phd music composition

Secondary Menu

• Music Library

• Ph.D. in Composition

Doctor of Philosophy Degree Requirements: Composition

The five-year doctoral program in Composition at Duke includes a Master of Arts degree (A.M.) 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 substantial and original work in composition. After passing the Qualifying Examination, the student will be notified regarding acceptance into the doctoral program. Upon successful completion of the en route A.M., a diploma can be requested.

Course Requirements

• One course in Musical Analysis: MUS 560 or 562
• Seven Composition courses: Two semesters of MUS 690S-1 (Seminar), 697, 698, 699, 797, 798
• Two courses in either Ethnomusicology or Musicology: MUS 790S-1, and one course selected from MUS 551, 552, 553, 554, 555, 556, 790S-2
• Seven elective graduate courses (500 level or above , excluding Applied) NOTE: 500 and 600 level Applied Music Courses do not count towards the Ph.D.

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

• Registration Requirements

The Graduate School requires six semesters of “full-time” registration regardless of the 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.  In special circumstances students may apply to the DGS for a waiver of one or more semesters of their required teaching.    

Sample Program of Study in Composition

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

Examinations and Dissertation

• Diagnostic Examination
• Foreign Language Examination
• Ph.D. Qualifying Exam
• Ph.D. Composition Portfolio
• Preliminary Examination
• Dissertation Article of publishable quality, submitted within six months after Preliminary Examination
• Dissertation Composition : a large-scale work
• Final Examination  (the dissertation defense in Composition will take the form of a presentation by the composer on the Dissertation Composition).
• Statement of Values & Standards of Conduct
• Antiracism Working Group
• Facilities & Resources
• Current Exhibit
• Videos & Photos
• Faculty Books
• Faculty Projects
• Major In Music
• Music Major, Performance Concentration
• Pathways to the Major
• Minor In Music: Score-focused
• Minor in Music: Listening-focused
• Where Our Students Go
• Performance Opportunities
• Undergraduate Research
• Graduation with Distinction
• Global Education
• Service Opportunities
• Trinity Ambassadors
• Ph.D. in Ethnomusicology
• Performance Practice Track
• Prior Graduate Work
• Campus Visit
• Living in Durham
• Career Paths
• Foreign Language Requirement
• Qualifying Examination
• Preliminary Exam
• Previous Ph.D. Dissertations
• Teaching Assistantships
• Facilities and Services
• Lectures, Concerts, Ensembles, and Collections
• Graduate Student Representatives
• DGS and Advising
• Job Search Best Practices
• Requesting Space and Scheduling Recitals
• Professional Development
• Fellowships and Financial Aid
• All Courses
• Composition, Theory & Analysis Courses
• History & Culture Courses
• Lessons Courses
• Performance Courses
• Piano/Keyboard
• Audition Information
• Chamber Music
• Chinese Music Ensemble
• Djembe Ensemble
• Duke New Music Ensemble [dnme]
• Jazz Program
• Opera Theater
• Symphony Orchestra
• Wind Symphony
• All Upcoming Events
• Concerts & Recitals
• Best of Biddle
• News & Performances
• News & Past Artists
• Past Master Classes
• Student Ensembles
• Event Parking Information
• All Faculty
• Composition
• Ensemble Directors
• Ethnomusicology
• Improvisation
• Music Theory
• Performance: Brass and Percussion
• Performance: Keyboard
• Performance: Strings
• Performance: Voice
• Performance: Woodwinds
• Affiliated Faculty
• Graduate Students
• Alumni Profiles
• Duke Alumni Network
• Assisting Duke Students

Composition

The Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA) program, known as the C.V. Starr Doctoral Program, is the most advanced course of study at Juilliard. It is designed for gifted and accomplished musicians who also possess a broad range of knowledge about music, a keen intellect, a natural curiosity for a wide variety of disciplines, and the potential for pursuing high level performance, scholarly, and teaching careers. A generous endowment grant from the C.V. Starr Foundation allows candidates accepted into the program to pursue their resident studies on a full-tuition scholarship basis.

Find Your Application Requirements

Let us help find your exact application and audition requirements. Our Applications Requirements Wizard will tell you everything you need to know about applying to Juilliard.

Prospective Graduate Students

Questions for Admissions? 617-495-5315 [email protected]

PhD programs

The Harvard Department of Music does not discriminate against applicants or students on the basis of race, color, national origin, ancestry or any other protected classification.

Musicology at Harvard offers intensive training in historical and cultural approaches to the study of music. While our program has an emphasis on Western music, students increasingly explore wide-ranging geographies and subjects. We take an expansive view of the field and encourage our students to do the same. Most graduate courses in musicology are research seminars; many treat specific topics and theoretical approaches, while others deal with methodology and recent trends in the field. The musicology faculty also offer proseminars that are open to both graduate and undergraduate students. At the end of two years of study, graduate students take a General Examination. In year three, having passed the General Exam, students begin to teach and craft a Ph.D. dissertation proposal; subsequent years are devoted to teaching, research, writing, and professional development. An important aspect of the Harvard program in musicology is its interdisciplinary breadth, which includes training in ethnomusicology and music theory. Students often also take seminars in other departments – and are encouraged to do so. Accreditation in secondary fields is available through many programs, such as  American Studies ,  Critical Media Practice ,  Medieval Studies ,  Romance Languages and Literatures , and  Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality , to name a few.

Special Resources

The deep holdings of the  Eda Kuhn Loeb Music Library  include a substantial recording archive, and the  Isham Memorial Library  houses rare original books, scores, and personal archives ranging from the Randy Weston Archive to Sir Georg Solti’s annotated conducting scores. Additional resources on campus include the Special Collections at  Houghton Librar y and the  Harvard Theater Collection , one of the largest performing arts collections in the world. The department also maintains a selection of musical instruments for study and performance, including early keyboards and a consort of viols. The  Mahindra Humanities Center ,  Film Study Center ,  Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies , Harvard University  Center for Italian Renaissance Studies at Villa I Tatti  (Florence),  Hutchins Center  for African & African American Research,  David Rockefeller Center  for Latin American Studies,  Charles Warren Center  for the Study of American History, and several other campus institutions provide additional intellectual resources and funding for graduate student research. Faculty and graduate students hold conferences each year on a variety of topics; artists in residence and visiting artists often enrich coursework, and some courses provide opportunities for students to perform.

Language Requirements for Musicology

Two languages are required. The languages will be chosen in consultation with the program’s graduate advisor, and wherever possible should be relevant to future research. We encourage students to pass both languages before taking the general exam. In the event this is not possible, both languages need to be passed by the end of the fall semester of the third year.

Ethnomusicology at Harvard offers intensive training in ethnographic method as well as study of theories, problems, and approaches relevant to the study of any living musical tradition in its cultural setting. By the end of the second year of study, students select primary and secondary fields of specialization, which may be defined by region (for example, Turkish or West African music); by musical styles (such as jazz or popular music); or by topic or theoretical approach (organology or aesthetics). The Harvard program has particular strengths in regions stretching from the Mediterranean to India, in Africa and African diasporas, and in urban America. There are excellent resources both in the music department and across the disciplines at Harvard in critical theory. Collaborations are encouraged among ethnomusicology and  other music department programs in historical musicology, music theory, composition, and creative practice and critical inquiry. Six to eight ethnomusicology courses—usually four seminars and four proseminars or undergraduate classes—are offered each year as part of the regular curriculum. Graduate seminars explore ethnomusicological methods and theories as they are applied to the study of music, as well as a wide range of issues and materials, while proseminars focus on music styles or distinctive musical settings. An important aspect of the Harvard ethnomusicology program is that students receive training in Western music and its history as well as exposure to the methods and theories of historical musicology and music theory. A vital aspect of ethnomusicological training at Harvard is exposure to other disciplines, with particular emphasis upon anthropology, history, area studies, linguistic training, and theoretical frameworks related to the student’s specialization.

The Ethnomusicology laboratory ,  Archive of World Music , special library collections,  Peabody Museum , musical instrument collection (India, Iran, Mali, Zimbabwe), extensive sound and video archives (including the Archive of World Music and  Hiphop Archive & Research Institute ). The  Asia Center ,  Reischauer Institute ,  Center for African Studie s,  Center for Middle Eastern Studies ,  Hutchins Center  for African & African American Research, South Asia Institute,  David Rockefeller Center  for Latin American Studies, and several other campus institutions provide additional intellectual resources and funding for student research and language study. Faculty and graduate students hold conferences each year on a variety of topics; music faculty, artists in residence, and visiting artists often enrich coursework and provide opportunities for students to perform. 

Language Requirements for Ethnomusicology

The PhD in music theory is characterized both by a deep involvement in the inner workings of music and by an engagement with the wider philosophical, cultural, and psychological questions surrounding music. The program reflects this interdisciplinary interest of our students, and its structure is designed to explore the links of music theory to other areas of critical engagement. The graduate curriculum in music theory was fundamentally revised in 2018 with the view to the specific needs of professional music theorists in the twenty-first century.  The diverse dissertation projects that our doctoral students propose reflect the unique combination of interests. Recent and current PhD topics include microtonality and colonialism in the 19th century, musical forgery and forensics, the practice of recomposition in music theory, Scandinavian death metal, transformation theory and Hollywood film, and musical and visual lines in the early 20th century. Many of our students establish their interdisciplinary credentials by taking formal qualifications in a  secondary field  outside of music. Students receive a solid basis for their research by honing their musicianship and analytical skills, particularly during their first year in the program. All students take courses on Schenkerian theory and on a range of tonal and post-tonal analytical practices, as well as an introductory course to explore current issues in the field. At the same time, the program also encourages students to build a framework in which to place these techniques and to reflect on the underpinnings of music theory. Regular courses on questions in psychology, temporality, history of music theory, hermeneutics, and aesthetics round off our course offerings and often take music theory into interdisciplinary territory. In addition to studying canonic repertories, graduate courses on challenging repertoires—e.g. modal theory, non-Western music, or very recent composition—expand the field in new directions.  Our course offerings are complemented by a regular workshop in music theory, currently called Theory Tuesdays, in which faculty and students discuss current work, practice analytical techniques, or engage disciplinary and transdisciplinary questions in an informal setting. Our faculty are actively engaged in Harvard’s numerous interdisciplinary centers ( MBB ,  Medieval Studies ,  CES ,  HUCE , etc.). Harvard’s state-of-the-art  Sound Lab  provides the tools and expertise for digital and media-based research, and provides a conduit for music theory to the field of sound studies.

Language Requirement for Theory

Theorists must pass translation exams in two relevant research languages. The languages will be chosen in consultation with the graduate advisor, and should reflect, wherever possible, languages that will be useful to future research. One language requirement must normally be completed before generals, and the second must be completed in the fall semester of the third year.

Harvard’s program in composition is designed to give students the time and opportunity to develop as composers by offering general musical guidance as well as specific individual criticism of their works. The program is centered around the students’ achieving clarity of expression through developing their command of compositional technique. In addition, acquaintance with the literature of the past and present through analysis and performance is considered indispensable. Most courses are seminars and deal with specific topics or student works.PhD candidates in composition take 16 courses throughout their first two years. Students get a weekly individual composition lesson, and choose from composition and electronic music courses and other offerings within the department in theory, historical musicology, ethnomusicology, and CPCI, or graduate courses from other departments at Harvard. When needed, in the first year there is also a remedial course in harmony and analysis. Students of all years are required to attend the weekly composition colloquium.

The third, fourth, and fifth years are devoted to work on the dissertation and teaching, as well as active participation in composition colloquia and Harvard Group for New Music concerts. Composers may spend one term during their 4th year at another art institution or university if a particular research project or artistic residency can be obtained.

On the completion of preparatory training and the passing of the General Examinations (during the summer before the third year), PhD dissertations comprising a substantial portfolio of between five and seven pieces of varied scoring and length may be submitted.

Language Requirement: once enrolled, Composition students must pass a language exam in German, Italian or French unless an alternative language is approved in writing by the graduate advisor.

