Doctor of Philosophy Degree Requirements: Musicology

The five-year doctoral program in Musicology at Duke includes a Master of Arts degree en route to the Ph.D.  Admission to the Ph.D. program is not automatically granted upon the student’s completion of the requirements of the A.M. degree, but is restricted to those students who have demonstrated the ability to do independent and original doctoral work in the field of Musicology.  After passing the Qualifying Examination, the student will be notified regarding acceptance in the doctoral program.  Students who wish to receive an en route A.M. in Performance Practice from Duke must also satisfy all course requirements for the en route A.M. in Musicology. Upon successful completion of the en route A.M., a diploma can be requested.

Requirements

• Seventeen courses (51 units) of graduate instruction.  The required courses include:
  • Three courses in Musical Analysis
    • Music 560 Tonal Analysis
    • Music 561 Analysis of Early Music
    • Music 562 Analysis of Music after 1900
  • Nine electives chosen from the following Ethnomusicology and Musicology courses (some of these courses offer different content each semester):
    • Music 790S-2 Studies in Ethnomusicology
    • Music 790S-1 Seminar in the History of Music
    • Music 556 Music in the Twentieth Century
    • Music 555 Music in the Nineteenth Century
    • Music 554 Music in the Classic Era
    • Music 553 Music in the Baroque Era
    • Music 552 Topics in Renaissance Music
    • Music 551 Music in the Middle Ages
  • Five additional elective graduate courses taken in or outside the Department of Music, as approved by the Director of Graduate Studies.
  • Optional: Performance Practice Track

No more than four courses (12 units) of a completed Master’s degree may be accepted for transfer from another institution.

After the first year, graduate electives can be taken outside the Department of Music as approved by the Director of Graduate Studies.  The DGS will consider the student’s academic record within the Department and his/her reasons for enrolling in extra-departmental courses.

Registration requirement

The Graduate School requires six semesters of “full-time” registration regardless of number of courses taken or residence.

No more than one semester may be waived for a completed Master’s degree.

Teaching Requirement

Classroom teaching is an integral part of the doctoral program.  All graduate students will be required to complete eight semesters of teaching as a Teaching Assistant or Instructor of Record.[1]

Examinations and Dissertation

• Diagnostic Examination
• Foreign Language Examination
• Qualifying Examination in Musicology
• Second Foreign Language Examination
• Preliminary Examination (including Dissertation Prospectus)
• Submission of the Dissertation
• Final Examination (dissertation defense)

Example Program of Study in Musicology

The following represents a typical program for students entering the doctoral program in Musicology, which begins with en route A.M. requirements and then proceeds to Ph.D. requirements.