Music, D.M.A., Conducting
Admission
The general requirements for admission are the completion of master’s degree in music (or the equivalent); an audition and interview; at least two graduate-level term papers that include a title page and bibliography; and the fulfillment of the general requirements for admission to The Graduate School, including the submission of three recommendations. Applicants in choral conducting must demonstrate diction proficiencies. Applicants whose native language is not English are also required to submit a satisfactory score on the TOEFL, the IELTS Intl. Academic Course Type 2 exam, or the Duolingo exam. Normally, the minimum acceptable score on the TOEFL is 100 (internet-based) or 600 (paper-based). The minimum acceptable overall band score on the IELTS Intl. Academic Course Type 2 exam is 7. The minimum acceptable score on the Duolingo exam is 120. Admission decisions are based upon the applicant’s total portfolio with particular weight being given to the audition.
Prior to taking any graduate music study, all doctoral students must take the Graduate Music Diagnostic Examination, and must fulfill all requirements resulting from the exam.
Degree Requirements (48 Post-Masters Hours)
Major Area (26 Hours)
| Course | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Advisor-approved Applied Study chosen from the following: | 6 | |
| Advanced Conducting/ Choral | ||
| Advanced Conducting/ Instrumental | ||
| Conductors Institute | ||
| Doctoral Applied Music/Conducting | ||
| Advisor-approved courses in Literature and Methods chosen from the following: | 8 | |
| Choral Develoment and Related Materials | ||
| Music Literature/ Conducting | ||
| Choral Literature | ||
| Major Choral Works | ||
| Advanced Performance Pedagogy | ||
| Dissertation Requirement (12 credits) | ||
| MUSC 891 | Recital Preparation | 6 |
| MUSC 892 | Lecture Recital | 1 |
| MUSC 896 | Solo Recital | 2 |
| MUSC 897 | Document Preparation | 3 |
| Total Credit Hours | 26 | |
Other Studies in Music (22 Hours)
| Course | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| MUSC 747 | Advanced Music Research | 2 |
| Advisor-approved Music History courses chosen from the following: | 6 | |
| Seminar in Music History | ||
| Topics in Music History | ||
| Music and Culture of Tudor England | ||
| Introduction to Ethnomusicology: History, Theory, Methods, and Education | ||
| Renaissance Music | ||
| Music of the Baroque | ||
| Music of the Classical Period | ||
| Romantic Music | ||
| Music Since 1900 | ||
| Advisor-approved Music Theory courses chosen from the following: | 6 | |
| Analysis of Popular Music | ||
| Analysis and Performance | ||
| Public Music Theory | ||
| Survey of Analytical Techniques | ||
| Pedagogy of Music Theory | ||
| Tonality in the Twentieth Century | ||
| Music and Repetition | ||
| Style and Technique Since 1900 | ||
| Topics in Music Theory | ||
| Schenkerian Analysis | ||
| Contrapuntal Techniques | ||
| Contemporary Experimental Music | ||
| Music & Modernism | ||
| Music Cognition | ||
| Transcription and Analysis | ||
| Advisor-approved MUSC courses 700-level and above; may not include courses that have been applied to the Major Area; cannot include more than four credits of MUSC 734A-MUSC 734V and/or MUSC 735A-MUSC 735U in total | 8 | |
| Total Credit Hours | 22 | |
Additional Requirements
- Two semesters of advisor-approved MUSC 734A-MUSC 734V required; may be taken for 0 credit or taken for credit and applied to Other Studies in Music.
- Students must fulfill the doctoral residency requirement as defined by the Graduate School or by completing 18 advisor-approved credits within the span of three consecutive semesters, with at least one semester being spent in full-time study on the Columbia campus.
- Students are required to pass a doctoral candidacy hearing/recital and a candidacy exam before they can perform degree-applicable recitals. Typically, students enter candidacy by the end of the second semester of study.
- Students are required to satisfy the Foreign Language and/or Research Methods Requirement.
- Students in choral conducting are required to pass a diction proficiency exam.
- Students are required to pass the DMA Examinations in Music History and Music Theory before taking the comprehensive exams.
- Students are required to pass a written and oral comprehensive exam no later than 60 days before graduation. The examination committee will include three faculty from the major area (to include the major professor) and one representative from each minor area. In the event the student is not enrolled in a doctoral minor, the student will choose one graduate faculty member outside the conducting area to complete the committee. The major are written examination will be six hours. Students will also take one three-hour written exam for each doctoral minor in which they are enrolled. Students who do not have a doctoral minor will not have any additional written examinations. The major professor will compile the written exam in consultation with the other major area faculty and the minor area representative(s) if applicable and provide it to the Assistant Director of Graduate Studies one week before the exam date. The oral examination usually lasts one hour. While the committee may address material from the written exam in the oral exam, the student must demonstrate knowledge of topics that were not part of the written exam. All members of the committee will grade the exam in its entirety.
- Students must defend their dissertation document.