The program in  Creative Practice and Critical Inquiry  is designed as a special opportunity for exceptional, engaged artist-scholars. Such individuals might frame themselves as composer-performers whose work is driven by a research sensibility, or as committed scholars whose concurrent active involvement in music-making informs and propels their intellectual projects. Candidates interested in this category should clearly lay out their academic interests and musical experience, including research goals and a portfolio of creative work. They should present a clear rationale for the integrated, cross-disciplinary nature of their work.

In the first two years of coursework, students survey multiple fields of intellectual inquiry while nurturing and refining their creative work. Students in the program may take any of the graduate courses offered by the Department of Music, and occasional courses in other departments and programs with approval from the graduate advisor, as well as practice-based music-making courses (composition, improvisation, creative music, and interdisciplinary collaborations). 

During the summer after the second year of study, candidates will take three to four exams, to be determined in close consultation with the faculty. These include a preliminary portfolio of creative work, written exams on theoretical/analytical and historical/cultural topics relevant to the candidate’s individual research goals, and an oral exam encompassing all of the above.

The dissertation should offer original research and creative work that strikes a balance within this unique combination of interests.

Language Requirement: Once enrolled, CP/CI students must pass a language exam in a language relevant to their research interests, to be approved in writing by the graduate advisor.

Admission to the Graduate Program: Frequently Asked Questions

The Music Department does not require applicants to submit GRE scores. Submission of scores is permitted, and when submitted, GRE scores are taken into account during the admissions process. But those who do not submit such scores will not be penalized.

Note: Those who choose to take the GRE and submit their results do not need to take the Music GRE test, and should take the general GRE (math/language).

We take GRE scores into consideration along with the entire dossier, not as a single factor that determines the outcome of an application.

The annual deadline is usually January 2 for entrance the following fall term. Check the Harvard Kenneth C. Griffin GSAS website for each year’s deadline.

Yes. If you are accepted into our PhD program, the Harvard Kenneth C. Griffin Graduate School of Arts and Sciences will offer you a financial package that guarantees funding for six years, and includes both tuition and living expenses. Teaching stipends may make up part of the package from the student’s third year on. There are also opportunities for additional funding. The Department (and Harvard Griffin GSAS) awards prizes, fellowships, stipends, and grants each year to graduate students for language study, dissertation completion, research assistance, and travel, among other pursuits.

Yes. You need to support your application with samples of your work, be it scholarly or creative.

Students whose native language is not English or who do not have an  undergraduate  degree from English-speaking university are required to take and pass the TOEFL. The recommended passing score is 80.

While many of our entering students do have degrees in music, backgrounds and degrees vary widely. We look at all-around preparation of our applicants and their overall excellence. As a Music Department, we do look for training and expertise in one or more music traditions and an ability to deal successfully with a curriculum that has requirements across the music subdisciplines as well as interdisciplinary studies.

The Harvard graduate program in Music is a doctoral program. The subdisciplines of musicology, ethnomusicology, composition, creative practice/critical inquiry, and music theory do not admit candidates for the Master’s Degree only.

We permit transfer of credit for no more than two courses. Students are allowed to request transfer credit if they are in good standing after the first year of coursework at Harvard and on submission of details about the course for which credit is requested. Graduate courses taken as an undergraduate student may not be presented for credit if those courses counted toward the undergraduate degree.

Our programs both require and encourage coursework in other sub-disciplines of music.

We have graduate programs in historical musicology, ethnomusicology, theory, creative practice/critical inquiry, and composition. Our programs are small, so it is important that you apply to the program closest to your major interests. If the faculty feel your application would be better served in another sub-discipline, they will direct it there.

Harvard has extraordinary course offerings across the disciplines and we encourage our graduate students to take courses that will enhance their knowledge.

You can enroll in language courses to meet the language requirements of our programs, but these courses do not count toward credit for the PhD.

The Harvard Griffin GSAS offers admitted Music students six years of full funding, in the form of stipends, teaching fellowships and finishing grants (this amount covers living expenses as well as tuition). Departmental resources include special funds for summer research and some additional fellowships.

Although we encourage performance, our graduate program is an academic one and performance activities do not count towards a degree (with the exception of creative practice/critical inquiry). As a Department of Music which does not have a performance faculty, we are not able to provide vocal or instrumental lessons. There is a lively musical scene on campus and graduate students are welcome to join many University ensembles, including those sponsored by Dudley House. Graduate student musicians sometimes perform on the special noontime University Hall Recital Series. The Harvard Group for New Music performs student compositions. Boston is home to an active musical world and many students participate as performers in music traditions ranging from early music to jazz.

No. Unfortunately, faculty are not usually available to meet with prospective students.

Prospective graduate students can email [email protected] to ask questions. If you visit the campus you may be able to talk with other students, sit in on a class, or attend a concert or lecture; email ahead to see what is possible.

Admissions Requirements

Phd program.

To apply to the PhD program in musicology, ethnomusicology, theory, composition or CPCI, you must make an application to the Harvard Kenneth C. Griffin Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (Harvard Griffin GSAS). All applications are online, and may be found (along with all the requirements, fee information, and procedures) at  http://www.gsas.harvard.edu/apply All recipients of a four-year college degree or its international equivalent may apply (students with and without master’s degrees may apply). If you are unsure whether you are eligible, please read the Harvard Griffin GSAS guidelines. Admissions decisions are made by Music Department faculty, who weigh a combination of factors such as past academic record, strength of scholarly (or compositional or performance) work, and recommendations. The TOEFL test may be required if English is not your first language (recommended minimum score is 80). Detailed information pertaining to requirements for admission are on the Harvard Griffin GSAS site listed above. The GRE General Examination is optional for all applicants.

Samples of previous work

Applicants to the all programs must submit, along with their applications, samples of their previous scholarly work (for composition applicants, this means scores and recordings; see below). The online application will allow you to upload up to 20 pages of material.

Applicants to the Creative Practice and Critical Inquiry PhD program must also submit 20 to 30 minutes of original creative work, in the form of links to online audio or video streams (Soundcloud, YouTube, Vimeo, etc.) or links to a file download (via Dropbox or similar). You may upload or share accompanying scores in PDF format to SLATE. Students should include a one page PDF containing links to online recordings. Applicants to the composition PhD program must submit three compositions in the form of links to online audio or video streams (Soundcloud, YouTube, Vimeo, etc). Recordings can be submitted as links to SoundCloud or other online resources. Students should include a one page PDF containing links to online recordings and PDF scores where applicable. The year of composition must be marked on all scores and recordings.

Submitting an Application

Harvard Griffin GSAS handles the admissions materials. All questions about the admissions process, as well as all application supplementary materials, should be sent to them by December 31 for candidates who seek entrance in the following fall term.

Admissions and Financial Aid Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Harvard University 1350 Massachusetts Avenue Holyoke Center 350 Cambridge, MA 02138-3654

Download an application electronically:  http://www.gsas.harvard.edu/apply You are required to upload all supporting documents (transcripts, writing samples, recommendations, etc) to the online application. If you have questions about your application, call 617-496-6100 (2-5pm EST) or write  [email protected] For financial aid questions call  617-495-5396  or email  [email protected] NOTE: Please do not call the Music Department about the status of your application or the return of your materials. Application materials only come to the Music Department at the very last stages of the process, and are held here in complete confidentiality until admissions recommendations are made.

We have a robust graduate student community, including through the Graduate Music Forum, weekly colloquia and lunch talk series, and performances ensembles in the GSAS Student Center. For more information about community activities happening in the music department, please consult the resources for graduate students page .

Visiting the Department

You are welcome to visit the Department at any time, although we in no way require or expect you to make the trip. We regret that we are not able to make appointments with individual faculty members during a pre-admissions visit.

If you do decide to make a visit prior to the admissions deadline there are optimum times to visit, such as between October and our December holiday break. If you visit at another time of the year, check the academic schedule to avoid reading/exam periods and semester breaks. It is not necessary to visit, nor should you see it as a way to improve your chances of admission.

Rather, a visit is simply a good way to learn about our Department’s intellectual environment and infrastructure. We urge you to consult the  course schedule  so that you can plan to sit in on one or more graduate seminars (please ask permission of the instructing professor first: music professors can be reached via email at [email protected]). This is the best way to get to know the professors and students.

You may also want to attend any colloquia, lectures, or faculty seminars that coincide with your visit (check our  calendar ), or to tour the Music Library and other Harvard libraries. It may also be possible to chat informally with some of our current graduate students, who are apt to be working in the department and library during the academic year.

Admitted students  are invited to visit as part of our admissions process (usually in March). At that time, admitted students meet with faculty, get to know our current students, and are introduced to other students who have also been admitted. This is not required, but is a good way for admitted students to get a sense of the program before they make their final decision.

Secondary Field in Musicology/Ethnomusicology

• Completion of a minimum of four courses in Music. • One of these courses must be an introductory course: Music 201a: Introduction to Historical Musicology, Music 201b: Introduction to Ethnomusicology, or Music 221: Current Issues in Theory. • The remaining three courses may be chosen from other graduate courses (200 level: “Primarily for Graduates”) or intermediate courses (150 level or above: “For Undergraduates and Graduates”). (No more than two courses may be chosen from the 150 or above level.) • Neither Pass/Fail nor audited courses will count towards a secondary PhD field. Contact the advisor in Ethnomusicology or in Musicology in the Department of Music for additional information on a secondary PhD field.

Declaring a Secondary Field

Students interested in declaring a secondary field in music should submit the “GSAS Secondary Field Application” to the Director of Graduate Studies as evidence of their successful participation in four appropriate courses in the Music Department. Once they obtain the approval of the DGS they and the registrar will receive certification of successful completion of secondary field requirements.

For further information contact the Director of Graduate Studies, Harvard University Department of Music, Music Building, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138  617-495-2791   [email protected]

For additional information  click here

Graduate School

Music Composition

General information, program offerings:, director of graduate studies:, graduate program administrator:.

Princeton offers a very open curriculum in which students are free to pursue their own individual compositional interests. At the core of the program is the student's own creative work, carried out in regular consultation with members of the composition faculty . Although the number of students enrolled in the program is small (three to five are enrolled each year), the diversity of their backgrounds and interests can be remarkable. The lively exchange of ideas among composers of markedly different approaches is an essential feature of the program. Because of this, students are required to live in Princeton during their first two years of study.

Additional departmental requirements

Scores and recordings can be accepted in the following formats:

                * Preferred Method - Create a simple website for your Princeton portfolio and enter the URL in the space provided within the application.  If you choose to link to your public website, please give us directions about which pieces we should listen to and in what order, keeping in mind that our time is limited.  Aim for about three pieces.

                * Upload Method - Upload your scores and recordings in the space(s) provided within the application. Please refer to the File Upload Requirements for more information. A maximum of six files will be accepted with each file 10MB or less.

Samples of written work (analyses, term papers, etc.) are also encouraged.

Program Offerings

Program offering: ph.d..

There are no specific core curriculum requirements, but all students are expected to take a variety of seminars during the first two years. These courses have three principal aims: (1) to develop and sharpen the skills each student needs to realize his or her compositional intentions; (2) to expand each student's conception of what is musically possible; and (3) to develop a sense of the context in which the student's own work exists by studying and writing about other music.

Students are not required to attend weekly composition lessons with a specific teacher; instead they are encouraged to meet with a range of faculty members as they feel appropriate. In addition to these consultations, there are a variety of ungraded seminars, two or three of which are given each term, chosen by students and faculty on the basis of current interests and needs. By the end of the first year of study, the student is expected to complete at least one composition and a short paper that engage musical concerns central to the student's development. In response, the faculty discusses goals and strategies for the second year and establishes specific areas of emphasis for the general examination. In both years, compositions are normally written with currently available instrumental and electronic resources in view. Students are expected to help prepare performances of at least some of their work.

Language(s)

Each student is asked to demonstrate, before taking the general examination, a working knowledge of some ancillary discipline relevant to his or her concerns as a composer: a relevant foreign language, or a relevant computer language or some other discipline that the case may suggest. The language requirement is normally satisfied by examinations administered by appropriate campus departments as part of intensive reading courses. The language requirement must be passed before a student can be admitted to the general examination. Students are urged to satisfy the language requirement during the first year of graduate study. Students are responsible to confer with the DGS about the status of their language exams.

Additional pre-generals requirements

Students are required to live in Princeton for the first two years of the program.

