Document Actions
Graduate Handbook 2009-2010
Table of Contents:
• The M.A. Language Requirement
• The Theory-Proficiency Examination
• The Keyboard-Proficiency Examination
• The M.A. Oral Examination
• The M.A. Thesis
• For Students Entering the Program with a prior M.A.
• The Ph.D. Qualifying Examination
• The Ph.D. Language Requirement
• The Ph.D. Written Examination
• The First Ph.D. Oral Examination
• Advancement to Candidacy
• The Dissertation
• The Second Ph.D. Oral Examination (Dissertation Defense)
Appendix II: Summary of Requirements and Deadlines
The following paragraphs outline the departmental requirements of our M.A. and Ph.D. programs in Musicology; they also explain what students should and must do at various points in these programs in order to make satisfactory progress and to remain in "good standing" (both of which are normally required for purposes of continuing registration and funding). "Good standing" is an official University term governing academic eligibility to pursue, or continue in, a program according to various criteria; "satisfactory progress" is a matter of Departmental judgment taking into account good standing and other issues such as a student's overall performance within an appropriate scheme of study.
Graduate degrees are awarded by the Graduate School of the University. The present statement specifies in greater detail the regulations for our degrees in the Graduate Record (http://www.unc.edu/gradrecord/). The Record, the Graduate School Handbook (http://gradschool.unc.edu/handbook/), and other such documents from the Graduate School and the University remain the final authority on matters of University requirements and regulations.
Our graduate activities are coordinated and monitored by the Director of Graduate Study (DGS). Admissions and financial aid fall under the purview of the Department's Graduate Admissions and Financial Aid Committee (the DGS and Associate Chair of the Academic Division serve as members), chaired by the DGS. The DGS works in concert with the Associate Chair of the Academic Division (when these two offices are not occupied by the same person), with the Director of Graduate Admissions, and with the Department's Chair. The DGS also certifies to the Graduate School completion of various requirements leading to the award of a degree. Students wishing to waive any of the Department's requirements or otherwise alter the programs outlined below must petition the DGS in writing.
Each semester the student will schedule an interview for advising with the DGS to agree upon courses for the following semester and to obtain a PIN number that will enable registration. The DGS's evaluation of a student's proposed scheme of study, and his or her performance, will play a crucial role in determining satisfactory progress as defined above and in certifying fulfillment of requirements for the degree. Graduate student progress, and their performance as assistants, are also reviewed on an annual basis by the faculty.
The student will complete a minimum of 30 credit-hours of course work toward the M.A., normally over a period of two academic years. Most individual courses count as three credit-hours (involving three hours in the classroom per week). In the first three semesters of residency, nine credit-hours per semester are required to meet the Graduate School definition of full-time study. Though the M.A. thesis alone (MUSC 992 taken for 3 credit-hours) technically meets the full-time requirement in the fourth semester, students should continue to take seminars in addition to 393 that will count toward coursework requirements for the Ph.D.
Three courses are required of all M.A. candidates:
1) Music 750 "Resources and Methods of Musicology I" (taken in the fall semester of the first year);
2) Music 751 "Resources and Methods of Musicology I" (taken in the spring semester of the first year);
3) Music 992 "Master's Thesis" (normally taken in the spring semester of the second year, leading to the presentation of the M.A. thesis).
These three courses count toward the total of 30 credit-hours. The remaining credit-hours (21) will normally consist of pro-seminars and seminars in musicology (including music history, music theory, ethnomusicology, and other scholarly topics in music) at the 800- and 900-level.
Students pursuing the M.A. degree may petition to substitute one Independent Study (MUSC 890) for no more than 3 credit-hours during their second full year in the program. Prior to enrollment in MUSC 890, they must submit a written proposal of at least one page (single spaced) to the DGS outlining the scope of the intended subject, the schedule of meetings with the proposed faculty supervisor, and the planned result (usually a paper). This proposal must contain the written endorsement of the proposed faculty supervisor.
