Introduction
The Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degree in music has an emphasis in cross-cultural studies, and aims to provide doctoral students with an integrative framework for music scholarship, emphasizing the ways in which musicology and ethnomusicology interact and complement one another.
In addition to cultural approaches to musical style, the program also encourages the integration of scholarly research with musical performance, emphasizing the manner in which performance serves both rhetorical and symbolic ends within various cultural settings. To this end the concept of “performance practice” plays a significant role in this program, given that the concept of historically or culturally informed performance is applicable to music from the earliest times to the present day in all geographical and cultural regions, and can encompass research activities as diverse as fieldwork, historical editing, and recording, as well as publishing of books and articles on the traditions of composition and performance.
Advancement to Candidacy
Course Requirements
Students entering the Ph.D. program with a bachelor’s degree are required to complete the following course:
| MUSC 200 | Introduction to Research Methods | 5 |
Plus three courses from the MUSC 203 Performance Practice series:
| MUSC 203A | Performance Practice in the Middle Ages | 5 |
| MUSC 203B | Performance Practice in the Renaissance | 5 |
| MUSC 203C | Performance Practice in the Baroque | 5 |
| MUSC 203D | Performance Practice in the Classic Period | 5 |
| MUSC 203E | Performance Practice in the Romantic Period | 5 |
| MUSC 203F | Performance Practice in the 20th Century | 5 |
| MUSC 203G | Concepts, Issues, and the Practice of Ethnomusicology | 5 |
| MUSC 203H | Area Studies in Performance Practice | 5 |
MUSC 206D or a course in the MUSC 254 series may each substitute for one 203 course.
Plus two courses from the MUSC 253 series:
Plus three courses from the MUSC 254 series:
| MUSC 254C | Performativity and Music | 5 |
| MUSC 254D | Organology and Acoustics | 5 |
| MUSC 254E | Asian Resonances in 20th-Century American and European Music | 5 |
| MUSC 254J | Jazz Historiography | 5 |
| MUSC 254K | Music, Gender, and Sexuality | 5 |
| MUSC 254L
/DANM 254L
| John Cage: Innovation, Collaboration, and Performance Technologies | 5 |
| MUSC 254M | Music in San Francisco, 1850-1950 | 5 |
| MUSC 254N | Cruising the Postcolony | 5 |
| MUSC 254O | Historiography of American Music | 5 |
| MUSC 254R | Research Design and Grant Writing for Music Scholars | 5 |
Plus the following course during each quarter of residence:
Students must enroll in MUSC 252, Current Issues Colloquium, until advancing to candidacy.
Elective Requirements
Students entering the Ph.D. program with a bachelor’s degree must take three elective graduate seminars, one of which must be outside of the Music Department. Elective seminars should be selected in consultation with the student’s faculty adviser.
Electives in the Music Department might include an additional course from the MUSC 203 Performance Practice series, an additional course from the MUSC 253 series, or an additional course from the MUSC 254 series.
Elective course options also include the following seminars:
| MUSC 201 | History of Music Theory from the Greeks Through Rameau | 5 |
| MUSC 202 | Tonal and Posttonal Analysis | 5 |
| MUSC 228 | Techniques of Modernity and Aesthetic Formations | 5 |
Fourth Quarter Research Paper
Ph.D. students entering the program with a bachelor’s degree are required to submit a research paper by the beginning of the fourth quarter in residence, which will be revised that quarter under the supervision of the student’s faculty adviser, and will be evaluated at the end of the quarter by the adviser and an additional faculty member. Students whose paper is assessed as unsatisfactory will not be allowed to continue in the Ph.D. program.
Students entering the Ph.D. program with a master’s degree are required to complete following courses:
Three courses from the MUSC 203 Performance Practice series:
| MUSC 203A | Performance Practice in the Middle Ages | 5 |
| MUSC 203B | Performance Practice in the Renaissance | 5 |
| MUSC 203C | Performance Practice in the Baroque | 5 |
| MUSC 203D | Performance Practice in the Classic Period | 5 |
| MUSC 203E | Performance Practice in the Romantic Period | 5 |
| MUSC 203F | Performance Practice in the 20th Century | 5 |
| MUSC 203G | Concepts, Issues, and the Practice of Ethnomusicology | 5 |
| MUSC 203H | Area Studies in Performance Practice | 5 |
Two courses from the MUSC 253 series
Three courses from the MUSC 254 series
| MUSC 254C | Performativity and Music | 5 |
| MUSC 254D | Organology and Acoustics | 5 |
| MUSC 254E | Asian Resonances in 20th-Century American and European Music | 5 |
| MUSC 254J | Jazz Historiography | 5 |
| MUSC 254K | Music, Gender, and Sexuality | 5 |
| MUSC 254L
/DANM 254L
| John Cage: Innovation, Collaboration, and Performance Technologies | 5 |
| MUSC 254M | Music in San Francisco, 1850-1950 | 5 |
| MUSC 254N | Cruising the Postcolony | 5 |
| MUSC 254O | Historiography of American Music | 5 |
| MUSC 254R | Research Design and Grant Writing for Music Scholars | 5 |
Plus the following course during each quarter of residence:
Students must enroll in MUSC 252, Current Issues Colloquium, until advancing to candidacy.