General exam

The general examination, normally taken at the end of the second year, is designed to establish the candidate’s readiness to undertake the Ph.D. dissertation. As part of the process, second-year students jointly produce a concert in which they respond to the music of an established composer, arranging a performance of their "response pieces" as well as they music they are responding to.  The examination itself has four parts, two of which are analytical.  These typically focus on one old and one new repertoire (e.g., Beethoven symphonies or Brahms piano music for the old repertoire; and the music of Miles Davis or Saariaho for the new). In the third part of the exam, students are asked to design a syllabus for a graduate seminar, perhaps on a particular topic (e.g., "Music and Politics"). The last quarter of the exam concerns the student's academic and compositional work.

Qualifying for the M.A.

The Master of Fine Arts (M.F.A.) degree is normally an incidental degree on the way to full Ph.D. candidacy for students in Music Composition and is earned after a student successfully completes the general examination.  It may also be awarded to students who, for various reasons, leave the Ph.D. program, provided that the following requirements have been met: all courses taken in the first two years have been successfully completed (with no incompletes), the first-year paper and compositions have been successfully completed, the language requirement has been met, and at least half of the general examination has been passed.

Students normally teach during some but not all of their first eight semesters, and never in the first year; fifth-year students are required to teach in that year.

Dissertation and FPO

After the successful completion of the general examination, the student begins the process of consultation with faculty members that leads to the candidate’s formulation of a Ph.D. dissertation proposal, and selection of an appropriate faculty adviser.

The Ph.D. dissertation comprises an original composition and a scholarly essay, both developed in consultation with two advisers. There are many combinations that could satisfy the requirements and lead to a successful dissertation. On one end of the spectrum is a large symphonic work, electro-acoustic work, two-act chamber opera, or large portfolio containing a variety of works, coupled with a smaller 30-50 page scholarly article dealing with any issue of interest to the author including but not limited to the broader artistic context and technical antecedents and exegesis of the candidate's own work. On other end of the spectrum would be a composition of relatively short duration and small forces coupled with a large (for the sake of example) 200-page monograph similarly, but more deeply and/or broadly, exploring a topic of interest. These extremes are merely meant to be flexible guidelines delineating a large continuum within which the student, in consultation with the faculty, can find the balance that best represents their contributions to the field. Work will commence with a primary adviser, joined later by a second adviser (commonly referred to as a second reader). These advisers are charged with guiding the student to a successful balance of composition and scholarship, based on the student's own interests and goals.

In the third, fourth, and fifth years, students are expected to make steady progress on both their composition and the scholarly portion of their dissertation. Since the written portion of the dissertation varies widely in length and scope (again, from 30-50 pages on the lower end to more than 200 pages at the upper end when balanced with less ambitious musical composition) and since students write scholarly prose and compose with different degrees of facility, targets for progress can be modified at the discretion of the DGS (up to and including the dissertation proposal) or the student's adviser (once chapter-writing has begun).

Prior to the Final Public Oral (also referred to as FPO and dissertation defense ), the two primary advisers make the determination as to whether the sum of composition and scholarship warrants a Ph.D., and that determination is then verified by the other members of the faculty dissertation committee at the FPO.

• Daniel L. Trueman

Director of Graduate Studies

• Steven Mackey
• Elizabeth H. Margulis

Director of Undergraduate Studies

• Wendy Heller
• Donnacha M. Dennehy
• Simon A. Morrison
• Gavin Steingo
• Dmitri Tymoczko
• Barbara A. White

Associate Professor

• Rob C. Wegman

Assistant Professor

• Tyondai A. Braxton
• Nathalie Joachim
• Jamie L. Reuland
• Anna Yu Wang

Professor of the Practice

• Gabriel Crouch
• Michael J. Pratt

Senior Lecturer

• Eric B. Cha-Beach
• Rudresh K. Mahanthappa
• Ruth A. Ochs
• Joshua Quillen
• Adam Sliwinski
• Jeffrey O. Snyder
• Olivier P. Tarpaga
• Jason Treuting
• Darcy James Argue
• Christopher Arneson
• Brian E. Brown
• Geoffrey L. Burleson
• Ronald M. Cappon
• Yousun Chung
• Matthew Clayton
• Kevin G. Deas
• Vincent B. Ector
• Martha Elliott
• Rochelle K. Ellis
• Alan Feinberg
• John J. Ferrari
• Jack D. Hill
• Jacqueline Horner-Kwiatek
• Margaret A. Kampmeier
• Francine Kay
• David S. Kellett
• Christopher A. Komer
• Brian Kuszyk
• Sunghae A. Lim
• Michelle Lordi
• Matthew Melore
• David Miller
• Clancy Newman
• Miles Okazaki
• Laura Oltman
• Alberto Parrini
• Matthew Parrish
• Sarah C. Pelletier
• Barbara J. Rearick
• Trineice Robinson-Martin
• Stacey G. Shames
• Jo-Ann Sternberg
• Arnie Tanimoto
• Jessica L. Thompson
• Julius Tolentino
• Sumi Tonooka
• Elio Villafranca-West
• Robert J. Wagner
• Kendall K. Williams
• Nancy J. Wilson

Visiting Lecturer

• Christopher T. Hailey

For a full list of faculty members and fellows please visit the department or program website.

Permanent Courses

Courses listed below are graduate-level courses that have been approved by the program’s faculty as well as the Curriculum Subcommittee of the Faculty Committee on the Graduate School as permanent course offerings. Permanent courses may be offered by the department or program on an ongoing basis, depending on curricular needs, scheduling requirements, and student interest. Not listed below are undergraduate courses and one-time-only graduate courses, which may be found for a specific term through the Registrar’s website. Also not listed are graduate-level independent reading and research courses, which may be approved by the Graduate School for individual students.

COM 532 - Publishing Articles in Literature, Art, and Music Studies Journals (also ART 531/ENG 591/MUS 533)

Mus 501 - musicology as a profession, mus 504 - medieval musical style and notation (also hls 540), mus 510 - extramural research internship, mus 512 - topics in medieval music (also med 512), mus 513 - topics in 19th- and early 20th-century music, mus 514 - topics in 19th- and early 20th-century music, mus 515 - topics in the history of opera (also com 517), mus 519 - topics in music from 1600 to 1800, mus 520 - topics in music from 1600 to 1800, mus 525 - topics in music from 1400 to 1600, mus 527 - seminar in musicology, mus 528 - seminar in musicology, mus 531 - composition, mus 532 - composition, mus 534 - ends and means: issues in composition, mus 537 - points of focus in 20th-century music, mus 538 - computer music: compositional applications, mus 540 - composing opera, mus 541 - seminar in music composition, mus 542 - instrumentation and performance, mus 545 - contexts of composition, mus 548 - creative practice in cultural perspective, mus 550 - current topics in theory and analysis, mus 560 - music cognition lab, mus 561 - music cognition lab.

Share this page

You will have access to an incredible array of resources, including the Eda Kuhn Loeb Music Library, the John Knowles Paine Concert Hall, the Isham Memorial Library, the Harvard University Studio for Electroacoustic Composition, and the Sound Lab, which offers media production suites and equipment.

With a large endowment fund, the program is able to offer you funding from sources outside Harvard Griffin GSAS. You will also have the opportunity to take advantage of many available fellowships and travel, research and writing, and conference funding throughout the year.

Examples of theses and dissertations that graduates have completed include “Activism and Music in Poland, 1978–1989,” “Art of Noise: Sound and Media in Milan, ca. 1900,” “Black Musics, African Lives, and the National Imagination in Modern Israel,” and “Technologies of Transgression and Musical Play in Video Game Cultures.”

Most graduates go on to positions in academia at institutions like the University of Southern California, Michigan State University, and University of Cambridge in England.

Additional information on the graduate program is available from the Department of Music , and requirements for the degree are detailed in Policies .

Areas of Study

Composition | Creative Practice and Critical Inquiry | Ethnomusicology | Music Theory | Musicology

Admissions Requirements

Please review the admissions requirements and other information before applying. You can find degree program-specific admissions requirements below and access additional guidance on applying from the Department of Music .

Samples of Previous Work

Applicants to all programs must submit samples of their previous scholarly work by uploading it in the Additional Materials section of the application. Applicants to the creative practice and critical inquiry PhD program must also submit 20 to 30 minutes of original creative work in the form of links to online audio or video streams (Soundcloud, YouTube, Vimeo, etc.) or links to a file download (via Dropbox or similar) by using the Digital Portfolio section of the application. Applicants to the composition PhD program must submit three compositions in the form of links to online audio or video streams (Soundcloud, YouTube, Vimeo, etc.). Recordings can be submitted as links to SoundCloud or other online resources by using the Digital Portfolio section of the application. Students should include a one-page PDF containing links to online recordings and PDF scores where applicable. The year of composition must be marked on all scores and recordings.

Personal Statement

Standardized tests.

GRE General: Optional

Theses and Dissertations

Theses & Dissertations for Music

See list of Music faculty

APPLICATION DEADLINE

Questions about the program.

Arts Homepage

Arts calendar, socials and email news, staff directory.

• Map of Music Spaces
• Directions and Parking Parking
• About the Builders
• Construction Photos
• Equity and Opportunity in Music Committee
• Job Openings
• Artists in Residence
• Concert Band
• Musics of the World
• Noon Concerts
• Student Recitals
• Symphony Orchestra
• About / History
• Music Lectures
• Music Faculty
• Ensemble Directors
• Harpsichord
• String Bass
• Viola da Gamba
• Affiliated Faculty
• Emeriti & Retirees
• In Memoriam
• Undergraduate Staff Advisors
• Peer Advisors
• Undergraduate Faculty Advisor
• Graduate Staff Advisor
• Graduate Faculty Advisors
• Composition
• Ethnomusicology
• Graduate Students
• Undergraduates
• Track 1: Music Composition
• Track 2: Music History, Theory, & Ethnomusicology
• Track 3: Music Performance
• Track 4: Independent Track
• Study Abroad
• Internships
• PhD in Musicology
• PhD in Composition and Theory
• PhD in Ethnomusicology
• MA in Conducting
• Fees, How to Pay
• Practice Rooms
• Instruments, Lockers
• Bluegrass and Old Time String Band
• Chamber Ensembles
• Samba School
• Concerto Competition
• Composition Award
• Ground Rules These are the UC Davis Symphony Orchestra's Rules

Music PhD in Composition

Graduate Studies

Princeton University Concerts at the Movies: "The Music of Strangers" Yo-Yo Ma & The Silk Road Ensemble Documentary Screening

Wed, Sep 25, 2024 7:00 pm

Steeped in tradition and charting new pathways

at the intersection of the creation, performance, and study of music.

Our graduate program invites students to earn a Ph.D. in composition or musicology , advancing their craft and research within the inspiring interdisciplinary, immersive spirit of the Princeton University campus. With an average of 24 students in each area of study at a time, our graduate program allows for fully-funded, focused study with a stellar faculty, and within an intimate community that celebrates the intersection between the creation, study, and performance of music. Regardless of their area of concentration, all students are welcomed and encouraged to take courses with world-renowned composers, musicologists, and musicians; take instrumental or voice lessons in the private studios of top professionals; and enjoy or even participate in the vibrant performance scene across campus. As an extension of this integrative approach, graduate students can also apply for a joint doctoral degree through the Interdisciplinary Humanities program, or through the Neuroscience program .

Long at the vanguard of the art of music composition, Princeton’s Graduate Program in Composition considers it essential for composers to build their own vision based on their strengths and passions, while remaining actively open to new musical experiences shared by the community. The program embraces many kinds of musics, engaging with diverse musical languages and creative practices. At the heart of our creative endeavor is the public concert series Princeton Sound Kitchen, in which both faculty and graduate students have their new works workshopped and premiered by some of the world’s finest professional musicians and ensembles, including the Cone Artist Ensemble in Residence, Sō Percussion . The program also provides cutting edge resources for computer/electronic music research, facilitates interaction with visiting composers through the colloquium series, and supports collaborations involving dance, theater, and film through the Lewis Center for the Arts . 

