Graduate Program in Critical Music Studies

The Master of Arts in Music (Critical Music Studies)

The PhD in Music (Critical Music Studies)

The Critical Music Studies program is designed to provide students with broad exposure to the sub-disciplines of music scholarship (music history, music theory, ethnomusicology) and to facilitate the development of research projects that build on these broad foundations.

Students typically take courses that engage all three sub-disciplines. Many also explore course offerings that bridge performance and scholarship (as with our performance practice workshops in contemporary music and early music), and immerse themselves in courses where new music is both created and studied.

The Department encourages students to explore courses in related fields such as Women and Gender Studies, Cultural Studies, Disability Studies, Philosophy, Asian American Studies and History.

The MA Program typically takes two years to complete, and students in this program have the option of applying to the PhD program.  The PhD program is designed to take five to six years. Students usually spend the first two years completing Masters-level coursework in preparation for qualifying exams, taken at the end of the second year. In the third and fourth year, students work with a steering committee to focus their interests, hone their research skills, and develop their dissertation project. The final two years are spent completing the dissertation.