degree of

M.A., Ph.D.

The Musicology department only admits applicants whose objective is the Ph.D. 

Admission Limited to

Fall 

Deadline to apply

December 1st 

GRE (General and/or Subject)

GRE: General (recommended but not required) 

Letters of Recommendation 

3, from former instructors and/or professionals with whom the applicant has worked 

Other Requirements

In addition to the University's minimum requirements and those listed above, all applicants are expected to submit a letter describing their background of study and stating reasons for wishing to pursue graduate studies in musicology, and submit two to three writing samples that demonstrate sound scholarship, intellectual vigor, and the ability to analyze musical and cultural complexities.

An M.A. degree may be earned while completing requirements for the Ph.D. Applicants who have already earned an M.A. in musicology or music history should submit their M.A. thesis, if possible. No application can be considered until all of the above materials have been received.

Admission Timetable

December 1 -- All application materials must be postmarked by this date.
By April 1 -- Notice of acceptance or denial is sent.

Failure to meet any deadline may result in a delay in action on an application for admission, as well as that for a fellowship or assistantship. 

Master's Degree

Advising

The Director of Graduate Studies serves as the administrative graduate adviser for all incoming students. The Director signs necessary petitions and other documents. Once a year, each student's progress is reviewed. Students are required to submit a progress report in the seventh week of Spring Quarter, which is reviewed by the whole faculty. The faculty meeting on student progress is followed up by a discussion between the student, the department chair, and the Director of Graduate Studies. Students are responsible for checking the accuracy of their official study list through URSA.

For additional information on advising, students should consult the Guide for Graduate Students on the departmental website.

Areas of Study

The department offers the M.A. degree in the field of historical musicology. Degrees in composition, performance, and ethnomusicology are offered through other departments.

Foreign Language Requirement

None.

Course Requirements

Students are required to complete a minimum of nine courses at the 200 level. The requirements are Musicology 200A-200B-200C, and six other courses from Musicology 245-261 except for 246, 251, and 256. Students must take at least one each of Musicology 245, 250, and 255, with Ethnomusicology 206 recognized as a pre-approved equivalent for Musicology 255. Students also may substitute up to one seminar in Ethnomusicology and up to two approved courses from other departments at UCLA.

Teaching Experience

Although not required, it is expected that each student will serve as a teaching assistant for at least one year.

Field Experience

Not required.

Comprehensive Examination

Students take the comprehensive examination after completing their course requirements, normally by the end of their fifth quarter. The examination is scheduled by the faculty during the Spring Quarter and all second-year students take it together. Students who enter with an M.A. in Musicology may choose to take the exam at the end of their first year or within two weeks of the beginning of the Fall quarter of their second year, with the defense scheduled at the committee’s convenience (normally early in the Fall quarter). Under exceptional circumstances, other students may be allowed to delay the exam from their fifth quarter to the two weeks before the beginning of the next fall quarter, with permission of the Director of Graduate Studies. In anticipation of the examination, students are asked to designate three topics that must link to the three methodological types of seminars now offered in the department: (1) music repertory and analysis; (2) musical history and historiography; (3) music and critical, cultural or social theory. Students are required to take one course of each type before the comprehensive examination. To fulfill this requirement, students can designate seminars in the 200 sequence, or any seminar they attended in this department. In rare cases, students can petition to be examined on up to one seminar from a previous degree program. The student should discuss and clarify with the instructors of each seminar how the topic will be formulated for the examination and how best to prepare for it. These examinations are designed to allow the student to review and synthesize what they have learned in seminars. The examination tests skill at historical analysis, knowledge of a body of critical theory, interpretive and music analytical abilities, and the capacity for critical and reflective thinking.

The chair, after taking into account the seminars/subjects designated by the student and the suggestions of the student, approves the appointment of three faculty members in this department to serve as the examining committee. The first stage is the written examination which is taken together by the cohort of students but is designed differently for each. The members of the examining committee (in consultation with each other to avoid duplication) formulate three essay topics related to the designated topics. Each student receives these topics at the time of the examination and is given the week-end to address them in essays of no more than 10-12 pages each. The comprehensive examination is concluded by a two-hour oral examination covering the three designated topics. On the basis of the student's overall performance, the committee awards a grade of High Pass (pass to continue in the Ph.D. program), Pass (terminal pass), Fail, or Fail Subject to Reevaluation. In this last instance, the student is permitted to repeat the deficient portions of the examination in the following Fall Quarter, after additional coursework or study is completed. More than one such attempt may be granted at the discretion of the faculty.

Thesis Plan

None.

Time-to-Degree

The course requirements for the degree could be finished within three quarters (three courses per quarter) and are expected to be finished within five, with an additional quarter devoted to preparing for and taking the comprehensive examination. The examination must be taken by the sixth quarter.

Doctoral Degree

Advising

The Director of Graduate Studies serves as the administrative graduate adviser for all incoming students. The Director signs necessary petitions and other documents. Once a year, each student's progress is reviewed. Students are required to submit a progress report in the seventh week of Spring Quarter, which is reviewed by the whole faculty. Students are responsible for checking the accuracy of their official study list through URSA.

For additional information on advising, students should consult the Guide for Graduate Students on the departmental website.