Should a student wish to undertake study outside the Department (e.g., in another department at UNC-CH), it must involve graduate courses of substance in the arts, humanities, and sciences, as opposed to courses that teach specific skills (such as computer programming and foreign languages) or that offer generic surveys. Courses taken outside the Department must have an obvious relationship to a student's program, and the student must submit a written rationale concerning such study for the approval of the DGS, who may require written support from the DGS of the external department in question. The same procedure applies to the substituting of graduate courses in Music or another subject at other institutions (e.g., Duke University), subject to the formal credit-transfer schemes in place at a given time. Students are not normally permitted to have pre-earned credits count towards the degree save by Department approval and under the special circumstances sanctioned by the Graduate School.
There are four additional requirements for the M.A. degree:
1) examination in one modern foreign language;
2) a theory-proficiency examination;
3) a keyboard-proficiency examination;
4) an oral comprehensive examination.
Each of these is described more fully below. Where appropriate, sample examination-papers are made available in the Music Library.
The University allows a maximum of five years for the completion of the M.A. degree. However, a full-time student in the M.A. program, particularly when that student receives financial aid from the Department or University, should complete the degree within two academic years. A supported student who does not complete the requirements for the degree within four semesters will not be regarded as making satisfactory progress in the program.
The M.A. Language Requirement:
The M.A. student must demonstrate reading proficiency in one modern language other than English (normally, German, French, or Italian; another modern language suitable to the scheme of study may be substituted with the written consent of the DGS). Students may demonstrate proficiency in one of two ways: (1) By achieving a grade B or better in a UNC-CH fourth-semester language course (e.g., German 204, French 204, Italian 204); (2) By placing out of the fourth-semester language course through the placement examination given by the appropriate foreign-language department. Every incoming student must take a language placement examination as early as possible in the first year to determine his or her level of proficiency. If a student does not place out of the fourth-semester of a language, that student must enroll in the appropriate level of that language. Any such instruction will not count toward the credit-hours required for the M. A. or Ph.D. Thisrequirement must be met prior to receiving the M.A.
The Theory-Proficiency Examination:
All M.A. students must pass the Department's Theory-Proficiency Examination prior to gaining the degree. The examination (which is offered toward the beginning of each semester and may be repeated) includes timed exercises in counterpoint, tonal analysis, and post-tonal analysis, each of which may be taken, and must be passed, separately. The requirements of the separate sections of this examination may also be met by undertaking instruction to the level of achieving a grade B or better in the following undergraduate courses (if available) within the Department: MUSC 232 or MUSC 331 for tonal analysis; MUSC 338 for post-tonal analysis; MUSC 332 for counterpoint; MUSC 296 for any of the above. Such instruction will not count towards the credit-hours required for the M.A.
The Keyboard-Proficiency Examination:
All M.A. students must pass the Department's Keyboard-Proficiency Examination prior to gaining the degree. The examination, which is offered on demand, includes reading score, playing chord progressions, and realizing a figured bass.
The M.A. Oral Examination:
The Graduate School requires all candidates for the M.A. degree to undergo a comprehensive examination on their coursework. In the Music Department this consists of an oral examination, which must be completed by the end of the fourth semester for the student to maintain satisfactory progress toward the degree. The examination is administered by a committee of three, usually chaired by the student's M.A. thesis advisor. The student will prepare a brief descriptive paragraph of each course applied for credit toward the M.A. degree (including any transferred courses) and distribute this to the members of the committee prior to the examination. The committee will question the student on the basis of these course descriptions. According to University regulations, a student who fails this examination may not take it again until at least three months have elapsed; a student may not take the examination a third time without the approval of the Administrative Board of the Graduate School.
The M.A. Thesis:
The Department requires a thesis for the M.A. degree. Students will register for 3 credit- hours of MUSC 992 (Master's Thesis) no later than their fourth semester of residence, during which they will write their theses. The thesis will be a revision of a paper prepared for a graduate seminar in musicology. It will represent a genuinely original scholarly effort, if (by its nature) on a relatively small scale. The M.A. thesis should not disrupt progress toward Ph.D.-level work, although students often regard it as an opportunity to complete a substantial piece of scholarship that can serve as a basis for their first publication (whether within or outside the intended area of the Ph.D. dissertation). By the Spring semester of the first year the student should be alert to the need to select such a paper and also to identify a faculty thesis advisor. The thesis committee will consist of this advisor and two other members of the faculty, all three to be appointed by the DGS. There is no oral defense of the M.A. thesis; the thesis is approved when judged to be satisfactory in its written form by the committee.