With a long tradition of excellence and innovation, the musicology program at Princeton University encompasses historical, theoretical, cognitive and ethnographic approaches. Graduate students become part of a vibrant scholarly and artistic community. In addition to working closely with our renowned  musicology faculty  as seminar leaders and advisers, musicology students can explore Princeton’s rich offerings in the humanities and sciences, have access to the excellent  Mendel Music Library , and—with subsidized  private studio i nstruction  and the opportunity to participate in the Music Department’s superb  ensembles —are encouraged to make performance an integral part of their lives.  With  Sō Percussion  in residence, the  Princeton University Concerts  series,  Princeton Sound Kitchen , and the many performances by our many ensembles, musicology students can partake of a rich and eclectic concert life.  

Questions? Contact:

Gregory Deane Smith

Academic Administrator

• Skip to Content
• Catalog Home
• University of Oregon Home

Site Navigation

• Undergraduate Programs
• Graduate Programs
• Core-Education Courses
• Apply to the UO

• School of Music and Dance >

Music Composition (PhD)

• Music (BA/​BS)
• Music Composition (BMus)
• Music Education (BMME)
• Music Performance (BMus)
• Music: Jazz Studies (BMus)
• Popular Music (BA/​BS)
• Music Minor
• Music Production Minor
• Music Technology Minor
• Data-​Driven Music Performance and Composition (PhD)
• Intermedia Music Technology (MMus)
• Music Composition (MMus)
• Music Conducting (MMus)
• Music Education (MMus)
• Music Education (PhD)
• Music Performance (MMus)
• Music Performance (DMA)
• Music Theory (MA)
• Music Theory (PhD)
• Music: Jazz Studies (MMus)
• Musicology (MA)
• Musicology (PhD)
• Pedagogy: Piano (MMus)
• Music Performance Graduate Certificate
• Music Graduate Specializations

https://musicanddance.uoregon.edu/

The University of Oregon offers a Doctor of Philosophy in Data-Driven Music Performance and Composition, Music Composition, Music Education, Music Theory, and Musicology.

Program Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this program, students will be able to:

• The doctoral degree program in composition stresses creative activity emphasizing the development of a personal aesthetic expressible in sound.
• Competencies also include a broad knowledge of historical and contemporary compositional practices, music theory, history and criticism, and creative approaches to relationships of these to the compositional process.

Doctor of Philosophy in Music Composition Requirements

Chosen in consultation with faculty advisor. These courses are intended to assist with content creation of the final writing/creation of dissertation or lecture document. 

Chosen in consultation with faculty advisor. These courses are intended to prepare students for the research and writing/creation of dissertation or lecture document.   

Composition dissertation proposal.  

Musicology/Ethnomusicology Courses

MUS 660-664 can only count after the student has already fulfilled the Music in Historic Era requirement.

Office of Admissions 1217 University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403-1217

• Report a Concern
• Nondiscrimination and Title IX
• Accessibility
• Privacy Policy
• Find People

Print this page.

The PDF will include all information unique to this page.

Graduate Program in Composition

Previous handbook for those entering in 2023 or earlier

The composition program at Cornell combines private lessons and group seminars, with an emphasis on the development of the student’s personal approach to composition. The DMA blends scholarship with artistic work. We require a foreign language and a thesis analyzing the dissertation piece and contextualizing the student’s work, and we expect that all composers will take some seminars in scholarly subjects. One strength of the program is that, like all Cornell doctorates in the humanities, the DMA program in composition offers the adventurous student the opportunity to study many subjects, including topics outside the field of music, and to meld these into a highly individual course of study.

All DMA students are admitted with four full years of funding in the form of two years of fellowships and two years of teaching assistantships. Students who do not already have a master’s degree in music earn the Master of Fine Arts in the course of their study; but the MFA is not normally viewed as a terminal degree at Cornell, and those wishing to earn only the master’s degree are not admitted.

In addition to seminar work and lessons, students will be required to present a public concert of their work comprising a substantial amount of music in various media composed during their study at Cornell. As part of the DMA dissertation, students are required to complete a significant work, the scope of which will be determined in consultation with the Special Committee.

Works by doctoral composers are performed by the student-managed Experimental Sound Series (ESS), typically once per year, and at other events in collaboration with DMA performance practice students. They are also presented by groups invited under the aegis of the Steven Stucky Memorial Residency for New Music. Finally, the Festival Chamber Orchestra (FCO)—a large ensemble modeled on a standard sinfonietta configuration (with or without electronic media)—presents an annual concert of doctoral students’ scores.

Composition Admissions

Academic Requirements:

Students wishing to enroll in the D.M.A. Composition program must have a B.A., B.Mus., M.A. or an equivalent academic background.

Application Deadline:

January 15th for Fall admissions.  (The Fall semester begins at the end of August)

Application Materials:

The following materials must be submitted online via the Cornell University Graduate School  online application system :

Cornell Graduate School Online Application form

Application Fee

• Academic Statement of Purpose
• Personal Statement

Transcripts (and English translations if required)

TOEFL scores (see  Graduate School TOEFL requirements  for further details)

Three letters of recommendation from faculty members acquainted with your work

• An essay, term paper, or honors paper dealing with music composition
• Scores of two or three recent compositions, with audio/video links (no Google drive, please) or MP3 recording

Every student accepted into the DMA program in composition at Cornell receives four years of guaranteed funding, including financial support for three summers. Every student is given a Sage fellowship for the first and fourth years; the latter Sage fellowship may be deferred if outside funding is procured by the student. The remaining two years of funding are in the form of teaching assistantships. Student Health Insurance is provided under fellowship and teaching assistantships. Partners, spouses, and dependents can be included for additional charges.

Ordinarily the DMA program may be completed within four years, though some students may require more time. When possible the department may offer additional semesters of teaching, but such support is not guaranteed. Many students seek outside fellowships beginning in their third year. There are also a few dissertation fellowships available through various Cornell programs. Entering students are encouraged to apply for Javits, Mellon, or other outside fellowships as another means of extending their graduate support. For a list of external and internal graduate fellowships (searchable by keyword, program name, or deadline) see the  Graduate School Fellowship Database.

The Department of Music offers a wide variety of teaching experiences, and the faculty makes every effort to match interest and skill to course offerings.  Click here to learn more  about teaching assistantships.

Program History

The DMA program in composition is uniquely flexible and is developed in close consultation with the student’s Special Committee. Students may combine their study in the Field of Music (music and sound studies, performance) with work in other Fields at Cornell.

“Field of Music,” or “Field” for short, is the official Graduate School designation for the graduate programs and the Graduate Faculty in music. The Director of Graduate Studies (DGS), coordinates the activities of the Field, including such concerns as admissions, financial aid, advising, and job hunting, and represents the Field vis-à-vis the Graduate School. Even though it will not have much effect on your program, it is useful to know that the Department of Music and the Field of Music are not coterminous; some faculty members of the Department are not members of the Field, and most graduate Fields, like ours, include faculty members from several departments.

The nature and history of Cornell’s D.M.A. degree.

The current composition faculty includes Kevin Ernste and Marianthi Papalexandri-Alexandri, who together offer instruction in an unusually wide range of contemporary musical practices: electroacoustic and computer music, sound art, installation, new media, improvisation, instrument building, and scored composition.

The first bona fide appointment in music at Cornell went to a composer, Arthur Farwell, who served from 1899 to 1901. The proper history of the composition program really begins in 1941, though, with the appointment of Roy Harris as Composer-in-Residence under a grant from the Carnegie Corporation. It was Harris who established the first graduate seminar in composition, and Harris who guided John Vincent to the first Cornell PhD in composition in 1942. He was succeeded in 1943 by his own student, Robert Palmer, under whose leadership for the next thirty-seven years the program came to national prominence. In 1954 Karel Husa left Paris for Cornell, replacing Hunter Johnson (1948-54), and Husa’s growing reputation in the 1970s and ’80s further secured Cornell’s prominent role in the training of American composers. Palmer retired in 1980, to be succeeded by his own student Steven Stucky, who was the Given Foundation Professor of Music until 2014; Husa retired in 1992, to be succeeded by Roberto Sierra, who was the Old Dominion Professor of Humanities, Music, until 2022. For many years, electronic music pioneer David Borden (an associate of Robert Moog and founder of the world’s first live synthesizer ensemble, Mother Mallard’s Portable Masterpiece Company) taught electronic music, mostly to undergraduate non-majors, but in 2005 Kevin Ernste came to Cornell as Director of the Cornell Electroacoustic Music Center, bringing computer and electronic music to graduate composition. In 2016, composer, performer, and sound artist Marianthi Papalexandri-Alexandri joined the composition faculty, and the program welcomed Elizabeth Ogonek in 2021.

Cornell instituted a separate doctorate in composition in 1957. At that time the faculty in music argued for the establishment of the professional degree Doctor of Musical Arts instead of the more scholarly Doctor of Philosophy. In technical terms, the DMA, being a professional degree like JD or DVM, is subject to certain requirements of the State of New York as well as to the jurisdiction of the Graduate School and the Field of Music. In practical terms, the DMA is widely looked upon as emphasizing professional and artistic skills more than scholarship or research, and during the latter part of the twentieth century it became the terminal degree for most composers in US graduate programs.

The situation at Cornell is somewhat different. Here the DMA, while still fundamentally a professional degree in composing, aims at a balanced combination of professional training and scholarly endeavor. This dual emphasis exists in part in response to Cornell’s distinguished tradition of musical scholarship, its eminent faculty in music and sound studies, and its outstanding library system, and in part to a realistic assessment of the state of the profession: composers who hope to enter college-level teaching must be competent not only at composing but also at a broad range of academic musical subjects. Thus it is in the nature of the Cornell DMA that, although each candidate will follow a different course, each will be expected to pursue excellence in both spheres, the professional and the scholarly.

The Master of Fine Arts degree.

Applicants who wish to earn only the master’s degree in composition are not admitted, but those who enter the doctoral program without having already earned a master’s do receive the MFA in the course of their study toward the DMA. The master’s degree requires a thesis consisting of a significant new work. The final exam for the MFA, at which the thesis is presented and defended, is combined with the doctoral Admission-to-Candidacy Examination, described below. The Cornell MFA cannot be granted to a student who has already earned any master’s degree in music at another institution.

In this respect, it differs from the MA awarded to PhD candidates in musicology upon the successful completion of their A exams. The latter is what the Graduate School calls a “Special Master’s” (i.e., one for which no thesis is required). The MFA awarded to composers, since it does require a thesis, is not “special.”

Program Requirements

The programs and activities in music at Cornell are rich and varied. Only certain aspects of the formal requirements are described here. For other details, and for information about anything else, you should ask your Special Committee Chair, the DGS, other professors, and fellow students. The flexible, decentralized Special Committee system means that, ultimately, the shape of your program and what you get out of it depend primarily on you. The more questions you ask of the greater number of people, the better will be your chances of formulating your own best answers.

The Special Committee.

The Special Committee of a doctoral candidate comprises three or four professors who are members of the Graduate Field. Each of the three regular members of your Committee must represent a particular “concentration,” as defined in the legislation of the Graduate School. In music, these are composition, performance practice, and music and sound studies.

Every Committee includes a chair and two or three “minor members.” The chair always represents the major subject — composition, for our purposes. Two minor members also represent official subjects or concentrations. The minors available to you include composition (again), music and sound studies, and performance practice within the Field of Music, and, of course, countless possibilities in other Fields. One minor fairly often lies outside the Field of Music; you may even elect two outside minors, but only with prior approval of the Field as a whole. (No more than three subjects are ever represented on a Special Committee. If you include a fourth professor, officially they “do not represent a minor subject.”) Retired professors with the status of Graduate School Professor may co-chair a committee if they remain in the Ithaca area.

Your Special Committee, then, will assume the following form:

Chair: composition

Minor member: composition, performance practice, or music and sound studies

Minor member: one of the above, or an outside minor

[Fourth member: Not representing a subject (optional); often used for an “extra” composer]

Other arrangements are possible. For example, you may petition the Field for permission to include as a minor member other members of the Music Department faculty who are not on the Graduate Field.