Major Fields or Subdisciplines

The department offers the Ph.D. degree in the field of historical musicology. Degrees in composition, performance, and ethnomusicology and systematic musicology are offered through other departments.

Foreign Language Requirement

Students are normally required to master a language other than English as part of their doctoral studies. Students are informed of the language requirement upon admission to the program, and should designate their language as soon as they know their areas of specialization and choose their doctoral committee. If the student is working on a topic that does not evidently require foreign language skills, the student should speak with their doctoral committee and the department chair about the language most suitable to their program. The three members of the student's doctoral committee from this department determine the level and by what methods language proficiency must be demonstrated. If the committee cannot all agree on this matter, it will be brought to the department chair.

The methods for fulfilling the requirement may include, but are not limited to: (1) completion of an appropriate level of language instruction; (2) passing a departmental language examination; or (3) demonstration of previously acquired language skills through documentation or an examination.

Language proficiency must be demonstrated at the time of the scheduling of the University Oral Qualifying Examination for the doctoral degree, which in this department consists of a defense of the dissertation prospectus, as outlined below. Students are required to include texts in the foreign language they have designated on their dissertation prospectus, and be ready to discuss them in the prospectus defense.

Course Requirements

In addition to the M.A. course requirements, students are required to take a minimum of six courses from Musicology 245-261 except for 246, 251, and 256. Students must take at least one of Musicology 245, 250, and 255, with Ethnomusicology 206 recognized as a pre-approved equivalent for Musicology 250. Students also may substitute up to one seminar from Ethnomusicology and up to two approved courses from other departments at UCLA. If students receive approval from the faculty, four units of Musicology 596 may be substituted for one of the unspecified 200-level courses.

Students whose M.A. degree is not from UCLA must take the required introductory seminars 200A-200B-200C, and complete a minimum of eight additional courses from Musicology 245-261, except for 246, 251, and 256. Students must take at least one of Musicology 245, 250, and 255 with Ethnomusicology 206 recognized as a pre-approved equivalent for Musicology 250. These students also may substitute up to one seminar from Ethnomusicology and up to two approved courses from other departments at UCLA.

Teaching Experience

Although not required, it is expected that each student will serve as a teaching assistant for at least one year.

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.

Soon after completion of the doctoral coursework, normally at the end of the third year, students take the Special Field Examination, which includes both written and oral components. By this time, the student must have decided upon an area of specialization and secured the agreement of a qualified faculty member to serve as the dissertation adviser. Taking into account the field designated and the suggestions of the student and the adviser, the chair approves the appointment of three faculty members to serve as the examining committee. Three months before the examination, the student submits to the committee members a reading and repertoire list related to the area of specialization. Typically, this consists of a bibliography in the general area of the dissertation research and a list of relevant musical works, together totaling no more than 50 items. The members of the examining committee (in consultation with one another to avoid duplication) each formulate one or more questions relating to the topic, repertoire, and methods thus staked out by the student. The student is allowed one week to address these topics in writing, using any desired research materials. After the completed written examination has been distributed to the examiners, a two-hour oral examination is scheduled. At this time, the committee may discuss the results of the written examination with the student and ask further questions related to the area of the dissertation research. If a majority of the committee determines that the written and oral examinations have been passed, the student begins preparation for the second stage, the University Oral Qualifying Examination. If the committee determines that the written and oral examinations have not been passed, the student may retake the Special Field Examination after six months of further preparation. More than one such attempt may be granted at the discretion of the faculty.

The University Oral Qualifying Examination is a defense of the dissertation prospectus. All other requirements, including language proficiency, must be satisfied before this examination can be scheduled. At least two weeks before the examination, the student must submit the prospectus to the members of the examination committee, who may be, but are not required to be, the same as those on the first committee. The prospectus must be a substantially researched overview of the proposed dissertation that demonstrates that the student is fully prepared to undertake the dissertation project. Students are encouraged to consult with the members of their committee before the examination, which concentrates on the feasibility and significance of the project and the student's preparation for it. If the defense is unsatisfactory, the candidate may repeat the examination once, at the discretion of the faculty. After passing this examination, the student is advanced to candidacy and begins to write the dissertation. Candidates are encouraged to enroll in or audit seminars in their field whenever they are offered. If enrolled, candidates may satisfy all course requirements through work connected with the dissertation.

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 Dissertation)

Required for all students in the program.

Time-to-Degree

For students with no deficiencies upon admission to graduate status, the normal progress, after M.A. examinations, toward the Ph.D. degree is as follows:

From admission to the program to completion of coursework: three quarters.
From graduate admission to written and oral qualifying examinations: four quarters.
From graduate admission to approval of the dissertation proposal: five quarters.
From advancement to candidacy to final oral examination: six quarters.
Total time to award of the degree: 11 quarters.

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 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

In addition to the standard reasons outlined above, a student may specifically be recommended for termination because of (1) a terminal master's degree recommendation from the student's master's committee, or (2) consistent and prolonged failure to progress toward the degree as documented in the student's file in at least two yearly departmental evaluations. Any recommendation for termination is forwarded to the department chair for review and decision. The chair may consult with the student's dissertation chair, if appropriate, and with the Executive Committee of the department. The student is notified of a recommendation for termination in writing.

A student may appeal a recommendation for termination by stating the reasons in writing to the departmental chair.