In order to maintain satisfactory progress, students must present a complete draft of the thesis for committee approval by the end of the fourth semester. If the work on the thesis is not completed during the fourth term, the advisor will give a grade of IN (Incomplete). According to Graduate School regulations, students must remove the Incomplete in one year to avoid a failing grade and loss of academic eligibility. If a student receiving department financial aid does not remove an Incomplete in Music 992 by the beginning of the fifth semester, the faculty will not consider the student as making satisfactory progress.
For Students Entering the Program with a prior M.A.:
Students may be admitted to the Department's graduate program with an approved M.A. (or equivalent) degree in musicology at another institution. The status of such students on entry will be probationary until they pass the Ph.D. Qualifying Examination. In their first, probationary year, such students will take MUSC 750-751 (in the sequence listed above) to supplement their prior experience and acquaint them with the UNC program and faculty. They will also be expected in the course of this probationary year to meet the Department's M.A. language requirement and to pass the Department's theory-proficiency and keyboard-proficiency examinations (described above), save where prior equivalents can be demonstrated to the satisfaction of the DGS. Students may (but need not) take one Independent Study (MUSC 890) in their probationary year; the procedure to register for MUSC 890 will follow that detailed above under the M.A. degree.
The Ph.D. Qualifying Examination:
M.A. students who wish to pursue a doctorate take the Ph.D. Qualifying Examination in their fourth semester of residence, if they have entered the program with only a Bachelor's degree. Students who have entered with an approved M.A. (or equivalent) degree at another institution must take the examination in their second semester of residence. Successful completion of the examination and an M.A. (or equivalent) degree in musicology are the two principal requirements to enter the Ph.D. degree program.
The examination is composed and evaluated by a three-person committee appointed each year by the DGS. It is given over two days early in the Spring semester and consists of four parts, each of which lasts three hours: an essay on a specific piece or pieces of music announced approximately one week in advance; essays in response to a range of questions covering various aspects of the field of music, including history, theory, and ethnomusicology; identifying and commenting briefly on a variety of musical excerpts (by ear and on paper), and providing short answers to a variety of specific questions on the history of music; further essays in response to a range of questions covering various aspects of the field of music, as above.
A student must pass this examination by the end of the fourth semester (second semester for a student entering the Ph.D. program with an appropriate Master's degree) in order to maintain satisfactory progress and to be considered for further financial aid in the form of a research or teaching assistantship. In the event of failure, the student must petition the DGS to re-take the examination. A student may not take the examination a third time without the approval of the Administrative Board of the Graduate School.
The Ph.D. principally combines coursework with independent scholarly research that culminates in the writing of a dissertation. The Ph.D. student must take at least 12 credit-hours of pro-seminars and seminars in musicology (including music history, music theory, ethnomusicology, and other scholarly topics in music) at the 800- or 900-level beyond the 30 credit-hours for the M.A. Students may take no more than two Independent Studies (MUSC 890) in a given academic year; the procedure to register for MUSC 890 will follow that detailed above under M.A. degree. Students may also elect to pursue a formal minor as specified by the regulations of the Graduate School. Any courses taken outside the Department (whether or not in fulfillment of a minor) must be courses of substance as detailed above under the discussion of extra-Departmental courses for the M.A. Any pro-seminars or seminars taken beyond the 30-credit minimum during the time of M.A. candidacy count toward the Ph.D. requirement.
In addition to seminars, the Ph.D. student must take at least six credit-hours of MUSC 994 (Doctoral Dissertation). Students must also register for at least three credit-hours of 994 during the semester in which they defend their dissertations.