If you wish formal supervision in a discipline that is not adequately represented at Cornell, you can, with the approval of your Special Committee, petition the Graduate School to permit the appointment of an authority from outside Cornell. You must have three Cornell members on your Special Committee in any case; an outside member would thus become a fourth. All decisions regarding the composition of your Committee are subject to the approval of the entire Committee.

Note: There is understandable confusion about the difference between a “subject” and a “concentration.” As a DMA student, your major subject is “music,” your concentration “composition.” The Special Committee form that you will fill out asks for a faculty member’s “concentration.” This is a category that is recognized and tracked by New York State legislation and that represents our degree programs.

The formation of your Special Committee is an important step, not to be rushed into pro forma. During the transition period in your first year, the DGS, acting as your temporary chair, can sign the necessary forms and can offer advice about forming your Committee. You must have chosen at least a chair by the beginning of your second year; ideally, you will have formulated your entire Committee by then, since to delay this step much further would seriously jeopardize your progress toward the degree. It is important to work with all three faculty composers, if at all possible, during your first year, since before the beginning of classes in the fall of your second year you will have to invite one of them to chair your Committee. You will want to be sure that you are going to be comfortable doing the bulk of your composition study with that person for the remaining three years.

At first, almost nobody will have a clear idea about minor members and minor subjects. The most natural and effective way to get to know the professors in the Field is to take courses with them or work with them independently, and this is a powerful reason to take as heavy a load of courses and other work in your first year as you can manage. When setting up your Committee, do not take a professor’s participation for granted. Any professor may refuse to serve on any Committee. A request to serve should be preceded by extended acquaintance and prior consultation.

You may change your Committee on your own initiative. Although this is not something to be done lightly or frequently, it is a normal procedure and should be considered whenever a substantial benefit seems probable. Unless you have already passed the A exam, no special permission is required except that of the remaining and new members of the reformulated Committee. (The retiring members and the DGS must also sign the form — they may not decline to do so — so that each professor concerned and the Field as a whole understand the reasons for the change.)

From one Committee to another, the substance and style of a chair’s supervision, the relationships among the various subjects, and the extent to which the minor members take an active role, all vary widely. In these as in many aspects of your study at Cornell, it is up to you to formulate your own goals and to suggest ways of achieving them. Moreover, only you can take the initiative necessary to explore the potential connections among your subjects and to stimulate the active interest of your Committee members. You must ensure, among other things, that your Committee formally meet with you as a group at least once every semester. (This is a policy of the Field as a whole.)

The normal minimum residence requirement for the DMA is eight “residence units.” A residence unit is defined as satisfactory full-time study for one semester, with appropriate progress toward the degree. (The Special Committee is required to certify to the Graduate School at the end of each term whether your progress has been satisfactory and your work “full-time,” and to recommend whether you should receive a full residence unit for that term.) The minimum requirement is thus equivalent to eight semesters of full-time study. It is possible to earn credit “in absentia,” while studying away from Ithaca, and to earn partial credit even if you must work more than 15 hours a week. A student who comes with a master’s from another institution may petition for reduction of the minimum requirement, usually to six units. (In practice, however, it is very rare for any DMA candidate to do fewer than eight units, with or without a prior master’s degree.) At least two of the minimum eight units must be spent in consecutive semesters of full-time study in Ithaca. At least two of the eight must follow the passing of the A exam (although this requirement, too, can be waived upon petition).

The minimum Field requirement for composers is reading knowledge of one foreign language. In consultation with your Special Committee, you should settle as early as possible the question of which language or languages you are expected to know. Native speakers of other languages are a special case. Sometimes their native language is appropriate for their dissertation research, and that’s fine; if not, though, the Field or the Special Committee might insist on yet a third language more closely connected to the work at hand. The Field considers computer coding languages to be equivalent to other languages. 

The requirement should be satisfied as soon as possible, preferably during the first year of residence. (In any case, the language requirement must have been completed before you will be permitted to attempt “A’s.”) Both the usual undergraduate language courses and special courses meant for graduate students preparing for exams are available to you. The Field administers its own exams in French, German, and Spanish at the beginning of each semester, and in other languages as needed. At the end of your first year, certification that you have made satisfactory progress toward the degree will hinge in part on your having passed the language requirement by then, or at least having demonstrated that you are close to doing so.

Courses and independent work.

You and your Committee decide on your courses and other activities each term. Ideally, each semester’s decisions fit into your long-range program, whose goals become increasingly clear from term to term. Although every composition student is encouraged to take all available composition seminars, you must take at least one seminar with each composition faculty member.

You will also be expected to take Composition (Music 7111) every semester, and to attend the composers forum and all rehearsals, workshops, and conferences related to the ESS, FCO, and Stucky Residency. Whatever your stated minors, most Special Committees will expect you to do some work in music and sound studies and computer and electroacoustic music. In the Composition program, Committees often expect students to take a minimum of six to eight 4000 (or higher)-level courses outside of 7111, ensembles, and performance lessons; these might also include courses in a minor subject outside the Field of Music.

In addition to formal work in composition and analysis, Committees expect at least two formal seminars in music and sound studies, for several reasons: to create opportunities to explore the interconnections among subjects and the relationships between scholarship and creative work; to strengthen academic credentials with a view to winning a college teaching position; and to provide practice in academic thinking and writing. One of these two seminars may be taken outside of Music, with the prior permission of the Special Committee.

PhD students in music and sound studies are generally considered to carry a full-time load if they take three seminars for credit and do a modest amount of independent work. For composers, the notion of full-time load is sometimes treated more flexibly, owing chiefly to the demands of composing. Indeed, the general expectation is that you will present new work on the concerts of the Experimental Sound Series and the Stucky Residency ensemble at least twice a year, and that you will write a work for the FCO at least once during your four-year residence, and taken together these expectations already represent a formidable commitment of time and energy even before formal courses are added to your load. In general, formal participation in courses will be greatest during the first two years, when students usually sample widely within the Field, satisfy the language requirement, and explore minor subjects within the Field or outside. In later years, less and less time is spent in seminars, as students prepare for exams and write theses. Moreover, the Field feels strongly that all candidates in music, DMA and PhD alike, should have teaching experience. Other things being equal, every graduate student in music will be offered teaching assistantships beginning in the second year. A good rule of thumb for composers is to take about three courses each term in year 1, two courses each term in years 2 and 3 (always including Composition as one course every term). This pace would produce a total of eight courses besides Music 7111, and the faculty considers that to be about right.

The Field as a whole offers about three to five graduate seminars each term. Composition is offered every term. In general, Music 6201 (Introduction to Bibliography and Research) is offered every fall for first-year students. An attempt is made to offer every other “active” course at least once every second or third year. But there is no guarantee that any particular course will be offered within any given period of time, or that any particular pattern of courses will be maintained without change. At the beginning of each year, the graduate courses to be offered that year and, where possible, in succeeding years are described in a general meeting of graduate students and Graduate Faculty.

Many important topics, and even whole areas of study, are not covered by formal courses. The faculty believe that this price is worth paying for the benefits of a small, intimate program, including high-level research seminars and a great deal of individual attention. The chief responsibility for filling in the gaps lies with you. The techniques you learn in formal courses should carry over to your independent work. Your professors will expect you, on your own, to keep up with recent acquisitions in the Music Library, to read articles and reviews in current journals, to study and listen to music, to attend meetings, conferences, and festivals when feasible, and so on.

As for composing, it is impossible to generalize about what constitutes an acceptable level of productivity; this is a matter for you and your Special Committee, and it depends on many variables. But it is important that, at a minimum, you be represented (preferably by new work) on the concerts of the Experimental Sound Series and the Stucky Residency ensemble at least twice a year. Much depends on these concerts, since they provide the only opportunity for the Field as a whole to assess your progress. In your first or second year (determined by your Special Committee), you will be expected to present a new work for the Festival Chamber Orchestra (instrumentation: 1111 - 1110 - 1 percussionist - keyboard - string quintet, with the option of electronics and mixed media).

The Admission-to-Candidacy Examination

Every DMA candidate must pass a general examination in composition, analysis, and twentieth- and twenty-first-century music, called the Admission-to-Candidacy Examination, or “A exam” for short. (The term candidacy refers to acceptance into doctoral status.) The A exam may not be attempted earlier than the beginning of the third semester, nor later than the beginning of the seventh semester of full-time study. Most students take them during the fifth and sixth semesters. The date is jointly agreed between you and your Committee. For composers, the A exam comes in two stages. Stage I comprises analysis of an assigned work and the composition of a new piece, followed by an oral exam in which the student presents their analysis to the committee and the committee discusses the composition. Stage II comprises written questions in recent music history and analysis, followed by an oral exam on these questions, as well as on the student’s dissertation proposal.

Stage I of the A Exam is typically taken over 72 hours (Friday to Sunday) during the 5th semester and Stage II over 72 hours (Friday to Sunday) in the 6th semester, but there is no reason they cannot be taken closer together. You will find the dates that make the most sense with your Special Committee.

Before you can prepare for Stage II, you and your Committee must first agree in advance on a subject list, typically by the end of the 4th semester. The subject list usually consists of ten twentieth- and twenty-first-century composers distributed into three tiers:

Tier I. One composer, about whom you will become as thorough an expert as possible.

Tier II. Three composers, whose works you know in considerable detail and about whom you know the scholarly and analytical literature well.

Tier III. An additional six composers, for each of whom you know a handful of important works well and about whose work you have a good working knowledge, both of the works and the analytical and historical issues associated with them.

In consultation with your Special Committee, composer slots may be substituted by up to five general topics within the overall list.

The oral exam for Stage I will typically take 90 minutes. You will present your analysis of the assigned work for 30 minutes, then answer questions from the Committee. The second half of the oral exam will be devoted to discussion of the composition assignment.

The oral exam for Stage II will typically take two hours, and will cover your responses to the essay questions about your composer list, as well as a dissertation plan for a significant work, which is due along with the essays for Stage II. 

In principle, your subject list merely gives a framework around which you organize your study; your Committee can ask you anything it considers necessary for your professional credentials. Only the oral exam of Stage II is scheduled formally through the Graduate School, and this must be done at least one week in advance, on a form signed by your Committee and by the DGS. Any member of the Graduate Faculty is entitled to attend the orals and to ask questions, but only your Special Committee votes on your performance. A unanimous vote is required to pass; you will be informed of the result immediately. Should you fail, your Committee may choose to give you a second chance after another semester or two. Most students who prepare conscientiously pass the first time.

For students earning an MFA (i.e., any DMA candidate who does not already hold a master’s degree in music from another institution), the final exam for that degree is held concurrently with the A exam, and the student presents a master’s thesis consisting of a substantial new work.

The D.M.A. recital

At some time during your study, usually after the A exam but always before the B exam, you must present a public concert comprising a substantial amount of music (in consultation with your Special Committee) in various media composed during your study at Cornell. Selecting the program, procuring performers, and rehearsing are your responsibility.

The Department of Music provides financial support toward the cost of hiring performers. This amount must include performance fees, housing, transportation, meals, instrument rentals, and any other cost associated with the concert.

The performers must be contracted in advance of the performance using Cornell’s official artist contract. Housing is often available on campus. Receipts must be submitted for all expenses, and certain requirements must be followed for items like truck rental and travel reimbursement. The Events Manager can assist in administering these details.

The date and time of the recital and any rehearsal time should be scheduled with the Events Manager as early as possible to avoid departmental conflicts. The candidate is responsible for moving any needed instruments and equipment to and from the performance space and should coordinate those moves with the Events Manager. The Events Manager will set deadlines for the candidate to provide their program content, including any program notes, etc.

The D.M.A. presentation

In your final semester, you will deliver a public presentation on your compositional work and its intellectual and artistic context. The presentation should last between 75 and 90 minutes, and should include recordings, score excerpts, and/or other documentation as supporting material. Your talk will be followed by questions from the Committee and the audience, and should be scheduled within a week before the DMA defense (colloquially known as the “B Exam”), which is only attended by you and your Special Committee. You should coordinate the scheduling of your DMA presentation with your Committee and the Events Manager of the Department.

The D.M.A. thesis and defense

Part I of the thesis is a significant work, the scope of which will be determined in consultation with the Special Committee. Like all aspects of your thesis, the DMA composition should be discussed with your Committee well in advance.

