Qualifying Examination

The purpose of the Qualifying Exam in Composition is to test the depth and breadth of your knowledge in a variety of repertories from different historical periods. Sample examinations are available via email request from the DGSA. The exam takes place at the beginning of semester 4 (Year 2, spring semester).

Qualifying Exam Categories

The Qualifying Exam in Composition has three repertory categories and a portfolio of compositions that will be examined in written essays as well as in an oral exam:

• Category A: Make yourself an expert on one composer of your choice from any historical period or cultural background. By "expert," we mean that you will be:
  • familiar with the majority of the composer's catalog, and have a detailed knowledge of at least five representative compositions;
  • familiar with the most important writings about this composer (e.g., six to ten articles/books and biographical materials which include theoretical and cultural/historical approaches to the subject);
  • knowledgeable about other artists whose work informs the work of this composer. You will be asked to give a presentation on your research during an oral examination (see below).
• Category B: Select three other composers to study in considerable detail, though not as extensively as the composer in Category A. For each composer in this category, we will expect you to have studied at least three scholarly articles and at least two representative works. Your work on these three composers may grow out of your research on your Category A composer, but this is not strictly necessary.
• Category C: Propose six other composers from contrasting historical periods and familiarize yourself with their principal compositions. Students taking the exam should collaborate on a list of shared composers and compositions. You should be familiar with one or two important scholarly writings about each of these composers. The Qualifying Exam Committee will modify or add other compositions to this list.
• Portfolio of Compositions you have written while at Duke consisting of scores and any recordings of performances of these works. In addition, you should prepare a written statement addressing specific pieces you have composed at Duke. Discuss how you hope your work will evolve in your remaining time at Duke (e.g., future projects; musical, technical, or conceptual issues you’d like to address, etc.). A separate portfolio should be prepared for each member of the Exam Committee.

In Categories A, B, and C, a "composer" may be defined flexibly. You may choose to study a musical repertory which does not rely on notation, or in which the border between composer and performer is not strictly defined (e.g., vernacular genres, improvisation, non-western musical traditions, etc.)

Portfolio of Compositions

The portfolio consists of scores and recordings (if possible) of compositions for chamber ensembles, solo instruments, or voice composed at Duke.  The compositions should demonstrate your artistic point of view and productivity, e.g., a minimum of 15-20 minutes of music, and they should exhibit technical assurance and clear expressive intent. All scores should include a title page, instrumentation, performance notes, and any other relevant information, e.g., tech requirements, texts, and a program note. The scores should be carefully edited, neatly printed, and bound. The artistic statement need not be long (500-750 words) but it should be substantive. One copy of the portfolio should be presented to each member of the exam committee before the end of Exam Week in semester 3. The scores will be returned after the exam.

Timetable

Given the scope of the exam, students should begin to work on the preceding four categories immediately upon matriculation. Here is the timetable:

• During semester 1, make preliminary decisions about which composers you will research.
• By the end of semester 2, submit a list of composers and repertory for each category for review by the Composition Exam Committee, which will review your list. To ensure equal treatment for all students, the Exam Committee will select particular works or composers for Category C that will be shared by all students taking the exam.
• By December 1 of semester 3, submit your composition portfolio to the members of the Composition Committee.
• By December 15 of semester 3, the Composition Exam Committee will assign a topic based on your Category A selection for a formal presentation during the Oral Exam.

Qualifying Exam Format

The qualifying exam has two parts, a written component and an oral component. Normally, the written exam is administered a few days before Spring classes begin in January of Semester 4. The Oral Exam takes place approximately one week later.

Written Exam

The written exam includes seven short essays on score or sound examples from Categories B and C or closely related works provided by the Exam Committee. You might think of this as a more elaborate version of the score identification section of the Diagnostic Exam, except this time you are expected to know the examples since they are drawn from your proposal.  You will have one day (eight hours) to write these essays. You may use practice room pianos but no library resources while you write.  The exam will be sent to you by email no later than 9:00 AM on the day of the exam.  You must submit your essays to the DGSA as well as to members of the Exam Committee by 5:00 PM that day. 

After you turn in the essays, spend the intervening week before the oral exam preparing corrections and clarifications for your essays, particularly if there are inaccuracies. The Exam Committee will very likely ask you to play excerpts of the score ID examples on the piano that illustrate your analytical observations during the oral exam. Bring copies of your essays and score ID examples with you to the oral exam.