Registration for MUSC 994 constitutes full-time enrollment under Graduate School definitions (although a two-year residency requirement must still be met by students entering with an appropriate Master's degree in hand). University regulations allow the student eight years from the date of first enrollment to complete all requirements for the Ph.D. degree. However, the Department and Graduate School strongly encourage students to make more expeditious progress toward their Ph.D.
No later than the end of the sixth semester from entry into the M.A. program (fourth semester for students entering with an appropriate Master's degree), students should take the Ph.D. Written Examination ("Ph.D. Writtens" in departmental parlance). Students normally take the First Ph.D. Oral Examination ("Ph.D. Orals") in the following semester. Both of these examinations are described in greater detail below. Before taking these examinations, the student must select a dissertation advisor to be appointed by the DGS and a suitable dissertation topic, although the latter need not be quite so precisely defined at the time of the Writtens as at the time of the Orals. Students will normally begin exploring possible topics during the final year of M.A. residency.
The Ph.D. Language Requirement:
The Ph.D. student must demonstrate reading proficiency in two foreign modern languages other than English (the first of which will normally have been successfully examined already as part of the M.A. degree). German is to be one of the two, while the other is chosen from French or Italian, or another modern language suitable to the scheme of study with the written consent of the DGS. The Ph.D. language requirement can be met in the same ways as the M.A, language requirement (see above), i.e., by way either of a placement examination administered by a foreign-language department, or by achieving a grade of B or better in a UNC-CH fourth-semester language course (e.g., German 204, French 204, Italian 204). Any such instruction will not count toward the credit-hours required for the Ph.D. The second language requirement must be met before the First Ph.D. Orals.
The Ph.D. Written Examination:
The examination will cover three topics, two of which will be related to the subject of the student's prospective dissertation, and one that will diverge sharply. The topics should be focused (though not minutely so) rather than broad. Students will choose their topics in consultation with the dissertation advisor appointed by the DGS. The advisor, who serves as chair of the examination committee, will circulate the topics to the other two members of the three-person committee and to the DGS for their approval.
The student will usually study each topic under the supervision of a different committee member, producing a written summary and a bibliography for each. Once the student finalizes these documents and the advisor approves them, the exam will be scheduled. It will consist of three, three-hour segments (one segment per topic), each devoted to the writing of two essays lasting one and one half hours apiece, during which the student will not consult notes or outside materials. The student will select from one of two questions to answer for each essay, the questions having been solicited by the committee chair from the two committee members who have not supervised preparation of the particular topic being examined (in the case of duplicate questions, the committee chair may provide alternates). In the event of failure, a student may take the examination a second time after a period of at least three months; a third examination would require the approval of the Administrative Board of the Graduate School. A student must pass the Ph.D. Written Examination by the end of the sixth semester (fourth semester for students entering the Ph.D. program with an appropriate Master's degree) in order to maintain satisfactory progress and to be considered for financial aid in the form of a research or teaching assistantship.
The First Ph.D. Oral Examination:
As soon as possible after completion of the Ph.D. Written Examination, the doctoral candidate will convene a dissertation committee, comprising the dissertation advisor (who will normally serve as chair) and four other faculty members. Some of these may come from outside the Department as deemed appropriate by the DGS, who must appoint the entire committee. At least three people on the committee, including the chair, must be regular members of the UNC-CH faculty. Faculty on fixed-term appointment or from other institutions require formal approval by the Graduate School in a process initiated by the DGS.
The dissertation committee will submit the doctoral candidate to an oral examination and formal review of the dissertation proposal. All committee members must be present at the First Ph.D. Oral Examination save in the most extenuating circumstances, and in any case, the examination must be conducted with five faculty members present.
The proposal itself consists of a document in two parts:
1) a comprehensive statement that summarizes both the substance of the proposed dissertation and the steps that will be taken to complete it;
2) an extensive bibliography including, when required by the subject, a detailed list of sources.