Plus the following course:
Elective Requirement
Students entering the Ph.D. program with a master’s degree must take one elective graduate seminar from outside the Music Department. This seminar should be selected in consultation with the student’s faculty adviser.
Foreign Language Requirements
Current skill in reading and comprehension of a relevant foreign language must be demonstrated by:
- Satisfactory completion of level 3 of a foreign language at UCSC, preferably in the first year of the program; or
- Submission of an official transcript documenting successful completion of one year of university-level foreign language at another institution (equivalent to level 3 at UCSC); or
- Passing a foreign language proficiency examination administered by the Music Department in French, Spanish, German, Italian, or Russian. (This test requires translation of a passage of at least 600 words with no resources other than a dictionary to be completed in 1.5 hours.)
- For languages other than French, Spanish, German, Italian, or Russian, the department may accept completion of an online course as fulfilling the requirement if the student can prove equivalency to a level 3 course at UCSC. The graduate committee will determine whether or not to accept any such course.
With approval of the primary adviser, students whose emphasis is algorithmic composition may complete three quarters or one year of university-level instruction in computer programming in lieu of the foreign language requirement.
In addition, Ph.D. students are required during their first year of enrollment to demonstrate proficiency in a second foreign language relevant to their area of interest.
Knowledge of languages not offered at UCSC must be demonstrated as determined by the Music Department’s graduate committee. Graduate Division policy states that the language requirement must be completed prior to taking the qualifying examination.
Pre-Qualifying Requirements
Pre-qualifying Reviews
At the end of the first year of study, all students accepted into the Ph.D. program will submit a brief report on work completed during that year. This report will inform a consideration by the music faculty of the student’s status in the graduate program. Faculty will offer comments and suggestions to be communicated to the student either directly or through the student’s adviser. If progress is minimal, faculty reserves the right to terminate a student’s enrollment in the program.
Qualifying Examination
Advancement to candidacy is contingent upon passing both written and oral examinations. The written qualifying examination will test knowledge absorbed through the two years of coursework as well as material in the student’s field of concentration. The oral examination will focus on the previously completed written examinations well as the student’s developed expertise in her/his chosen specialization. Students must be registered in the quarter in which they take their qualifying examination.
The examinations will normally be administered at the end of year 3 for students entering with a bachelor’s degree, and at the end of year 2 for students entering with a master’s degree.
Advancement to candidacy will be granted after successful completion of the written and oral examinations, acceptance of the dissertation reading committee form, satisfactory completion of coursework and the foreign-language requirement, and the payment of the necessary fees.
Letter Grade Policy
Graduate students must take all core courses for a letter grade. These courses include the following: MUSC 200, MUSC 201, MUSC 202, MUSC 203A-H, MUSC 206A-D, MUSC 219, MUSC 220, MUSC 253A-D, and MUSC 254A-M. Grades of C or D do not satisfy any course requirement for a music graduate degree.
Independent study courses (MUSC 261, MUSC 265, MUSC 295, MUSC 297, MUSC 298, and MUSC 299) and the colloquium course (MUSC 252) may be taken with the Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory grade option.
Non-Terminal Master's Degree
Students who entered the Ph.D. program with a bachelor’s degree may apply for the M.A. degree after completion of a minimum of five quarters in residence, evidence of the completion of the equivalent of one year of a foreign language at UCSC, the fourth-quarter research paper, and the following courses: MUSC 200, one course from the MUSC 203 series, MUSC 252 each quarter in residence, one course each from the MUSC 253 and MUSC 254 seminar series, two elective graduate seminars (one of which may be outside of the Music Department), and MUSC 297.
Dissertation
Dissertation
To satisfy requirements for the degree, a student must complete a dissertation and present a related formal lecture or lecture-recital. The student will develop a dissertation prospectus, which will be due six months after advancement to candidacy. Guidelines for the format and content of the prospectus can be found on the Music Department web site. The dissertation must embody substantial and original scholarly work based on a clearly distinguishable contemporary or historical music-cultural tradition, in any music-culture(s) of the world in which the UCSC program offers expertise. The public lecture or performance must demonstrate the student’s grasp of the pertinent music-cultural performance tradition or music-cultural and/or music-historical concepts.
Dissertation Preparation Course Requirements
Students preparing for the dissertation should complete at least one quarter of MUSC 299, Thesis Research, with the faculty adviser.
Dissertation Defense
The final examination will be an oral defense of the dissertation open to the university faculty.
Successful completion of this examination will be determined by a majority vote of the dissertation reading committee.
Additional information about the program, including application and admission, is available from the Division of Graduate Studies and on the department website.
Academic Progress
For more information about maintaining academic good standing, students should consult the Academic Requirements and Standards section of the Division of Graduate Studies Handbook.
Applying for Graduation
For more information on applying for graduation, students should make an appointment with the Graduate Program adviser and consult UCSC's Graduate Division Handbook.