Part II consists of a written analysis and explication of the Part I dissertation work, with historical and cultural contextualization as necessary; this document should be no longer than 10,000 words, and must be submitted to your Committee and accepted as finished before you will be allowed to schedule the final oral defense (often referred to as the “B Exam”).

On matters of general style, follow the latest edition of the University of Chicago Press Manual of Style (also available online) for Part II. Follow, too, the published instructions distributed online by the Graduate School, and consult the Thesis Secretary frequently. 4 It would be reasonable to spend a whole year doing little else but writing the thesis essay, completing and polishing the composition portfolio, presenting the DMA recital, and preparing the B Exam presentation. Thus a student who succeeds in finishing within four years will usually have followed approximately the following timetable:

• Take about four seminars (in addition to 7111 Composers Forum, for a total of about six)
• Pass the language requirement
• Compose works for the ESS, Stucky Residency ensemble, and/or FCO 5
• Take about two seminars (in addition to 7111 Composers Forum, for a total of about four)
• Propose the A exam composer list
• Compose works for the ESS, Stucky Residency ensemble, and/or FCO
• Take about two seminars (in addition to 7111 Composers Forum, for a total of about four).
• Complete the A exams
• If eligible, submit the MFA thesis composition
• Complete Parts I and II of the thesis
• Deliver the DMA presentation
• Present the DMA recital
• Complete the B exam

It is important to finish on time, because the days when an ABD (“all but dissertation”) could get a teaching job seem to be over, as do the days when additional financial aid was sometimes available for extra years of residence beyond the four-year guarantee.

4 Rules and standards change; do not simply model your format on old theses in the library.

5 Students typically compose for the FCO in their second and fourth years, but with other expectations, such as writing for the Experimental Sound Series and the Stucky Residency ensemble, available opportunities will surely continue to evolve. The basic principle is this: you are expected to write a substantial amount of music in each of your four years, covering a wide range of performing forces and formal types. The Department of Music and Field will endeavor to provide performance opportunities for many but probably not all of these projects.

The final examination (dissertation defense)

This examination is oral, based on complete and polished versions of your DMA composition (Part I) and written analysis and explication (Part II), in their final form save for minor corrections arising during the exam itself. It focuses primarily on the thesis itself, but broader issues may arise out of the thesis topic or the DMA composition(s). The examination must be passed and the thesis accepted by unanimous vote of your Committee. (The provisions for visitors are the same as for A’s: any member of the Graduate Faculty may attend and ask questions, but only your Special Committee will vote.)

The final examination must be passed within seven calendar years of the date of your matriculation. (You need not be in residence at the time, however.) If your thesis is submitted after this deadline, the B’s may not be scheduled until a petition, endorsed by your Committee and by the DGS, is approved by the Graduate School.

Composers' Forum

The Composers’ Forum is part of the 7111 composition seminar and is curated by the composition faculty. It is also often combined with masterclasses and studio critique sessions led by the guest composer. Students are expected to attend all sessions and actively participate in the forum conversations.

Forum meetings take place on select Fridays at 1:25 PM in the Alfred E. Kahn Seminar Room, room 316, within the  Sidney Cox Library of Music and Dance  (main entrance at 220 Lincoln Hall), except where noted. All meetings are open to the public.

General Program Calendar

Week before classes

• Orientation
• Language exams
• Diagnostic conversation with DGS and Department Chair
• Choose courses for the fall

Fall semester

• Seminars/composing/performances
• Language study, as necessary
• Choose courses for the spring
• Meet with the DGS at least once

Spring semester

• Begin thinking about Special Committee Chair
• Participate in prospective student visits

Second year

• Special Committee Chair must be selected by the beginning of the semester, and the rest of the committee by the end
• Complete language exams
• Meet with Special Committee at least once
• Seminars/composing/performances (double check seminar distribution requirements: one with each composer, two with other Music Field faculty)
• A Exam planning
• Choose course(s) for the fall
• A Exam preparation
• Seminar(s)/composing/performances (double check seminar distribution requirements: one with each composer, two with other Dept faculty)
• Thesis research and preparation of proposal
• Choose course(s) for spring
• A Exam; Phase II oral exam must be scheduled at least seven days in advance, and the final report must be filed within three days of completion – check with the grad field assistant for help (see  http://www.gradschool.cornell.edu/forms  for required schedule and reporting forms)
• Seminar(s)/composing/performances

Fourth year

• Possible seminar/composing/performances
• DMA recital (or Spring)
• Thesis research and writing
• Possible Randel fellowship
• DMA recital (or previous Fall)
• Possible seminar/composing/performances 
• Thesis defense; defense (B Exam) must be scheduled at least seven days in advance and the final report must be filed within three days following the defense– consult the grad field assistant for help (see http://www.gradschool.cornell.edu/forms for required scheduling and reporting forms)

Music Composition

Master of arts / phd.

Write Your Future

The school of music’s highly competitive graduate-level composition program welcomes students who demonstrate extraordinary intellectual curiosity and whose primary goal is to communicate with others on a profoundly human level. Above all, our faculty of renowned composers seek students whose personal voice is clearly discernible.

Students in the M.A. and Ph.D programs can specialize in Composition or in Composition for Visual Media. The cross-pollination between the specializations distinguishes the program. All students are expected to acquire and master advanced skills, which involves continued intensive study of music theory, counterpoint, orchestration, analysis, technology, performance, the traditional Western canon and its history, in tandem with the study of popular, jazz, rock, folk, and non-Western traditions.

Both the M.A. and Ph.D programs emphasize the collaborative relationship between composers and performers in such a way that a simulated professional experience is achieved. Composition students have the opportunity to take film music courses and world music for film. Film music composers have the opportunity to broaden their horizons by being part of a true composition program, and this gives composers stylistic depth and breadth.

By the end of the M.A., students will be thoroughly prepared to enter the professional arena, graduating with the tools they need to compose music for multiple purposes, be it for a concert piece, a film, or an opera. The Ph.D. program is designed in a two-fold manner: graduate composers are trained to become both practicing artists in their field and to become mentors for the next generations of artist-scholars.

Meet Our Graduate Composition Students

Jake Heggie ’84, M.A. ’05

B.a. composition ’84, m.a. composition ’05.

Jake Heggie  is an American composer of opera, vocal, orchestral and chamber music. He is best known for his operas and art songs, as well as for his collaborations with internationally-renowned performers and writers. Hailed by the Associated Press as “one of the pre-eminent contemporary opera composers,” Heggie is most known for his contributions to the American operatic repertoire, which includes “Dead Man Walking,” “Moby-Dick,” “It’s a Wonderful Life,” and “Three Decembers,” among others. His work has been produced on five continents at some of the world’s greatest opera houses and concert halls. In September 2021, “Dead Man Walking” received its 71st production at the Norwegian National Opera & Ballet in Oslo, Norway, making it the most widely performed American opera of the 21st century.

Read more to learn about his experiences at UCLA, the silver linings of challenges throughout his career and advice for young musical artists.

Composition Faculty

Related news, upcoming events, explore other degrees.

• Skip to Content
• Catalog Home
• Institution Home
• Graduate Catalog /
• School of Arts & Sciences /
• Music: Musical Composition, PhD

Related Programs

• Music: Jazz and Popular Music, Minor
• Music: Music, Minor

Music: Composition, PhD

• Music: Music Studies, PhD

The Ph.D. program in Composition stresses training in the craft of composition, contemporary repertory, and theory and analysis. Instruction in composition comprises much of the course requirement; such instruction takes the form of private lessons. Participation in the concert life of the department and attendance at Composers’ Forum events complement that instruction. Students are assigned to particular instructors for composition lessons by the Director of Graduate Studies on the advice of the composition faculty. Composition instructors are assigned on a rotating basis to assure that all students are exposed to a variety of approaches and have the opportunity to work with each member of the composition faculty during the period of coursework. The Department of Music at the University of Pennsylvania also offers a Ph.D. program in Music Studies, and composition students also take several courses with the music studies faculty during their coursework.

For more information: https://music.sas.upenn.edu/

View the University’s Academic Rules for PhD Programs .

Required Courses

Forum and Lessons

During their third year in the program, composition students will continue non-credit participation in both forum and lessons.

Musicianship Requirement

The musicianship requirement may be fulfilled through demonstrating facility as a performer, or through an exam administered by faculty. Students should consult with faculty about what performance opportunities might be most appropriate for them. For instance, with faculty approval, this requirement could be met through performing at a sufficiently high level (including conducting) in a Penn Sound Collective, or similar, concert. It could also be met by participating for one academic year in a Department-sponsored ensemble. Alternatively, a student may, in consultation with the faculty, take an exam in which facility in sight-singing, dictation, and keyboard are demonstrated. This requirement must be fulfilled by the end of the second year of study.

First-year Exam:

During the summer after year 1, composition students will write three short essays (5-6 pages each) that respond to the following prompts:

• Reflect on a new piece you have composed and had performed during your first year or first summer of being in the program. Comment on your own work, citing its expressive goals, what worked and what didn’t, the role of revision, etc. include mention of two other pieces or composers that you consider to be influences or models and comment on this work in relation to your own. The score and/or recording of the piece in questions should accompany the essay.
• Choose a composer or piece that you consider to be far away from your own work, either in technique or aesthetic. Write a short essay that involves some analysis of this work. (This should not be a biographical sketch but rather an engagement with the music.)
• Choose a composer of general interest to you for future study, and not yet mentioned in either of the above short essays, Write on that person’s work. (This essay may involve a broader scope than the second essay, but again should not be merely a biographical sketch.)

The purpose of this project is to assess your ability to complete the Ph.D. in Composition as well as to consolidate a foundation for success. We care about the writing: your ability to be articulate when you write about music, both your own and that of others, is important. The music with which you engage here need not be only contemporary. In fact, we encourage consideration of geographic, historical, and stylistic breadth.

The essays should be submitted to the composition faculty by September 1 of year 2. The faculty will respond to them with comments and evaluation by the end of September.

Students will be made aware of this first-year exam at the start of the program and reminded that it may serve as preparation for the upcoming Portfolio and Dissertation Essay requirements. Composition faculty will handle its advising and assessment. Students may wish to consult with Music Studies faculty where relevant in connection with their interests in advance of writing the essays.

First-year exams will be evaluated based on the following structure:

Pass:  A Pass on all portion of the examination is required for admission to the Ph.D. program.

Partial Pass:  The student must take some portion of the examination again before the question of admission to the doctoral program is decided. Failure to achieve a Pass during the second sitting may result in an offer of a terminal master’s degree (see Annual Review).

During the fall of the third year of study, students will complete a Portfolio of Compositions. In spring of year two students must, in consultation with their current composition instructor, establish concrete plans for the medium, number and scope of compositions that will comprise the portfolio. The portfolio in general consist of at least thirty (30) minutes of music and consists of multiple pieces of music. At least one of the works included in the portfolio should be a significant revision. The portfolio must be submitted for review to the composition faculty by March of year 3.

Students will meet with the composition faculty to discuss the materials in April of year 3. Topics of discussion will include the Portfolio of Compositions, the creative trajectory it implies, the quality of the work, and the opportunities it suggests.

Ph.D Composition

Candidates will produce a major musical composition as a Ph.D. dissertation, the nature of which must be approved by the composition faculty, which serves as the dissertation committee. It is understood that during the two semesters leading up to the completion of the dissertation the student and advisor will be in regular contact regarding the progress of the dissertation. A final draft of the Ph.D. dissertation must be submitted for review to the composition faculty by March 1 of the last semester of study, and the completed, approved composition, incorporating any changes recommended by the faculty, must be submitted to the dissertation committee by April 1of the graduation term.

Ph.D. candidates prepare a dissertation essay about their own work. This essay is about 10 pages and places their work in a boarder cultural and historical context, citing influences, identities, and process, as relevant. The essay is submitted to the committee, DGS, and Grad Coordinator alongside the dissertation piece. The finalized essay is kept on record in the department and is not required to be uploaded when submitting the approved dissertation to ProQuest ETD Administrator (The University’s electronic thesis and dissertation database). 