The candidate will present copies of the proposal to the members of the committee before the examination. At the examination the committee will question the candidate concerning the appropriateness and feasibility of the dissertation as outlined in the proposal. Immediately after the examination, the committee will recommend either the acceptance of the proposal, its rejection, or its modification. A rejection amounts to failure of the examination and is subject to the same procedures as a failure of the Ph.D. Written Examination. Should the proposal require modification, the committee may or may not delegate responsibility for monitoring such modification to the committee chair; in this case, however, another examination will not normally be required.
Advancement to Candidacy:
Immediately upon passing the First Ph.D. Oral Examination, students who have completed all Departmental language, theory, and keyboard requirements, and have met all appropriate Graduate School conditions, should apply for Advancement to Ph.D. Candidacy. This requires filing an official Graduate School form certified by the DGS. In common parlance, a "Ph.D. Candidate" is classified as ABD ("All But Dissertation"). The Department requires Advancement to Candidacy for nomination for Graduate School Fellowships (Research or Dissertation Completion Fellowships) or for Society of Fellows awards. Students must also be Ph.D. Candidates to qualify for certain external sources of dissertation awards such as AMS 50 Fellowships and the like.
The Dissertation:
The dissertation is the central activity of the Ph.D. program. In the course of researching and writing it the student begins to gain the status of independent scholar. The dissertation is a substantial contribution to the fund of knowledge in the discipline; it will be judged as a publication by the external scholarly community. The student should not, however, confuse heft with significance, and while a particular topic might require an especially lengthy treatment, another equally valid dissertation might take a considerably more compressed form.
A student will confer frequently with the advisor, who will read the dissertation chapter by chapter, making appropriate comment and corrections. The degree of involvement of the other committee members will vary, but all will have read the entire dissertation thoroughly before the time of the defense. For this reason, the student must submit the complete dissertation draft to be defended at least four weeks in advance of its defense to all members of his or her committee in order for them to propose any substantial revisions they consider necessary.
The Second Ph.D. Oral Examination (Dissertation Defense):
When the advisor deems the dissertation acceptable in substantial terms, he or she will have the candidate submit it in timely fashion to the committee for evaluation. The committee chair will then convene the Second Ph.D. Oral Examination, in which the doctoral candidate defends the dissertation. All committee members must be present at the Second Ph.D. Oral Examination save in extraordinary circumstances, and in any case, the examination must be conducted with five faculty members present. The committee may, if this seems appropriate, open the defense to the public. The candidate will be expected not only to answer questions of detail at the defense, but also to expand upon the larger aspects of the dissertation in terms of its subject, methodologies, and relationship to other work in the same field. Immediately after the examination, the committee will recommend either acceptance of the dissertation or its rejection. Acceptance may also involve minor corrections to the dissertation by the candidate to the satisfaction of the committee members. When these requirements have been fulfilled, the Report of the Final Oral Examination is submitted (signatures of all committee members are required) to the Graduate School, as well as the dissertation in a form designed to meet the standards defined in the Graduate School's Guide to Theses and Dissertations.
Only students intending to proceed to the Ph.D. (whether or not they originally apply and register for the M.A.) will normally be eligible for consideration for financial aid. There can be no absolute rules governing the awarding of such aid to graduate students because of the uncertainties of state funding as well as other variables. Nevertheless, it is possible to define a number of general principles that guide the faculty each year in assigning aid.
Financial Aid is normally granted by way of Departmental teaching and research assistantships, and University fellowships. The Department Chair awards assistantships and ranks students for University fellowships based on the recommendation of the Graduate Admissions and Financial Aid Committee.
Subject to legislative appropriation, Financial Aid normally comprises a stipend, the payment of in-state tuition, tuition remissions for out-of-state students, and other benefits. In order to maximize the available resources, the Graduate School and department expect out-of-state students who are U.S. citizens to apply for in-state residency at the earliest possible opportunity, but no later than the end of their fourth semester. For more information about the procedure and access to the online application, students should review the information at: http://gradschool.unc.edu/residency/index.html.
