INFORMATION AND PROCEDURES

PROGRAM OF STUDY

During the first semester of study or before completion of 12 credits, students must, in consultation with advisor, file a Program of Study with the Music Department Chair and the Chair of the graduate committee. The Program of Study will include courses to be taken and a chronological order for completing the degree. (See Graduate School Handbook)

ADVANCEMENT TO CANDIDACY

After all undergraduate level deficiency courses are completed and Program of Study is filed, each student will schedule a meeting with the advisor and committee for advancement to candidacy. Twelve credits of graduate level courses must be satisfactorily completed before advancement to candidacy. (See checklist in Graduate Bulletin and Graduate Handbook.)

ADVISEMENT

Each entering student will be assigned a faculty advisor. The advisor for a student with a performance major will normally be the student's instructor in performance. Advisors in music theory, education, history/literature, and conducting will be assigned, by the department head, from faculty in those areas. In addition the student will select a guidance committee of 2 additional faculty of his/her choosing. The faculty advisor supervises the overall planning of the student's program and consults with the student and the committee with regard to the eventual designation of a document or thesis director.

DROP/ADD APPROVAL

A graduate student may add courses through the first week of classes; he/she may withdraw from a graduate course by obtaining permission from the Dean of the Graduate School. The add-drop form must be signed and dated by the instructor of the course and the student's advisor. No student is permitted to withdraw from a course during the last one-half of its duration, except by officially withdrawing from the university.

EXCEPTIONS TO DEGREE REQUIREMENTS

Appropriate substitutions in or for the curricula for the Master of Music degree may be made if recommended by the student's advisor and approved by the graduate committee in music.

THESIS, DOCUMENT, RESEARCH PAPER, AND RECITAL

A graduate recital plus an analytical paper are required of all majors in music performance or pedagogy.

No later than the beginning of the semester preceding the semester in which the student expects to graduate, the student's graduate committee in consultation with the student and the student's advisor will designate a document or thesis director.

Exceptions to this procedure must be approved by the music graduate committee. The document or thesis director guides the student's choice of topic and is responsible for the progress and quality of the resulting work. The document director normally heads the student's orals committee. Before extensive work is done on the thesis or document, the student submits a proposal, together with a selective bibliography and the comments of the document or thesis director, to the student's graduate committee for approval. Changes of topic or of document director after initial approval must be approved by the music graduate committee.

The graduate applied recital must be supervised by a jury of at least 3 members, headed by the student's instructor in performance. This jury approves the level of literature to be performed and the quality of performance by audition in advance of the final performance, the acceptability of which must also be judged by the performance jury. Students working toward the Masters Degree with emphasis in Music Education who do not elect to write a thesis or document must complete 6 hours of course work, including research terminating with a paper or papers following thesis style. These research papers are filed in the departmental office. Three copies of all thesis, thesis composition manuscripts and tapes, documents, and research papers must be submitted in final form to the music department office at least five weeks before the intended date of graduation carrying the approval of the document or thesis director, when applicable. Two (2) copies will be forwarded to the Graduate School and one copy retained by the department.

COMPREHENSIVE EXAMINATIONS

During the final semester of study, students will take oral comprehensive examinations dealing with general areas of music and concentrations of music study and, when appropriate, with the student's thesis or document. Application to take comprehensive examinations must be made no later than 5 weeks before the expected date of graduation, and the examinations may be taken again after a lapse of at least one semester or 16 weeks.

The oral examination committee, appointed by the student's document or thesis director, is headed by the student's director, with 2 or more faculty members representing the student's areas of concentration plus a faculty member representing the Dean of the Graduate School. The examination committee will conduct the student's oral examination and may supply questions for the student's written examination under the general supervision of the student's graduate committee. Candidates with emphasis in Music Education not writing a thesis are required to take a written comprehensive exam in addition to the oral exam.