Oral Exam

At least one week after the written exam, you will meet with the Qualifying Exam Committee for an oral examination. During this meeting you will give a 30-minute formal presentation on the topic assigned by the Exam Committee at the end of the previous semester. This presentation should be appropriate for a professional gathering of scholars and musicians (i.e., students and faculty who would attend a job interview). Your talk may focus on analytical, stylistic, cultural, and historical issues related to the topic with varying degrees of emphasis. The faculty will evaluate the content and organization of your presentation.

The oral exam also includes a discussion of your score identification essays.  This may entail illustrating your analytical observations by playing excerpts from the scores on the piano.  The exam concludes with a discussion of your Portfolio of Compositions and your artistic statement. 

En Route A.M. (Master of Arts)

After successfully completing the Qualifying Exam, students may apply to receive an en route A.M. All other academic requirements for the A.M. must have been completed, including required RCR certification.  Notify the DGSA of your intention immediately after completing the oral portion of Qualifying Exam, normally at the beginning of semester 4 to receive the A.M. at the end of Y2.

Following successful completion of the Qualifying Exam, the graduate faculty will vote to determine whether the student continues Ph.D. studies or receives a terminal A.M.

Terminal A.M.

A student who wishes to leave the program for professional or personal reasons may graduate with a terminal A.M. at the end of Y2.  In this case, the Qualifying Exam serves as the terminal exam.  Students must fulfill all other academic requirements for the A.M., including required RCR certification.  Application for graduation must be made through the DGSA before the application deadline for that semester.

In Ethnomusicology, submission of the Mini-portfolio is analogous to the Qualifying Exam in Musicology and Composition.  The Mini-portfolio consists of the three most accomplished term papers, one of which must be an Ethnomusicology paper, from seminars taken in Year 1.  The Ethnomusicology faculty will also assess your performance in the required two-course social/critical theory sequence (i.e., CA 801S and 802S).

Students should submit the Mini-portfolio to the Ethnomusicology faculty no later than three weeks after the last day of spring graduate classes. The faculty will convey their assessment to the student during the oral discussion at the start of the Year 2 fall semester. Students who fail the Mini-portfolio assessment may be unable to continue graduate studies in music at Duke University.

Doctoral Committee

Year 2 Ethnomusicology students should identify their dissertation adviser and discuss the preliminary membership of the Doctoral Committee. An adviser and at least two other members of the Doctoral Committee should be determined before the Field Specialization Workshop, which takes place at the end of Year 2. The finalized Doctoral Committee (at least four faculty members) must be sent to the DGSA for approval by both the DGSA and the DGS and the Dean of the Graduate School by January 20 of Year 3.

Field Specialization Workshop

The Field Specialization Workshop in Year 2 comprises a meeting with three or more members of the student’s Doctoral Committee at the end of spring semester. Its purpose is to finalize projects the student will prepare for the Portfolio & Prospectus Workshop in Year 3. 

The Workshop is a 90-minute meeting convened near the end of Year 2, and scheduled by the DGSA. In this meeting the student will present and discuss preliminary field specialization lists and a summer research proposal. In preparation for this milestone, the student must prepare the following:

• Three field specializations and the rationale for them in relation to your research plan
• Reading lists for each field (not necessarily annotated at this stage)
• Decisions about the content of your portfolio, i.e., a list of the specific materials to be submitted
• A submitted summer grant proposal
• A draft research prospectus (min. 4-5 pages) that includes 1) a research statement for the dissertation project, 2) explication of methodology and justification of preparedness to conduct the research, and 3) key contributions to your primary and secondaries fields by way of a literature review. 

You should identify at least three faculty members who will serve on your Doctoral Committee for this workshop (you will add a fourth committee member in preparation for the Portfolio & Prospectus Workshop in Year 3). All three members must be present at the Field Specialization Workshop meeting, though one may participate via conference or video call. Afterwards, the committee members will inform you of revisions or additional materials required for their fields in your portfolio. Failure to successfully present and discuss the required materials in a field specialization workshop in the specified time frame may be grounds for dismissal from the program.

Terminal A.M.

A student who wishes to leave the program for professional or personal reasons may graduate with a terminal A.M. There are two options for a terminal A.M. 

• Following the field specializations workshop, a student may choose to complete a one-semester capstone project to receive a terminal A.M. The project should be based on original research. It could take the form of a substantial research paper (9,000-10,000 words), exhibition or sound installation, ethnographic audio or multimedia documentary, archival project, or other format. The scope and format of the project must be approved by the ethnomusicology faculty. Students should apply for this terminal A.M. at the beginning of Fall Year 3 semester. This terminal A.M. will be awarded at the end of the Fall of Year 3 following the successful completion of the capstone project.
• The Portfolio & Prospectus Workshop serves as an alternative terminal exam if students have met all other academic requirements for the A.M. Students should apply for the terminal A.M. at the beginning of semester in which they take the Portfolio & Prospectus Workshop (normally semester 6). This terminal A.M. will be awarded at the end of Year 3 following the successful completion of the Portfolio & Prospectus Workshop.