By means of teaching assistantship, research assistantship, University fellowship or a combination of these, it has been possible in recent years to support a beginning M.A.-Ph.D. candidate through the fourth year (through the third year if the student enters the program with an M.A.), and this time-frame will be maintained as an ideal, though there may be years when funding will not be adequate to do so. Only in exceptional cases will a student be supported by departmental funds beyond four years (for example, when defined funds are available to perform some specific departmental service). Fifth- and subsequent-year students working on their dissertations are encouraged to apply for extra-Departmental funding, such as University dissertation grants, Lurcie and Friedman grants, and AMS-50 Fellowships.
Holders of Departmental teaching and research assistantships will be expected to carry out duties associated with such assistantships. Usually these duties involve acting as a teaching assistant (TA) on at least one undergraduate course per semester, ranging from grading assignments through running recitations (small-group tutorials) to teaching the occasional class. The Department views the experience gained by its TAs to be an important part of a student's professional development, and makes every effort to ensure that TAs have an opportunity to be involved in a range of courses with different faculty members.
Assistantships and fellowships are awarded subject to annual review, and may be withdrawn if a student fails to remain in good standing or to make satisfactory progress. Departmental teaching and research assistantships may also be withdrawn if a student fails to fulfill adequately the duties associated with those assistantships. The process of awarding (and withdrawing) assistantships lies in the hands of the Department Chair, advised by the Associate Chair (Academic Division) and by the DGS in conjunction with the Graduate Admissions and Financial Aid Committee.
Admission to the program and the awarding of financial aid are two separate processes, and students admitted without financial aid remain eligible to enter the program and progress through it. Such students may submit a written petition to the DGS for financial aid in their second or subsequent years as part of their yearly self-assessment; the DGS will bring such petitions to the attention of the faculty and the Department's Graduate Admissions and Financial Aid Committee. While the Department is sensitive to the needs of its unfunded students, they compete in the pool with new admissions in each subsequent year.
Appendix II: Summary of Requirements and Deadlines
Theory- and Keyboard-Proficiency Examinations (should be passed by end of first year of residency; must be passed before completion of the M.A. degree)
M.A. Language Requirement (must be met before completion of the M.A. degree)
Master's Oral Examination (must be passed by end of fourth semester)
Master's Thesis (complete draft must be submitted by end of fourth semester)
Ph.D. Qualifying Examination (normally taken by end of fourth semester [second semester for students entering with approved M.A. or equivalent])
Ph.D. Written Examination (normally taken by end of sixth semester [fourth semester for students entering with approved M.A. or equivalent])
Ph.D. Language Requirement (must be met before the First Ph.D. Oral Examination)
First Ph.D. Oral Examination (i.e., defense of dissertation proposal; normally taken during the semester following the Ph.D. Writtens)
Dissertation and Second Ph.D. Oral Examination (must be completed within eight years of receiving the M.A. degree)
Appendix III: Policy for Conferring the
Glen Haydon Award
for an Outstanding Dissertation in Musicology
I. Upon successful completion of the Second Ph.D. Oral Examination, and after a dissertation has been submitted to and accepted by the Graduate School, the dissertation advisor may nominate the dissertation for a Haydon Award by way of a letter to the DGS:
The letter shall specify in detail the features of the dissertation (both its form and content) that would lead the faculty to designate it an outstanding example of research and writing in the field of musicology (broadly construed), and how the dissertation makes a highly original and significantly insightful contribution to scholarship in music.
All members of the Dissertation Committee shall review this letter and subscribe to its contents with their signatures.
II. The DGS will forward this letter to the entire academic faculty for its consideration.
III. The assembled academic faculty will discuss the nomination at one of its meetings with the dissertation chair present, asking any relevant questions and listening to the presentations of the dissertation committee (a copy of the dissertation will be made available for the inspection of any faculty member who wishes it). After discussion and consideration of the nomination, the academic faculty will vote on whether to recommend conferral of the Haydon Award to the department chair. The chair will award a prize based on this vote.
IV. The Haydon Award is not competitive save by the criterion of a dissertation being "outstanding," and there is no limit on the number of awards that may be granted in a given period. The Haydon Award, however, will be conferred only in exceptional cases.
(adopted by the academic faculty 5 November 2003)
- Updated April 2008