Composition Defense

At the conclusion of the Ph.D. program, students will prepare a final presentation on their compositional work, with special emphasis on the dissertation, that is held in the Music Department. The dissertation committee and DGS are present. The defense is open to the public.

Dissertation defenses should be held in person when possible, but may be presented via remote conferencing when deemed appropriate. If a hybrid or remote defense is requested, it must be approved by the DGS.

It is the student’s responsibility to schedule the defense in consultation with the dissertation committee, DGS and with deference to the yearly deadlines for dissertation submission set by the Provost’s Office. The defense must be scheduled and held prior to the selected deposit date for the dissertation. Students are responsible for ensuring they have submitted their dissertation and essay to the composition faculty by a date agreed upon by the advisor and committee prior to the defense.

Language Requirement

Reading knowledge of two languages is required for all students in music studies and composition. Students will select their language exams in consultation with the graduate chair faculty, with the understanding that their selections should relate clearly to their projected plan of study and proposed dissertation topic. Where appropriate, students may request approval from the graduate chair and faculty to use a computer language to complete one of the two exams.

Students for whom English is not their native language may choose their native language as one of their two language exams if they plan to conduct significant research/fieldwork in that language or in cased where a major corpus of literature pertinent to the student’s field of research exists in that language.

Language Examinations

Language examinations are given once each semester and have flexible scheduling. Students must take an examination at each of these times until their language requirements have been met. Each language examination consists of a passage of approximately 500 words selected from a representative work of musical scholarship. The student is given 3 hours to write an English translation. Use of a dictionary is permitted.

Reading courses in French, Italian, and German are administered by the Graduate Division during the summer (May through June) and are available to Ph.D. students at no cost. Students may register for undergraduate language courses as a fourth course as ‘auditors.’ Graduate credit will not be granted for such undergraduate language courses.

The degree and major requirements displayed are intended as a guide for students entering in the Fall of 2024 and later. Students should consult with their academic program regarding final certifications and requirements for graduation.

Print Options

Print this page.

The PDF will include all information unique to this page.

A PDF of the entire 2024-25 catalog.

A PDF of the 2024-25 Undergraduate catalog.

A PDF of the 2024-25 Graduate catalog.

Evan Chambers

Michael Daugherty

Roshanne Etezady

Kristin Kuster

Erik Santos

Bright Sheng

Department of music theory.

Karen Fournier

Marc Hannaford

Patrick Harlin

Áine Heneghan

John Knoedler

Kevin E. Korsyn

Nathan Martin

Somangshu Mukherji

Nancy Murphy

Wayne C. Petty

Joshua Tanis

Aleksandra Vojčić

Composition students regularly collaborate with their performer colleagues. Composers in both undergraduate and graduate programs receive premieres of their works at a variety of venues, including the “write HEAR / right NOW” Concert Series, the Midwest Composers Symposium (a forum for student composers from four schools), and concerts by U-M ensembles. Each term, The William Bolcom Residency in Composition hosts renowned guest artists who spend a week on campus, interacting with students and faculty through lessons, workshops, meals, lectures, and performances.​

From large ensembles in celebrated concert halls to chamber groups in intimate recital spaces, performance opportunities across all disciplines abound, with nearly 900 student performances each academic year. Whether your focus is on early, classical, or contemporary music, whether your passion is for jazz, electronic, or world music, there is an ensemble—or in many cases, multiple ensembles—to suit your interests, including specific opportunities for percussion, piano, and organ & carillon. For students in theatre & drama, musical theatre, dance, and opera, opportunities abound in both professionally produced and student-run presentations.

Composition

Doctor of philosophy (phd) in composition.

PhD Composition students receive individual lessons and participate in group seminars, and both the School of Music and the Twin Cities offer a wide range of new music performance opportunities. The Contemporary Music Workshop provides ongoing interaction between composition and performance students. Composition faculty represent national and international profiles in a variety of media and seek to nurture students’ original creative interests and knowledge.

Students applying to this program should have completed basic professional preparation, defined as the equivalent of a minimum of one year of orchestration, one semester of counterpoint, and three years of theory and analysis (tonal and post-tonal).

For your PhD, you will be expected to meet the following requirements, including your post-baccalaureate study from other institutions:

• 24 credits of composition lessons
• 18 credits in Creative Studies and Media, including music information technology and informatics
• 12 credits in musicology/ethnomusicology and music theory
• 4 credits of ensemble participation
• 6 credits of elective coursework
• Reading knowledge in 2 languages or mastery of 2 research tools
• Completion of written and oral preliminary exam
• Completion of thesis or final project
• Completion of final oral examination

Requirements for the Music PhD

Department of Music

Music & multimedia composition.

• Graduate Programs

Music & Multimedia Composition

Students in the Ph.D. program in Music and Multimedia Composition produce, analyze, and perform original works that may include the use of electronic music, acoustic composition and sound in combination with video, performance, installation and text.

Students conduct advanced inquiry into the cultural, theoretical, technical, and aesthetic issues surrounding music and multimedia production in close collaboration with faculty researchers strongly invested in real-time, interactive sonic and visual media, sound art, instrument design, and acoustic composition. The program welcomes students working from diverse influences and methods, expanding their creative practices and underlying technical knowledge to spur artistic innovation. In addition to faculty mentorship, students can collaborate with a broad array of professional performing ensembles and visiting artists presented on the Brown University campus.

Diverse Resources

The graduate program in Music and Multimedia Composition offers an array of resources unique to Brown. Students have access to the department’s Multimedia and Electronic Music Experiments (MEME) studios, and the university’s Granoff Center for the Creative Arts. These specialized research facilities house recording studios, electronics shops, project studios, exhibition and performance spaces. Regular opportunities exist to interface with the larger arts and digital media communities at Brown, at the nearby Rhode Island School of Design, in Providence and the New England region. Music and Multimedia Composition students also partake in the many scholarly offerings of the Musicology and Ethnomusicology PhD program, with faculty specialties in technoculture, sound studies, copyright, improvisation and organology. A Brown doctoral degree in Music and Multimedia Composition leads to a career in college and university teaching, or to a position to applied work outside of higher education.

All PhD students receive full funding for 6 years, including costs for tuition and health insurance, plus stipends for fellowships and teaching assistantships. 

Anthony Cheung

Review the program's application requirements  here .

For more information, please consult our  Graduate Program FAQ .

Apply to the Music & Multimedia Composition program through the Brown University Graduate School website.

Exams, Dissertations and Other Scholarly Work

During the first two years of the program students undertake the majority of their coursework, which involves writing and research in addition to creative practice. During this time they prepare their Masters project (a substantial performance, installation, or work in other formats) for presentation in the second year accompanied by an essay of thirty to fifty pages that describes the aesthetic concepts, historical background, and technical realization of the work.

In the third year students continue their coursework and must prepare for and pass their Qualifying Exams. This consists of three essays on topics that lead into their dissertation work and an oral exam on these essays. Once this is complete students develop a formal dissertation proposal in which serves as a clear and detailed outline of the areas of creative and scholarly research to be undertaken over the next two years.

The dissertation itself has two parts. The dissertation project is an original creative work that makes a substantial contribution to knowledge in the field. This is accompanied by a detailed paper that describes the project’s overall concept, technical methods, and the historical, theoretical, and artistic frameworks that inform and support it. The paper is completed after the dissertation project has taken place and requires a formal oral presentation and defense before it is approved.

See the MMC Graduate Handbook for specific details on these requirements.

Enongo Lumumba-Kasongo

James moses.

Eric Nathan

Joseph Butch Rovan

Todd winkler, affiliated faculty, shawn greenlee, peter szendy.

• Orwig Music Library
• Brown Multimedia Labs
• Brown Arts Institute
• Granoff Center

Community Resources

• Community MusicWorks
• Machines With Magnets
• Verdant Vibes

Additional Information

Music and multimedia composition program, graduate courses.

Search NYU Steinhardt

Doctor of Philosophy Music Performance and Composition: Composers

Conduct cutting-edge research in music and music composition, develop and complete a dissertation, and present a final recital of your compositions. Working closely with our faculty of internationally recognized composers, you will create a highly personalized program of study tailored to your specific interests and goals.

Degree Details

Official degree title.

PhD in Music Performance and Composition: Composers

What You’ll Learn

Your academic experience.

PhD Students in Composition and Performance will personalize their course of study around individual research interests, taking courses that support their areas of specialization. They will be able to

• Perform artistic research by developing quantitative and qualitative research methods appropriate to their field of inquiry.
• Engage in a variety of collaborative environments with artists and professionals in related fields
• Broaden their perspectives and relate their own music-making activities to diverse cultural contexts and intellectual traditions
•  Develop foundational knowledge in disciplines applicable to yet outside their field of specialization, including psychology, performance studies, historical musicology, ethnomusicology, media, arts education and technology, and the social sciences.
• Communicate the results of their original research orally and in writing, in conference presentations and academic publications.

You'll be actively involved in the scheduling and performance of your own works, in concerts and readings by NYU performance groups in residence, school performing ensembles, as well as chamber groups specially hired for specific composition concerts. You will have countless opportunities to collaborate with performers, dancers, actors, and multimedia applications. Within our department, there are very active collaborations with the Music Technology, Jazz Studies, and Instrumental and Vocal Performance programs. In addition, we collaborate often with musicians and other artists in New York City.

Through our department's weekly Composers Forum, you'll have the opportunity to meet and work with world-renowned composers and performers and attend highlights in the New York City new music concert season.

Funding for Full-Time PhD Students

NYU Steinhardt offers a competitive funding package for PhD students who study full time.  Learn more about our funding opportunities .

Collaborations and Networking

Our students work with filmmakers in a variety of different contexts forging many successful and long-lasting relationships.

Recording and Performance

Students participate in recording sessions that serve as our laboratory for current scoring practices.

Master Classes

Our Friday@1 series presents conversations with some of the most renowned composers, songwriters, publishers, and industry executives in New York City and beyond.

Screen Scoring Conference

The 20th iteration of the annual Music and the Moving Image Conference invites abstracts for paper presentations (20-min. limit) that explore the relationship between the vast universe of moving images (film, television, streaming media, video games, and advertisements) and that of music and sound.

Questions 

For more information, please contact [email protected] * You must have a master's degree in order to be considered for admission to this program.

Take the Next Step

Advance your personal and professional journey – apply to join our community of students.

• Schools & departments

Musical Composition PhD

Awards: PhD

Study modes: Full-time, Part-time

Funding opportunities

Programme website: Musical Composition

Introduction to Postgraduate Study at the University of Edinburgh

Join us online on 25 September to learn more about Scotland, the city of Edinburgh and postgraduate study at the University.

Find out more and register

Research profile

The Reid School of Music offers an exciting research environment that combines the theory, history, composition and practice of music with the scientific study of sound.

Composition allows students to explore their creative language and horizons in relationship to contemporary compositional styles and challenges. Each student's creative work is developed and guided through supervision. There are no stylistic preferences and all contemporary styles are encouraged, including the use of new technologies.

Supervision specialisms

Please consult our staff profile pages to see our supervision specialisms and availability, spanning electroacoustic, algorithmic, computer music and music for screen.

• ECA staff profiles

Programme structure

The PhD programme comprises three years full-time (six years part-time) research under the supervision of an expert in your chosen research topic within Musical Composition. Your research will culminate in a portfolio of compositions which must comprise original work, with at least one of the compositions being a major and extended work.

Regular individual meetings with your supervisor provide guidance and focus for the course of research you are undertaking.

You will be encouraged to attend research methods courses at the beginning of your research studies.

And for every year you are enrolled on the programme you will be required to complete an annual progression review.

Training and support

All of our research students benefit from Edinburgh College of Art's interdisciplinary approach, and you will be assigned at least two research supervisors.

Your first/ lead supervisor would normally be based in the same subject area as your degree programme. Your second supervisor may be from another discipline within ECA or elsewhere within the University of Edinburgh, according to the expertise required. On occasion more than two supervisors will be assigned, particularly where the degree brings together multiple disciplines.

Our research culture is supported by seminars and public lecture programmes and discussion groups.

Tutoring opportunities will be advertised to the postgraduate research community, which you can apply for should you wish to gain some teaching experience during your studies. But you are not normally advised to undertake tutoring work in the first year of your research studies, while your main focus should be on establishing the direction of your research.