Students who do not successfully complete the Portfolio & Prospectus Workshop will not continue graduate studies in music and may not receive an A.M. at Duke University. 

The Qualifying Exam for Musicology students includes two parts, which are described below. For sections A and B of Part 2, exam candidates will be permitted to use a computer to prepare written essay answers. No online resources are to be consulted during the eight-hour exam period. Exam candidates will be required to submit a signed statement confirming that they have written the exam without consulting online resources.

Part 1: Major Field Examination

The Major Field Examination, at the end of semester 4 (Year 2, spring semester), serves as the culmination of the Major Field Independent Study. The purpose of this part of the Qualifying Exam is to assess the student’s knowledge in a specialized field of research to determine the student’s eligibility to continue with a dissertation in that field. The student proposes the definition of the major field to the Director of Graduate Studies (due December 1 of semester 3), who then approves it after consultation with the Graduate Faculty. The definition of the field should resemble a job description for a research university: for example, “seventeenth-century music” (not “Schütz”). During the Major Field Independent Study, under the guidance of a member of the Graduate Faculty, the student prepares a comprehensive annotated bibliography and a list of core repertory. The completed bibliography must be submitted to the committee two weeks before the exam.

During the Major Field Examination, a committee of three members of the Graduate Faculty, appointed by the Director of Graduate Studies, will evaluate the student’s knowledge of the field, as well as methodological and theoretical approaches undertaken by scholars in that field. The exam will be conducted orally and last a maximum of two hours. The exam committee is usually chaired by the supervisor of the Major Field Independent Study.

Part 2: Comprehensive Examination

In spring of Year 2, the chair of the major field exam and the other two members of the committee will devise three comprehensive essay topics in consultation with the student and write prompts for the three essays. In the summer, between Years 2 and 3, students will complete the three comprehensive essays, each roughly 10,000 words. The essays will take the form of literature reviews, tracing the history and current state of research in the three areas. While each committee will take a different approach to the essay prompts, they will often include at least one essay on a theoretical topic and another on a more regional or temporal topic.

The student must submit the essays to the major field exam committee shortly before the fall semester of Year 3; the DGS and chair of the committee can give the exact date. The student will sit for an oral exam with a faculty committee shortly before the start of Year 3 or early in the fall semester of Year 3; this committee will typically be the same as the major field exam committee, but changes can be made if circumstances require, for example faculty going on or returning from leave. In the oral exam, topics of discussion will include the quality of the comprehensive essays, the intellectual terrain that they trace, and the opportunities they suggest for ongoing research. If requested by the committee, students will re-do the essays in the fall of Year 3.

Additionally, shortly before the oral exam, students will sit for a written examination on a group of unidentified documents—musical scores, texts, illustrative materials, or recordings—without the aid of library resources; students will be required to submit a signed statement confirming that they have written the exam without consulting online resources. Students have eight (8) hours to complete the exam; they should identify seven (7) of the ten (10) documents and describe their stylistic, formal, and historical significance. This section of the exam may also be discussed at the oral exam, and students are expected use the time between the written and oral exams to address any weak spots. If requested by the committee, students will re-do the written examination in the fall of Year 3.

After successfully completing the Qualifying Exam (Major Field Exam and Comprehensive Exam), the graduate faculty will vote to determine whether the student continues Ph.D. studies or receives a terminal A.M.

En Route Master of Arts (A.M.)

Students are eligible to receive an en route A.M. after successfully completing the Comprehensive Exam and all other academic requirements, including RCR certification.  Notify the DGSA of your intention to receive the en route A.M. at the beginning of the semester following the Comprehensive Exam, normally the Fall of Year 3.  

Terminal A.M.

A student who wishes to leave the program for professional or personal reasons may graduate with a terminal A.M. following the successful completion of the Major Field Exam and completion of all other academic requirements, including RCR certification.

If you know in advance that you will leave the program with a terminal A.M., notify the DGSA early in the semester in which you take the Major Field Exam (normally semester 4) to receive the terminal A.M. at the end of Y2. 

Students who fail the Qualifying Exam may be allowed to retake the exam in whole or in part at the recommendation of the exam committee.  If a retake is not granted, the student will not continue graduate studies in music and may not receive an A.M. at Duke.