You are encouraged to attend courses at the Institute for Academic Development ( IAD ), where all staff and students at the University of Edinburgh are supported through a range of training opportunities, including:

• short courses in compiling literature reviews
• writing in a second language
• preparing for your viva

The Scottish Graduate School for Arts and Humanities ( SGSAH ) offers further opportunities for development. You will also be encouraged to refer to the Vitae research development framework as you grow into a professional researcher.

You will have access to study space (some of which are 24-hour access), studios and workshops at Edinburgh College of Art’s campus, as well as University wide resources. There are several bookable spaces for the development of exhibitions, workshops or seminars. And you will have access to well-equipped multimedia laboratories, photography and exhibition facilities, shared recording space, access to recording equipment available through Bookit the equipment loan booking system.

You will have access to high quality library facilities. Within the University of Edinburgh, there are three libraries:

• the Main Library
• the ECA library
• the Art and Architecture Library

The Centre for Research Collections which holds the University of Edinburgh’s historic collections is also located in the Main Library.

The Talbot Rice Gallery is a public art gallery of the University of Edinburgh and part of Edinburgh College of Art, which is committed to exploring what the University of Edinburgh can contribute to contemporary art practice today and into the future. You will also have access to the extraordinary range and quality of exhibitions and events associated with a leading college of art situated within a world-class research-intensive university.

St Cecilia’s Hall, which is Scotland’s oldest purpose-built concert hall, also houses the Music Museum which holds one of the most important historic musical instrument collections anywhere in the world.

In addition to the University’s facilities you will also be able to access wider resources within the City of Edinburgh. These include:

• National Library of Scotland
• Scottish Studies Library and Digital Archives
• City of Edinburgh Libraries
• Historic Environment Scotland
• the National Trust for Scotland

You will also benefit from the University of Edinburgh’s extensive range of student support facilities provided, including:

• student societies
• accommodation
• wellbeing and support services

PhD by Distance option

The PhD by Distance is available to suitably qualified applicants in all the same areas as our on-campus programmes.

The PhD by Distance allows students who do not wish to commit to basing themselves in Edinburgh to study for a PhD in an ECA subject area from their home country or city.

There is no expectation that students studying for an ECA PhD by Distance study mode should visit Edinburgh during their period of study. However, short-term visits for particular activities could be considered on a case-by-case basis.

For further information on the PhD by Distance please see the ECA website:

• PhD by Distance in ECA

Entry requirements

These entry requirements are for the 2024/25 academic year and requirements for future academic years may differ. Entry requirements for the 2025/26 academic year will be published on 1 Oct 2024.

Normally a UK Masters degree or its international equivalent. If you do not meet the academic entry requirements, we may still consider your application on the basis of relevant professional experience.

You must also submit a research proposal and portfolio; see How to Apply section for guidance.

International qualifications

Check whether your international qualifications meet our general entry requirements:

• Entry requirements by country
• English language requirements

Regardless of your nationality or country of residence, you must demonstrate a level of English language competency at a level that will enable you to succeed in your studies.

English language tests

We accept the following English language qualifications at the grades specified:

• IELTS Academic: total 7.0 with at least 6.0 in each component. We do not accept IELTS One Skill Retake to meet our English language requirements.
• TOEFL-iBT (including Home Edition): total 100 with at least 20 in each component. We do not accept TOEFL MyBest Score to meet our English language requirements.
• C1 Advanced ( CAE ) / C2 Proficiency ( CPE ): total 185 with at least 169 in each component.
• Trinity ISE : ISE III with passes in all four components.
• PTE Academic: total 70 with at least 59 in each component.

Your English language qualification must be no more than three and a half years old from the start date of the programme you are applying to study, unless you are using IELTS , TOEFL, Trinity ISE or PTE , in which case it must be no more than two years old.

Degrees taught and assessed in English

We also accept an undergraduate or postgraduate degree that has been taught and assessed in English in a majority English speaking country, as defined by UK Visas and Immigration:

• UKVI list of majority English speaking countries

We also accept a degree that has been taught and assessed in English from a university on our list of approved universities in non-majority English speaking countries (non-MESC).

• Approved universities in non-MESC

If you are not a national of a majority English speaking country, then your degree must be no more than five years old* at the beginning of your programme of study. (*Revised 05 March 2024 to extend degree validity to five years.)

Find out more about our language requirements:

Fees and costs

Additional programme costs.

There are no additional costs.

Tuition fees

Scholarships and funding

Featured funding.

• Edinburgh College of Art scholarships

UK government postgraduate loans

If you live in the UK, you may be able to apply for a postgraduate loan from one of the UK’s governments.

The type and amount of financial support you are eligible for will depend on:

• your programme
• the duration of your studies
• your residency status

Programmes studied on a part-time intermittent basis are not eligible.

• UK government and other external funding

Other funding opportunities

Search for scholarships and funding opportunities:

• Search for funding

Further information

• Edinburgh College of Art Postgraduate Research Team
• Phone: +44 (0)131 651 5741
• Contact: [email protected]
• Postgraduate Research Director, Dr Benedict Taylor
• Phone: +44 (0)131 650 4155
• Contact: [email protected]
• Edinburgh College of Art Postgraduate Research Team Student and Academic Support Service
• The University of Edinburgh
• Evolution House, 78 West Port
• Central Campus
• Programme: Musical Composition
• School: Edinburgh College of Art
• College: Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences

Select your programme and preferred start date to begin your application.

PhD Musical Composition - 3 Years (Full-time)

Phd musical composition - 6 years (part-time) (part-time), phd musical composition by distance - 3 years (full-time), phd musical composition by distance - 6 years (part-time), application deadlines.

If you are applying for funding or will require a visa then we strongly recommend you apply as early as possible. All applications must be received by the deadlines listed above.

• How to apply

You must submit two references with your application.

You must submit two references with your application, one of which must be an academic reference and preferably from your most recent studies.

You should submit a research proposal that outlines your project's aims, context, process and product/outcome. Read the application guidance before you apply. If you wish to undertake research that involves practice then a portfolio will also be required, full details are listed in the application guidance document.

• Preparing your application - postgraduate research degrees (PDF)

Find out more about the general application process for postgraduate programmes:

• The Graduate School >
• Explore & Apply >
• Choose UB >
• Academic Programs >

Music Composition PhD

College of arts and sciences, program description.

The Department of Music has—for decades—enjoyed a reputation as one of a handful of departments in North America dedicated to contemporary musical creation at the highest level. Composition at the University at Buffalo flourishes today, by providing a wide range of stimulating musical and intellectual experiences, within a program that allows students the space to develop and mature. In an atmosphere that encourages musical and technological experiment, cross-disciplinary collaboration, and the development of authentic creative character, graduate composers at UB take advantage of a number of resources and opportunities.

Kevin Vazquez Mendez 910 Clemens Hall Buffalo, NY 14261 Email: [email protected] Phone: 716-645-2191

Instruction Method

• In Person   (100 percent of courses offered in person)

Full/Part Time Options

Credits required, time-to-degree, application fee.

This program is officially registered with the New York State Education Department (SED).

Resources for:

Sep 27, 2024 7:30pm

Beethoven: Love and Defiance

Pick-Staiger Concert Hall

Oct 1, 2024 7:30pm

Nathan Mertens and Kenta Saito with Tomoko Kashiwagi

Galvin Recital Hall

Oct 4, 2024 7:30pm

Jeffrey Kahane, piano

• Lectures & Interviews
• Master Classes
• Recitals & Chamber Music
• Visiting Artists

Main Resources

Main utility, degree requirements, phd in music: music theory and cognition, program of study – 18 units.

Music Theory Foundations – 8 units 

• MUS THRY 505 Methods of Music Theory 
• MUS THRY 510 Music Theory Pedagogy, second year 
• MUS THRY 515 History of Western Music Theory 
• MUS THRY 520 Readings in Music Theory and Cognition 
• MUS THRY 550 Research Seminar, 4 units 

Survey of the Field – 5 units 

A selection of Music Theory and Cognition courses depending on prior experience and to be determined in advising with the program coordinator.

• MUS THRY 313/413 Analytical Approaches to World Music 
• MUS THRY 321/421 Classical Form 
• MUS THRY 325/425 Style and Phrase 
• MUS THRY 335/435 Theory of Melody 
• Music and Emotion 
• Memory, and Attention 
• Music, Thought, and Language 
• MUS THRY 340/440 Analysis of Recorded Performance 
• MUS THRY 345/445 Experimental and Empirical Methods in Music Theory 
• MUS THRY 348/448 Corpus Studies 
• MUS THRY 355 Analysis of Post-Tonal Music 
• MUS THRY 422 Rhythm and Meter 
• MUS THRY 530 Music Semiotics 
• MUS THRY 551 Seminar in Music Cognition

Cognate – 3 units 

Three courses to be taken in a related department outside of music relevant to the student’s research interest(s). 

General Electives – 2 units 

General Electives are courses at the 300 level or above within or outside of the Bienen School of Music, and may include Music Studies courses (Composition, Music Education, Music Technology, Music Theory and Cognition, Musicology), or courses in non-music fields relevant to the student’s research interest(s). All general electives may be courses outside Music Studies.

Students should take as many electives as needed to complete the required number of units. Students who are exempt from one or more core courses (pending transcript review and faculty approval) need to take more electives to complete the required number of units.

Colloquium – 0 units, 6 registrations 

• MUS THRY 490 Music Theory Colloquium

Qualifying Exam and Candidacy

The qualifying examination consists of two parts:

Part One – An analytic paper on one or more musical works selected by the student and using methodologies also determined and deemed relevant and essential by the student in consultation with their advisor. The paper should be 4,000 to 5,000 words, not including the bibliography, captions, tables and figures, or appendix, if any. It must include annotated music examples with captions, and may include supplementary materials in the form of tables, figures or graphs.

Part Two – Two papers on two agreed-upon topics. Each topic must be approved by the student’s dissertation advisor, and one other member of the Music Theory and Cognition faculty, usually another member of the student’s dissertation committee. The papers should be 6,000 to 8,000 words, and involve literature review and critical assessment of the research on the topic. The papers’ focus may relate to the student’s emerging dissertation topic in some way, but should have breadth in relation to the concerns of music theory and cognition as fields. 

Students must complete Part One by the end of fall quarter of their third year. The examination is graded pass/fail. Students who fail are required to re-take the exam at the beginning of winter quarter. 

Students must pass Part Two by the end of the third academic year. To pass, each paper must be approved by the student’s advisor and at least one other member of the Music Theory and Cognition faculty, usually another member of the student’s dissertation committee. 

The Graduate School requires all PhD students to achieve candidacy by the end of the 12th quarter of study. Students who fail to achieve candidacy by this deadline may be placed on academic probation.

Dissertation Prospectus

Students must identify a primary advisor by the end of their second year. Identification of an advisor should begin with a verbal agreement between the student and prospective advisor. 

The Graduate School requires the dissertation prospectus to be completed and approved by the end of the fourth year. However, the Music Theory and Cognition faculty encourage students to complete the prospectus sooner when possible, ideally by the end of fall quarter of the fourth year. 

Students must submit committee names in GSTS prior to the prospectus defense.

Prospectus Guidelines

The prospectus consists of 25-30-pages, and outlines the topic, significance, and methodologies of the dissertation, and surveys the relevant scholarly literature and primary sources to be considered. A comprehensive bibliography, chapter outline, and a timeline for completion of the project should also be included.

Students should work with their advisor on the prospectus until the document is deemed ready for defense. The prospectus is then distributed to the remaining committee members to read. The student presents the prospectus in a private defense with the committee members. Revisions may be required before the document is approved.

Dissertation and Oral Defense

Students complete the dissertation under the direction of a committee comprised of three or four faculty, at least two of whom, including the chair, must be members of the Northwestern University Graduate School faculty.

Students are encouraged to apply for funding for dissertation research through TGS and the Office of Fellowships. Dissertations must be formatted according to TGS Dissertation Formatting Guidelines . Students should submit the PhD Final Exam form in GSTS following a successful defense.

Contact Graduate Services:  [email protected]   847-491-5740